Hakham Raphael Hayyim Issac Karigal (1733-77) was born in Hebron. Karigal was ordained as a rabbi at the age of seventeen and set out in 1754 on several voyages. He traveled to Constantinople (1754-56), Curaçao (1761-63), Hebron, (1764-68), London (1768-71), Jamaica (1771-72), the British colonies including Newport (1772-73), and finally Suriname and Barbados (1773-77). In addition to fundraising, he taught in Jewish schools and led services for several different communities. While in Newport, Rabbi Carigal preached a sermon in Spanish for Shavuot that was so popular that members of the Lopez family had it translated into English and published. This was the first Jewish sermon published in what would become the United States. Karigal died in Barbados at the age of 44.
