USA > Rhode Island > Newport County > Newport > The story of the Jews of Newport; two and a half centuries of Judaism, 1658-1908 > Part 20
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III
Public Laws of 1928, Chapter 1149.4
An act of amendment of Sections 2 and 4 of Chapter 110 of the General Laws, entitled "Of the Abraham Touro Fund".
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
Section 1. Sections two and four of Chapter 110 of the General Laws of 1923 entitled "Of the Abraham Touro Fund" are hereby amended to read as follows :
"Section 2. And be it further enacted that the City Council of Newport may and it shall be their duty to pay all of the running expenses of said synagogue, buildings and premises, to cause all repairs to be made upon the wall inclosing the Jewish burying- ground in Newport appurtenant to said synagogue, which in their cpinion may be necessary and proper; and whenever there shall be no person of the Jewish persuasion residing in Newport and qualified and authorized to have the care and superintendence of said syna- gogue, said council shall appoint some suitable person or persons for that purpose, with such compensation as said council, with the approbation of the General Assembly, shall think reasonable; provided, that nothing in this chapter shall be construed to authorize said city council or any other person whatever in any manner to interfere with or restrain the full and free exercise of the Jewish religion, in said synagogue by any individual of that faith residing in Newport, or to interrupt the possession, control and management with which the proprietors of said synagogue and premises, or any other persons according to the laws and customs of the Jews, may be vested".
"Section 4. And be it further enacted that the city council of Newport be and they are hereby authorized from time to time as
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occasion may require, to draw on the said General Treasurer for the interest of the Touro Jewish synagogue fund, or so much thereof as may be necessary to keep said synagogue and premises in complete repair, and to pay the said running expenses of said synagogue buildings; and that said council make report of their expenditures to the General Assembly, annually, at the January Session". Sec. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Public Laws 1929, Chapter IV, 1410.5
An Act in Amendment of Sections 2 and 4 of Chapter 110 of the General Laws, entitled "Of the Abraham Touro Fund" as amended. It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows :
Section 1. Sections 2 and 4 of Chapter 110 of the general laws, entitled "Of the Abraham Touro Fund", as amended by chapter 1149 of the public laws, 1928, are hereby further amended to read as follows:
"Section 2. And be it further enacted, that the city council of Newport may, and it shall be their duty to cause all repairs to be made which in their opinion shall be necessary and proper, upon said Jewish synagogue, upon the walls enclosing the Jewish burying ground in Newport appertaining to the synagogue, and thereafter, so far as funds may be available, to apply the same toward the maintenance of that part of the synagogue premises known as the community building and to pay such other expenses as said city council may deem necessary and proper, the total expenditures herein authorized, however, not to exceed in any one year the annual income of the Abraham Touro fund; provided, that all said expendi- tures shall be first approved by the board of officers of the Con- gregation Jeshuat Israel, worshipping in said synagogue, and by the trustees selected by said congregation under the provisions of section 7 of chapter 110 of the general laws; and whenever there shall be no person of the Jewish persuasion residing in Newport and quali- fied and authorized to have the care and superintendence of said synagogue, said council shall appoint some suitable person or persons for that purpose, with such compensation as said council, with the the approbation of the general assembly, shall think reasonable; and provided, further, that nothing in this chapter shall be construed to authorize said city council or any other person whatever in any manner to interfere with or restrain the full and free exercise of the Jewish religion in said synagogue by any individual of that faith residing in Newport, or to interrupt the possession, control and
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APPENDICES
management with which the proprietors of said synagogue and premises, or any other persons according to the laws and customs of the Jews, may be vested.
"Section 3. And be it further enacted that the city council of Newport be, and they are hereby authorized from time to time, as occasion may require, to draw on the general treasurer for the annual income of the Abraham Touro fund, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to pay for the expenditures authorized under section 2 hereof, and that said council shall make detailed report of their expenditures to the general assembly annually and at the January session".
Section 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage, and all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed.
