The history of the Jews in Latin America began with
conversos
A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert" (), was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of their descendants.
To safeguard the Old Christian popula ...
who joined the Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to the continents. The
Alhambra Decree
The Alhambra Decree (also known as the Edict of Expulsion; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Decreto de la Alhambra'', ''Edicto de Granada'') was an edict issued on 31 March 1492 by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdi ...
of 1492 led to the mass conversion of Spain's Jews to Catholicism and the expulsion of those who refused to do so. Many conversos, Jews who converted to Christianity under pressure during the Spanish Inquisition, did travel to the New World. While the Spanish Crown required settlers to be of
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
lineage, conversos often presented themselves as devout Catholics to meet this requirement. Some sought refuge in the Americas to escape persecution of the Inquisition, which followed them even to the Spanish
viceregal
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory.
The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...
towns.
In places like
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and New Mexico, conversos maintained their faith in secret while outwardly adhering to Catholic practices. Their migration was driven by both the hope for greater economic opportunities and the desire to escape religious oppression.
the first Jews came with the first expedition of
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...
, including
Rodrigo de Triana
Rodrigo de Triana (1469 in Lepe, Huelva, Spain – 1535 in Maluku Islands) was a Spanish sailor, believed to be the first European from the Age of Exploration to have seen the Americas. Born as Juan Rodríguez Bermejo, Triana was the son of h ...
and
Luis De Torres.
throughout the 15th and 16th centuries a number of converso families migrated to the Netherlands, France and eventually Italy, from where they joined other expeditions to the Americas. Others migrated to England or France and accompanied their colonists as traders and merchants. By the late 16th century, fully functioning Jewish communities were founded in the Portuguese colony of Brazil, the Dutch
Suriname
Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...
and
Curaçao
Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela.
Curaçao includ ...
; Spanish
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...
, and the English colonies of
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
and
Barbados
Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...
. In addition, there were unorganized communities of Jews in Spanish and Portuguese territories where the
Inquisition
The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...
was active, including
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
,
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
,
Puerto Rico
; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
, Mexico and
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
. Many in such communities were
crypto-Jews
Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek ''kryptos'' – , 'hidden').
The term is especially applied historically to Spani ...
, who had generally concealed their identity from the authorities.
By the mid-17th century, the largest Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere were located in
Suriname
Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...
and Brazil. Several Jewish communities in the Caribbean, Central and South America flourished, particularly in those areas under Dutch and English control, which were more tolerant. More immigrants went to this region as part of the massive emigration of Jews from eastern Europe in the late 19th century. During and after World War II, many
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...
emigrated to South America for refuge. In the 21st century, fewer than 300,000 Jews live in Latin America. They are concentrated in
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
,
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
,
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
,
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
,
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and
Uruguay
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
.
Argentina

Jews fleeing the Inquisition settled in Argentina, where they intermarried with native women. Portuguese traders and smugglers in the Virreinato del Río de la Plata were considered by many to be
crypto-Jewish, but no community emerged after Argentina achieved
independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...
. After 1810 (and about mid-nineteenth century), more Jews, especially from
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, began to settle in Argentina. By the end of the century in Argentina, as in America, many Jewish immigrants were coming from
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
(mainly
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
and
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
) fleeing
Tsarist persecution. Upon arrival they were generally called "Russians" in reference to their region of origin.
Jewish individuals and families emigrated from Europe to Argentina before and after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, in an attempt to escape the
Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
and later postwar
antisemitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
. Between 250,000 and 300,000 Jews now live in Argentina, the vast majority of whom reside in the cities of
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
,
Rosario
Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...
,
Córdoba,
Mendoza,
La Plata
La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...
and
San Miguel de Tucumán
San Miguel de Tucumán (), usually called simply Tucumán, is the capital and largest city of Tucumán Province, located in northern Argentina from Buenos Aires. It is the fifth-largest city of Argentina after Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Argentin ...
. Argentina has the third-largest Jewish community in the Americas after the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, and the sixth largest in the world. According to recent surveys, more than a million Argentines have at least one grandparent of Jewish ethnicity.
The Jewish Argentine community legally receives seven
holidays per year, with both days of
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah (, , ) is the New Year in Judaism. The Hebrew Bible, biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , ). It is the first of the High Holy Days (, , 'Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summe ...
,
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October.
For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...
, and the first and last two days of
Passover
Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt.
According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...
, according to the law 26,089.
Bahamas
200 Jews lived in the Bahamas in 2022.
Bolivia
Jewish presence in
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
started at the beginning of the
Spanish colonial period.
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; ), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia), Santa Cruz department.
Situated on the Pirai River (Bolivia), Pirai River in the eastern Tropical ...
, was founded in 1557 by
Ñuflo de Chávez who was accompanied by a small group of pioneers, including several
crypto-Jews
Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek ''kryptos'' – , 'hidden').
The term is especially applied historically to Spani ...
from
Ascuncion and
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
. The city became known as a safe haven for Jews during the
Inquisition in the region.
[Eli Birnbaum, ''History of the Jewish People'']
The second wave of
Converso
A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert" (), was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of their descendants.
To safeguard the Old Christian popula ...
s came to Santa Cruz de la Sierra after 1570, when the Spanish Inquisition began operating in Lima. Alleged ''
marrano
''Marranos'' is a term for Spanish and Portuguese Jews, as well as Navarrese jews, who converted to Christianity, either voluntarily or by Spanish or Portuguese royal coercion, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but who continued t ...
s'' (that is,
New Christian
New Christian (; ; ; ; ; ) was a socio-religious designation and legal distinction referring to the population of former Jews, Jewish and Muslims, Muslim Conversion to Christianity, converts to Christianity in the Spanish Empire, Spanish and Po ...
s whom others rightly or wrongly suspected of crypto-Judaism), settled in
Potosi,
La Paz
La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...
and La Plata. After they gained economic success in mining and commerce, they faced suspicion and persecution from the Inquisition and local authorities. Most of these ''marrano'' families moved to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, as it was an isolated urban settlement where the Inquisition did not bother the
converso
A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert" (), was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of their descendants.
To safeguard the Old Christian popula ...
s.
[Sherry Mangan, "Storm Clouds over the Bolivian Refuge"] Most of the converso settlers were men, and many intermarried with indigenous or
mestizo
( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...
women, founding mixed-race or
mestizo
( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...
families. Conversos also settled in adjacent towns of
Vallegrande, Postrervalle, Portachuelo, Terevinto, Pucara, Cotoca and others.
Many of Santa Cruz's oldest families are of partial Jewish heritage; Some traces of Jewish culture can still be found in family traditions, as well as local customs. For example, some families have family-heirloom seven-branched candle sticks or the custom of lighting candles on Friday at sunset. The typical local dishes can be all prepared with
kosher
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashke ...
practices (none mix milk and meat, pork is served, but never mixed with other foods).
Scholars disagree on provenance and recency of these practices. After almost five centuries, some of the descendants of these families claim awareness of Jewish origins, but practice Catholicism (in certain cases with some Jewish
syncretism
Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the ...
).
From independence in 1825 to the end of the 19th century, some Jewish merchants and traders (both
Sephardim
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendan ...
and
Ashkenazim
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...
) immigrated to Bolivia. Most took local women as wives, founding families that eventually merged into the mainstream Catholic society. This was often the case in the eastern regions of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando, where these merchants came from Brazil or Argentina.
During the 20th century, substantial Jewish settlement began in Bolivia. In 1905, a group of Russian Jews, followed by
Argentines
Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...
