Jewish History of Puerto Rico

Like so many of its Caribbean neighbors, the history of the Jewish community in Puerto Rico dates to the 15th century. Many of these early Jews were Crypto Jews, those who had fled the Spanish Inquisition. However when they arrived in Puerto Rico they found that Judaism could not be practiced openly as it was also prohibited under the rules of the Spanish Inquisition. This prohibition caused many of the community to flee to the mountains, far away from the populated area around San Juan. Here they could continue to practice Judaism.  

Luis de Torres is widely believed to be the first Jew to arrive in Puerto Rico. He did so as the interrupter for Christopher Columbus on his journey to the New World. He was part of the second voyage, arriving in November of 1493. 

It wasn't for another 450 years before large numbers of Jews settled in Puerto Rico. These were refugees fleeing the German occupation of Europe.

The next large group of Jews arriving in Puerto Rico came in the 1950's. They to were refugees, this time fleeing Cuba as Fidel Castro came to power. The majority of the Jews from Cuba migrated to Miami, Florida but good amount did move to Puerto Rico. This was most likely because of the fact that the island of Puerto Rico was very similar to that of Cuba and to many it felt like the home they had left. Today, Puerto Rico has one of the largest Jewish community's in the Caribbean, over 2500 people.

FamilySearch has a growing number of collections that can help people find their Puerto Rican ancestors. These can be found by looking under the search tab, under Records.

The Jewish Community of Cuba

I have written previously about my gggrandfather, Morris David Rosenbaum, a Jew from Poland, who made his way from Fordon in Poland to the United States. In his writings, which have survived to this day he writes of his travels that took him from New York down the coast to New Orleans and eventually around the Cape and on to San Francisco. It has always fascinated me to read of these travels wondering what it would have been like to make such a great journey during the mid 1800's.

While on his travels, even though he was not in any one location very long, probably just long enough for the ship to restock food and supplies, I have always been curious of his stay in what we now call Cuba. Even though some identify one of the men with Christopher Columbus as being Jewish, and thus being the first Jew to arrive in Cuba, the Jewish Community was probably not very large until the early 20th Century.
The early part of the 1900's saw many immigrants arrive in Cuba. The Jewish population of Cuba reached between 15,000 and 20,000 people by the time Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. Prior to that time, the community was well established with most Jews living in Havana, which had 5 synagogues within the city.
Following the rise of power of Fidel Castro, the majority of Jews in Cuba fled to other countries, with a large group making their new home in the United States. Today, the Jewish population is probably around 1,500, most of those living in Havana.
Today, I am finding my heart and thoughts returning to the travels of my gggrandfather. As I read through the records of other Caribbean countries such as Suriname and Curacao, I am finding others who have also travelled to Cuba. Those people left their footprints all through the area and can be found in the records of their new homelands.

Those records are now being added to the Knowles Collection- Jews of the Caribbean and will be available after the next update.