so america

"Making researching your Jewish roots --- e a s i e r "

South American Countries

Argentina	Cuba	Mexico	Puerto Rico
Barbados	Curacao	Netherlands Antilles	Salvador
Bolivia	Guatemala	Nevis	St. Thomas
Brazil	Haiti	Nicaragua	Suriname
Chile	Hispaniola	Panama	Venezuela
Columbia	Honduras	Paraguay
Costa Rica	Jamaica	Peru

Some graphics are from other sites without
permission but with a link to the site

In Latin America (and Spain) it is customary for children to bear both the father's and mother's surname. Women used their married names as an addendum to their maiden names. When children were born, they would have a compound surname. If you didn't have the double surname, people knew you were the product of a relationship outside of marriage. Women were always very proud of bearing their father's surname besides their husbands. This custom still abounds in the Spanish-speaking countries." Information supplied by Maria Krane MariaKrane@aol.com

Jewish Resources in South America
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0020_0_20362.html

Buccaneer

In Spanish, "contrabandists"

Pirates of the Caribbean - (Jewish)
Jews were ideally situated for piracy. They owned ships, had trading networks in other countries and harassing the Spanish gave them revenge for what the Inquisition had done to their family and friends. There is an excellently written article by Andrẻe Aelion Brooks in the November 2008 issue of Hadassah Magazine that will most certainly enlighten you on this subject.

Also check out this web site
http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2008/10/jewish-pirates-of-caribbean.html

Jean Lafitte the Jewish Pirate
This little story is about the most famous Jewish Pirate, Jean Lafitte. It was written by a former professor from Temple University, Professor Bernard Glick:

Many of the pirates of the Caribbean were Sephardic Jews who turned to piracy to get revenge on the Spanish Catholics who expelled them from Spain in 1492, murdered their families and stole their property. Six of Barbarossas chief officers were Jewish! This article sheds light on one of the most famous Pirates: Jean Lafitte the Jewish Pirate. One of the things I do since I retired from Philadelphia's Temple University is lecture on cruise ships. My signature talk is the 50-century old history of piracy whose practitioners I call the Seafaring Gangsters of the World.

A few weeks before my first gig, I sent a draft of the talk to my history buff sister, Phyllis. She liked it, but was very unhappy that I had not mentioned Jean Lafitte. I told her I didn't include him because I intended to deal with the economics, the sociology, and the politics of piracy. She said I simply had to talk about Lafitte because he was unique. He was a Sephardic Jew.

In his prime, Lafitte ran not just one pirate sloop but a whole fleet of them simultaneously. He even bought a blacksmith shop in New Orleans, which he used as a front for fencing pirate loot. And he was one of the few buccaneers who didn't die in battle, in prison, or on the gallows. Though I didn't lecture about Lafitte at first, a circumstance of serendipity has made me do so ever since. I was flying to Norfolk, Virginia. The man in the seat next to me began chatting with me in Gaelic-accented English. Though born in France, the friendly passenger now lives in Switzerland. We quickly established that we were both of Jewish descent and that both of us had taught in Israel.

Then we had the following conversation: What are you doing on this plane? I asked. I'm a mathematician. I work for an American company and I'm flying to Norfolk today because it has the US Navy's largest naval base and my company is trying to get a Navy contract. Now, what are you doing on this plane?

My wife and I are picking up a cruise ship in Norfolk.
Taking a vacation?
Not entirely. I'll be giving lectures on the ship,...... as many, in fact, as there are full days at sea.
What do you lecture about?
Since cruise lines frown on controversial topics. I have talked about Israel once or twice, but I usually talk about Latin America, which is my second specialty, or the Panama Canal or Mexico's Isthmus of Tehantepec, or the voyages of Captain Cook to the South Pacific. But I always begin a cruise with a lecture on pirates. The kids love it and the old folks like it too.
Are you going to talk about Jean Lafitte?
No. And I repeated what my sister had told me.
He pulled out his wallet and handed me a business card. It had Melvyn J. Lafitte written on it.
Then he said, I am a direct descendent of Jean Lafitte. Your sister, Phyllis, is absolutely right. Our family, originally named Lefitto, lived in the Iberian Peninsula for centuries.
When Ferdinand and Isabella re-conquered Spain and expelled the Jews in 1492, most of the Jews fled to North Africa. Others went to the Balkans or to Greece and Turkey. But some Sephardic Jews, my ancestors among them, crossed the Pyrenees and settled in France, where Jean was born in about 1780. He moved to French Santo Domingo during the Napoleonic period. However, a slave rebellion forced him to flee to New Orleans. Eventually he became a pirate, but he always called himself a privateer because that label has a more legal ring to it.

In 1814, the British sought his aid in their pending attack on New Orleans. However, he passed their plans to the Americans and helped General Andrew Jackson beat them in 1815. A grateful Jackson, not yet President, saw to it that Lafitte and his family became American citizens. And, by the way, did you know that there is a town of Jean Lafitte, as well as a Jean Lafitte National Historical Park in Southwestern Louisiana?

I was flabbergasted, not so much by the saga of Jean Lafitte as retold by a proud descendant, but by the fact that the two of us had met so coincidentally in the skies over Georgia.

Melvyn Lafitte lives in Geneva and I live in Portland, Oregon. These cities are 5,377 miles apart. Unlike him, I am mathematically challenged, so I don't know what the statistical probability is that a descendant of the Franco-Jewish-American pirate Jean Lafitte would board an airplane and sit next to me as I was agonizing over whether to mention his famous ancestor in my forthcoming talk. Jewish history is indeed replete with vivid coloring. From an email I received from my friend Paul Tab (Tabachnick).

Hispanic Division, Library of Congress

http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/

Jewish Post

www.jpost.com

Scroll down to section heads at bottom of page, click on Jewish World, and then on 'It's All Relative' New World, Old History.

Jewish Sephardic Communities in South America

http://guides.library.ucla.edu/content.php?pid=23757&sid=273343

Sephardic Sites

http://www.jewishgen.org/sephardicsig/

Sephardic page

Telephone Directories on the Web

http://www.teldir.com

Translating Languages

There are many translating services, some for free, available to help with your translating needs in most languages including Spanish and Portuguese. One of these sites is
http://www.dictionaries.travlang.com/

There are many translating programs available, but I found one that is particularly great and put it on my computer. It's called Word Magic Translation Software and it translates both Spanish and English either way. They sent me a copy to try and I'll tell you, I am very impressed with the way it works and ease of installation. My contact person is Katherine Ruffin 1 877 564 3022. The company offers a free trial
http://www.wordmagicsoft.com/

Books

Most books, CDs, etc. can be ordered through my link to Amazon.com by clicking here > Jewish Genealogy

"History Of The Jews Of The Netherland Antilles"
Authored by Isaac S. Emmanuel and Susan A. Emmanuel
http://www.bnvillage.co.uk/1386535-post9.html

"Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom -- and Revenge"
Authored by Edward Kritzler and published by Doubleday

"The Jewish Nation of the Caribbean: The Spanish-Portuguese Jewish Settlements in the Caribbean and the Guianas,"
Authored by Mordechai Arbell and published by Gefen. Those looking for Spanish-Portuguese Jewish families in the New World should read this very readable and truly fascinating book.

"Jewish Tales From Eastern Europe"
A description of a soon-to-be-published book authored by Nadia Nagarajan and to be published by Jason Aronson, is described at this Amazon link
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/076576086X/qid=1002838294/sr=1-10/ref=sr_1_2_10/107-1638811-9135767

"The Journal of Jean Laffite"
Talks about his Jewish grandmother who was a witness to the days of Inquisition. The book is in the hands of the Sam Houston Center - Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Liberty.

"Merchants and Jews: The Struggle for British West Indian Commerce, 1650-1750"
Authored by Stephen Alexander Fortune and published by University of Florida Press.

Argentina

The Libertad Synagogue which houses the Museo Judio de Buenos Aires

http://www.imageusa.com/index.php/community-articles/36-jewish-communities/1295-the-jews-of-argentina.html

Argentina has a Jewish community of some 250,000 of which more than 62,500 members now live below the poverty line, with many of them making up the "new homeless". Argentina has the largest Jewish community in the southern hemisphere. It is the second largest country in South America, after Brazil, and eight largest in the world. The Spanish claimed this country in 1516. Ancestry of 95% of the population is European. The country declared it's independence from Spain on July 9, 1816.

The country is in the southern hemisphere, so seasons are reversed from North America. Their winter is our summer. Pampas is a Quechua Indian word that means "flat surface." The Pampas stretches from the Andes Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. The area is mostly grasslands with few trees. Huge estancias (ranches) are home to gauchos (South American cowboys) and huge cattle herds. The region is also known for crops including grapes and of course, wineries.