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₹
NOTES
CHAPTER I
THE DIM BEGINNINGS
1 The Legends of the Jews: Louis Ginzberg, Volume III, p. 148.
The Mill Street Synagogue, etc. : David de Sola Pool. p. 3.
3 Ill Newes from New England or a Narrative of New England's Persecution: John Clarke. (Quoted in Early Religious Leaders of Newport: Newport Historical Society, 1917, p. 16.)
Early Religious Leaders: Newport Historial Society. p. 14.
5 Life of Roger Williams: Oscar S. Straus p. 178.
៛ Ibid. p. 110ff.
" Quoted from John Nieuhoff in "The Jews Come To America": Paul Masserman and Max Baker.
8 Original Narratives of the Netherlands p. 392 ff. (Quoted in "Jewish Pioneers In America": Anita Libman Lebeson).
9 Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society (Ab- breviated from now on, P. A. J. H. S.) Volume XVIII, p. 4.
10 The order which Governor Stuyvesant received from the Dutch West India Company, granting the Jews the right to live freely and trade in New Amsterdam, is perhaps the first American Magna Carta granted to the Jews, and is worth quoting at length: "We should have to fulfill your wishes, that the new territories should no more be allowed to be infested by the peoples of the Jewish nation, for we forsee therefrom the same difficulties which you fear, but after having further weighed and considered the matter, we observe that this would be somewhat unreasonable and unfair, especially because of the considerable loss sustained by this nation with others in the taking of Brazil, as also because of the large amount of capital which they still have invested in the shares of the company. There.
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fore, after many deliberations we have finally decided and resolved . . that these people may travel and trade to and in New Netherland and live and remain there, provided the poor among them shall not become a burden to the company or to the community but be sup- ported by their own nation. You will now govern yourself accord- ingly". (Quoted in "The Jews Come To America" By Paul Masserman and Max Baker p. 47).
11 P.A.J.H.S. Volume XVIII, p. 5.
12 The Settlement of the Jews in North America: Charles P. Daly. Newport : Jewish Encyclopedia, (Article by Leon Huhner and Max J. Kohler) Volume IX, p. 294. The Hebrews in America: Isaac Markens, p. 33, and others on the subject.
CHAPTER II
DAWN
1 History of Rhode Island and Newport in the Past: The Reverend Edward Peterson, p. 101. He speaks of them as coming from Holland. The author of Frankel's Wochenschrift, quoted .in P. A. J. H. S., Volume VI, by Max J. Kohler claims that they came from Brazil. He bases his conclusion on the similarity between the name Campanal and Campanelli, who was one of the Jews who went to Brazil together with Rabbi Aboab in 1642, and lived there until the Portuguese conquered Brazil. Mordecai Campanal is said to have been among the fifteen families who came to Newport in 1658. (Compare P.A.J.H.S. vol. II, p. 99). In view of the fact that a contingent of Spanish-Portuguese Jews did come to North America from Brazil, after the Portuguese conquest of 1655, the theory of the author in the Wochenschrift sounds plausible.
However, it may well be that the first permanent Jewish settlers in Newport to which the quotation in Peterson's History refers, came from Barbados. This is possible, for a number of reasons. First, we know, that Newport merchants were trading with Barbados at a very early period. And it might be, that because of this trade relationship, some Jews, upon hearing, about the religious toleration in Rhode Island, decided to come here. Secondly, in a "List of Jews made Denizens in the Reign of Charles II and James II, 1661-1687",
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we find the name of "Moses Israel Pachoe", which was suggested to be amended to Pacheco, and who may be identical with Moses Pacheco, who together with Mordecai Campannal is associated with the purchase of the Burial Ground in Newport in 1677. We also find, other members of the Pacheco family in Barbadoes in 1680. (See, P.A.J.H.S., Vol. XX, p. 109 ff. and Vol. I, p. 105 ff.).
