Samuel da Silva

Samuel da Silva (Portuguese: [ˈsæmjuːəl da ˈsɪlvə]) was a Jewish physician of Portuguese birth who lived in Amsterdam in the beginning of the seventeenth century. He is known especially through his energetic proceedings against Uriel da Costa. Before the latter's "Examination of the Pharisaic Tradition" had appeared in print, Silva, who had had an opportunity to read part of it in manuscript, issued a booklet in Portuguese against its author. This pamphlet, copies of which are now very rare, was written at the direction of the foremost members of the young community of Spanish-Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam. It is an able treatise on the subject discussed, and alludes to Da Costa only by his first name. Ten years previous to the publication of this pamphlet Samuel da Silva made a Spanish translation of Moses Maimonides' tract on repentance.

References

• De Rossi-Hamberger, Historie des Wörterbuch. p. 296;
• Wolf, Hebrew Bible iii. 1115;
• Kayserling, Geschichte der Juden in Portugal, p. 288;
• idem, Biblio de Judios de España y Portugal. p. 102.
• 1906 Jewish encyclopedia