In 1990, Argentina had one of the most prosperous Jewish communities in the world. There were sixty Jewish day schools serving a Jewish population of 300,000 d(1990 figures) with numerous synagogues and JCCs. The Jews were mostly in the middle and upper classes economically. Like the more than 2,000,000 Jews who came to the United States at the turn of the 20th century in search of the American dream, thousands went further south --- to Argentina -- looking to find a brighter future for themselves and their children. Now, many of the Jews are considering leaving Argentina for Israel. Some 500 Argentinean Jews are settled in Australia.

In 2001, 1,400 Argentinean Jews made Aliyah to Israel. That's up from 1,033 in 2000 and is twice the 1998 figure. The Jewish Agency expects to have 3,000 Argentine Jews emigrating to Israel in 2002. That figure has been increased to approximately 40,000 as the economic conditions worsen in Argentina.

Jews came to Argentina from Eastern Europe to find freedom. Families were separated. Some went later to the US while others came to Argentina with the support of the Jewish colonization Association, a dream of Baron Hirsch to show the world that Jews could accomplish hard farm labor. At that time, these colonies, some 350 miles from Buenos Aires, were the only such in the world (there were other Jewish colonies established in Uruguay, Brazil, U.S. and in Canada). Many cemeteries with tombstones evidence the hard life of the denizens, who became distinguished personalities in their community. In these villages can be found old hospitals, old synagogues, and houses where Jews formerly lived, as well as old building where Jewish theatre was brought from Buenos Aires. Legends abound.

Although the majority of Argentina's Jewish population lives in Buenos Aires, you cannot assume that those you are searching live there. Jews, for example, live in Rosario, Cordoba and Santa Fe.

If you can read Spanish, this site may be of interest
www.amia.org.ar

Should you not read Spanish, you can contact Mario J. Stecher mstecher@swya.com.ar/ who may be available to offer his assistance or you can use one of the free translation sites mentioned within my site.

"Our Disappeared/Nuestros Desaparecidos"
A documentary by Juan Mandelbaum, who left Argentina after the March 1976 military coup.
www.pbs.org/ourdisappeared

AMIA

The central Jewish institution in Argentina that deals primarily with social assistance. Daniel Pomerantz is the administrative director and Bernardo Zugman is the treasurer. The AMIA is the Buenos Aires Jewish Federation Community Center.

Argentina Immigration Database

There is an Argentinean immigration database (1882-1929) online
http://www.cemla.com/paginas/c_busqueda.htm.

It is provided by CEMLA, Centro de Estudios Migratorios Latinoamericanos. Enter a surname or partial surname in the box under the word “Appelido. There is a JewishGen InfoFile about genealogical research in Argentina that describes the process for contacting CEMLA and getting original records from them. There is no Soundex option, try various spellings. Results indicate only a name and how many records are associated with it. Click 'Completar Formulario' to request additional information via E-mail.
http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/argentina.html#B1

Argentina's Jewish Villages Keep Traditions Alive

Listen and view the story - (about 5 minutes, 40 seconds) about the Russian Jews fleeing anti-Semitic violence and discrimination in the 1890s, who arrived by the thousands to a remote corner of the Argentine Pampas. They founded hamlets similar to the shtetls they left behind. They spoke Yiddish, built synagogues and traditional Jewish schools -- and became farmers and gauchos, the mythical Argentine cowboys.
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/14/137341367/argentinas-jewish-villages-keep-traditions-alive

Argentina Jews Database

If you believe than your family may have gone to this country, this excellent web site will be of great interest (in Spanish)
http://www.agja.com.ar/index.htm

If you need help to translate from Spanish to English, try this Babel Fish site:
http://www.world.altavista.com/

Argentinean Jews article

There is an article in the JTA Global News Service of the Jewish People relative to the Argentinean Jews leaving the country
http://www.jta.org/index.asp

http://www.jewishgenealogy.com.ar/

Asociación de Genealogia

The page is in Spanish
http://www.agja.org.ar/

CEMLA - Centro de Estudios Migratories Latinoamericanos

Houses arrival records in Buenos Aires which covers the years 1882-1929. The director is Alicia Bernasconi.

Some older missing books have been found. Records for 1870-1881 are unaccounted for. Up to 1882, an estimated 30-40% of immigrants arrived through uncontrolled river crossings, and no records ever existed. Massive Jewish immigration began several years later -- the mark being set by the arrival of the Wesser during August 1889. Immigration in 1888 was estimated in 50 persons. The Alliance Israelite Universelle helped members of 8 families reach Argentina. The estimation for 1889 is of 1,000, including hundred on board the Wesser which sailed from Bremen.

The CEMLA's database, some books are missing so data transcribed are not complete. Even if your relative came through the Buenos Aires port, and even if you try the appropriate spelling variants, there is a certain chance you might get no results. Missing data might be in the order of 20% or more. Spelling is another consideration. This information was posted on JewishGen by Carlos Glikson cglikson@ciudad.com.ar
Web site is in English and in Spanish
http://cemla.com

See also Argentina Immigration above

Divorce in Argentina

Until 1985, there was no divorce in Argentina, and so couples would just obtain a 'get' and if they chose to marry again, there was only a religious ceremony.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/argentina-jewish-white-slavery

http://www.jwi.org/Page.aspx?pid=1339

Hebraica

A Jewish social and cultural club in Buenos Aires which has almost 600 people with some sort of financial grant request. Juan Imel is on the Board of Directors.
http://www.hebraica.org.ar/

IATAMSIG

A JewishGen mailing list comprised of people researching in Latin American countries. To sign up, go to the home page - and in the discussion category, click on Special Interest Groups and the automated web form will take you through the subscription process.
http://www.jewishgen.org

Identification Meanings

C.I. = Cédula de Identidad
Identity Card: It is the identity document issued by the Policía Federal (the Federal Police) or by the Police departments of the different provinces. If a citizen asks for a passport from the Federal Police, it will have the same number his C.I. has.

Curiously, the Cédula de Identidad is asked for by policemen to identify people - for example, in a car crash accident - but is not accepted as proof of identity for official or legal business, as when handling tax subjects or selling property.

L. E. = Libreta de Enrolamiento
A former document in the format of a small notebook, issued to males when reaching 18 years old, used in relation to enrolment in the military service - no longer mandatory at 20 years old - and also to register voting occasions, mandatory in Argentina for everyone over 18.

L.C. = Libreta Cívica
It is the former document issued to females when reaching 18, the voting age, equivalent to the L. E. but not designed for any military inscriptions - no military obligations for women at the time - and probably of later apparition

L. E. and L.C.
For men and women have been substituted years ago by the

D.N.I.
Documento Nacional de Identidad, National Identity Document - a single document for men and women, issued when born, updated at 16, with a notebook format smaller than the old Libretas de Enrolamiento and Libretas Civicas.

CI, LE, LC, DNI
All have numbers unique for each person, just as a Social Security number in the U.S. is unique. Assignment of the numbers was basically sequential in batches, with growing numbers indicating younger people, and small numbers indicating very old documents.

If a relative or ancestor had a L. E. or L.C., that would indicate voting rights, so if he/she was born abroad it would mean at some moment having asked for naturalization and becoming an Argentine citizen. From a posting by Carlos Glikson

Immanu El Synagogue

Located in Buenos Aires
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanu-El

Jewish Cemeteries in Buenos Aires - (in Spanish)

http://baires.elsur.org/archives/directory-of-jewish-cemeteries-in-buenos-aires/

There are no Jewish cemeteries inside the autonomous Buenos Aires city (Federal Capital) - only in the Greater Buenos Aires area surrounding the city in the jurisdiction of the Buenos Aires province.

The upper box (ingrese) should be filled out with the surname. The next box (todos) may be skipped since it has the names of different cemeteries in the city. Leave it alone unless you know the name of the cemetery. Uscar means search, just press it. The great thing is that it gives also the maiden name of the ladies.
http://www.amia.org.ar/difuntos.asp

Nombre = name
Manzana = quarter (of the cemetery)
Tablon = row
Sepultura = tombstone
Parte = part of the cemetery (old-new)
Fecha = date of death
Cementerio = cemetery

Contact AMIA (the central organization of Argentinean Jewry) by email but apparently only in Spanish. The email address is reunir@amia.org.ar

The Israeli Genealogical/Roots List
www.tapuz.co.il/forums

You should go to the SHIN letter of the index and than click the Shoreshim Mishpachtiyyim. You should know modern Hebrew, not the one you remember from the Bar Mitzvah. From a posting by Jacob Rosen.