, settled in Bolivia. In 1917, it was estimated that there were 20 to 25 professing Jews in the country. By 1933, when the
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
era in Germany started, there were 30 Jewish families. The first large Jewish immigration occurred during the 1930s; the population had climbed to an estimated 8,000 at the end of 1942. During the 1940s, 2,200 Jews emigrated from Bolivia to other countries. But the ones who remained have created communities in
La Paz
La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...
,
Cochabamba
Cochabamba (; ) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital (political), capital of the Cochabamba Department and the list of cities in Bolivia, fourth largest city in Bolivia, with ...
,
Oruro
Oruro (Hispanicized spelling) or Uru Uru is a city in Bolivia with a population of 264,683 (2012 calculation), about halfway between La Paz and Sucre in the Altiplano, approximately above sea level.
It is Bolivia's fifth-largest city by populat ...
, Santa Cruz,
Sucre
Sucre (; ) is the ''de jure'' capital city of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the sixth most populous city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . This relatively high ...
,
Tarija
Tarija or San Bernardo de la Frontera de Tarixa is a city in southern Bolivia. Founded in 1574, Tarija is the largest city and capital and municipality within the Tarija Department, with an airport ( Capitán Oriel Lea Plaza Airport, (TJA)) of ...
and
Potosí
Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Potosí Department, Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the list of highest cities in the world, highest cities in the wo ...
. After World War II, a small number of
Polish Jews
The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...
immigrated to Bolivia.
By 2006, approximately 700 Jews remained in Bolivia. There are
synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
s in the cities of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, La Paz, and Cochabamba. Most Bolivian Jews live in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
Brazil
Jews settled early in
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, especially in areas of Dutch rule. They set up a
synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
in
Recife
Recife ( , ) is the Federative units of Brazil, state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of South America. It is the largest urban area within both the North Region, Brazil, North and the Northeast R ...
in 1636, which is considered the first synagogue in the Americas. Most of these Jews were
converso
A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert" (), was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of their descendants.
To safeguard the Old Christian popula ...
s who had fled
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
and
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
to the religious freedom of the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
when the
Inquisition
The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...
began in Portugal in 1536. In 1656, following the
Portuguese reconquest of Brazil, Jews left for the
Caribbean islands
Most of the Caribbean countries are islands in the Caribbean Sea, with only a few in inland lakes. The largest islands include Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Some of the smaller islands are referred to as a ''rock'' or ''reef.''
''I ...
and
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam (, ) was a 17th-century Dutch Empire, Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''Factory (trading post), fac ...
under Dutch rule; the latter was taken over by the English in 1664 and was renamed as
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.
After
independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...
in the 19th century, Brazil attracted more Jews among its immigrants, and pressure in Europe convinced more Jews to leave. Jewish immigration rose throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, at a time of massive emigration from the Russian Empire (including
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
and
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
). Jewish immigration to Brazil was rather low between 1881 and 1900 although this was the height of other international immigration to Brazil; many were going to more industrialized countries. Between 1921 and 1942 worldwide immigration to Brazil fell by 21%, but Jewish immigration to Brazil increased by 57,000. This was in response to anti-immigration legislation and immigration quotas passed by the United States, Argentina, Canada and South Africa, persisting even after the
crisis of Jews under the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
became clear. The Brazilian government generally did not enforce its own immigration legislation. Lastly, the Jews in Brazil developed strong support structures and economic opportunities, which attracted Eastern European and Polish Jewish immigration.
[Jeffrey Lesser, "The Immigration and Integration of Polish Jews in Brazil"](_blank)
, Emory University
Brazil has the 9th largest
Jewish community in the world, about 107,329 by 2010, according to the
IBGE
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil. IBGE performs a decennial national cen ...
census. The
Jewish Confederation of Brazil (CONIB) estimates that there are more than 120,000 Jews in Brazil. Brazilian Jews play an active role in politics, sports, academia, trade and industry, and are well integrated in all spheres of Brazilian life. The majority of Brazilian Jews live in the
state
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
of
São Paulo
São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
, but there are also sizable communities in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
,
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...
,
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...
and
Paraná.
Chile
Although a relatively small community amounting to no more than 1% of the country's religious minorities, Jews in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
have achieved prominent positions in its society. They have had key roles both before and after its independence in 1810. Most Chilean Jews today reside in
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...
and
Valparaíso
Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...
, but there are significant communities in the north and south of the country.
Mario Kreutzberger, otherwise known as "Don Francisco" and host of ''
Sábado Gigante
In a vast number of languages, the names given to the seven days of the week are derived from the names of the classical planets in Hellenistic astronomy, which were in turn named after contemporary deities, a system introduced by the Sumer ...
'', the longest-running TV show in the world, is a Chilean Jew of German origin. Other Chilean Jews who have achieved recognition in arts and culture include
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (; born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean and French Experimental film, avant-garde filmmaker. Known for his films ''El Topo'' (1970), ''The Holy Mountain (1973 film), The Holy Mountain'' (1973) and ''Santa Sangre'' ...
, now established in France and best known internationally for his literary and filmic work. Others include
Nissim Sharim (actor),
Shlomit Baytelman (actress) and
Anita Klesky (actress).
Volodia Teitelboim
Volodia Teitelboim.
Volodia Teitelboim Volosky (originally ''Valentín Teitelboim Volosky''; March 17, 1916 – January 31, 2008) was a Chilean Communist politician, lawyer, and author.
Personal life
Born in Chillán to Jewish immigrants, Moisé ...
, poet and former leader of the
Chilean Communist Party, is one of the many Jews to have held important political positions in the country.
Tomás Hirsch is leader of the radical Green-Communist coalition and former presidential candidate in 2005.
State ministers Karen Poniachick (Minister for Mining) and
Clarisa Hardy (Minister for Social Affairs) are also Jewish. In the field of sport, tennis player
Nicolás Massú
Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried (; born 10 October 1979), nicknamed ''El Vampiro'' (Spanish, 'the vampire'), is a Chilean tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ...
(gold medalist in
Athens 2004 and former top-ten in the
ATP rankings
The PIF ATP Rankings (previously known as the Pepperstone ATP Rankings) are the merit-based method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for determining the qualification for entry as well as the seeding of players in all single ...
) has Jewish background.
Many of the country's most important companies, particularly in the retail and commercial field, have been set up by Jews. Examples are Calderón, Gendelman, Hites, and Pollak (commercial retailers) and Rosen (Mattress and Bed Industries).
Colombia
"
New Christian
New Christian (; ; ; ; ; ) was a socio-religious designation and legal distinction referring to the population of former Jews, Jewish and Muslims, Muslim Conversion to Christianity, converts to Christianity in the Spanish Empire, Spanish and Po ...
s", fled the
Iberian peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
to escape persecution and seek religious freedom during the 16th and 17th centuries. It is estimated that some reached northern areas of
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
, which at the time was known as
New Granada. Most if not all of these people
assimilated into Colombian society. Some continue to practice traces of
Sephardic
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
Jewish rituals as family traditions.
In the 18th century, practicing
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
Spanish and Portuguese Jews, also called Western Sephardim, Iberian Jews, or Peninsular Jews, are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardic Jews who are largely descended from Jews who lived as New Christians in the Iberian Peninsula during the fe ...
came from
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
and
Curaçao
Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela.
Curaçao includ ...
, where they had flourished under English and Dutch rule. These Jews started practicing their religion openly in Colombia at the end of the 18th century, although it was not officially legal to do so, given the established Catholic Church. After
independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...
, Judaism was recognized as a legal religion. The government granted the Jews land for a
cemetery
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...
.
Many Jews who came during the 18th and 19th centuries achieved prominent positions in Colombian society. Some married local women and felt they had to abandon or diminish their Jewish identity. These included author
Jorge Isaacs of English Jewish ancestry, the industrialist
James Martin Eder (who adopted the more Christian name of Santiago Eder when he translated his name to Spanish) born into the
Latvian Jewish community, as well as the De Lima, Salazar, Espinoza, Arias, Ramirez, Perez and Lobo families of Caribbean
Sephardim
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendan ...
