History of the Jews in Brazil

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Brazilian Jews
Judeus brasileiros
יְהוּדִים ברזילאים‎
The Location of Brazil in South America
Total population
107,329[1]–120,000[2] Jewish Brazilians
Regions with significant populations
Brazil: Mainly in the cities of
Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews and Ashkenazi Jews
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The history of the

the Netherlands
.

The

Roman Catholicism until 1821. As a colony of Portugal, Brazil was affected by the nearly 300 years of repression of the Portuguese Inquisition, which began in 1536.[3]

In The Wealth of Nations Adam Smith attributed much of the development of Brazil's sugar industry and cultivation to the arrival of Portuguese Jews who were forced out of Portugal during the Inquisition.[4]

After the first

IBGE Census shows that 70% of Brazil's Jews belong to the middle and upper classes. As a group, Jews in Brazil see themselves as a successful segment of society, and face relatively little antisemitism at the onset of the 21st century.[5]

Brazil has the tenth largest Jewish community in the world, about 107,329 by 2010, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) Census,[1] and has the second largest Jewish population in Latin America, after Argentina.[6] The Jewish Confederation of Brazil (CONIB) estimates that there are more than 120,000 Jews in Brazil.[2]

First Jewish arrivals

The oldest synagogue in the Americas, Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue, located in Recife

The Portuguese Jews, persecuted by the inquisition, stript of their fortunes, and banished to Brazil, introduced, by their example, some sort of order and industry among the transported felons and strumpets by whom that colony was originally peopled, and taught them the culture of the sugar-cane. Upon all these different occasions, it was not the wisdom and policy, but the disorder and injustice of the European governments, which peopled and cultivated America.[4]

—Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776)

There have been Jews in what is now Brazil since the first Portuguese arrived in the country in 1500, notably Mestre João and Gaspar da Gama who arrived in the first ships. A number of Sephardic Jews immigrated to Brazil during its early settlements. They were known as "

Portuguese crown
.

The Jews from Portugal avoided immigrating to Brazil, because they would also be persecuted by the Inquisition. Most of the Portuguese Conversos took refuge in Mediterranean countries such as in North Africa, Italy, Greece and the Middle East, and others emigrated to countries that tolerated Judaism, such as the Netherlands, England and Germany. Many Sephardic Jews from Holland and England worked with the maritime trade of the Dutch West India Company, especially with the sugar production in the northeast of Brazil.[7]

The first Jews who arrived in South America were Sephardic Jews who, after being expelled from Brazil by the Portuguese, settled in the northeast Dutch colony. Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue was the first synagogue in the Americas, established in Recife in 1636 and a community of about 1450 Sephardic Jews lived there. When the Portuguese retook Recife in 1654, 23 Jews from the community escaped to the Dutch North American colony of New Amsterdam, that in 1664 would become New York City.

In the final decades of the 18th century, some Conversos came to southeastern Brazil to work in the

gold mines. Many were arrested, accused of Judaism. Brazilian families that descend from the Conversos are mainly concentrated in the states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Pará and Bahia.[citation needed
]

Most sources state that the first synagogue of Belém, Sha'ar haShamaim ("Gate of Heaven"), was founded in 1824. There are, however, controversies;

Tamarisk
") and that it was established in 1823 or 1824, while Sha'ar haShamaim was founded in 1826 or 1828.

The Jewish population in the capital of Grão-Pará had by 1842 an established necropolis.[8]

Agricultural settlements

Because of unfavorable conditions in

European Jews began debating in the 1890s about establishing agricultural settlements in Brazil. At first, the plan did not work because of Brazilian political quarrels.[citation needed
]

In 1904, the Jewish agricultural colonization, supported by the

Russian Jews during the mass immigration from the hostile Russian Empire. The first colonies were Philippson (1904) and Quatro Irmãos (1912).[9]
However, these colonization attempts all failed because of "inexperience, insufficient funds and poor planning" and also because of "administrative problems, lack of agricultural facilities and the lure of city jobs."