Dr. Pool was kind enough to call the writer's attention to the article "The Jewish Colonists in Barbados" by Wilfred S. Samuel, which is fully documented and definitely proves that the origin of the Jewish community of Newport was Barbados. Speaking about Simon Mendes who figures in 1684, in the resolution of the General Assembly giving the Jews rights to live in Rhode Island and assuring them full protection, Samuel says: "This SIMON MENDES was one of a little group of Speightstown Jews who early became identi- fied with the congregation of Newport, Rhode Island . the oldest congregation of Jews in America. Its burial ground (to be celebrated two centuries later by Longfellow) had in February, 1678, been acquired by MORDECAI CAMPERNELL and one other Jew. A few months later Mordecai Campernell landed on the Island of Barbados and no doubt made his temporary home in St. Peter's Parish with "DANIEL CAMPERNELL, Jew" another of Lt. Col. Tidcom's militiamen. Mordecai Campernell was a Colonist of some experience who had formerly lived in Brazil, and he seems to have employed his time while visiting his kinsmen and friends on Barbados Island in persuading them of the far greater possibilities which were held out to settlers by Rhode Island. His colleague of the previous year in the purchase of the Newport burial ground had been MOSES ISRAEL PACHECHO of Hamburg but also well known on Barbados, where he had settled at the Restoration, and whence he had successfully petitioned king Charles in the year 1662 for denization. Pachecho and Campernell's desire to secure recruits for the Jewish nucleus at Newport, R. I., was largely satisfied by Mordecai Campernell's mission to Barbados in 1678-79. On the 1st April, 1679, he shipped himself back to New England; ten days later he was followed by Abraham Burgos and Jacob Tinoco, both of Speights. On the 18th September Daniel Nasy (probably one of the Speightstown Fonsecas) sailed away in the ship HOPE for New England · Newport being perhaps his ultimate destination. Sub- sequently Simon Mendes, with his wife, as well as the entire Campernell family left, 31st March 1685, - six years later . the Surveyor for Newport, R. I., commenced an action at law against the
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
representative local Jews (in connexion with the burial ground) the eight defendants included the bearers of these familiar names: Abraham Burgos, Rachell, widow of Simon Mendes, Mordecai Campernell, David Campernell, Daniel Campernell and Abraham Campernell".
This seems to prove conclusively, that practically all the Jews who constitute the nucleus of the Jewish community, and who were later as a group brought to trial in 1685, came from Barbados. According to Samuels, the date of their settlement is not certain. But at all events they were in Newport already (at least some) before 1677. Samuels is not right in his statement that these Jews were brought to trial in connection with the burial ground. (See quotations from records of trial in text, also P.A.J.H.S. Vol. XIX.
2 Peterson in his History states that the colony was settled by 18 men. In the "Early Religious Leaders", it is stated (p. 13) that before another year after the settlement of Newport in the spring of 1639, there were 200 families in the town. In an "Historical Discourse, etc." delivered by John Calender in 1739 and published the same year, the number of white inhabitants of Newport in 1730 is given as 3843 (p. 40).
3 History of Newport, etc .: Peterson p. 29.
4 Colonial Records of R. I .: John Russell Bartlett, Vol. I, p. 85. R. I. Historical Magazine, Vol. VI, p. 60.
5 History of R. I., etc .: Peterson p. 29.
6 Ibid p. 42.
7 The Jews in New York, though they organized their Congrega- tion Shearith Israel in 1655, had a difficult time to obtain permission to hold Public worship, or to build a synagogue. Dr. Pool in his sketch on the Mill Street Synagogue, quotes a number of utterances of the Dutch West India Company concerning this matter. Some of those quotations are worth mentioning :-
"The consent given to the Jews to go to New Netherland and there to enjoy the same liberty that is granted them in this country was extended with respect to civil and political liberties, without the said Jews becoming thereby entitled to license to exercise and carry on their religion in synagogues and gatherings". (p. 6) As late as 1763 . Jews were indicted in London for holding public services. It is recorded that on the 11th of February of that year the King in Council ordered; "that the Attorney General stop all
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proceedings and that they receive no further trouble in this behalf". See P. A. J. H. S. Vol. XXVII, p. 481.