Jewish Genealogical Society of Argentina (Sociedad Argentina de Genealogia Judia)

Juana Azurduy 2223, P. 8, (1429)
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Contact: Paul Armony is the head of this society.
E-mail genarg@infovia.com.ar
http://www.agja.org.ar/index.htm

Latin American Special Interest Groups

http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/argentina.html

http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/#Argentina

Legado (Legacy)

A chronicle filmed of the lives of Argentina's first Jewish immigrants; they arrived in 1889 fleeing Russian pogroms. The early farming communities endured drought, floods and locusts. International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, Argentina (5411-382-7872) E-mail cic@cinecic.com.ar
http://www.raoulwallenberg.net/filmsbooks/legacy/quot-legado-quot-legacy/

Libertad Synagogue

Considered the flagship synagogue of Argentine Jewry. It houses the Museo Judio de Buenos Aires
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Argentina.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Templo_Libertad

Marriage

A religious ceremony has no civil validity in Argentina. Couples must be married in a civil ceremony, independently of the religious one.

http://histclo.com/act/rel/faith/jew/dis/jd-arg.html

http://knowlescollection.blogspot.com/2010/10/jews-of-argentina.html

Names

Given at birth had to be contained in a list approved by the Argentinean government.

http://www.sephardim.com/

http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/category-argentine-names.html

http://www.kalemlervekiliclar.com/forum/Thread-ARJANT%C4%B0NDE-KABUL-ED%C4%B0LEN-YAHUD%C4%B0-ADLARI-Jewish-Names-are-accepted-in-Argentina

Pardes Synagogue

Rabbi is Baruj Plavnick. The synagogue is located in Buenos Aires. Their web site is in Spanish
www.pardes.org.ar

Researching Records in Spanish speaking Countries

When you are tracing records in Spanish speaking countries, remember that Spanish phonetics are different. Consider that when transliteration or spelling changes are involved, the final result may be different from what you would expect as you "think in English".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_of_Argentina

http://www.cjh.org/p/60

http://www.dinur.org/resources/resourceCategoryDisplay.aspx?categoryid=505&rsid=0

Telephone Directory White Pages

When searching this site, you need to denote a "Provincia" (Province). At the bottom of the list is "Todas". This will provide a listing of all surnames form all Provinces.
http://www.paginas-doradas.com.ar/PDPortal/gc/busqueda.asp

On the left side of the page, select 'Guia Telfonica' where there is a box marked "Apellido y Nombre / Empresa" which is where you enter the surname you are researching. Below this box there is a pull-down menu "Provincia" (Province). One choice is "Todas" (all provinces) "Localidad" means place, as in a specific town name, but it can be left blank. On the Right of the screen, note that the blue tap marked "Buscar" with a magnifying glass, is the search button.

Remember that many Jewish names have been changed to be more like a Spanish name and a woman's name with a "de" as part of the surname means that she is married into the family.

Largest phone company in Argentina has a web site (in Spanish) covering most of the provinces. La Guia ("The phonebook") Surname = apellido and Provincia = Province. The default is Buenos Aires which has approximately 1/3 of the country's population.
http://www.telecom.com.ar

Argentinean Cities
and Towns

Bahia Blanca

Basavilvaso

A 'frozen' village where Jews lived for many years.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9679871@N04/page528/

Bernasconi

A small village

http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/argentina/arauz-see-bernasconi.html

Buenos Aires

The major city having the largest Jewish population in the country

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9679871@N04/page528/

Clara (Claraville)

Another 'frozen' village where Jews lived for many years.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9679871@N04/page528/

Cordoba

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_of_Argentina

http://www.travel-watch.com/jewsofargentina1.htm

Dominguez

Another 'frozen' village where Jews lived for many years. In Dominguez there is a Jewish museum. It has many files and important materials about Jewish immigration to the area. Contact: Daniel Teveles E-mail melife@ciudad.com.ar

http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/argentina/dominguez-see-entre-rios.html

Archives of the Jewish Colonies video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGN4IyWM9X0

Esperanza

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9679871@N04/page528/

Mar del Plata

http://lalindacordobesa.blogspot.com/

http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/communities/show/id/35

Moises Ville (Moisesville colony)

Located 600 km north of Buenos Aires and is still another 'frozen' village where Jews lived for many years. The Jews founded this town that gave birth to the famous Jewish gauchos. It is the first of the Jewish agricultural colonies in Argentina and a few Jewish families still live there. Mario Jeifetz has created a web site
http://www.generacionesmv.com/index.htm

Between 40 or 40 Jewish families remain, but in its golden age (before 1930) the village had nearly 7,000 Jewish inhabitants. It was founded in 1889 by approximately 100 families from Kamenets-Podol'sk, Ukraine. Two years later, the Baron de Hirsch started his Jewish Colonization Association (JCA) and Moises Ville was included in his plan sponsored by the JCA. This information obtained from correspondence with Mario N. Jeifetz mnjeifetz@interclass.com.ar

These 130 families (815 persons) "Colonos" are the Argentine Jewry equivalent to the Mayflower passengers, and whoever can prove his descent from them can claim to be part of the Agricultural Pioneer Aristocracy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mois%C3%A9s_Ville

There is an old Jewish cemetery in existence in Moisesville. Mosesville, a Jewish colony in Argentina, was formed through the efforts of Jewish Bialystok. Villa Lynch, an industrial center in Argentina, came into being as a result of the initiative, efforts and money of Jews in Bialystok.
http://www.zchor.org/bialystok/yizkor2.htm

http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/argentina/moises-ville-santa-fe-province.html

In the Winter 2001 issue of Avotaynu, there is a story by Marcia and David Chamovitz describing their visit to Argentina and the locating of many relatives. The Chamovitz' s live in Tel-Aviv

M' ville Museum
Eva Rosenthal is Director E-mail: museo_mv@interclass.com.ar
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33771089@N07/3176817243/

Rivera

A small village. Located in west central (Central Pampa) Buenos Aires province, 625 km from Buenos Aires, 60 lm from Carhue, and 20 km from the La Pampa province border, on Route 60. The town, settled by Jews in 1905, is 76 blocks of paved streets, plazas, and monuments. [Recommended: Stay in La Pampa and not the hotel in the town.]

The first settler was Mauricio Guesneroff, JCA representative for the settle of "Colonia Baron Hirsch." Surrounding towns of the settlement were Lapin, Montefiore, Philipson, Veneziani, Leven, Clara, and Baron Guinzburg. Clara and Baron Guinzburg are in La Pampa province. The railroad reached the town in 1907. The 1908 population was 186 families. In 1909, it was 251 families. In 1935, there were 5,000 Jews. Population decline started in the 1940s. In 1970 census showed 3,340 people.

The 2001 population of 2,900 has 180 Jewish families. The 1924 Sinagoga Baron Hirsch is located at San Martin Avenue and Cordoba Street: Alberto Speier, President of the Jewish Community, tel: (02935) 4-32234. The Jewish Cultural Center is located at 235 de los Colonizadores Street. Tel: (02935) 4-32073. Director: Adelinda Castillo de Alcayaga.

Cemetery
http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/argentina/rivera.html

Rosario

Located about 185 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, the city was founded at the beginning of the eighteenth century. It is an industrial, commercial and business hub situated in the key agricultural and livestock producing region of the country, and it was one of the places Jews gathered. There are about 8,000 Jewish families living in this town and the Rosario's Jewish community is estimated at about 50,000.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Argentina

Synagogue
Beit Jabad Rosario
Mendoza 1572
Rosario, Santa Fe
2000 Argentina
Rabbi Shlomo Tawil
http://www.chabad.org/centers/default_cdo/aid/117747/jewish/Beit-Jabad-Rosario.htm

Santa Fe

The Jewish cemetery is located in NE Santa Fe, town is 254 km from Santa Fe and 721 km from Buenos Aires. 2000 population was 15,000. A company founded in 1888 by Vicente Casares y Tristan Malbran resulted in the creation of Ceres, Hersilia, and Selva. From that, Ceres, founded 1 July 1892, grew as an urban center.

Among others, Jews arrived in 1922 to create a Union Israelita based on the Montefiore development. Jews from Montefiore joined them. In 1970, twenty-one Jewish families lived in the area. In 2000, the Jewish population was 37. Jewish Union Synagogue and Community Center, 50 Teodoro Hertzl Street, Source: aklinco@hersilia.dataco15.com.ar

http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/argentina/ceres-santa-fe-province.html

http://www.pincusfund.org/index.php?page=21&i=603&bp=19

Villaguay

A 'frozen' village where Jews lived for many years. Dr. Silvio Teveles is president of the small Jewish community of Villaguay and works to maintain Jewish history. Located in central Entre Rios province, Villaguay was an inn halfway between Concepcion del Uruguay and Parana River and later named Santa Rosa de Villaguay. Until 1873, the town was under military control.

Ashkenazi Jews from Ingeniero Sajaroff, Perliza, Desparramados, Villa Clara, and Villa Dominguez settled there. Jewish population in 1952 was 120 Jewish families. 2001 Jewish population was fifty families of the population of 54,000. Apparently, Villaguay Jews used the San Gregorio Jewish Cemetery. [December 2003]
http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/argentina/villaguay-entre-rios-province.html

Tourism contact: Sergio Miranda (Mirst Travel), 301 Colon Street, Villagua, mirsttravel@clavis.com.ar .

Jewish Argentine Association of Villaguay
567 Balcarce Street
Contact Silvio Teveles
Tel 03455-156-22789
email: teveles@clavis.com.ar .