. Coincidentally, these persons and their families settled in the
Cauca Valley region of Colombia. They have continued to be influential members of society in cities such as
Cali
Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...
. Over the generations most of their descendants were raised as
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...
Christians.
During the early part of the 20th century, numerous Sephardic Jewish immigrants came from
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
,
North Africa
North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
and
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
. Shortly after, Jewish immigrants began to arrive from
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
. A wave of immigrants came after the
rise of Nazism
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
in 1933 and the imposition of
antisemitic laws and practices, including more than 7,000 German Jews. From 1939 until the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, immigration was put to a halt by anti-immigrant feelings in the country and restrictions on immigration from Germany.
Colombia asked Germans who were on the
U.S. blacklist to leave and allowed Jewish
refugee
A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
s in the country illegally to stay.
[Latin America during World War II by Thomas M. Leonard, John F. Bratzel, P.117] The Jewish population increased dramatically in the 1950s and 1960s, and institutions such as
synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
s, schools and social clubs were established throughout the largest cities in the country.
The changing economy and wave of kidnappings during the last decade of the 20th century led many members of Colombia's Jewish community to emigrate. Most settled in
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
and other parts of the United States. Successes in the nation's
Democratic security Policy has encouraged citizens to return; it has drastically reduced violence in the rural areas and criminality rates in urban areas, as well as in spurring the economy. The situation in Colombia has improved to the extent that many
Venezuelan Jews
The history of the Jews in Venezuela dates to the middle of the 17th century, when records suggest that groups of ''marranos'' (Spanish and Portuguese descendants of baptized Jews suspected of secret adherence to Judaism) lived in Tucacas, Cara ...
are now seeking refuge in Colombia.
In the early 21st century, most of the Jews in Colombia are concentrated in
Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...
, with about 20,000 members, and
Barranquilla
Barranquilla () is the capital district of the Atlántico department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean region of Colombia, Caribbean coast region; as of 2018, it had a popul ...
, with about 7,000 members. Large communities are found in
Cali
Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...
and
Medellín
Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...
, but very few practicing Jews. Smaller communities are found in
Cartagena and the island of
San Andres. There are 14 official synagogues throughout the country. In Bogotá, Jews each run their own religious and cultural institutions. The
Confederación de Asociaciones Judías de Colombia, located in Bogotá, is the central organization that coordinates Jews and Jewish institutions in Colombia.
In the new millennium, after years of study, a group of Colombians with Jewish ancestry formally
converted to Judaism
Conversion to Judaism ( or ) is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. "Thus, by convertin ...
to be accepted as Jews according to the
halakha
''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...
.
Costa Rica
The first Jews in
Costa Rica
Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
were probably ''
converso
A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert" (), was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of their descendants.
To safeguard the Old Christian popula ...
s'', who arrived in the 16th and 17th centuries with Spanish expeditions. In the 19th century
Sephardic
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
merchants from
Curaçao
Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela.
Curaçao includ ...
,
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
,
Panama
Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
and the Caribbean followed. They lived mostly in
Central Valley, married local women, and were soon assimilated into the country's general society. Most eventually gave up Judaism altogether.
A third wave of Jewish immigrants came before World War I and especially in the 1930s, as Ashkenazi Jews fled a Europe threatened by
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
. Most of these immigrants came from the Polish town
Żelechów
Żelechów (Yiddish language, Yiddish זשעלעכאָוו) is a town in eastern Poland in Masovian Voivodeship in Garwolin County. It is the seat of Gmina Żelechów. Żelechów is from Warsaw and far from Lublin. More than 4000 people live in ...
. The term ''Polacos'', which was originally a slur referring to these immigrants, has come to mean door-to-door salesman in colloquial Costa Rican Spanish.
The country's first synagogue, the Orthodox Shaarei Zion, was built in 1933 in the capital
San José (it is located along 3rd Avenue and 6th Street). Along with a wave of nationalism, in the 1940s there was some antisemitism in Costa Rica, but generally there have been few problems.
Since the late 20th century there has been a fourth wave of Jewish immigration made up of American and Israeli expatriates who are retiring here or doing business in the country. The Jewish community is estimated to number 2,500 to 3,000 people, most of them living in the capital.
The San José suburb of Rohrmoser has a strong Jewish influence due to its residents. A couple of synagogues are located here, as well as a kosher deli and restaurant. The Plaza Rohrmoser shopping center had the only
kosher
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashke ...
''
Burger King
Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacks ...
'' in the country. The Centro Israelita Sionista (Zionist Israeli Center) is a large Orthodox compound where a synagogue, library and museum are located. In 2015, the
Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Azriel Weizmann ( ; 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born Israeli statesman, biochemist, and Zionist leader who served as president of the World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organization and later as the first pre ...
comprehensive school in San Jose had over 300 students in kindergarten, primary, and secondary grades learning in both Spanish and Hebrew.
Cuba
Jews have lived on the island of
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
for centuries. Some Cubans trace Jewish ancestry to crypto-Jews, called
Marrano
''Marranos'' is a term for Spanish and Portuguese Jews, as well as Navarrese jews, who converted to Christianity, either voluntarily or by Spanish or Portuguese royal coercion, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but who continued t ...
s, who fled the
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition () was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and lasted until 1834. It began toward the end of ...
. Early colonists generally married native women and few of their descendants, after centuries of residence, practice Judaism today. There was significant Jewish immigration to Cuba in the first half of the 20th century, as noted in other countries of Latin America. During this time,
Beth Shalom Temple in Havana was constructed and became the most prominent Latin American Jewish synagogue. There were 15,000 Jews in Cuba in 1959, but many Jewish businessmen and professionals left Cuba for the United States after the
Cuban revolution
The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...
, fearing class persecution under the Communists.
In the early 1990s, ''Operation Cigar'' was launched, and in the period of five years, more than 400 Cuban Jews secretly immigrated to Israel. In February 2007 ''The New York Times'' estimated that about 1,500 Jews live in Cuba, most of them (about 1,000) in Havana.
Beth Shalom Temple is an active synagogue that serves many Cuban Jews.
Curaçao
Curaçao
Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela.
Curaçao includ ...
has the oldest active Jewish congregation in the Americas—dating to 1651—and the oldest synagogue of the Americas, in continuous use since its completion in 1732 on the site of a
previous synagogue. The Jewish community of Curaçao also played a key role in supporting early Jewish congregations in the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, including in New York City and
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...
, where the
Touro Synagogue
The Touro Synagogue is a synagogue built in 1763 in Newport, Rhode Island. The building has been occupied by several different congregations over the years. The current occupant is known as Congregation Ahavath Israel (). As the only surviving s ...
was built. Growth in Latin American Jewish communities, primarily in Colombia and Venezuela, resulted from the influx of Curaçaoan Jews. In 1856 and 1902 the Jews of Coro (Venezuela) were plundered, maltreated, and driven to seek refuge in their native Curaçao.
Dominican Republic
Converso Merchants of Sephardic origin arrived in southern
Hispaniola
Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...
during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, fleeing the outcome of the Spanish Inquisition. Over the centuries, many Jews and their descendants assimilated into the general population and some have converted into the Catholic religion, although many of the country's Jews still retain elements of the
Sephardic
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
culture of their ancestors. Later, in the 18th and 19th centuries, many Sephardic families from Curaçao emigrated to the Dominican Republic.
Sosua, meanwhile, is a small town close to
Puerto Plata was founded by Jews fleeing the rising
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
regime of the 1930s.