8 Dr. Ezra Stiles mentions in his Literary Diary, (Vol. I, p. 11) that the Reverend Isaac Touro showed him a scroll over 200 years old at that time. George A. Kohut in his "Ezra Stiles and the Jews", also refers to an old scroll at the synagogue dating to 1658, which was brought by the first fifteen families. (p. 61) At present, there is still extant a very old Scroll at the synagogue written on leather, which is said to be the Scroll referred to.
9 The Jewish Cemetery at Newport, R.I .: The Rev. Abraham P. Mendes, p. 82, published in the R. I. Historical Magazine Vol. VI No. 2. Cf. P. A. J. H. S. Vol. II p. 99.
Mendez speaks of this Congregation as the Congregation "Yeshuat Israel".
10 See note 1.
The names Campanal and Pacheco are spelled variously in different sources. Spellings like Campunal, Campannel, Campannall and other variations are common. Likewise we find the spelling of Pachecho, Paceco, Pachoe, Packecoe and other variations, for Pacheco. We have adopted the use "Campanal" and "Pacheco". (Cf. P. A. J. H. S., Vol. XXIX, p. 32.)
11 P. A. J. H. S. Vol. XIX, p. 12.
12 The Jews and Masonry in the United States before 1810: Samuel Oppenheim. (Published in the P. A. J. H. S., Vol. XIX) p. 11. See page 12 ff. of the same article about a critical analysis of the quotation and the proof of the authenticity of the manuscript.
In volume XXVII p. 416 of the P. A. J. H. S., the manuscript is quoted as following: "On ye 5th day of ye 9th month 1658, ye 2nd Tisri A. M. 5518 we assembled at ye house of Mordecaih Campanall and gave a degree to Abraham Moses"
There are number of discrepancies between the two texts. Some inconsistencies in the latter quotation of the manuscript, have been noticed by the Reverend Jacques Judah Lyons, when he copied the quotation from the original manuscript in the seventies of the last century. He noted: "How could this be done on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, or was it on the night after the 2nd day, in which case it should have been dated 3d of Tisri". In addition to this there is a more conspicuous discrepancy in the Lyons quotation between the date of the general calendar and the date of the Jewish calendar.
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5518 which is the year according to the Jewish calendar given in the document, does not correspond with 1658. 5518 corresponds with 1758 which is a hundred years later. But this is impossible in knowledge of the fact that in 1758 there was no Mordecai Campanal in Newport. Besides, the Masonic Lodge by that time was a fully developed institution in the city, having a regular meeting place and it did not meet in any private homes. Besides, we possess the list of Jewish Masons, who belonged to the Order in Newport, from the time the first Masonic Lodge was regularly constituted in the forties of the eighteenth century.
The only explanation of these discrepancies seems to be the fact that the manuscript when seen by Lyons was very much obliterated. The manuscript as quoted by Oppenheim comes from a reading of it in 1870 by N. Gould, who was the possessor of this valuable paper. At that time already Gould noted in copying it that part of the date was obliterated.
The Reverend J. J. Lyons copied the same manuscript in 1872. Although two years should make not much difference, yet, because of the age of the paper, it is quite plausible that by the time Lyons saw it, the reading was still more difficult, and the date was altogether obliterated. It may also be that Gould did not take the trouble to decipher the entire document, especially the part containing the Hebrew date which, the Reverend Jacques Lyons, who was interested in it more from a point of view of Jewish history than masonry, did attempt to read more completely. The error in the Hebrew date may simply be an error of Mr. Lyons in copying or an attempt to render the obliterated date more fully.
The words "and affter Synagog", which do not appear in the Lyon's quotation, were probably altogether missing at the time he copied it.
However, whatever reasons there might be for the apparent differences in the readings of the original document concerning the first settlement of the Jews in Newport, all authorities on the subject agree that 1658 is the date the Jews first came to the shores of Rhode Island as a group; and that they, immediately upon their arrival organized a congregation, which conducted its services in private houses for over a century until a Synagogue was built.