In 1920, the JCA began selling some of the land to non-Jewish settlers. Despite the failure, "The colonies aided Brazil and helped change the

stereotypical image of the non-productive Jew, capable of working only in commerce and finance. The main benefit from these agricultural experiments was the removal of restrictions in Brazil on Jewish immigration from Europe during the 20th century."[9]

Other 20th-century developments

By the

First World War, about 7,000 Jews were inhabiting Brazil. In 1910 in Porto Alegre, capital of Rio Grande do Sul, a Jewish school was opened and a Yiddish newspaper, Di Menshhayt ("Humanity") was established in 1915. One year later, the Jewish community of Rio de Janeiro formed an aid committee for World War I victims.[citation needed
]

Congregação Israelita Paulista ("CIP," or "Israeli Congregation of São Paulo), the largest synagogue in Brazil, was founded in by Dr. Fritz Pinkus, who was born in Egeln, Germany.[10]

Associação Religiosa Israelita (the "Israeli Religious Association"), now a member of the

Heinrich Lemle, who emigrated from Frankfurt to Rio de Janeiro in 1941.[10]

The Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in São Paulo was founded in 1955 and inaugurated in 1971. It has a medical and nursing school. It is considered one of the best medical centers in Latin America.[11]

Antisemitism

Auto-da-fé

Main article: Auto-da-fé

The first recorded auto-da-fé was held in

Protestants, and occasionally those who had been accused of such crimes against the Roman Catholic Church as bigamy and sorcery.[13]

Historians note that the best-known action of the Inquisition against

New Christians were condemned to death in Lisbon
.

One of the best-known Portuguese playwrights,

Marranos or anyone of Jewish descent in Rio, and in October 1712 Lourença Coutinho became a victim. Her husband and children accompanied her to Portugal when António was 7 years old,[14] where she figured among the "reconciled" in the auto-da-fé of July 9, 1713, after undergoing the torment only.[15] António produced his first play or opera in 1733, and the next year he married his cousin, D. Leonor Maria de Carvalho, whose parents had been burnt by the Inquisition, while she herself had gone through an auto-da-fé in Spain and been exiled on account of her religion. They had their first daughter in 1734, but the years of their marriage, and of Silva's dramatic career, were few, for on October 5, 1737 husband and wife were both imprisoned on the charge of "judaizing." A slave of theirs had denounced them to the Holy Office. Though the details of the accusation against them seemed trivial and contradictory, and some of his friends testified about his Catholic piety and observation, António was condemned to death. On October 18, like those who wanted to die in the Catholic faith, he was first strangled and after had his body burnt in an auto-da-fé.[15] His wife, who witnessed his death, did not long survive him.[citation needed
]

Another notable person is Isaac de Castro Tartas (1623-1647) who emigrated to Brazil from France and Holland. In 1641 he arrived in Paraíba, Brazil, where he lived for several years. Against the wishes of his relatives there, he went later to Bahia de Todos os Santos (present day, Salvador), the colony's capital, where he was recognized as a Jew, arrested by the Portuguese Inquisition, and sent to Lisbon[16] where he died as a Jewish martyr.

20th century antisemitism

Heightened antisemitism in Brazil in the 1900s reached its peak during 1933–1945 with the ascent of Nazism in Germany. Brazil blocked its doors to an influx of Jewish refugees from Europe during the Holocaust.[17] Research by Brazil's Virtual Archives on Holocaust and Antisemitism Institute (Arqshoah) has uncovered that between 1937 and 1950 more than 16,000 visas were issued to European Jews attempting to escape the Nazis were denied by the governments of presidents Getúlio Vargas and Eurico Gaspar Dutra.[18]

Attitude towards antisemitism

Brazil strictly condemns antisemitism, and such an act is an explicit violation of the law. According to the Brazilian penal code, it is illegal to write, edit, publish, or sell literature that promotes anti-Semitism or racism.[19] The law provides penalties of up to five years in prison for crimes of racism or religious intolerance and enables courts to fine or imprison for two to five years anyone who displays, distributes, or broadcasts antisemitic or racist material.[20]

In 1989, the Brazilian Congress passed a law prohibiting the manufacture, trade and distribution of swastikas for the purpose of disseminating Nazism. Anyone who violates this law is liable to serve a prison term from between two and five years.[21] (Law no. 7716 of 5 January 1989)

In 2022, a Pentecostal pastor who prayed in front of his congregation for a second

Holocaust was sentenced to 18 years and 6 months in prison, the longest sentence for antisemitism to date. [22]

According to a U.S. Department of State report, antisemitism in Brazil remains rare.[20] The results of a global survey on anti-Semitic sentiments, released by the Anti-Defamation League, ranked Brazil among the least anti-Semitic countries in the world. According to this global survey conducted between July 2013 and February 2014, Brazil has the lowest "Anti-Semitic Index" (16%) in Latin America and the third lowest in all Americas, only behind Canada (14%) and the United States (9%).[23][24]