Barbados

http://haruth.com/jw/JewsBarbados.html

1925 was the year the last Jew living in this Island community died. Most Jews had died or left after surviving a series of hurricanes during the 1800s. During the late 1930s, twenty Jewish families from eastern Europe settled Barbados and were later joined by Jewish families from Trinidad. Although this is a small overall percentage of the total population, they have contributed much to the Island community.

Cemetery
Swan Street, was once called Jew Street in downtown Bridgetown where also there was a Jewish cemetery. The cemetery is undergoing extensive restoration. Cemetery Kahal Kadosh Nidhe Israel lies beside a recently restored synagogue of the same name that was founded in the seventeenth century by Portuguese and Spanish Jews escaping persecution in Brazil. There are over 400 tombstones dating as early as 1658 (5418) and all of them using Hebrew, Spanish or Portuguese inscriptions.

Tour of Barbados at The Milner Site
http://www.e.millner.btinternet.co.uk/photo001/bridgetown_walk.html

Jewish Barbados
with photos
http://www.e.millner.btinternet.co.uk/bevismarks/barbadosindex.html

Bolivia

http://www.haruth.com/jw/JewsBolivia.html

It is estimated that there are about 500 Jews living in Bolivia according to a report by The Jewish People Policy Planning institute Annual assessment 2004-2005
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Bolivia.html

Brazil

http://njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/031308/commBrazilsJews.html

Books on this country dealing with researching your Jewish roots can be found at my link to Amazon.com by clicking here > Jewish Genealogy

Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around. In the year 1500, 'Conversos' arrived with the first settlers of Brazil which had become a Portuguese colony. Because of the Inquisition, these 'secret Jews' arrived steadily in Brazil building up in population which stands at about 130,000 in a general population of about 160,000,000 today. When the Dutch conquered Brazil in the mid 17th century, they allowed the 'Conversos' to openly practice Judaism again.

Between 1637 and 1644, Jews enjoyed complete religious freedom under the reign of the local Dutch administrator, Joao Mauricio de Nassau. Jews flourished in the sugar industry and were slave owners. Today, Jews make up less than 1% of Brazil's total population of 171 million.

"A Brief History and Description of the Crypto Jews in Brazil"
http://www.haruth.com/JewsBrazil.html

http://www.jewishcanada.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=124676

Newspaper Obituaries

www.folha.com.br

www.jt.com.br

www.agestado.com.br

www.jb.com.br

www.oglobo.com.br

Brazilian Cities and Villages

Belem

There are Jews living here that are descendants of Moroccan Jewish immigrants.
http://www.alljewishlinks.com/eshel-avraham-in-belem-brazil/

Belo Horizonte

Capital of the state of Minas Gerais, has about 15 recently re-converted Jews.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Brazil

Fortaleza

There are about 120 Jews

Synagogue
http://www.mavensearch.com/synagogues/C3363Y41722RX

Jewish Genealogy Society of Brazil

Site is in Spanish and Hebrew.
http://www.netjudaica.com.br/novaNetJudaica/default.asp?subMenu=Genealogia&novaPagina=Textos/mostraSubCat.asp&id=30

Manaus

There are Jews living here that are descendants of Moroccan Jewish immigrants.

Natal

There are about 40 Jews

Recife

"Fragile Branches: Travels Through the Jewish Diaspora"
There are known Marranos in the city. More information about them can be found in James R. Ross's book

On September 7, 1654, a group of 23 Dutch-speaking Sephardim set sail from this city of Recife, for New Amsterdam (New York) in an effort to escape the Inquisition imposed by Portugal, which had defeated Holland for control of Brazil.

The Dutch held the city from 1630 to 1654, and most of the Jews fled after the Portuguese re conquest. In the twentieth century, a small community of Ashkenazim grew in Recife, but the city's center -- like Curacao and Manhattan, situated on an island -- went to seed. More information can be found in an article by Alan M. Tigay in the March 2004 issue of Hadassah Magazine.

With the decline of Dutch rule in 1654 and the reinstatement of the Portuguese regime, Recife's Jews were forced to leave. Some of them did, sailing off to the Caribbean or North America, though most of them stayed, undergoing public conversion to Christianity while continuing to practice Judaism in secret.

After WW I, a large number of Eastern European Jews began arriving as immigrants. Today, Recife has about as many Jews as it did in 1654. There is an 85 year old Jewish school, the Colegio Izraelita Moises Schwartz with 150 students.

Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue
Located in downtown Recife, has been recently restored and is now a museum and documentation center. It is located, ironically, on Rua do Bom Jesus, or Street of the Good Jesus, in the heart of Recife's port area. The Mikvah and original pavement stones can be seen along with the bema and the Holy Ark. Tania Kaufman is the director general of the Arquivo Historico Judaico de Pernambuco, a non-profit group whose employees include both Jews and non-Jews.

Bet Habad
The only functioning synagogue in the city. Rabbi Alexander Mizrahi is spiritual leader.

Jewish Historical Archive of Pernambuco - Brazil
The institution develops researches about the Jewish communities in northeast Brazil, with special attention to the first Jewish community in Americas. It's based in the reconstituted building of the Kahal Zur Israel, the First Synagogue in the American continent, raised by former new Christians and Jewish in the Dutch period, from 1630 to 1654. Site is in Portuguese
http://www.arquivojudaicope.org.br/

Porto Alegre

Sephardic Community
www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/url/colls/judaica/pages/latinam.html

Rio de Janeiro

Synagogue
The largest synagogue in the city is Associacao Religiosa Isrealita. It is a Reform synagogue led by Rabbi Sergio Margulies (no known connection) and Brazil's first female rabbi, Paraguayan born Sandra Kochman, a Conservative rabbi. One thousand families make up this congregation, which was founded by German immigrants in 1943.

Sao Paulo

Synagogue in the Brazilian-Jewish neighborhood of Bom Retiro, Sao Paulo - from the Jewish-Brazilian Historical Archive

Sao Paulo Jewish Genealogical Society
The center of Jewish life in Brazil - both web sites are in Spanish
http://www.livrariacultura.com.br/

www.sefer.com.br

Translations See also Languages page

LingvoSoft Dictionary software English <-> Yiddish for Windows - 400,000 words
With this LingvoSoft smart dictionary software on your computer, you can easily switch between English and Yiddish or Portuguese and many other languages), for prompt translations of 400,000 words both ways! Download Free Trial now

The Online Dictionary offered by Word Magic is the most complete English to Spanish / Spanish to English dictionary on the web. It is free and will help you with its huge amount of translations: idioms, phrasal verbs, plus other parts of speech, both simple and compound.
http://www.wordmagicsoft.com/dictionary/tools/

Translating Languages
There are many translating services, some for free, available to help with your translating needs in most languages including Spanish and Portuguese. One of these sites is
http://www.dictionaries.travlang.com/

Just in case you didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign language department. They may offer to write letters and translate letters into English. A nominal fee is usually charged.

Sociedade Genealogica Judaica do Brazil

http://www.sobresites.com/judaismo/genealog.htm

Chile

Santiago - "Little Israel"
http://www.forward.com/articles/137644/

Books on this country dealing with Jewish Genealogy may be found at my link to Amazon.com by
clicking here > Jewish Genealogy

There is a substantial Jewish population living in Chile, concentrated mostly in Santiago. There is a vibrant, thriving Jewish community of nearly 20,000 people living here with 12 synagogues. There are two fire stations where each of the company's firefighters is Jewish in Chile.

The only site I have found to date that seems to be of interest, although it is in Spanish, is Communidad Israelita De Santiago and is located at
http://www.cis.cl/index/opciones.htm

Naming Customs in South America

Customarily, in most South American countries, as well as in Spain and Portugal, children use their father's surname, unless there is an irregular situation like a single mother's children, in which case they use their mother's surname. Additionally, common surnames such as Sanchez, Garcia, Fernandez, Levi, Rabinovich, etc. the individual may use both the fathers and the mothers surnames. Married women use both surnames and some will use the 'de' which means "of", possessive.

Circulo Israelita Synagogue (Santiago)

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/chile.html

The main synagogue is the Circulo Israelita Synagogue in Santiago. It was built with beautiful stained glass windows that encircle the Bima. It serves the Ashkenazi community and has about 1,000 families as members.

Costa Rica

Centro Israelita Sionista De Costa Rica Congregation B'nei Israel
http://www.haruth.com/jw/JewsCostaRica.html

Most Jews can trace their ancestry back to Zelechow, Poland. Miriam Sherman at miriamsherman@hotmail.com is interested in making contact with others.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/CostaRica.htm

http://www.top10costarica.com/costa-rica-jewish-community/

Cemeteries in Costa Rica
http://www.jewishgen.org/cemetery/centralamerica/costarica.html

Jewish Costa Rica
http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles2/costarica.htm

Jews in Costa Rica - though there are only 2,500 Jews ... an interesting article in the Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/special_packages/costarica/
2570037.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp&1c

http://ticotimes.com/costa-rica/jewish-community-synagogue

http://www.sephardicstudies.org/costarica.html

Synagogues in Costa Rica
http://www.maven.co.il/synagogues/synagogues-search.asp?C=371

San Jose

Synagogues
http://www.mavensearch.com/synagogues/C3371Y41525RX

Cuba

http://s6.zetaboards.com/man/topic/527782/1/

The island lies 90 miles south of Key West, Florida with about 12 million living in an area 780 miles long and 119 miles wide. Most of Cuba's 1,400 Jews live in the capital, Havana. At one time (prior to 1960), there were about 10,000 Jews. There were Jewish converts among the first European settlers on the island in 1492. Groups of Jews fleeing from Brazil during the Portuguese Re-conquest (17th century) settled in Cuba despite inquisitional persecutions and promoted a flourishing trade with the West Indies.