Rafael Trujillo
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina ( ; ; 24 October 1891 – 30 May 1961), nicknamed ''El Jefe'' (; "the boss"), was a Dominican military officer and dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from August 1930 until Rafael Trujillo#Assassination, ...
, the country's dictator, welcomed many Jewish refugees to his island mainly for their skills rather than for religious persecution. Present-day Sosua still possesses a synagogue and a museum of Jewish history. Descendants of those Jews can still be found in many other villages and towns on the north of the island close to Sosua.
Ecuador
For some time, prior to the 20th century, many Jews in
Ecuador
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
were of
Sephardic ancestry and some retained their use of the
Judaeo-Spanish
Judaeo-Spanish or Judeo-Spanish (autonym , Hebrew script: ), also known as Ladino or Judezmo or Spaniolit, is a Romance language derived from Castilian Old Spanish.
Originally spoken in Spain, and then after the Edict of Expulsion spreading ...
(Ladino) language. However, today, most Jewish people in Ecuador are of Ashkenazi ancestry.
Some assume that these groups were among the European settlers of Ecuador.
Many Jewish people came from Germany in 1939, on a ship called the "Koenigstein". During the years 1933–43, there were a population of 2,700 Jewish immigrants. In 1939, the Jewish population, mostly
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
and
Polish Jews
The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...
, were expelled by a decree of the Italian influenced government of
Alberto Enriquez Gallo. The antisemitism spread in the population, but was stopped by the intervention of the American embassy. In 1945, there was a reported population of 3,000. About 85% of them were European refugees.
The rise of Jewish immigration to Ecuador was when the
Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
started. In 1950, there was an estimation of 4,000 persons living in Ecuador. Most of the active Jewish communities in Ecuador are from German origin. The majority of Ecuadorian Jews live in
Quito
Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...
and
Guayaquil
Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...
. There is a Jewish school in Quito. In Guayaquil, there is a Jewish Community under the auspices of Los Caminos de Israel called Nachle Emuna Congregation. Now in 2017 in Ecuador there are only 290 reported Jews in the country.
"Among the Jewish immigrants who came to
Ecuador
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
were also professionals, intellectuals and artists, some of whom were professors and writers. Other Alberto Capua, Giorgio Ottolenghi, Aldo Mugla, Francisco Breth, Hans Herman, Leopold Levy, Paul Engel, Marco Turkel, Henry Fente, Benno Weiser, Otto Glass, Egon Fellig, and Karl Kohn. Olga Fis valued and spread the Ecuadorian folk art, Constanza Capua conducted archaeological, anthropological and colonial art.
From Sephardic ancestry were Leonidas Gilces and his younger brother Angel Theodore Gilces whom helped many immigrants such as Charles Liebman who reach the capital with his library, which became the most important of the capital. Simon Goldberg who had a library in Berlin, Goethe library of old books that contributed to the dissemination of reading. Vera Kohn was a psychologist and teacher, tasks that at mid-century were not of interest of Ecuadorian women who used to live in their homes given away, devoid of intellectual curiosity and only care about social life. They were not interested in politics, with the exception of Paul Beter, belonging to the second generation of Jews, who became Minister of Economy and Central Bank President.
El Salvador
Alsatian-born Bernardo Haas, who came to
El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
in 1868, was believed to be the country's first Jewish immigrant. Another Jew, Leon Libes, was documented as the first German Jew in 1888.
Sephardic
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
families also arrived from countries such as Turkey,
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
,
Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
Spain and France. De Sola helped to found the first synagogue and became an invaluable member of the Jewish community. In 1936, World War II caused the Jewish community to help their ancestors escape from Europe. Some had their relatives in El Salvador. But some were forced to go into countries such as Brazil,
Ecuador
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
,
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
and
Panama
Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
. On 30 July 1939, President Martinez barred an entry of fifty Jewish refugees going to El Salvador on the German ship ''Portland''. On 11 September 1948, the community started and continues to support a school "Colegio Estado de Israel". According to the latest Census, there are currently about 100 Jews living in El Salvador, mostly in the capital city of San Salvador. Most of them have Sephardic roots. There is a small town called Armenia in rural El Salvador where people practice Orthodox Sephardic Judaism since the inquisition.
French Guiana
Jews arrived in
French Guiana
French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...
by the way of the Dutch West India Company. Later on 12 September 1659, Jews arrived from Dutch colonies in Brazil. The company appointed David Nassy, a Brazilian refugee, patron of an exclusive Jewish settlement on the western side of the island of
Cayenne
Cayenne (; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Caye ...
, an area called Remire or Irmire. From 1658 to 1659, Paulo Jacomo Pinto began negotiating with the Dutch authorities in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
to allow a group of Jews from
Livorno, Italy
Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...
to settle in the Americas. On 20 July 1600, more than 150
Sephardic Jews
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
left Livorno (Leghorn) and settled in Cayenne. The French agreed to those terms, an exceptional policy that was not common among the French colonies. Nevertheless, nearly two-thirds of the population left for the Dutch colony of
Suriname
Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...
.
Over the decades, the Leghorn Jews of Cayenne immigrated to Suriname. In 1667, the remaining Jewish community was captured by the occupying British forces and moved the population to either Suriname or
Barbados
Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...
to work in
sugarcane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...
production. Since the late 17th century, few Jews have lived in French Guiana. In 1992, 20 Jewish families from Suriname and North Africa attempted to re-establish the community in Cayenne. A Chabad organization exists in the country and maintains Jewish life within the community. Today, 800 Jews live in French Guiana, predominately in Cayenne.
Guatemala
The first Jewish migrations to
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
date back to the Spanish period. Historical records from the Mexican Inquisition reveal that the earliest Jewish settlers were Crypto-Jews and converts. And there is still descendants of them. ( mainly converted ) As in other spanish america countries.
The modern Jewish community in Guatemala, however, traces its roots to German Jewish immigrants who arrived in the mid-19th century.
The Jews in
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
are mainly descendants from immigrants from Germany, Eastern Europe and the Middle East that arrived in the second half of the 19th century and first half of the 20th.
The first Jewish families arrived from the town of Kempen, Posen, Prussia (today
Kepno, Poland), establishing themselves in
Guatemala City
Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...
and
Quetzaltenango
Quetzaltenango (, also known by its Maya name Xelajú or Xela ) is a municipality and namesake department in western Guatemala. The city is located in a mountain valley at an elevation of above sea level at its lowest part. It may reach above ...
. Immigrants from the Middle East (mainly Turkey) immigrated during the first three decades of the 20th century. Many immigrated during World War II. There are approximately 900 Jews living in Guatemala today. Most live in
Guatemala City
Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...
. Today, the Jewish community in Guatemala is made up of Orthodox Jews, Sephardi, Eastern European and German Jews.
In 2014, numerous members of the communities
Lev Tahor
Lev Tahor () is a Jewish cult founded in Israel by Shlomo Helbrans in 1988. It consists of about 200–300 members and according to Guatemalan authorities, engages in child sexual abuse, pedophilia and rape. The group claims to follow a funda ...
and
Toiras Jesed, who practice a particularly austere form of Orthodox Judaism, began settling in the village of
San Juan La Laguna. Mainstream Jewish communities felt concerned about the reputation following this group, who had left both the US and Canada under allegations of child abuse, underage marriage and child neglect. Despite the tropical heat, the members of the community continued to wear the long black cloaks for men and full black chador for women.
Haiti
When
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...
arrived in
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...
, as he named it, among his crew was an interpreter,
Luis de Torres, who was Jewish. Luis was one of the first Jews to settle on Santo Domingo in 1492. When the western part of the island was taken over by France in 1633, many Dutch Sephardic Jews came from
Curaçao
Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela.
