The Jews of Jamaica: Tombstone Inscriptions, 1663-1880

Centuries of Jewish Life are revealed in the terse inscriptions recorded in this book, most engraved by local non-Jewish masons. The brief data they present give the story of Jewish settlement in this Caribbean Island at the gateway to the New World. It is the story of brave entrepreneurs who sought to build a fresh life for themselves and their people and to create a bridge between the Old World and the New. The stones are sometimes the only historical source recording the existence of the individuals and their achievements. For this reason these inscriptions are important as a unique historical source for Jewish History.