The contemporary Jewish community does not represent a line of continuity with the Jews of the 18th century. Its formation began after independence from Spain was achieve in 1898. By 1924, there were 24,000 Jews living in Cuba - a number of them having come from Turkey.
http://www.bh.org.il/cuba/cuba/A/A-HISTORY.htm

There is an excellent article in Hadassah Magazine of January 2005 and authored by Ben G. Frank providing a great deal of information about Jews and Jewish life in Cuba.

Books

Books on this country relating to researching the Jews and their roots may be found at Amazon.com by
clicking here > Jewish Genealogy

"Adio Kerida" (Goodbye Dear Love)
A documentary about revisiting Cuba by Ruth Behar E-mail rbehar@umich.edu

"An Island Called Home"
Authored by Ruth Behar and published by Rutgers University Press - the authors story of returning to Jewish Cuba

"Bridges to Cuba"
Edited by Ruth Behar and published by the University of Michigan Press

Cuba Movie Clip 1957
http://www.movietone-portraits.com/

"The Jews of Latin America"
Authored by Judith Laikin Elkin and published by Holmes & Meier.

"The Last Minyan in Havana"
Authored by Betty Heisler-Samuels and published by Chutzpah Publishing

"Our Man in Havana"
Authored by Graham Greene and published by Viking

"Waiting for Snow in Havana"
Authored by Carlos Eire and published by Free Press

Cuban General Information

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Cuba.html

Addresses
of Jewish Interest

While most Cuban Jews live in Havana, there are small, but active communities today in Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, Santa Clara, Sancti Spiritus, Cienfuegos and Camaguey.

Havana
There are three operating synagogues in Havana.

Adath Israel (Orthodox)
Picota 52 Esquina Acosta
Habana Vieja
La Habana
Cuba 10100
Phone: 52 537-861-3495
adath@enet.cu

Beth Shalom/El Patronator Synagogue and Community Center
Calle 1, Havana
bethshalom@enet.cu

Centro Hebreo Sefardide - Templo (Sephardi Conservative)
Calle 17, #462 Esquina E. Vedado C
La Habana, Cuba 10400
President: Mr. Jose Levy Tur

Chevet Achim
Inquisidor Entre Luz y Santa Clara
Habana Vieja
La Habana, Cuba
Phone: ++53-7-62-2316
This synagogue is not open, but can be viewed by appointment.

Patronato de la Casa de la Communidad Hebrea de Cuba (Convervative)
Calle 1, #261, Esquina 13 Vedado
La Habana, Cuba 10400
Phone: +537 832-8953
Fax: ++53-7-33-3778
President: Dr. Jose Miller

Sephardic Hebrew Center of Cuba
Called 17
Havana
Phone 537 832 6623
judiosefarado@yahoo.com

Havana - Sephardic Cemetery
There are two cemeteries, both in Havana. Sephardi and Ashkenazi and both are located in Guanabacoa. In 2005, Havana has about 1,500 Jews still living there and there are least several hundred more in the provinces.

There was a news story in The Schenectady Gazette (New York) - November 12, 2000 regarding tombstones in the Jewish cemetery in Havana. Sue Gersten, an Albany, New York photographer, traveled to Havana and photographed the people and tombstones. These photos were mounted for an exhibition "Cuba 2000" and were shown in Troy, NY at Hudson Valley College. Further information is available at here web site
http://www.suegersten.com/cuba/cuba.htm

Santiago de Cuba

There are 45 Jews living in Santiago de Cuba as of 1/2004. It is Cuba's second largest city, located about 400 miles southeast of Havana. Jews came to this city immediately following WW I, when a large number of Turkish Jews arrived. They built a synagogue in 1939 which was forced to close in 1979. It is now opened again. There is a Jewish cemetery and a documentary video has been made. An article "Breaking Through the Wall" authored by James Colbert, was published in the January 2004 issue of Hadassah magazine.
www.hadassah.org/

Cienfuegos

Ms. Rebeca Langus, President
39 #5001
E/50 y 52
Cienfuegos, Cuba

Santa Clara

Mr. David Tacher Romano, President
Apedo 248
CP 50100
Santa Clara, Villa Clara, Cuba
Phone: ++53 422-71933

Santiago

Comunidad Hebrea Hatikvah
Corona 273
E/Habana y Los Maceo
Santiago de Cuba, Cuba 90100
Phone: ++53-266-86180
Fax: ++53-226-23768
E-mail: hatikva@chh.ciges.inf.cu

American Jewish Congress

They take groups to Cuba to meet with 'the small, yet active, Cuban Jewish Community and to visit the three synagogues and Cuban institutions.
See my Traveling Roots for further information.

Cuba-America Jewish Mission

1442A Walnut Street #224
Berkeley, CA 94709
E-mail: mission@thecajrn.org

Cuban Jews in Miami, Florida

There are about 6,000 Cuban Jews living in and around Miami.

Cuban Hebrew Congregation
Now Beth Shmuel - at it's peak, it had 1,000 members; today it has 500. This is Miami's largest synagogue for Cuban Jews
http://miami.citysearch.com/profile/2506310/miami_beach_fl/cuban_hebrew_
congregation.html

http://jewishcuba.org/miami.html

Death Certificates

It is indeed possible to get copies of death certificates from Cuba.
http://www.kindredtrails.com/cuba.html

http://www.cubagenweb.org/refs/index.htm

http://cubacityhall.com/

Jewish Cuba

Here is a wealth of information dealing not only with Cuba, but with other South American countries as well
www.jewishcuba.org

The Jews of Cuba

Thousands of Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews have settled in Cuba
http://jewishcuba.org/families/index.html

Daniel Kazez has developed a web page, 'The Jews of Cuba - Family Ties' a Cuban-Jewish Search List, which includes a search list and links.

Union Hebrew Congregation

A reform synagogue, was founded in 1904 and in 1906 began a cemetery.
http://www.chcuba.org/english/community/history.htm

Curacao

The principal island in the Dutch Antilles is 35 miles from Venezuela. There are about 450 Jews living in Curacao of a multiethnic population of 170,000. The first Jews arrive in 1651 and established a synagogue in a rented building in 1656 until they could build their own.

The first synagogue was built in 1703 and opened a second on the same ground in 1730-32. It is still there with sand covering the floor and is known as
Congregation Mikve Israel-Emanuel
Phone: 011 599 9 461 1067
E-mail rabbi@snoa.com
It is located on Hanchi di Snoa (Synagogue Alley) in the heart of Willemstad, the capital of Curacao. It is the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the Western hemisphere. At the time of the American Revolution, Curacao had as many Jews -- 2,000 as the entire United States.
http://www.globaladventure.us/articles/curacao2.html

http://www.sephardichouse.org/links/curacao.html

The language of the synagogues are Hebrew and English, while the everyday language is Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French and African and Papiamento languages.

Ashkenazic Jewish immigrants
Mainly from Bessarabia, settled here in the 1920s. No visa was required to enter Curacao, thus allowing many Jews who were fleeing Europe in the 1930s and early 1940s, to enter the country.

Beit Haim Cemetery
Dates from 1656 and is the oldest Jewish cemetery on the island. The gravestones in this cemetery are badly eroded because of pollution from nearby oil refineries. Many have a sailing ship motif, to symbolize someone's passing on to the next world, but also reflecting the mercantile-maritime background of the community. Others have impressively ornate Biblical scenes.

Mikve Israel-Emanuel
A four story building with a yellow facade, red tile roof and three ornamental gables at each end. It was consecrated in 1732. It is located at Hanchi di Snoa 29. The floor is covered with sand. Email rabbi@snoa.com

Nunes, Jacob
Outfitted the Judith and the Sarah, a vessel with 16 guns and 12 men, to prey on merchant shipping.

Shaarei Tzedek
The orthodox synagogue and the Sfardim of Mikve Israel- Emanuel united under the Reconstructionist banner in 1964. The 250 members of Mikve Israel-Emanuel are still mainly Sefardic, while the 200 members of Shaarei Tsedek are still mostly Ashkenazic. In the 1920s, Ashkenazic immigrants, mainly from Bessarabia, began arriving and in 1959 they opened the Orthodox Shaarei Tzedek. E-mail: shaareitsedek@yahoo.com
http://www.snoa.com/

There are some very informative articles in Hadassah Magazines, January 2004 and March 2004 issue. Another article by Alan M. Tigay offers a travelers view of Jewish Curacao in the Hadassah Magazine issue of January 1994
www.hadassah.org

Scharloo section
Jewish merchants lived in this area until the early 19th century. Most of the residents moved out after 1950 and now live in the suburban Mahaai and Damacor sections.