Curaçao includ ...
, arriving in 1634, after the Portuguese had taken over there. Others immigrated from English colonies such as Jamaica, contributing to the merchant trade. In 1683, Louis XIV banned all religions except Catholicism in the
French colonies
From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the First French colonial empire existed mainly in the Americas and Asia. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the second French colonial empire existed mainly in Africa and Asia. France had about 80 colonie ...
, and ordered the expulsion of Jews, but this was lightly enforced. Sephardic Jews remained in Saint-Domingue as leading officials in French trading companies. After the French Revolution instituted religious freedom in 1791, additional Jewish merchants returned to Saint-Domingue and settled in several cities.
[Brenda Plummer, "Between Privilege and Opprobrium: The Arabs and Jews in Haiti"](_blank)
in Ignacio Klich, Jeff Lesser, ''Arab and Jewish Immigrants in Latin America: Images and Realities'', Psychology Press, 1997, pp. 80–81 Some likely married
free women of color, establishing families. In the 21st century, archaeologists discovered a synagogue of
Crypto-Jews
Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek ''kryptos'' – , 'hidden').
The term is especially applied historically to Spani ...
in
Jérémie
Jérémie (; ) is a commune and capital city of the Grand'Anse department in Haiti. It had a population of about 134,317 at the 2015 census. It is relatively isolated from the rest of the country. The Grande-Anse River flows near the city.
...
in the southwest area of the island. In
Cap-Haïtien
Cap-Haïtien (; ; "Haitian Cape") is a List of communes of Haiti, commune of about 400,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the Departments of Haiti, department of Nord (Haitian department), Nord. Previously named ''Cap‑Fran� ...
,
Cayes and
Jacmel
Jacmel (; ) is a commune in southern Haiti founded by the Spanish in 1504 and repopulated by the French in 1698. It is the capital of the department of Sud-Est, 24 miles (39 km) southwest of Port-au-Prince across the Tiburon Peninsula, and ...
, a few Jewish tombstones have been uncovered.
In the late eighteenth century at the time of the French Revolution, the free people of color pressed for more rights in Saint-Domingue, and a slave revolt led by
Toussaint L'Ouverture
François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (, ) also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda (20 May 1743 – 7 April 1803), was a Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution. During his life, Louvertu ...
broke out in 1791 in the North of the island. Slaves considered Jews to be among the white oppressor group. Through the years of warfare, many people of the Jewish community were among the whites killed; some Jews were expelled when the slaves and free blacks took power and instituted restrictions on foreign businessmen. Haiti achieved independence in 1804 but was not recognized by other nations for some time and struggled economically, based on a peasant culture producing coffee as a commodity crop. Foreigners were prohibited from owning land and subject to other restrictions. Planters and other whites were killed in 1805, and Jews were among the whites and people of color who fled to the United States, many settling in
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
or
Charleston.
[Plummer (1997), p.84]
Race, as defined in slavery years, and nationality became more important in Haiti in the 19th century than religion, and Jews were considered whites and nationals of their groups.
Later in the century, Polish Jews immigrated to Haiti due to the civil strife in Poland and settled in
Cazale, in the North-West region of the country. Most Jews settled in port cities, where they worked as traders and merchants. In 1881 a crowd in
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...
attacked a group of Jews but was drawn back by militia men.
By the end of the 19th century, a small number of
Mizrahi Jewish families immigrated to Haiti from
Lebanon
Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
,
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
and
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
; there were a higher number of Levantine Christian traders arriving at the same time. German Jews arrived with other German businessmen; they were highly acculturated and were considered part of the German community. In 1915, there were 200 Jews in Haiti. During the 20 years of American occupation, many of the Jews emigrated to the United States. The US and Haiti had joint interests in reducing the number and influence of foreign businessmen. In 1937, the government issued passports and visas to Jews of Germany and Eastern Europe, to help them escape the
Nazi persecution. They retained control of any naturalization of foreigners, restricting it. During this time, 300 Jews lived on the island. Most of the Jews stayed until the late 1950s, when they moved on to the United States or Israel.
As of 2010, the number of known Jews in Haiti is estimated at 25, residing in the relatively affluent suburb of
Pétion-Ville
Pétion-Ville (; ) is a commune and a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in the hills east and separate from the city itself on the northern hills of the Massif de la Selle. Founded in 1831 by president Jean-Pierre Boyer, it was named after Alexa ...
, outside
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...
.
Haiti and Israel maintain full diplomatic relations, but Israel's nearest permanent diplomat to the region is based in neighboring Dominican Republic.
Honduras
During the 20th century-1980s, Jewish immigrants came to
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
, mainly from Russia, Poland, Germany, Hungary and
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
. There were also immigration from Greece, who are of Sephardic origin and Turkey and North Africa, who are of
Mizrachi origin. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, it has been absorbed a huge number of Jewish immigrants from Israel. Through the past two decades, the Honduras experienced a resurgence of Jewish life. Communities in
Tegucigalpa
Tegucigalpa ( )—formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz''—is the capital and largest city of Honduras along with its sister city, Comaya ...
and
San Pedro Sula
San Pedro Sula () is the capital of Cortés Department, Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country in the Sula Valley, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea. With a population of 701, ...
grew more active. In 1998,
Hurricane Mitch
Hurricane Mitch was an extremely deadly and catastrophic Atlantic hurricane, which became the second-deadliest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin on record. Mitch caused 11,374 fatalities in Central America in 1998, including approximately ...
destroyed the synagogue, which was part of the Jewish community center in the Honduras. But the Jewish community contributed money to re-build the temple. Most Honduran Jews live in Tegucigalpa.
Jamaica
The history of the Jews in Jamaica predominantly dates back to the 1490s when many Jews from
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
and Spain fled the persecution of the
Holy Inquisition.
When the English captured the
colony of Jamaica
The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was Invasion of Jamaica (1655), captured by the The Protectorate, English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British Empire, British colon ...
from Spain in 1655, Jews who were living as
converso
A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert" (), was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of their descendants.
To safeguard the Old Christian popula ...
s began to practice Judaism openly.
In 1719, the synagogue Kahal Kadosh Neve Tsedek in
Port Royal
Port Royal () was a town located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest and most prosperous city in the Caribbean, functioning as the cen ...
was built.
By the year 1720, 18 percent of the population the capital
Kingston
Kingston may refer to:
Places
* List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated:
** Kingston, Jamaica
** Kingston upon Hull, England
** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia
** Kingston, Ontario, Canada
** Kingston upon Thames, ...
was Jewish.
For the most part, Jews practiced Orthodox rituals and customs.
A recent study has now estimated that nearly 424,000 Jamaicans are descendants of Jewish (
Sephardic
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
) immigrants to Jamaica from Portugal and Spain from 1494 to the present, either by birth or ancestry. Jewish documents, gravestones written in
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
and recent
DNA testing
Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...
have proven this. While many are non-practicing, it is recorded that over 20,000 Jamaicans religiously identify as Jews.
Common Jewish surnames in Jamaica are Abrahams, Alexander, Isaacs,
Levy, Marish,
Lindo
LINDO (Linear, Interactive, and Discrete Optimizer) is a software package for linear programming, integer programming, nonlinear programming, stochastic programming and global optimization.
LINGO is a mathematical modeling language used as par ...
, Lyon, Sangster, Myers, Da Silva, De Souza, De
Cohen
Cohen () is a surname of Jewish, Samaritan and Biblical origins (see: Kohen). It is a very common Jewish surname (the most common in Israel). Cohen is one of the four Samaritan last names that exist in the modern day. Many Jewish immigrants ente ...
, De Leon, DeMercado, Barrett, Babb, Magnus, Codner, Pimentel, DeCosta,
Henriques and Rodriques.