Present-day Jewish community

Jewish population by country (2010)

Brazil has the 10th largest

Jewish Confederation of Brazil (CONIB) estimates that there are more than 120,000 Jews in Brazil,[2] with the lower figure representing active practitioners. About half of Brazilian Jews live in the state of São Paulo, about a quarter in the state of Rio de Janeiro, and there are also sizeable communities in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Bahia, Pará and Amazonas.[25]

The Brazilian Jewish community is composed of

Sephardic Jews of Iberian, North African and Middle Eastern origin. It is unclear which group is more numerous. Both groups exist in the largest cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, where they have mixed to some extent. In the North Region most Jews are Sephardic, and in the South Region most Jews are Ashkenazi.[26]

Brazilian Jews play an active role in politics, sports, academia, trade and industry, and are overall well integrated in all spheres of Brazilian life. Jews lead an open religious life in Brazil and there are rarely any reported cases of

Arabs.[27][28] As of 2006, no more than 20% of Brazilian Jews kept kosher.[29] Brazilian Jews exist across a wide religious spectrum, including Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and secular Jews. Most Brazilian Jews are non-Orthodox and the majority of Brazilian synagogues are affiliated with the Conservative and Reform movements. Historically, until the 1930s, Orthodox Judaism was the main form of Judaism due to immigration of Eastern European Jews, but Central European Jewish immigrants later introduced Reform Judaism. The majority of the Brazilian Jewish community identifies as secular and Zionist. Chabad has a growing influence in Brazil. The majority of Brazilian Jews are Ashkenazi, often of Polish or German descent, while there is a significant Sephardic and Mizrahi minority of mostly Lebanese, Syrian, Moroccan, and Egyptian descent.[30][31]

There has been a steady stream of aliyah (immigration to Israel) since the nation's foundation in 1948. Between 1948 and 2021, more than 16,000 Brazilians immigrated to Israel.[32]

Size of Jewish communities in Brazil

All states, the Federal District, and municipalities with more than 100 Jews are listed below. The numbers are from the 2010 census.[25]

Municipality State Jews
São Paulo SP
43,610
Rio de Janeiro RJ
21,800
Porto Alegre RS
6,658
Curitiba PR
3,184
Belo Horizonte MG
1,384
Belém PA
1,346
Recife PE
1,286
Manaus AM
1,183
Brasília[a] DF[a]
1,103
Salvador BA
1,010
Campinas SP
644
Niterói RJ
600
Santos SP
471
Jaboatão dos Guararapes PE
423
Santo André SP
357
Florianópolis SC
350
Cotia SP
330
Teresópolis RJ
313
Santana de Parnaíba SP
306
Vitória ES
268
Natal RN
266
João Pessoa PB
264
Contagem MG
255
São Gonçalo RJ
254
Maceió AL
251
Fortaleza CE
247
Goiânia GO
234
Macapá AP
217
Governador Valadares MG
209
Joinville SC
209
Guarulhos SP
204
Benjamin Constant AM
203
Caruaru PE
191
Serra ES
187
Itu SP
185
Teresina PI
175
Ilhéus BA
174
Erechim RS
163
Cabo Frio RJ
161
Vinhedo SP
158
Piracicaba SP
154
Francisco Sá MG
149
Porto Seguro BA
148
Aparecida de Goiânia GO
142
Sorocaba SP
142
Petrolina PE
140
Barueri SP
139
Duque de Caxias RJ
138
Campo Grande MS
136
Belford Roxo RJ
136
Petrópolis RJ
136
Itabuna BA
132
Betim MG
130
Taubaté SP
128
Eunápolis BA
123
Vila Velha ES
123
Carapicuíba SP
121
Campina Grande PB
120
Corumbá MS
118
Franco da Rocha SP
118
São Bernardo do Campo SP
118
Ananindeua PA
116
Almirante Tamandaré PR
115
Caxias do Sul RS
112
São José do Rio Preto SP
112
Atibaia SP
108
Jundiaí SP
108
Maricá RJ
106
Aracaju SE
105
Franca SP
105
Mogi das Cruzes SP
103
  1. ^ a b c For statistical purposes, the Federal District is treated as a state and as a municipality named Brasília.