Temple Emanuel - photo from Hadassah Magazine of January 2004

Temple Emanuel
A reform synagogue located two blocks from Mikve Israel-Emanuel in Wilhelminaplein

Virtual Tour
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Curacaotoc.html

Willemstad
The island's capital. In the section of the city known as Punda many Jews have done business for more than 300 years. Many of the shops are Jewish owned.

Dominican Republic

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/sailwanderlust/?xjMsgID=52215

Marion A. Kaplan’s new book provides an excellent account of the history of the settlement in Sosúa, in the Dominican Republic, which was founded in 1938 as a refuge for Jewish emigrants from Europe. Sosúa was a small agricultural settlement on the northeastern shore of the island where several hundred refugees stayed during World War II, as Dominican authorities granted them asylum. And, although the agricultural colony has vanished, its memory still lives on among the refugees and the local population, as Kaplan shows in her book.
http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=24255

Guatemala

Jewish Converts in Guatemala
http://yiddish.forward.com/

Jews first arrived in Guatemala in the 16th century according to the Archives in Mexico, The German emigration of the mid-19th century and the 1965 Jewish refugees arrival from Cuba has made a big statement on the current population as well. Almost all of Guatemala's 1,000 Jews live in the capital, Guatemala City, with a few more in Quetzaltenango and San Marcos as well. There are about 800 Ashkenazim and 200 Sefardim, but the community continues to shrink due to assimilation and intermarriage.

http://www.tjgonline.com/our_work/feature_destinations/guatemala/guatemala.php

Casa Hillel Jewish Community
Located in Guatemala City has a membership of 35 active, converted members and several dozen others who are loosely affiliated though they have not converted to Judaism. Judith Fein wrote an article and was published in the April 2008 issue of Hadassah Magazine.
http://bechollashon.org/database/index.php?/article/1961

Casa Hillel Synagogue (Comunidad Hebrea/Beit Ha-madrij Hillel)
Located at 12 Avenida 17-21 Zona 1, Colona Mariscal; President is Mario Valdez who is a convert and
took the name Iosef. Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn, the rabbi at a temple in Kansas City, Missouri has been assisting in the conversions for the past six years. There is a Jewish Cemetery in Guatemala City.
www.casahillel.com

Cemetery
Centro Hebreo/Shaarei Binyomin
Phone: 502 2 360 7643
www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/guatemala/guatemala-city.html

Comunidad Judia Guatemalteca
Phone: 011 502 2 360 1509
www.comunidadjudia.com

Maguen David (Sefardic)
Phone: 502 2 232 0932
http://jewishphotolibrary.smugmug.com/gallery/5324198_JtnsQ#325247976_Ce6Tb

Virtual Tour of Jewish Guatemala
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Guatemala.html

Haiti

http://blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/tags/beth-kissileff/

Haiti today has no more than 50 Jews out of a total population of 8.5 million. Most of the Jews who used to live here have fled to the U.S., Panama and elsewhere in recent years in the face of crushing poverty and worsening violence.

Not much is known about Haiti's Jewish history, except that Luis de Torres, the interpreter of Christopher Columbus, was the first Jew to set foot in Haiti in 1492. The remains of a synagogue in Jeremic, a city along Haiti's southern peninsula was discovered by archaeologists. And there are some vague historical references to Jewish tombstones in the port cities of Cap Haitien and Jacmel.

By the end of the 19th century, Sephardi Jews emigrated from Lebanon, Egypt and Syria. Later, passports were issued to Eastern European Jews fleeing the Nazis. As many as 300 Jews lived in Haiti until the late 1950s.

Hispaniola

Haiti occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola. When Columbus landed in 1492 he discovered the native Taino Indians had organized the island into five chiefdoms. Each chiefdom had a king who collected taxes in the form of tributes consisting of harvested fruits, vegetables or grains. The Jaragua chiefdom occupied what is now Haiti, the remainder evolved into the Dominican Republic.

Then President, Rafael Trujillo, set aside 22,230 acres of land (an abandoned banana plantation) on the northern coast of this island (Dominican Republic) to become the home for over 700 Jews - the only country to welcome refugees from Nazism in 1938.

Only about 470 had remained for any extended period. The agency set up to accomplish this was the Dominican Republic Settlement Association Inc. (DORSA) sponsored by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and it was created in 1939. The first settlers did not arrive until May, 1940 at a town called Sosua.

By 1942, there were only 472 settlers trying to eke out a living as farmers in this agricultural colony. Few of these settlers had any real training or knowledge of farming -- or even inclined toward it. The real tragedy: in the original plan, the Dominican Republic had offered to accept up to 100,000 refugees.

Today, there are only 30 of the original Jewish families remaining in Sosua. Until 1980, the town was entirely Jewish. When the Puerto Plata airport opened, the town became a major beach resort.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_the_Dominican_Republic

http://sefaraddr.blogcindario.com/2010/10/00001-history-of-sephardim-from-expulsion-to-hispaniola.html

Synagogues
There are two synagogues, one in Santo Domingo and the other in Sosua. A community newspaper is published bi-monthly and is known as Shalom.
http://www.american.edu/projects/mandala/TED/hpages/asiapage/hispainola.htm

Honduras

The President in 2005 is Ricardo Maduro of Jewish descent

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Honduras.html

http://www.haruth.com/jw/JewsHonduras.html

Jamaica

1978: A group of Jews at worship in the Jewish Synagogue on Duke Street, Kingston. At the altar, Mr. Ernest deSouza, acting spiritual leader of Jewish community in Jamaica, conducts the service. File Photo
http://www.everytingjamaican.com/jamaicatalk/general-discussions/5720-jamaican-history-2-print.html

Books on this and other South American countries can be found at my link to Amazon.com by clicking here > Jewish Genealogy

Books

"The Jews of Jamaica, Tombstone Inscriptions 1663-1880"
Authored by R. D. Barnett and P. Wright, and published by Ben Zvi Institute in Jerusalem in 1997. The book is not indexed and divided into deaths by parish.

Jewish cemeteries and synagogues

There are several Jewish cemeteries and synagogues in Montego Bay. One is in Hunt's Bay which is partially hidden beyond a dusty lane in a refuse-strewn part of town and has served Jews of the pirate capital of Port Royal, across the bay in the 17th century.
http://www.kulanu.org/jamaica/jews-of-jamaica.php

http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples/jewish.htm

http://www.jewishphotolibrary.com/?page_id=97

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genealogylinks/fgn/frgn_J-L.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaare_Shalom_Synagogue

Beth Limud Society of Kingston

The Occident and American Jewish Advocate
http://www.jewish-history.com/Occident/volume2/june1844/kingston.html

Documents in Jamaica

There are court case documents in the Jamaican National Archives in Spanish Town, the old capital.
http://www.candoo.com/genresources/recjews.htm

Hillel Academy

Located in Jamaica is a nondenominational school sponsored by the country's Jewish community.
http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/international_news/
preserving_the_unique_heritage_of_jamaicas_jews/16684

Jamaican Jewish Genealogy

The film, Jamaica - Jewish Records is under Jamaica Births at the FHC. Film # 1012748 Civic Records. It has a lot of illegible footage, but at least 60% is quite legible once you go deeper. Mohel Records, etc. Also includes the Ketubot of Rev. Jacob R. Cohen originally from Bath, London, Montreal and Philadelphia. It contains Register of births of Kaal Kadosh Congregation Mikve Israel, Philadelphia, PA. Vital Records from 1776 to 1884, Certificates of Birth from 1843-1884 are quite legible.

http://www.sephardim.org/jamaica/index.html

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/jamaica.html

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/jamaica/jewish.htm

http://www.jewishjamaicans.com/

http://www.jewishkingston.org/

Jamaican Jewish History

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Jamaica

Kingston

A 1774 engraving of Spanish Town's colonial offices
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Town

Mexico

http://oybay.wordpress.com/2007/07/24/my-mexican-shivah/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Arab-Jew-that-lives-in-mexico/208716162505224?sk=wall

Books on this country and it's Jewish population can be found at my link to Amazon.com by
clicking here > Jewish Genealogy

Mexico is officially known as "The United Mexican States." It is made up of thirty-one states and one federal district, its capital is Mexico City. Mexico first declared its independence from Spain on September 16, 1810, but their independence wasn't officially recognized until September 27, 1821. It is three times the size of Texas. Its borders the U.S/Mexican border which is 1,952 miles long, making it the second longest border in the world.

With a population of over 24 million inhabitants, Jews of Mexico make up a very small percentage of the population, and most Jews are concentrated in Mexico City which has a powerful Jewish presence. Most impressive is the Mexico City Jewish Center.

