The outside of Shaare Tikva

With the abolition of the Inquisition in 1821, families of Sephardic Jews decided to return to Portugal. Most of these Jews were merchants from Morocco and Gibraltar. These were people with a cultural level greatly above average. They could read, speak and write in liturgical Hebrew, Arabic, English and Hakitia, the Moroccan judeo-hispanic dialect.

They all had numerous international contacts, not only because of their business activities but also because of their family ties all over the world. These factors explain the rapid economic and cultural development not only of the Lisbon Jews, but also of the many families, which arrived in the Azores and the south of Portugal during the first half of the 19th century.

A class held at a Jewish school in Quba (early 1920s)

Located on the southern edge of the Caucusus, and bordered by Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Iran and the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan has a population of over eight million. The majority of its inhabitants are Turkish-speaking Shiite Muslims, as well as Armenians and Christian Lezgins. Approximately 12,000 Jews live in the country.

Early History
Jews have lived in Azerbaijan for centuries and can be divided into two groups: Ashkenazi and Jews of Persian origin. Ashkenazim settled in Azerbaijan in the 19th century during a Czarist Russian attempt to infuse Russian culture into the region. Other Ashkenazim came to Azerbaijan during World War II to escape the Nazis. The Persian Jews, also known as Caucasian Mountain Jews, can be traced to Azerbaijan from before the 5th century. Their history is more than 2,000 years long and Azerbaijan has historically been very welcoming toward them.

The idea of building a Jewish Museum in Greece (JMG) was first conceived in the 1970s by members of the Jewish community of Athens, who offered every kind of assistance towards the realization of this dream.

The Museum was established in 1977 and housed in a small room next to the city’s synagogue. It contained objects salvaged from World War II, artifacts, documents and manuscripts of the 19th and 20th centuries, and the jewelry of the Jews of Thrace that had been seized by the Bulgarians in 1943. The latter had been returned to the Greek government after the abdication of the Bulgarian king and the establishment of a communist regime in the country.

The following years saw a thorough and careful collection of material from all the communities of Greece, under the inspired guidance of Nikos Stavroulakis, director of the museum until 1993. The collection expanded with rare books and publications, textiles, jewelry, domestic and religious artifacts.

Plaza Cibeles

Jews lived in Spain long before the infamous Inquisition of 1492. Jews suffered tremendously under Visigoth rule. Thus, when Moslem forces invaded the peninsula in 711, Jews welcomed the forces from North Africa. The relationship between Jews and Moslems was one of complimentary interests, but not of tolerance. Jews would not submit to the religious message of Islam, but they could be trusted not to side with their prior oppressors. They were, therefore, entrusted with security functions in captured areas, allowing Moslems to advance further without leaving behind military personnel. This was typical of Spain during much of the Middle Ages; a coalescence of interests dominated the political infrastructure.

According to one opinion, there was never a medieval Spanish Golden Age of peace and tranquility amongst Jews, Moslems and Christians. Rather, there was a tense balance of economic and security interests reinforced by governmental weakness to alter the status quo.

The Hobart Synagogue, built in 1845, is the oldest synagogue in Australia

In 1788, the first Jews (between eight and 14) arrived in Australia from England, as part of the fleet of convicts sent there as punishment for petty crimes. It is claimed that  Joseph Marcus, a former convict, founded the Jewish community in Sydney in 1817, along with the formation of the Jewish Burial Society (Hevrah Kadishah).

In 1821, the first group of free Jewish settlers arrived in Australia. Reports estimate that by 1828, approximately 100 Jews had moved there. By 1841, this figure had increased to 1,083 and in 1844, the country’s first synagogue was built in Sydney. This inspired many other Jewish communities to establish their own congregations in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth.

Nidhe Israel Synagogue, Barbados

The alluring beauty, pristine beaches, ideal climate and music festivals make Barbados one of the world’s top tourist spots. What’s more, this easternmost Caribbean island offers Jewish visitors Kabbalat Shabbat services in an exquisitely reconstructed historic synagogue; a new interactive Jewish museum; and a recently excavated mikveh, the oldest known in the Western Hemisphere.

These achievements of the island’s 16 Jewish families are all the more remarkable when you discover that the legacy of Barbados Jewry almost disappeared without a trace.

Reagan – Gorbachev Era

Recently, David Harris, the Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) made the opening remarks at a reunion between Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and former US Secretary of State George Shultz. When he was finished, Gorbachev publicly praised his words, saying Harris helped him gain a new understanding of the Jewish community’s view of Russian and Soviet Jewish history. Here is a portion of what David Harris had to say:

In 1974, I traveled to the USSR for the first time as part of a US-Soviet teachers’ exchange program. I was sent to School No. 185 in Leningrad.

Kezikia Bumba, 80-year-old President of the Abayudaya Men’s Club

Western Jews do not always imagine that people of different skin colors, from distant cultures, could be Jewish. The truth is that there are currently indigenous communities observing traditional Jewish rituals all over the continent of Africa. True, most Jewish communities in Africa bear little resemblance to Jewish communities in Europe or North America—they look different, speak different languages, embrace music and culture with which many Western Jews are unfamiliar—yet these communities have religious practices that everyone who is Jewish would recognize.

Each community that practices Judaism in Africa has come to the religion in a different way. Some believe themselves to be descendents of the “Lost Tribes of Israel,” others are members of communities that have been Jewish for two millennia, while other groups have accepted Judaism in recent years because it is the religion that most resonates with their lives. The one factor that unifies these communities is that they are proud to call themselves Jewish, and would like the international Jewish community to accept them as Jews.

Kobe’s Synagogue

Jewish travelers arrived in Japan with Portuguese and Dutch merchants as early as the 16th century, but Jews did not permanently settle there until after Commodore Perry’s arrival in 1853. By 1895 the Jewish community developed to about 50 families and established Japan’s first synagogue.

In the 1880s, Jews settled in Nagasaki, a Japanese port city that was accessible to Jews fleeing from Russian pogroms. Soon after, the Nagasaki community, with about 100 families, was larger than the one in Yokohama. The Beth Israel Synagogue was built in 1894. During the Russo-Japanese War the Nagasaki community disintegrated, passing its Torah scroll to the Jews of Kobe. One of the most esteemed members of this group was Joseph Trumpeldor, who later became a hero of the Zionist movement for his role in the formation of the Jewish Defense Forces in Palestine.