BOAS

BOAS, Dutch banking family, prominent in The Hague in the 18th century. The founder of the family, HYMAN (or Abraham; 1662–1747) was settled in The Hague by 1701. In 1743 he sold his business in jewelry, gold, and textiles for the sum of 80,200 florins to his son TOBIAS (1696–1782), who became one of the most important bankers in the Netherlands. He loaned huge sums to the Dutch government and to other European rulers. His children married into the families of the court jews gompertz , wertheimer , oppenheimer , and Kann, with whom he had business relations. Tobias was strictly Orthodox, supported Jewish scholars, and sponsored the publishing of their works. On several occasions he acted as shtadlan, representing Jewish interests, in which he was facilitated by his connections with European royalty. As such he took an active part in organizing Dutch and British diplomatic intervention to prevent the expulsion of the Jews from prague (1744–45). His sons ABRAHAM and SIMON continued his banking activities. Under the economic stress of the   American War of Independence and the French Revolution, however, the firm went bankrupt in 1792. Its failure seriously affected the prosperity of the Jewish community, which was determined by the family during the entire 18th century, since there was always one individual from the family among the official leaders. For many years Tobias financed the employment of the rabbi of the community, Saul Halevi. The family is frequently mentioned in Jewish and non-Jewish memoirs of the period, from the travel diary of Ḥ.J.D. Azulai to the autobiography of Casanova. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: D.S. van Zuiden, De Hoogduitsche Joden in 's Gravenhage (1913), passim; Ḥ.J.D. Azulai, Ma'gal Tov ha-Shalem (1934), 153–5, 159. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: I.B. van Crefeld, in: Misjpoge, 10 (1997), 49–66. (Jozeph Michman (Melkman) / Stefan Litt (2nd ed.)