Fonseca, Aaron and Isaac Diaz

Fonseca, Aaron and Isaac Diaz two brothers of Portuguese descent, were both strict adherents of orthodox Judaism. When they found that the teachings of the Bible were not in harmony with those of the rabbins, they questioned them with regard to their doubts, which finally had the result that on February 28, 1712, they were both excommunicated from the Jewish community. In the eyes of the Christians they were suspected of being Atheists, and to counteract this suspicion the two brothers appealed to the pastor of the Reformed Church, Hero Sibersma, requesting him to examine them. He did so, and openly declared them to be true believers in the Old Test. A more diligent study of the Old Test. in the light of the New brought them to the knowledge of the Messiah, and six months after their excommunication from the synagogue they were received into the Church. The two brothers published, in the Dutch language, in 1714, the reasons for their apostasy from Judaism. See Furst, Bibl. Jud. 1:286; Kalkar. Israel u. die Kirche, page 64; Jocher, Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexikon, s.v.; Le Roi, Die Evangelische Christenheit und die Juden (Carlsruhe, 1884), page 415 sq. (B.P.)