Jewish immigration into Amsterdam started in 1600, and quickly a large Sephardic community was formed, numbering 10,000, and the city became the home of Jewish learning worldwide. Although Jews mixed with Christians and others, most preferred to settle in the new quarter in the east of town, which came to be known as the Jewish Quarter, although it was never a ghetto, apart from the nazi occupation in World War Two.

The Sephardim were eventually outnumbered by Ashkenazim from Eastern Europe, who settled in the same area, but built their own synagogues, and, as required by the municipality, their own orphanages, old age homes, and other institutions. Jewish life was destroyed by the nazis in WW2, and re-emerged on a much smaller scale after the war. The synagogues and a number of institutional buildings are still standing and have been restored.

The tour includes a number of synagogues and Jewish institutions, monuments to the deported and murdered, but also to big names like Baruch Spinoza, the best known Dutch philosopher of all time.
The quarter is also home tot the Rembrandt House, the fully restored house the famous painter lived in for nineteen years. A Rembrandt’s Amsterdam tour may be part of the Jewish Amsterdam tour, or can be booked separately.

Because the Jewish Quarter is quite large, and spills over into neighbouring quarters as well as further-off quarters, there is a myriad of Jewish tours possible.
For instance, an Anne Frank tour in the Rivierenbuurt quarter (NOT including the Anne Frank House), where she lived with her family from 1934 to 1942, until she went into hiding elsewhere.