Mexico City also boasts of the Hebraic University - the only government-accredited Jewish university in Latin America. It is located in the Lomas de Chamizal neighborhood. The Director is Daniel Fainstein. There is also the Sephardic Hebrew School in Mexico City and Amelie Esquenazi is the principal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Mexico

Acapulco

http://www.cjh.org/p/pdfs/Mexico07.pdf

http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=rx4EKCj-MAA

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=55081b90290ada1a0b8287bea6aa261f

Census - 1930

The complete 1930 Mexico Census available online. This was the fifth census conducted after 1895. Only the schedules preserved in the National Archives were microfilmed, if federal District, or it is included in a waypoint that has multiple localities. The searchable data covers the following states: Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Colima, Durango Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tlaxcala, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatan and Zacatecas.
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1307314

Converso Inquisition Victims (Mexico 1528-1815)

http://home.earthlink.net/~bnahman

EEUU

In Spanish it is los Estados Unidos which translates to United States

Mexico City

http://www.biblediscovered.com/jewish-hebrew-people-in-the-world/mexicos-jews/

Mexico City has the largest Jewish population in the country and has a magnificent Jewish center.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Mexico

http://haruth.com/jw/JewsMexico.html

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Mexico.html

http://www.jewishtours.com.mx/

http://www.mavensearch.com/synagogues/C3412Y41805RX

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smO7IV2rJSs

Mount Sinai Alliance

Formed by immigrants from Damascus, Syria; the Maguen David Community, formed by immigrants from Aleppo, Syria; and the Sephardi Community whose members' ancestors came from the Balkans.

Rabbi Abraham Tobal stated in a recent talk that "Assimilation threatens the future of Sephardi Jewish communities in Latin America." Of Latin America's 450,000 Jews, about 180,000 are Sephardi, with ancestors from Spain and Portugal who later settled in Syria, North Africa and the Balkans. About 20 percent of the world's Jews are Sephardi; the rest are Ashkenazi with ancestors from Germany and Eastern Europe.
http://www.ujcnj.org/page.aspx?id=56058

Portal

A group of young Mexican Jews trying to get the facts straight and get the truth out for anyone, with news, forums, editorials, etc... All about Israel.
http://www.infokeren.com.mx/index2.php

Sephardic Sites

http://www.jewishgen.org/sephardicsig/

Tibuna Israelita - (in Spanish)

http://www.tribuna.org.mx/

Tijuana

There is a orthodox traditional synagogue in this border town (Congregacion Hebrea de Baja California) , and the rabbi, Carlos Samuel Salas himself is a convert just like his congregation. The rabbi was a converted Catholic who quietly built a flourishing Jewish congregation and is one of the few, if not the only synagogue in the world that is composed of people not born into the faith. The rabbit attended the University of Judaism in Bel-Air, California and although he is not officially ordained as a rabbi, his congregants often address him by using the title.
Amado Nervo 207
Fracc. Montebello, 22101
Tijuana, Mexico
Phone 01 664 681 4952
Open weekdays 9 am to 5 pm
http://www.champoton.org/baja_california/?page=detail&get_id=91580&category=21

Venta Prieta

A number (about 300) 'secret Jews' live here. crypto-Jews were hunted in Mexico long after the Inquisition's official end - actually until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is located in Hidalgo state, north of Mexico City. The town boasts of "the Negev Synagogue" named because in its early days, the area looked like Israel's desert. A story about this unique Jewish community appears in the August/September 2005 issue of Hadassah Magazine. The text and photography was authored by Bryan Schwartz.
http://insidemex.com/travel/rumbo-a/hidalgos-lost-tribe?page=0%2C1

Vera Cruz

Passenger Lists of European Immigrants Arriving at Vera Cruz, Mexico 1921-1923 and Related Correspondence, 1921-1931 (M2032, 1 roll). The Microfilm can be purchased from
National Archives Trust Fund
NECD
P O Box 100793
Atlanta, GA 30384
http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/immigration/port/vera-cruz-mexico.html

http://www.archives.gov/research/microfilm/m2032.pdf

http://www.archives.gov/pacific/archives/riverside/finding-aids/microfilm-immigration.html

http://rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fianna/oc/usa/narasl.html

Netherlands Antilles

http://wn.com/Willemstad,_Cura%C3%A7ao

Jews arrived here in the mid-1600s mostly fleeing the Inquisition in Portugal and Spain. They have done well in academics, arts, commerce, industry, tourism, and politics. The Antillean Jews kept oil refineries producing at maximum capacity to supply the Allied forces with fuel.

Books

"History Of The Jews Of The Netherland Antilles"
Authored by Isaac S. Emmanuel and Susan A. Emmanuel
http://www.bnvillage.co.uk/1386535-post9.html

Nevis

The island of Nevis has a Jewish Cemetery located on Government Road in Charlestown. There are nineteen surviving grave markers spanning the period from 1679 to 1730. The stones that are still viewable are written in Hebrew, English and Portuguese.
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~terre011/Cemetery.html

Nicaragua

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managua

There are about 30 active Jews living in the country, though my first cousin, Gerald Smith (who is the current (2009) president of the Jewish community) told me that close to 100 people show up for Yom Kippur in Managua. His assumption is that the 70 or so souls are either part Jewish or Jewish and don't want to disclose that fact to their neighbors and/or friends. After Gerald was the President of the Jewish Community, he is no longer President and (as he wrote me) "We had a couple of bris's, a marriage, a suicide, fraud in very dirty circumstances, and now we have people with Jewish blood who want to convert." "We enlarged the cemetery, and negotiated with the Government who passed a law to recognize the 27th January as the official day of recognition of the Holocaust."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_of_Nicaragua

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Nicaragua.html

http://jta.org/news/article/2007/05/06/101628/Nicasplit

http://blogs.wsj.com/informedreader/2007/05/07/whos-jewish-nicaraguas-50-jews-acrimoniously-disagree/

Panama

http://knowlescollection.blogspot.com/2011/01/jews-of-panama.html

This s-shaped country is strategic for world travel and trade - mainly because of the canal. It is the southernmost nation of Central America located north of Columbia and south of Costa Rica. It is an isthmus, which is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas. The Panama Canal Railway was completed in 1855, spurred by the gold rush in California. It was the first reliable transportation between the Atlantic and Pacific. The canal took 10 years to build, opening in 1914.

Jews have lived in Panama since the early 16th century though there was no openly practicing community until several centuries later. The first Jews to have settled the country were descendents of the Anusim or crypto-Jews, originally from Iberia. Both Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews began to arrive in substantial numbers in the middle of the 19th century. They came to the country lured by economic opportunities in construction of the railroad and because of the California gold rush traffic. Later immigrants came from those fleeing the Ottoman Empire during WW I, from Europe and from Arab lands during the post 1948 exodus. The center of Jewish life is in Panama City, though there are small groups of Jews living in Colon, David, Chitre, La Chorrea, Santiago de Veraguas and Bocas del Toro. The Jewish population in 2005 is thought to be around 9,000 out of a total population of 3 million.

The country is the only one outside of Israel to have had two Jewish Presidents in the 20th century. In the 1960s, Max Delvalle was first Vice President and then became President and his nephew, Eric Arturo Delvalle became President from 1985 to 1988.

Kol Shearit Israel
Founded in 1876, was the first synagogue founded by liberal Sephardim from the Caribbean and the Netherlands. It has today a membership of about 160 families.

Paraguay

There are about 900 Jews living in Paraguay as cited in The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute Annual Assessment 2004-2005. A few isolated Jews came to Paraguay from France, Switzerland, and Italy toward the end of the 19th century and merged with the native population without ever establishing a community. On the eve of World War I, a number of Sephardi Jews emigrated from Palestine. The families, Arditi, Cohenca, Levi, Mendelzon, and Varzan, formed the first community, la Alianza Israelita, in 1917 and established the first synagogue with other Sephardim from Turkey and
Greece.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Paraguay.html

Peru

Jewish youth in Peru in 1936
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9679871@N04/page528/

Books specific to this and other South American countries can be found using my Amazon.com link by
clicking here > Jewish Genealogy

This South American country of 27 million has fewer than 2,800 Jews - though some who claim to be Jewish are not counted in the official number. At its peak in 1970, the once thriving Jewish Peruvian community was over 5,500. The total population is estimated at 25 million - mostly poor people.

Peru's history has been turbulent since the time of the conquistadors. Peru was the center of the Inquisition in Latin America from the late 16th century. In the 1990s, the country was hard hit by terrorism which caused the Jews to keep their institutions low-key

The Jewish community is a mixture of descendants of Polish and Russian immigrants fleeing pogroms and of Germans who fled the rise of Nazism. A few claim descent from Portuguese "secret Jews" who outlasted the Inquisition. Some came from North Africa. Holocaust survivors and their descendants also are part of this mix.

A small group of Jews, quite distinctive from the Lima Jewish Community Jews, have been formally converted and have settled in Israel. These Jews are known as B'nai Moshe and 140 of them settled in Elon Moreh, a religious community in the West Bank of Israel.