In 2006 Jamaican Jewish Heritage Center opened to celebrate of 350 years of Jews living in Jamaica.
Mexico
New Christians arrived in Mexico as early as 1521. Due to the strong
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
presence in Mexico, few conversos and even fewer Jews migrated there after the Spanish Conquest of Mexico.
Then, in the late 19th century, a number of German Jews settled in Mexico as a result of invitations from
Maximilian I of Mexico
Maximilian I (; ; 6 July 1832 – 19 June 1867) was an Austrian Empire, Austrian archduke who became Emperor of Mexico, emperor of the Second Mexican Empire from 10 April 1864 until his execution by the Restored Republic (Mexico), Mexican Republ ...
, followed by a huge wave of Ashkenazic Jews fleeing
pogrom
A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...
s in Russia and Eastern Europe. A second large wave of immigration occurred as the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
collapsed, leading many Sephardic Jews from Turkey,
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
, and parts of France to flee. Finally, a wave of immigrants fled the increasing Nazi persecutions in Europe during World War II. According to the 2010 Census, there are 67,476
Jews in Mexico, making them the third largest Jewish community in Latin America.
Based in Cancún, they reached out to the whole Quintana Roo and Mexican Caribbean including Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres and Mérida.
In 2010 they opened a Chabad branch in Playa del Carmen to expand their activities. Rabbi Mendel Goldberg along with his wife Chaya and two daughters where assigned to direct the activities there and open a new center.
The State of Baja California has also had a Jewish presence for the last few hundred years. La Paz, Mexico was home to many Jewish traders who would dock at the port and do business. Many locals in La Paz descend from the prominent Schcolnik, Tuschman and Habiff families, although most are assimilated into Mexican life. In recent years, the tourist industry has picked up in Baja California Sur, which saw many American retirees purchase and live in properties around the Baja. In 2009, with a grassroots Jewish Community formulating and with the help of Tijuana-based businessman Jose Galicot,
Chabad
Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (; ; ), is a dynasty in Hasidic Judaism. Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of ...
sent out Rabbi Benny Hershcovich and his family to run the operations of the Cabo Jewish Center, located in Los Cabos, Mexico, but providing Jewish services and assistance to Jews scattered throughout the Baja Sur region, including La Paz, Todos Santos and the East Cape.
Nicaragua
In the 20th century, Nicaragua's Jewish community consisted mostly of immigrants from Eastern Europe who arrived in
Nicaragua
Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
after 1929.
The Jews in Nicaragua were a relatively small community, with most living in
Managua
Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...
. The Jews made significant contributions to Nicaragua's economic development while dedicating themselves to farming, manufacturing and retail sales.
It was approximated that the highest number of Jews in Nicaragua reached a peak of 250 in 1972.
Some 60 Jews left the country after the
1972 earthquake that devastated Managua, it having destroyed many Jewish businesses, while others fled during the violence and unrest of the 1978-1979
Sandinista Revolution
The Nicaraguan Revolution () began with rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the ouster of the dictatorship in 1978–79, and fighting between the government and the Contras from 1981 to 1990. The revolution r ...
. When Nicaraguan dictator
Anastasio Somoza was deposed in 1979, almost all of the remaining Nicaraguan Jews left the country, concerned about their future under the incoming socialist government.
Beginning in 1983, the Reagan administration in the U.S. made a concerted effort to increase domestic support for funding the
Contras
In the history of Nicaragua, the Contras (Spanish: ''La contrarrevolución'', the counter-revolution) were the right-wing militias who waged anti-communist guerilla warfare (1979–1990) against the Marxist governments of the Sandinista Na ...
by persuading American Jews that the Sandinista government was antisemitic.
According to Contra leader
Edgar Chamorro,
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
officers told him of this plan in a 1983 meeting, justifying it with the antisemitic argument that Jews controlled the media and winning them over would be key to a public relations success.
The Anti-Defamation League supported the Reagan administration's charges of Sandinista antisemitism, having actively worked with Nicaraguan Jews to reclaim a synagogue that had been firebombed by Sandinista militants in 1978 and seized by the Sandinista government in 1979.
However, a variety of left-wing organizations that opposed the Reagan administration's policies in Latin America, including the progressive
New Jewish Agenda, the leftist NGO
the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, as well as the
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a civil rights group and Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the wi ...
, all found that there was no evidence to support the U.S. charge of government antisemitism.
Anthony Quainton,
U.S. ambassador to Nicaragua, also reported no evidence of government antisemitism after an investigation by embassy staff.
The dozens of Nicaraguan Jews who had fled the country supported the Reagan administration's charges of antisemitism, citing several instances of intimidation, harassment, and arbitrary arrest,
but two of the Jews who remained in Nicaragua denied their accuracy, and they were widely cited in the media at the time.
After
Daniel Ortega
José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; ; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguan politician and dictator who has been the president of Nicaragua, co-president of Nicaragua since 18 February 2025, alongside his wife Rosario Murillo. He was the 54th an ...
lost the 1990 presidential election, Nicaraguan Jews started returning to Nicaragua. Prior to 1979 the Jewish community had no
rabbi
A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
or mohel (circumcision practitioner). In 2005, the Jewish community numbered about 50 people and included 3 mohalim, but had no ordained rabbi.
In 2017, there was a mass conversion of 114 Nicaraguans to Judaism.
Panama
Viceroyalty Period
The presence of Anusim or Crypto-Jews was recorded as early as the first migrations of Spaniards and Portuguese to the territory. Researcher and writer Elyjah Byrzdett explains that the Judeo-Converso phenomenon in Panama can be divided into two main periods: the Castilian period and the Portuguese period.
1. The Castilian Period (1501–1580)
This period was marked by the arrival of Crypto-Jews of Castilian origin, who played an active role in the colonization of the territory. When Rodrigo de Bastidas arrived on the Isthmus of Panama in 1501, he was accompanied by recent converts to Christianity. From the first Spanish expeditions and throughout the conquest, Judeo-Conversos were present in the region.
The governor and founder of the city of Panama, Pedro Arias Dávila (known as Pedrarias), had Jewish ancestry on both his paternal and maternal sides. His paternal grandfather, Ysaque Abenazar, was an influential member of the Jewish community of Segovia, who later converted to Catholicism and adopted the name Diego Arias Dávila. Although his religious beliefs remain uncertain, it is established that he protected Judeo-Conversos from persecution led by Franciscan friar Juan de Quevedo.
Other notable figures of Converso origin include the following captains and governors:
* Felipe Gutiérrez de Toledo (a member of the Pisa clan): He served as governor of Veragua and led a migratory movement from Almagro and Toledo to the Veragua region. History professor Enrique Soria Mesa studied this migration and compiled a list of Judeo-Converso individuals who traveled with him.
* Diego Gutiérrez: He was governor of Veragua and obtained, through a new asiento on November 29, 1540, the right to explore and populate the region as governor and captain of Veragua. Tragically, he was killed by the indigenous population.
In his work ''The Pisa Family: A Converso Lineage'', Byrzdett documents the detailed genealogy of the Pisa family, whose descendants arrived in Panama before settling in other regions. Although not all Crypto-Jews bore the name "de Pisa," the author uses it as a reference due to its significance as a common lineage among several Converso families in the region.
2. The Portuguese Period (1580–1640)
The Portuguese period began in 1580, following the dynastic union of Portugal with the Spanish Crown. During this period, Portuguese Crypto-Jews, who were better organized and had more resources, managed to establish a house of prayer on Calafates Street, located behind the old cathedral of Panama la Vieja. However, the Inquisition intensified its persecution against Judaizers, culminating in 1640 with an event known as the "Great Conspiracy," which dismantled much of the Crypto-Jewish network on the Isthmus. From then on, their presence in historical records became more difficult to trace, as fear of persecution led many to further conceal their identity.
