When did Jews arrive in Peru?
Peru, a typical South American country, is rich in many natural treasures and full of different and unique cultures spanning thousands of years. Most of them have sympathy for Jews.
The first mention we find in sources about Peru is during the construction of the First Temple, when King Solomon built the Temple, it is mentioned that he sent envoys to various countries to get materials for the construction. An expedition was sent to Ophir to bring gold from natural resources for the Temple, according to tradition, Ophir is Peru (now known as the Kaha Marka region) from which most of the gold for the Temple came.
The next period in which we know of Jewish life in Peru was around the time of the Spanish Inquisition, about five hundred years ago, when many Jews immigrated to Peru in various ways. This was the period of the discovery of America, and the hope was that this would be a way to escape from the authorities. In addition, as soldiers or a conquering team, prisoners would be sent from prison so that those sentenced to death would repent in this way to their country. Columbus, who is known to have been a Jew, brought with him many forced Jews in order to conquer and live in Peru. The period before the conquest of most of South and Central America by the Spanish was a paradise for the Jews of the area. The Spanish were busy with the conquest and had not yet begun to try to impose their views on the people in the various cities as they did in Spain. After the Spanish conquest, the Jews of the region had to live a Jewish life in secret, since then the Inquisition was established in South America in three different locations: Lima, Peru, Cartagena, Colombia, and Mexico City, and persecution began of anyone with a different faith. Therefore, it can be seen today that the Peruvian people, for the most part, do not recognize the paganism of the Incas at all, but only recognize and believe in the Christian paganism that controls the country.
There is a famous Shabbat in which 80 Jews were captured. He was a very wealthy Jew with wide influence and a high position in the government in Peru, with a large amount of land under his ownership. They prayed the Shabbat prayer in the basement of his house in central Lima, where he had a secret synagogue. They were captured and taken through a tunnel to the neighboring church. This was a very embarrassing event for the authorities, since most of them were important and influential people in the government. Over the years, today, there is a police station in that building, which can be seen in the city center. To this day, in the church next to the basement, there are bags of the bones of the Jews murdered in that event. During that difficult period, the Jews underwent horrors and torture that ultimately ended in murder, usually by burning or hanging. The Jews who confessed to being Jewish were sentenced to death and buried in a house of worship located in the Callao area (this does not exist today, since many years later there was a large tsunami and everything was swept away by the sea). Those who did not confess were also sentenced to death, but their bodies were sent to a church in the center of Lima, where, unfortunately, the bones of the Jews are still found today. The place where the presidential palace is now located in the Plaza de Armas was the place where the condemned Jews were burned, and they were led there through a street called the Street of the Jews – calle de los judíos – which still exists.
The Congress building was one of the buildings of the Inquisition that ruled over all the territories conquered by Christian Spain. And to Lima, which was the capital of the region, many condemned heretics were brought. Today, the Inquisition Museum still exists not far from the Presidential Palace, but most of the time it is closed because they have no interest in this subject becoming too famous. Of course, key details are omitted from it by order of the dictatorship of Christian paganism and in fact to omit it is a reminder of the war of Christianity at that time.
Today, there are many Peruvians who are descendants of those who were forced and murdered and who carry Sephardic surnames that were then accepted among Jews and claim to be children of Jews or Sephardim, but in reality they have had no connection to Judaism for centuries and are disappointed when they try to enter Jewish communities in order to have a better life and are not accepted. When they are told that being Jewish is only if your mother is Jewish, they get really angry.
From the time the Jews arrived in Peru at the time of Columbus, Jews were present in the country for most of the year in its various regions until this very day.
For example, there were years when you had a very large community in Cusco with a record of ten regular minyanim every day with a very large Jewish community, and as always, the pagan worship was looking for a way to be perceived as holy. In one of the churches in the city they keep a Torah scroll from that period. And so on in many places.
The third and current period of Judaism in Peru begins around the 1800s (1800 to be exact) with a large number of Jews who came to seek a source of livelihood. Some came from Morocco to produce rubber in the jungles, including Iquitos and the surrounding area (a Jewish community center still exists there today, on a plot adjacent to the public cemetery). Some came from Germany and Turkey and so on to seek a source of livelihood. Over the years, they brought part of their family or Jewish spouses to marry. Later, some or their descendants emigrated to other countries or immigrated to the Land of Israel. Unfortunately, some of them were completely assimilated (this often stemmed from confusion, since they lived in remote places, sometimes as single Jews in a remote village, and there were no options for Jewish spouses there, and they did not want to leave their place to seek a place with Jews). Some of their descendants still live in the community in Lima and think that they are kosher Jews, but they never converted and did not accept the burden of Torah and commandments, especially due to lack of knowledge and deception. Alternatively, they were converted improperly.
During the Holocaust, hundreds of Jews flocked to Peru, some stayed and some moved on to other countries. During that period and before that, there were Jewish communities in the following cities: Lima, Cusco, Arequipa, Ica, Trujillo, Iquitos, Huancillo, and several other places, including in the development area, but there were only a few Jews living there, unlike the cities we mentioned, which had large concentrations. In the 1920s and 1930s, most Jews moved to Lima, and today there is only a permanent Jewish community there.
During the peak years of that period, there were six synagogues operating in Lima at the same time: Knesset Israel (in Malavas), the German (1870), the Union Israelite (on Brazil Avenue, [previously located in two different places]), the largest synagogue among them, the Spanish (Batrez), Sharon. In addition, there was a community school, 'Leon Pinello'. Two nursing homes, a hospital (Borja), Apilantis. The 'Habrika' club. And more. But naturally, since there was no religious Jewish education, assimilation increased and the community declined greatly.
In 1987, the Lubavitcher Rebbe Shlita sent the first emissaries to Peru, Rabbi Shneur Zalman (Uri) and Rebbetzin Shternah Sarah Blumenfeld, to work with the community (over the years, this also developed into work with the tourists who began to come to the country) and later opened another Chabad house in Cusco for the many tourists who spend time there, and also operate in most of the points where there are Israeli tourists.
The purpose of Chabad's mission is to prepare the world to welcome our righteous Messiah – the Lubavitcher Rebbe Shlita
Today, the Chabad House is a beacon of light for Judaism in Peru and the surrounding area and is a model for a lifelong Jewish life.
The Chabad house has a synagogue, a center for classes on a variety of topics and types for men and women, four kitchens, two restaurants, three mikvahs, an elaborate slaughterhouse, kosher provision, Chalav Yisrael, a kindergarten, a summer camp, and more.
You are welcome to visit the Chabad House, you are welcome to write to us for more details. Contact us
