Jewish history in Brazil dates back to the time of the voyages
of Christopher Columbus. Gaspar da Gama, a Jew by birth, but later
kidnaped and forcibly baptized, accompanied Portuguese admiral
Pedro Alvares Cabral when he landed in what is now Brazil in 1500,
beginning a more than 500-year presence in the New
World.Christopher Columbus When the Inquisition in Portugal took
hold in 1497, Jews fled to places throughout the world, including
Brazil. They arrived in Brazil primarily as New Christians or
Conversos (Jews converted to Christianity), but many secretly
practiced Judaism and began a colonization drive to settle on the
land. Despite continued persecution by the Brazilian Inquisition,
the New Christians successfully established sugar plantations and
mills. By 1624, approximately 50,000 Europeans lived in Brazil,
with New Christians making up a significant percentage. They were
businessmen, importers, exporters, teachers, writers poets, even
priests. In that same year, Dutch forces arrived in Brazil, taking
over portions of northeast Brazil. Dutch tolerance allowed for
Jewish migration and the open practice of religion. In 1636, Jews
built the Kahal Zur synagogue in the Dutch capital of
Recife.Inquisition PortugalJudaismInquisitionsynagogue In Dutch
Brazil, Jews flourished in the sugar industry, tax farming and
slave trade. Jews often purchased slaves and resold them at great
profit. Those they kept often preferred to work for Jews because
both Shabbat and Sunday were rest days, whereas the Portugese only
gave them Sunday off, and the Dutch worked their slaves seven days
a week.Shabbat In 1642, Rabbi Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, a well-known
Amsterdam rabbi and scholar Moses Raphael d'Aguilar came to Brazil
as spiritual leaders to assist the congregations of Kahal Zur in
Recife and Magen Abraham in Mauricia. By 1645, the Dutch Jewish
population peaked at 1,500, approximately half of the European
population there. Synagogue records show a well-organized Jewish
community with high participation, including a Talmud Torah
(school), a Tzedakah fund and an overseeing executive
committee.AmsterdamrabbiTzedakah Other Inquisition-fleeing Jews
headed south to Sao Paulo. Little is known what happened to them,
some scholars suggest they assimilated quickly, however, recent
evidence has revealed Brazilian jungle tribes who light candles on
Friday night and refrain from eating pork.light candles on Friday
nighteating pork In 1647, the Portuguese authorities arrested Isaac
de Castro for teaching Jewish rites and customs in Portuguese
controlled Brazil and sent him back to Portugal where the
Inquisition sentenced him to death and burned him at the stake. The
Portuguese also started a nine-year war that successfully drove the
Dutch out of Brazil in 1654.Portugal Portuguese anti-Jewish
persecution led to a mass immigration to places like Curacao and
New York, where they laid foundations for new Jewish communities,
others returned to Europe. Most who could not escape were killed,
but some became Crypto Jews, practicing Judaism in secret. They
lived away from the authorities, in the interior of Brazil, many
becoming ranch hands or cowboys. The persecutions, arrests,
confiscation of property and emigration of the Jews greatly damaged
the Brazilian economy by bringing the manufacture and export of
sugar to a near standstill and seriously disrupting trade between
Portugal and Brazil. In 1655, the Portuguese closed a major symbol
of Brazilian Jewry, the Kahal Zur synagogue. However, thanks to the
Safra banking family, the synagogue re-opened in 2002 and now
stands as the oldest existing synagogue in the Americas, housing a
Jewish cultural center and hosting some religious
ceremonies.CuracaoJudaism 1773 to 1916 In 1773, a Portuguese royal
decree finally abolished discrimination against Jews. They slowly
filtered back into Brazil. Almost 50 years later, in 1822, Brazil
gained independence from Portugal, and a stream of Moroccan Jews
began arriving, and set up a synagogue in Belem (northern Brazil)
called Porta do Ceu (Gate of Heaven) in 1824 and later one in
Manaus (on the Amazon river). By World War I, Belem's Sephardi
community of 800 people had its own charitable organizations and a
social club.PortugalMoroccan JewsSephardi In the last decade of the
19th century, European Jews began discussing the idea of
establishing agricultural settlements in Brazil as an alternative
to the unfavorable conditions in Europe. After the 1891 expulsion
of the Jews from Moscow, a close associate of Theodor Herzl, Oswald
Boxer went to Brazil and returned with a positive report, but plans
were abandoned because of Brazilian political strife. The first
agricultural settlement was finally established in 1902 by the
Jewish Colonization Association (JCA) in the Santa Maria area
(southern Brazil). Despite a 1903 pogrom in Bessarabia, only 37
Bessarabian families were willing to settle in the experimental
colony, which covered 13,388 acres. The 1904 farming season failed
because of inexperience, insufficient funds and poor planning.