13 The Jews in Newport: Max J. Kohler in P. A. J. H. S., Vol. VI.
14 History of Rhode Island, etc .: Peterson, p. 155.
15 Colonial Records of R. I. : Bartlett, Vol. I, p. 337, 338, Rhode
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Island Its Making, etc .: I. B. Richman, p. 27.
16 Economic and Social History of New England: Weeden Vol. I, p. 154.
17 Our State of Rhode Island : Lilliam B. Miner, p. 66ff.
18 Colonial Records of Rhode Island: Bartlett, Vol. I, p. 581.
19 Ibid. p. 223.
20 Short History of the United States: John Spencer Basset, p. 76.
21 Rhode Island, Three Centuries of Democracy: Charles Carroll.
22 Short History of the United States: John Spencer Basset, p. 78.
23 See last paragraph of Cemetery Deed; Cf. P. A. J. H. S., Vol. XIX, p. 14.
24 History of Newport County: Richard M. Bayle, p. 467; Colonial Records of R. I. ; Newport Historical Society Bulletin No. 44, p. 17.
25 See note 23.
26 The Jewish Cemetery : Mendes, in R. I. Hist. Mag., Vol. VI, p. 82.
27 The earliest existing map, which is reproduced elsewhere in this volume, is that of John Mumford, and dates from 1712. On it the name Jew's Street already occurs. Cf. History of Newport County: Richard M. Bayle, p. 484-5. The street is also marked "Jews Street" and "Jew Street" on later maps.
28 Rhode Island Historical Magazine, Vol. VI, p. 24.
29 The Jewish Cemetery : Mendes in R. I. Hist Mag., Vol. VI, p. 83, Cf. P. A. J. H. S., Vol. XXVII, p. 425.
30 P. A. J. H. S., Vol. XXV, p. 42.
Under date of August 29, 1695, Isaac Naphtali in a petition for letters of denization in New York is described as a "Jew butcher in Rhode Island". The use of butcher for the term Schochet is not uncommon. Asser Levy who was sworn in as slaughterer of animals in 1660 is also referred to as a butcher. Later we will note that Benjamin Seixas is referred to as the butcher for the Jews, which in fact meant that he practiced Schechita. See on this last instance the chaper "The Close of a Colorful Chapter". It should be noted here that in the Talmud the term "Taboch" which means "butcher" is used synonymously with Schochet.
31 History of Rhode Island,etc. : Peterson.
32 Record of the General Court of Trials, 1671 - 1724, p. 73.
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THE STORY OF THE JEWS OF NEWPORT
33 Ibid. p. 87.
34 The Jewish Cemetery: Mendes in the R. I. Historical Magazine, Vol. VI, p. 84.
35 The Jews of Newport: Kohler in P. A. J. H. S., Vol. VI.
P. A. J. H. S., Vol. XXVII, p. 413. It may perhaps be that this was a chapel or a small synagogue, a little removed from the cemetery, which was responsible for the Street being called Jews Street, though the Jewish Cemetery might just as well be responsible for this. There is a tradition that there was another smaller syna- gogue in Newport before the one dedicated in 1763 was built.
37 See note 24.
38 P. A. J. H. S., Vol. II; Cf. Ibid Vol. VI, p. 78.
39 R. I. Three Centuries of Democracy : Carroll, Vol. I, p. 157.
40 Records of the General Court of Trials 1671 - 1724, p. 72, 73.
11 Colonial Records: Bartlett, Vol. III, p. 160.
42 Records of the General Court of Trials, 1671 - 1724, p. 73.
43 Ibid.
44 Ibid. p. 97.
45 R. I. Historical Magazine, Vol. II, p. 226.
46 Records of the General Court of Trials, 1671-1724, p. 146. P. A. J. H. S., Vol. VI, p. 68.
47 The Jews Come to America: Paul Masserman and Max Baker. p. 53, note 17. Cf. P. A. J. H. S., Vol. II, p. 87.
48 New York Historical Society; Extraxts of Wills, Vol. I, p. 399. 49 The Mill Street Synagogue: David de Sola Pool, p. 27.