One of the most documented episodes of this persecution was the arrest of the Portuguese Sebastián Rodríguez, accused of being a Judaizer, meaning a practitioner of Judaism. Rodríguez led a group of Crypto-Jews, including Antonio de Ávila, González de Silva, Domingo de Almeyda, and a Mercedarian friar, all secretly practicing Judaism. During the trial, four doctors confirmed the presence of a circumcision mark on Rodríguez, which was used as evidence against him.
Period of Union with Colombia
When the isthmus joined Simón Bolívar’s federation project, a new wave of Jewish migration took place, revitalizing Mosaic faith in the region. These early Jewish immigrants arrived under a new policy that encouraged religious freedom in the newly independent territories. Thanks to their proficiency in languages such as German, Spanish, French, English, Dutch, and Papiamento, they played a crucial role as intermediaries and translators, facilitating communication between the local population and foreigners arriving in or passing through the region.
Sephardic (Judeo-Spanish) mainly from nearby islands such as
Curaçao
Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela.
Curaçao includ ...
,
St. Thomas and
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
, and Jewish immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe began arriving in Panama in large quantities until the mid-nineteenth century, attracted by economic incentives such as bi-oceanic railway construction and the California gold rush. And Ashkenazi (Judeo-German) Jews began arriving in significant numbers in Panama in the mid-19th century, attracted by economic opportunities such as the construction of the interoceanic railroad and the California Gold Rush. This migratory flow marked an important chapter in the history of Panama’s Jewish community.
Republican Period
The Republic of Panama, in its current form, would be significantly different without the notable contributions of the Panamanian Jewish community. Its role in the struggle for the country's independence in 1903 was crucial and prevented the failure of the separatist movement. Prominent members of the Kol Shearith Israel Congregation, such as Isaac Brandon, M.D. Cardoze, M.A. De León, Joshua Lindo, Morris Lindo, Joshua Piza, and Isaac L. Toledano, provided essential financial support to the Revolutionary Junta when the promised funds from Philippe Jean Bunau-Varilla failed to materialize. Without their contribution, the lives of the leaders responsible for Panama’s separation from Colombia could have been in jeopardy. For this reason, the commitment of the Jewish community was of vital importance at this historical moment for Panama.
They were followed by other waves of immigration: during the First World War the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
from disintegrating, before and after the Second World War from Europe, from Arab countries because of the exodus caused in 1948 and more recently from South American countries suffering economic crises.
The center of Jewish life in Panama is
Panama City
Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has a total population of 1,086,990, with over 2,100,000 in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific Ocean, Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, i ...
, although historically small groups of Jews settled in other cities, like
Colón,
David
David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
,
Chitre,
La Chorrera,
Santiago de Veraguas
Santiago de Veraguas () is the capital of the province of Veraguas, in the Republic of Panama, and the district or municipality of the same name. Located in the countryside next to the Pan American Highway. Bounded on the north by San Francisco Di ...
and
Bocas del Toro. Those communities are disappearing as families move to the capital in search of education for their children and for economic reasons. Today Jewish community numbers some 20,000.
Panama is the only country in the world except for Israel that has had two Jewish presidents in the twentieth century. In the sixties
Max Delvalle was first vice president, then president. His nephew,
Eric Arturo Delvalle, was president between 1985 and 1988. The two were members of Kol Shearith Israel synagogue and were involved in Jewish life.
Paraguay
Toward the 19th century, Jewish immigrants arrived in
Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
from countries such as France, Switzerland and Italy. During World War I Jews from
Palestine
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
(
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
),
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
and Turkey arrived in Paraguay, mostly Sephardic Jews. In the 1920s, there was a second wave of immigrants from
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
and Poland. Between 1933 and 1939, between 15,000 and 20,000 Jews from Germany, Austria and
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
took advantage of Paraguay's liberal immigration laws to escape from Nazi-occupied Europe. After World War II, most Jews that arrived in Paraguay were survivors of
concentration camp
A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...
s. Today, there are 1,000 Jews mostly living in Paraguay's capital,
Asunción
Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...
. Most are of German descent.
Peru
In
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
, conversos arrived at the time of the
Spanish Conquest
The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It ...
. At first, they had lived without restrictions because the Inquisition was not active in Peru at the beginning of the
Viceroyalty
A viceroyalty was an entity headed by a viceroy. It dates back to the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the sixteenth century.
British Empire India
* British Raj, India was governed by the Governor-General of India, Governor-General and Vi ...
. Then, with the advent of the Inquisition, New Christians began to be persecuted, and, in some cases, executed. In this period, these people were sometimes called "marranos", converts ("conversos"), and "cristianos nuevos" (New Christians) even if they had not been among the original converts from Judaism and had been reared as Catholics. The descendants of these
Colonial Sephardic Jewish
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
descent converts to Christianity settled mainly in the northern highlands and northern
high jungle, and they were assimilated to local people:
Cajamarca
Cajamarca (), also known by the Quechua name, ''Kashamarka'', is the capital and largest city of the Cajamarca Region as well as an important cultural and commercial center in the northern Andes. It is located in the northern highlands of Per ...
, the northern highlands of Piura as Ayabaca and Huancabamba, among others, due to cultural and ethnic contact with the southern highlands of Ecuador. In modern times, before and after the Second World War, some
Ashkenazic Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language t ...
, Western and Eastern Slavic and Hungarians mainly, migrated to Peru, mostly to
Lima
Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...
. Today, Peruvian Jews represent an important part of the economics and politics of Peru; the majority of them are from the
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...
community.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
is currently home to the largest Jewish community in the Caribbean, with over 3,000 Jews supporting four synagogues; three in the capital city of San Juan: one each
Reform
Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...
,
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
and
Chabad
Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (; ; ), is a dynasty in Hasidic Judaism. Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of ...
, as well as a
Satmar
Satmar (; ) is a group in Hasidic Judaism founded in 1905 by Grand Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum (1887–1979), in the city of Szatmárnémeti (also called Szatmár in the 1890s), Kingdom of Hungary, Hungary (now Satu Mare in Romania). The group is a b ...
community in the western part of the island in the town of
Mayagüez known as Toiras Jesed for Minyanim information. Many Jews managed to settle in the island as secret Jews and settled in the island's remote mountainous interior as did the early Jews in all Spanish and Portuguese colonies. In the late 1800s during the Spanish–American War many Jewish American servicemen gathered together with local Puerto Rican Jews at the Old Telegraph building in Ponce to hold religious services. Many Central and Eastern European Jews came after World War II.
Suriname
Suriname
Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...
has the oldest Jewish community in the Americas. During the Inquisition in Portugal and Spain around 1500, many Jews fled to the Netherlands and the Dutch colonies to escape social discrimination and inquisitorial persecution, sometimes including torture and condemnation to the stake. Those who were converted to the Catholic faith were called New Christians, conversos, and, less often, "Marranos". The stadtholder of the King of Portugal gave those who wanted to depart some time to let them settle, and supplied them with 16 ships and safe conduct to leave for the Netherlands. The Dutch government gave an opportunity to settle in Brazil. But most found their home in
Recife
Recife ( , ) is the Federative units of Brazil, state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of South America. It is the largest urban area within both the North Region, Brazil, North and the Northeast R ...
, and merchants became
cocoa growers. But the Portuguese in Brazil forced many Jews to move into the northern Dutch colonies in the Americas,
The Guyanas
The Guianas, also spelled Guyanas or Guayanas, are a geographical region in north-eastern South America. Strictly, the term refers to the three Guianas: Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, formerly British, Dutch, and French Guiana respectiv ...