Although a cooperative headed by an experienced teacher formed in
1907, the settlement continued to produce a fraction of its
capability. In 1926, the JCA reported that of the 122 families that
settled in the first colony, 17 remained, cultivating corn and
beans on only 326 acres. The unused land was then sold.Theodor
Herzl In 1909, the JCA bought another track of land covering almost
94,000 acres in the Quatro Irmaos area, north of Santa Maria and
near a large-scale government development. Despite a more rigorous
selection process, the settlers once again failed. Administrative
problems, lack of agricultural facilities and the lure of city jobs
doomed the settlement. By November 1915, only 72 of the original
232 families remained in the colony. World War I and a civil war,
which was partially fought on the colony's land drove out more
settlers and by 1926, only 40 people remained. In 1920, the JCA
began selling some of the land to non-Jewish settlers. In 1935,
after a renewed settlement effort, 104 Jewish families lived in
Quaro Irmaos, only to be outnumbered five to one by non-Jewish
settlers. The JCA led a third attempt at agricultural settlement in
1935 because of deteriorating conditions in Germany. However, as
part of a strict immigration policy against Jews, the Brazilian
government refused to issue the settlers entry visas. The land was
later sold.Germany The settlers who abandoned the colonies set up
rich cultural communities in Brazilian cities. By World War I,
approximately 7,000 Jews lived in Brazil. In Porto Alegre, capital
of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sol, the community opened a
Jewish school in 1910 and established a Yiddish newspaper, Di
Menshhayt ("Humanity") in 1915. Sao Paolo was home to several
philanthropic and cultural associations. In 1916, the Jewish
community of Rio de Janeiro formed an aid committee for World War I
victims.Yiddish 1920's to 1970's Almost 30,000 Western European
Jews came to Brazil in the 1920s and, by 1929, there were 27 Jewish
schools. Despite a strict immigration policy in the 1930s, more
than 17,500 Jews entered Brazil. While immigration enriched
Brazilian Jewish culture, the wide array of Jewish customs and
beliefs, made it nearly impossible to unify them, despite attempts
by Rabbi Isaiah Raffalovitch of JCA. Brazil began an assimilation
effort in 1938 and closed the Yiddish newspapers and the Jewish
organizations, both secular and religious. A wave of anti-Semitism
followed, including several editions of the Protocols of the Elders
of Zion. Only after Brazil adopted a new, more democratic
constitution in 1945, did organized Jewish activities
resume.Yiddishanti-SemitismProtocols of the Elders of Zion In 1947,
Brazil voted for the partition of Palestine and for the creation of
a Jewish state at the United Nations General Assembly. A Brazilian
statesman, Oswaldo Aranha, played a vital role in the adoption of
the resolution. Brazil recognized Israel in February 1949 and
opened an embassy there three years later. In 1959, Brazil and
Israel signed the first of several agreements to cooperate in a
variety of areas, including culture, commerce, agriculture, science
and industry.partition of PalestineUnited Nations General
AssemblyIsrael In the late 1950s, another wave of Jewish
immigration brought more than 3,500 North African Jews to Brazil.
