Jacob Blanes was a son of David Blanes and Sophie Buitenkant. His father consecutively worked as a diamond worker, a depot manager, a supervisor of kashrut and an agent. The family lived in Paris, where Jacob was born. Upon returning to Amsterdam, the family lived at 51 Weesperstraat.
Jacob attended the Ets Haim institute of the Portuguese-Jewish community. He completed his training as a middle-grade religious instructor and subsequently worked as a scribe and a mohel (performer of circumcisions).
On 31 July 1901 he married Eva Mozes Polak, who was born in Aarlanderveen on 5 October 1878. She was a daughter of the civil servant Mozes Juda Polak and Elisabeth ter Beek.
In 1899, when Jacob was 22, the Sephardi community in Paramaribo asked him to become their cantor. He refused the position. He applied to work as a cantor in The Hague. As usual, he was required to lead a public religious service. His performance convinced the dues-paying members of the community to elect him as their cantor. On 12 May 1902 he succeeded the cantor Isaac Oeb Brandon.
Jacob Blanes was very involved in the Jewish community. He served on the board of the Abodath ha-Kodesj society, which was founded in 1820 to promote study of the Torah. He was the second secretary of the Maatschappij tot Nut der Israëlieten in Nederland and was active within the Genootschap tot Zedelijke verbetering der Gevangenen (society for moral betterment of prisoners).
After a stillborn son, three children were born to Jacob Blanes and his wife Eva Mozes Polak: Sophia in 1903, Elisabeth in 1905 and David in 1909. On 15 March 1934 Eva Polak died at home. The family lived at 7 Muiderstraat at the time, around the corner from the Portuguese Synagogue. Jacob Blanes was caught during the raid on 26 May 1843 and was deported.
Z. Bar, 'De familie Blanes', Misjpoge. Verenigingsblad van de Nederlandse Kring voor joodse genealogie 16 (2003) no 3, 74-77
Biography