Another group of Jews (about 170) claim being descendents of 19th century Moroccan Jewish adventurers who came to the Amazon jungle during the rubber boom - and are more problematical as to whether they can be considered Jews. This group lives in Iquitos, a town more than a thousand miles from Peru's coastal cities, accessible only by plane or river boat.

Jews have lived in Peru since the earliest days of the Spanish Inquisition, though the first Jewish wave of immigration in modern times peaked around 1875.

Following a war between Chile and Peru (1879-1883) that devastated the Peruvian economy, Jews fled to other countries, and the community nearly disappeared.

The second wave of immigration began in the 1920s, when Jews from Europe and North Africa came to Peru in search of economic opportunity. That lasted until the onset of the Holocaust, when immigration was closed to Jews.

Alejandro Toledo, an Andean Indian, was recently elected president of Peru. He had a Belgian Jewish wife, Elaine Karp, who speaks the Indian Quechua language. Ms. Karp, a student at one time at Stanford in California, is slated to be a principal adviser on agricultural matters, and as a Jew who studied in Israel, believes that the same techniques used to develop the Negev, can work in Peru.

The country's second vice-president, David Waisman, is also Jewish.

B'nai B'rith Peru

Eric Topf, a prominent Lima architect is past-president. There are about 80 members, mostly elderly.

http://www.bnaibrith.org/regions_districts/chile_bol_peru.cfm

Iquitos

Inquitos Jewish Cemetery Front Gate

http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/peru/iquitos.html

http://journalperu.com/?p=319

Lima

This is the largest Peruvian/Jewish community. Lima's Jewish institutions are many and include a cultural center, a sports club, women's and youth Zionist organizations and a burial society. The Bikur Holim has 60 elderly residents and is expanding its capacity.

The community has four synagogues, including a Conservative congregation in the upscale neighborhood of Miraflores and a Chabad study center. The Sephardic synagogue is in the now-decaying San Beatriz area, where Jews once lived in Spanish-style villas. The Rabbi Abraham Benhamu maintains a weekday Minyan.

On weekends, activity centers on the Ashkenazi Union Israelita, where the large, modern sanctuary is full on Shabbat mornings.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/peru.html

Synagogue
http://www.mavensearch.com/synagogues/C3423Y41785RX

Sociedad de Beneficiencia Israelita Sefardi

The congregation is about 200 families
http://www.universidadperu.com/empresas/sociedad-de-beneficencia-israelita-sefaradi.php

Sociedad Israelita de 1870

Rabbi Guillermo Bronstein has about 200 families as members

http://www.alljewishlinks.com/sociedad-de-beneficencia-israelita-1870-in-lima-peru/

Trujillo

http://www.pictureninja.com/index.htm

There are Jews living in Peru's third largest city.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trujillo,_Peru

Union Israelita del Peru

An Ashkenazi congregation that represents around 50 percent of Peru's Jews - about 500 member families. Herman Blank is Vice President.

http://www.walk2shul.com/page-o1425.html

Puerto Rico

http://tracingthetribe.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-dna-project-puerto-rico-mallorca.html

Books on the Jews of this country and other subjects relating to researching one's Jewish roots can be found at my link to Amazon.com by clicking here > Jewish Genealogy

Jews weren't allowed to settle Puerto Rico until more than 400 years after its discovery in 1493. There is little or no Jewish history. Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony until the Spanish-American War of 1898. Jews arrived once Puerto Rico became a U. S. territory in 1952.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_immigration_to_Puerto_Rico

San Juan

There are about 2,300 Jewish inhabitants in both the largest Jewish community in the Caribbean and the richest. It is also the only Caribbean island on which the Reform, Conservative and Orthodox
movements are represented
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Puerto_Rico.html

Synagogue
http://www.mavensearch.com/synagogues/C3427

Chabad de Puerto Rico
The smallest of the three synagogues and occupies a large yellow house in the heart of San Juan's Isla Verde hotel strip
http://www.chabadpuertorico.com/templates/articlecco_cdo/AID/59955

Sha'are Zedeck Synagogue
(Jewish Community Center of Puerto Rico)
The island's first synagogue has 255 member families that trace their heritage to Cuba. This synagogue holds both Friday night and Saturday morning services
http://www.alljewishlinks.com/shaare-zedeck-in-san-juan-puerto-rico/

Temple Beth Shalom
Founded in 1967 as a Reform synagogue and has about 67 member families. About 15% of its members are converts to Judaism
http://www.tbspr.org/

Salvador (El Salvador)

http://www.kulanu.org/elsalvador/communityemerges.php

There are about 500 Jews living in the country. In addition to the approximately 60 families which make up the mainstream Jewish community of El Salvador, there are three smaller groups of Jews living in the south-central part of the country in the towns of Armenia, San Salvador and Nauisalco. Here 260 men, women and children, most of whom are descended from Spanish/Portuguese émigrés fleeing the Spanish Inquisition, have embraced their Jewish roots and are following an orthodox life style. The rest are Jews by choice.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/ElSalvador.html

St. Thomas

Savan Jewish Cemetery
http://jewishphotolibrary.smugmug.com/VIDEOS/JEWISH-CARIBBEAN-A/8281798_UUJ52/4/542221846_4M2vB#542221846_4M2vB

St. Thomas is located in the Virgin Islands and has an organization at the Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas, which is dedicated to documenting and preserving the cemetery and records of the community there.

The Chair of the Cemetery Committee is:
Katina Coulianos
The Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas
P.O. Box 266, St. Thomas,
U.S. Virgin Islands 00804-0266

The Committee has published a book documenting the Altona and Savan Cemeteries, as well as a book on the history of the Hebrew Congregation. They are willing to do look up from their files, and while they do not charge for this, a donation to the Hebrew Congregation would be appreciated.

One of the Governors was a Jewish man by the name of Ralph M. Paiewonsky. He wrote an autobiographical book with introductory chapters about his Paiewonsky and Kushner family background in Volkavisk and Mariampol, Lithuania.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/stthomas.html

http://www.ujcl.org/st_thomas.html

Books

The book is entitled "Memoirs of a Governor: A Man for the
People" and published in 1990 by New York University Press.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/stthomas.html

Synagogues

http://www.mavensearch.com/synagogues/C3448Y41337RX

http://www.onepaper.com/synagogue/

Suriname

Paramaribo - "Wooden" city

One of the oldest Jewish communities in the Americas, the first Jews settled around 1635. From 1700, the Jewish community grew in size. Many Jews operated plantations and often named them after Hebrew biblical names i.e. Beersheba, Carmel and Moriah. There are about 200 Jews living in Suriname according to The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute Annual Assessment 2004-2005. The Jewish community is found primarily in the capital city of Paramaribo, known as the "wooden city" because of the preponderance of lovely wooden structures that line its streets.

http://www.suriname-jewish-community.com/

http://www.suriname-jewish-community.com/our-history.html

Cemetery

Joden Savanne cemetery
http://www.suriname-jewish-community.com/our-cemeteries.html

Synagogue
http://www.suriname-jewish-community.com/our-synagogues.html

Venezuela

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,489505,00.html

Jews first came to Venezuela in the early 1820, arriving from the nearby Dutch island of Curacao, just about the time of the country's independence from Spain. Coro, a coastal town where the first Jewish settlement established itself, still contains the oldest Jewish cemetery in use in South America with tombstones dating back as far as 1832.

Many of the original families have disappeared into intermarriage with Spanish families, though there are still many Curacao Jews who came to this country in the early 20th century from North Africa and the Ottoman Empire, and later by the arrival of Jews from central and eastern Europe and from other countries in Latin America. Approximately 30,000 (over half of Venezuela's Jews live in Caracas) live in Venezuela with the remaining living in Maracaibo. Elias Farache is the President of Venezuela's Jewish association as of 2009.
http://www.wzo.org.il/en/resources/expand_author.asp?id=190

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Venezuela

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0020_0_20362.html

Cemetery
It is reported that the Jewish gravestones in the cemetery at Curacao are being badly eroded by pollution from nearby oil refineries. Many of the stones have a sailing ship motif to symbolize someone's passing on to the next world, but also reflecting the mercantile-maritime background of the community. Others had impressively ornate Biblical scenes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Venezuela

http://www.kosherdelight.com/VenezuelaSynagogues.shtml

Unión Israelita de Caracas

http://www.uic.org.ve/

Museo Sefardi de Caracas
http://www.museosefardi.org/

http://www.catedra-alberto-benveniste.org/links.asp

Or Shalom On-Line - The only conservative congregation in Caracas. The site is in both Spanish and English (scroll down for English) and ignore the password request - just click 'cancel'
http://uscj.org/world/caracas/

Synagogues in Venezuela
http://www.mavensearch.com/synagogues/C3447Y41624RX

http://www.jewishphotolibrary.com/?page_id=97

Tiferet Israel Sephardic Synagogue
In Caracas
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/world/americas/01webvenez.html

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