By the 1960s, Brazilian Jewry was thriving. In the 1966
parliamentary elections six Jews, representing various parties,
were elected to the federal legislature. In addition, Jews served
in state legislatures and municipal councils. In 1967, 33 Jewish
schools were attended by more than 10,000 students. By 1969,
approximately 140,000 Jews lived in Brazil, mostly in the large
cities: Rio de Janeiro (50,000), Sao Paulo (55,000), Porto Alegre
(12,000), Belo Horizonte (3,000), Recife (1,600) and Belem (1,200).
Jmunal life was uneventful throughout the 1970s, save some minor
anti-Semitic activity by the right-wing Catholic organization
Tradicao, Familia e Propriedade (Tradition, Family and
Property).anti-Semitic In 1822, Brazil gained independence from
Portugal, and a stream of Moroccan Jews began arriving, and set up
a synagogue in Belem (northern Brazil) called Porta do Ceu (Gate of
Heaven) in 1824 and later one in Manaus (on the Amazon river). In
the last decade of the 19th century, European Jews began discussing
the idea of establishing agricultural settlements in Brazil as an
alternative to the unfavorable conditions in Europe. In Porto
Alegre, the community opened a Jewish school in 1910 and
established a Yiddish newspaper, Di Menshhayt. By World War I,
17,000 Jews lived in Brazil. In 1916, the Jewish community of Rio
de Janeiro formed an aid committee for World War I victims The JCA
led a third attempt at agricultural settlement in 1935 because of
deteriorating conditions in Germany. However, as part of a strict
immigration policy against Jews, the Brazilian government refused
to issue the settlers entry visas. There are about 96,500 Jews in
Brazil today. History of Jews in Brazil
Slide 4
The current Jewish community is mostly composed of Ashkenazi
Jews of Polish and German descent and also Sephardic Jews of
Spanish, Portuguese, and North African descent (mostly Egyptian)
Brazilian Jews play an active role in politics, sports, academia,
trade and industry, and are overall well integrated in all spheres
of Brazilian life. Jews lead an open religious life in Brazil and
there are rarely any reported cases of anti-Semitism in the
country. In the main urban centers there are schools, associations
and synagogues where Brazilian Jews can practice and pass on Jewish
culture and traditions. Some Jewish scholars say that the only
threat facing Judaism in Brazil is the relatively high frequency of
intermarriage. There has been a steady stream of aliyah since the
foundation of Israel in 1948. Between 1948 and 2010, 11,586
Brazilian Jews emigrated to Israel Interesting Facts &
Culture
Slide 5
Rio de Janeiro25,000-30,000 Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul:
15,000 Curitiba, Paran: 1,774 Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais: 1,714
Recife, Pernambuco: 1,173 Belm, Par: 900 The majority of Brazilian
Jews live in the State of So Paulo but there are also sizeable
communities in the States of Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul,
Minas Gerais, and Paran. Where do they live?
Slide 6
The Jews of Sao Paulo have built an extensive and diverse
system of services and organizations that operates in many
settings. Some 65 organizations affiliated with the Sao Paulo
Jewish Federation focus on such areas as religion, education,
welfare, culture, politics, fundraising, youth, media, sports,
medical services, an old age home, and a cemetery Sao Paulo does
not have a Chief Rabbinate and there is no recognized Orthodox
conversion in Brazil. Some 21 different synagogues are affiliated
with the Jewish Federation, while a number of organizations also
have their own synagogues, and yet others are unaffiliated. Beit
Chabad has four synagogues, a monthly magazine, book editions in
Portuguese, a summer camp, children's club (Tsivot HaShem), and
youth group. Congregacao Israelita Paulista (C.I.P.), founded by
German Jews, holds Conservative and Reform services and has the
largest synagogue membership in Sao Paulo. The congregation has a
well-organized library, Sunday School, and facilities Shuls