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISSN 0104-3145. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  2. ^
    US Department of State. Archived
    from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  3. ^ JTA Archives (3 July 1987). "Impact of Portuguese Inquisition Still Felt by Brazil, Its Jews (last of Three Parts)". www.jta.org. JTA. Archived from the original on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  4. ^ a b Smith, Adam (1776), The Wealth of Nations (PDF) (Penn State Electronic Classics ed.), republication in 2005 by Pennsylvania State University of The Wealth of Nations, p. 476, archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2013, retrieved 8 March 2011
  5. ^ Information and text generously provided by Conib – Confederação Israelita do Brasil. "The Jewish Community in Brazil". bh.org.il. Beit Hatfutsot. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  6. ^ "The Jewish Community of Brazil". The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  7. ^ "How culpable were Dutch Jews in the slave trade?". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 26 December 2013. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  8. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. p. 45. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
  9. ^
    S2CID 73630235. Jewish agricultural colonization in Brazil began in 1904 in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, supported by the Jewish Colonization Association (JCA). The JCA created the first colonies
    – Philippson (1904) and Quatro Irmãos (1912) – with the intention of resettling Russian Jews during the decisive years of mass immigration from the Russian empire. No page; quote taken from abstract.
  10. ^ a b Rosman, Kitty (October 2012). "The German roots of Brazil's largest synagogues". Jewish Renaissance. 12 (1): 16.
  11. ^ "Rankings de Clínicas y Hospitales de América Latina 2009" Archived 2009-11-16 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
  12. ^ Bush, Lawrence. "Auto-da-fé". jewishcurrents.org. Jewish Currents. Archived from the original on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  13. ^ ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA. "Auto-da-fé". www.britannica.com. Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  14. ^ António José Saraiva: The Marrano Factory: The Portuguese Inquisition and Its New Christians 1536-1765, p. 95
  15. ^ a b  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Prestage, Edgar (1911). "Silva, Antonio José da". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 111–112.
  16. ^ The encyclopedia of Jewish knowledge Jacob de Haas 1946 "CASTRO TARTAS, ISAAC De: Martyr; b. Tartas, Gascony, c.1623: d. Lisbon, 1647. He was arrested by the Inquisition in Bahia dos Santos and sent to Lisbon.
  17. ^ Ben-Dror, Graciela. "The Catholic Elites in Brazil and Their Attitude Toward the Jews, 1933–1939 (Source: Yad Vashem Studies, XXX, Jerusalem, 2002, pp. 229-270.)". yadvashem.org. Yad Vashem. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  18. ^ JTA. "Brazil denied 16,000 visas to Jews during Nazi regime — study". timesofisrael.com. Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  19. ^ "Brazil", International Religious Freedom Report 2010, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, US Department of State, 17 November 2010, archived from the original on 20 February 2020, retrieved 7 September 2016
  20. ^ a b Brazil Archived 2019-10-18 at the Wayback Machine. US Department of State. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  21. ^ Legislation against Antisemitism and Holocaust denial Archived 2013-12-04 at the Wayback Machine. The Coordination Forum For Countering Antisemitism. Retrieved 2013-12-08.
  22. ^ "Judge gives Brazilian pastor who called for a second Holocaust historic 18-year prison sentence". Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  23. ^ "Global survey on anti-Semitic sentiments". ADL.org. Anti-Defamation League. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  24. ^ Herald Staff (14 May 2014). "Around 24% of the country holds anti-semitic sentiments". Buenos Aires Herald. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  25. ^ a b "Tabela 137 – População residente, por religião" [Table 137 – Resident population, by religion] (in Portuguese). Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. 2010. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  26. ^ "A História da Comunidade Judaica no Brasil" [The History of the Jewish Community in Brazil] (in Portuguese). Cafetorah. 7 April 2021. Archived from the original on 21 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  27. ^ Weingarten, Sherwood L. (4 January 2002). "Brazil's Jews face 60% intermarriage rate". JWeekly.com; J. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California. San Francisco Jewish Community Publications Inc. Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  28. ^ Krieger, Hilary; Stoil, Rebecca (4 May 2012). "Brazilian FM suggests Arab-Jewish intermarriage is a model for peace". Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  29. ^ "Brazilian kosher agency flexes muscle". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Archived from the original on 11 May 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  30. ^ "Brazil". World Jewish Congress. Archived from the original on 11 May 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  31. ^ "7 things to know about the Jews of Brazil". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Archived from the original on 7 April 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  32. ^ "Immigrants, by period of immigration, country of birth and last country of residence" (PDF). Central Bureau of Statistics of Israel. 15 September 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.

Further reading
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