50 Early American Jews: Lee M. Friedman, p. 9.
51 Ibid.
52 Ipswich Vital Records. (Quoted in Early American Jews).
53 P. A J. H S., XXI, p. 43 ; Cf. Ibid, Vol. VI, p. 101; Ibid. Vol II, p. 48.
54 Ibid. Vol. XXI, p. 41.
55 Ibid. p. 69-70, 91.
56 New York Colonial Mss. Vol. XL, p. 65, quoted in P. A. J. H. S., Vol. XXV, p. 42.
67 The Mill Street Synagogue: D. de Sola Pool, p. 72.
68 See Next Chapter.
59 Ezra Stiles and the Jews: George Alexander Kohut, p. 42-3.
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NOTES
60 Ibid. ; Diary of Samuel Sewall, reprinted in Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections, series 5, Vol. XI, p. 95, quoted in Early American Jews: Lee M. Friedman.
61 P. A. J. H. S., Vol. X, p. 146.
62 The Jews in Newport: Kohler in P. A. J. H. S., Vol. VI, p. 67.
The list of Jews and their occupations, supposedly of the seven- teenth century, given by Judge Daly in his book "The Settlement of the Jews in North America", page 78, is an error. These Jews lived in the eighteenth century. (See P. A. J. H. S., Vol, XIX, p. 18 ff. ; and Ibid. Vol. XXVII, p. 416).
This error has been copied by all subsequent writers on the subject. Judge Daly apparently took these names from the list of Masons in Gould's letter referred to in notes 11, 12, in which he speaks of the earliest lodge. Daly took the expression "earliest lodges" to refer to lodges of the seventeenth century. But Gould refers to the "earliest" of the regularly constituted lodges, after the revival of Free Masonry. Gould refers to St. John's Lodge organized in 1749 or 1747. (Cf. P. A. J. H. S., Vol. XIX, p. 18).
CHAPTER III
PROGRESS
1 P. A. J. H. S., Vol. X, p. 142ff. Note also "The Jews Come to America": Masserman and Baker, p. 59, note 37, where the authors state, that, early in the eighteenth century, Abraham de Lucena of New York exported wheat to Lisbon, and the vessels brought back Jews to New York and Newport.
2 R. I. Hist. Magazine, Vol. IV, p. 80, gives the census of 1744. The total population then was 9209, as compared with 3843 in 1730, as given by Callender. See note 6.
8 Rhode Island, Three Centuries of Democracy: Charles Caroll, Vol. I, p. 124.
4 Reminiscences of Newport: George Champlin Mason, p. 9.
5 History of Newport County: Richard M. Bayle, p. 487.
6 Historical Discourse, etc. : John Callender. Delivered and Published in 1739.
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7 Colonial Records of R. I .: John Russell Bartlett, Vol. I, p. 30.
8 Original Will in Vaults of Newport Historical Society. Also quoted in Early Religious Leaders: N. H. S., p. 9.
9 Extracts of Wills published in the R. I. Hist. Mag.
10 Governor of Rhode Island 1657, 1662-66, 1669-72 and from 1677 to 1678.
11 R. I. Hist. Mag .. Vol. VI, p. 35.
12 Newport Historical Society Bulletin, No. 14, p. 1.
13 Ibid. p. 3.
14 Annals of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum in Newport, Rhode Island: George Champlin Mason, p. 9.
15 Rhode Island, Three centuries of Democracy: Charles Carroll, Vol. I, p. 125.
16 R. I. Hist. Mag., Vol. IV, p. 27ff.
17 Annals of the Redwood Library, etc. : Mason, p. 10. The Reverend George Berkeley was Dean of Derry, the well known author of "Principles of Human Knowledge".
18 Joseph Jacob, who was a member of the Philosophical Society in 1730, and later Treasurer of the Redwood Library at the time of its founding in 1747, is thought by many to have been a Jew. There was a Joseph Jacob a Jew at a later date who was at one time the Schochet of the Community. See P. A. J. H. S., Vol. XXVII.
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