. Jews settled in Suriname in 1639.
Suriname was one of the most important centers of the Jewish population in the Western Hemisphere, and Jews there were planters and slaveholders.
For a few years, when World War II arrived, many Jewish refugees from the Netherlands and other parts of Europe fled to Suriname. Today, 2,765 Jews live in Suriname.
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...
, a former British colony, is home to over 500 Jews.
Uruguay

Uruguay is home to the fifth-largest Jewish community in Latin America, but the largest as a proportion of the country's total population. Jewish presence began during the
colonial era Colonial period (a period in a country's history where it was subject to management by a colonial power) may refer to:
Continents
*European colonization of the Americas
* Colonisation of Africa
* Western imperialism in Asia
Countries
* Col ...
, with the arrival of ''
converso
A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert" (), was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of their descendants.
To safeguard the Old Christian popula ...
s'' to the
Banda Oriental
Banda Oriental (Eastern Bank), or more fully Banda Oriental del Río Uruguay, was the name of the South American territories east of the Uruguay River and north of Río de la Plata that comprise the modern nation of Uruguay, the modern state of Ri ...
, fleeing the
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition () was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and lasted until 1834. It began toward the end of ...
. However, considerable Jewish immigration began at the end of the 19th century with the arrival of some
Sephardic Jews
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
from neighboring countries, and spread during the first half of the 20th century with the arrival of a large number of
Ashkenazim
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...
.
By the first decades of the 20th century, the Jewish community had already set up an educational network, and its presence was notable in several areas of the capital
Montevideo
Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
, such as the
Villa Muñoz
Villa Muñoz - Retiro is a ''barrio'' (neighbourhood or district) of Montevideo, Uruguay, bordering Aguada and Reducto to the west, La Figurita to the north, La Comercial to the east and Cordón to the south.
The neighborhood originated at th ...
neighborhood, which became known as the city's
Jewish quarter Jewish Quarter may refer to:
*Jewish quarter (diaspora), areas of many cities and towns traditionally inhabited by Jews
*Jewish Quarter (Jerusalem), one of the four traditional quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem
*Jewish Quarter (), a popular name ...
.
In addition, Jews from
Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
and
Bessarabia
Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...
formed an agricultural community in the rural area of the
Paysandú Department.
Most of the Jewish immigration to Uruguay took place in the 1920s and 1930s, although in this latter period, there were some Fascist and liberal anti-immigration sectors that opposed all foreign immigration, weighing heavily on Jewish immigration. However, the country has traditionally been the destination of a large number of Jewish refugees during and after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. In 1940, the
Central Israelite Committee of Uruguay was founded, uniting the different Jewish communities that had been formed based on the place of origin of the Jews who arrived in the country. It is estimated that between the 1950s and 1960s the Jewish community in Uruguay was made up of approximately 50,000 people.
Venezuela
The history of Venezuelan New Christians most likely began in the middle of the 17th century, when some records suggest that groups of ''conversos'' lived in
Caracas
Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...
and
Maracaibo
Maracaibo ( , ; ) is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the largest city in Venezuela and is List of cities in Venezuela by population ...
. At the turn of the 19th century, Venezuela and Colombia were fighting against their Spanish colonizers in wars of independence.
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24July 178317December 1830) was a Venezuelan statesman and military officer who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bol ...
, Venezuela's liberator and his sister, found refuge and material support for his army in the homes of Jews from
Curaçao
Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela.
Curaçao includ ...
. After independence, in 1826 practicing Jews came from Curaçao to
Santa Ana Coro, where they had flourished under Dutch rule. Judaism was recognized as a legal religion. The government granted the Jews land for a cemetery.
According to a national census taken at the end of the 19th century, 247 Jews lived in Venezuela as citizens in 1891. In 1907, the Israelite Beneficial Society, which became the Israelite Society of Venezuela in 1919, was created as an organization to bring all the Jews who were scattered through various cities and towns throughout the country together.
By 1943, nearly 600 German Jews had entered the country, with several hundred more becoming citizens after World War II. By 1950, the community had grown to around 6,000 people, even in the face of immigration restrictions.
During the first decades of the 21st century, many Venezuelan Jews decided to emigrate due to the growth of antisemitism and to the political crisis and instability. Currently, there are around 10,000 Jews living in Venezuela, with more than half living in the capital Caracas.
Post-Chavez, Venezuelan Jews plant roots elsewhere
– The Times of Israel. Venezuelan Jewry is split equally between Sephardim and Ashkenazim. All but one of the country's 15 synagogues are Orthodox. The majority of Venezuela's Jews are members of the middle class.
The current president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, claims to be of Sephardic Jewish
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
descent. Jewish groups, such as the Latin American Jewish Congress, have criticized Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez
Hugo or HUGO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Hugo (film), ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese
* Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback
* Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise ...
, of fostering antisemitism.
Reported Jewish populations in the Americas and the Caribbean in 2014
1 ''CIA World Factbook'', with most estimates current as of July 2014; Jewish Virtual Library: Vital Statistics: Jewish Population of the World (1882 – Present).
See also
* List of Caribbean Jews
* Jewish immigration to Puerto Rico
* B'nai B'rith Latin America
*Latin American Muslims
Latin American Muslims are Muslims from countries in Latin America. A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in found that Muslims make up 0.1% of all of Latin America's population.
History
The 1492 discovery of Latin America by Columbus ...
* Charles Palache
* Pallache family
Pallache, also de Palacio(s), Palache, Palaçi, Palachi, Palatsi, Palacci, Palaggi, al-Fallashi, and many other variations, is a prominent, Judaeo-Spanish, Ladino-speaking Sephardi Jews, Sephardic Jewish family from the Iberian Peninsula, who spr ...
References
Bibliography
* Mordechai Arbell, Dennis Channing Landis, Ann Phelps Barr
''Spanish and Portuguese Jews in the Caribbean and the Guianas: A Bibliography''
Interamericas, 1999,
* Mordechai Arbel
''The Portuguese Jews of Jamaica''
Canoe Press, 2000,
* Marjorie Agosín
Marjorie Agosín (June 15, 1955 - March 10, 2025) was a Chilean-American writer. She won notability for her outspokenness for women's rights in Chile. The United Nations honored her for her work on human rights. The Chilean government awarded ...
br>''Memory, Oblivion, and Jewish Culture In Latin America''
University of Texas Press, 2005,
* Alan Fredric Benjami
''Jews of the Dutch Caribbean: Exploring Ethnic Identity on Curaçao''
Routledge, 2002,
* Judah M. Cohe
''Through the Sands of Time: A History of the Jewish Community of St. Thomas''
UPNE, 2004,
* Judith Laikin Elkin. ''The Jews of Latin America'' (rev) Holmes & Meier, 1998.
* Ariel Segal Frielic
''Jews of the Amazon: Self-Exile in Earthly Paradise''
The Jewish Publication Society, 1999,
* Jeffrey Lesser & Raanan Rein
''Rethinking Jewish-Latin Americans''
University of New Mexico Press, 2008.
* Jeffrey Lesser
''Welcoming the Undesirables: Brazil and the Jewish Question''
University of California Press, 1995
* Ruggiero, Kristi
''The Jewish Diaspora In Latin America and the Caribbean: Fragments of Memory''
Sussex Academic Press, 2005,
''The Jews and the Expansion of Europe to the West, 1450–1800''
Berghahn Books, 2001,
*Leo Spitzer. ''Hotel Bolivia''. Hill and Wang, 1998.
External links
Jewish Puerto Rico
Includes history and current stats
By Sara Miller Llana, ''The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...
'' 26 July 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of The Jews In Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
Jews and Judaism in the Caribbean
Jews, history
Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
Latin America and the Caribbean