Genealogy Research on the Jewish Community of Venezuela

By Daniel Horowitz
http://www.SearchingForMyRoots.com - im@searchingformyroots.com

Origins

Although there is no evidence yet, the history of Jews in Venezuela most likely began in
the middle of the 17th century, when some records suggest that groups of crypto Jewish
(marranos1) lived in Maracaibo and others went from Caracas to Tucacas (1693).
In 1820’s, the first Jewish family settled in the town of Coro, which has a Jewish cemetery
with tombstones dating back to 1832. Other Jewish communities set up in Caracas and
Puerto Cabello in the 1840s. In 1844, groups of Jews from Morocco came to the town of
Barcelona and, in 1875; they were granted permission to establish a Jewish cemetery. In
1855, violent rioting drove the entire Jewish population of Coro (168 individuals) back to
Curacao.
According to a national census taken in 1891, 247 citizens Jews lived in Venezuela. By the
end of the 19th century, the Dutch portion of Venezuelan Jewry had all disappeared. Small
Jewish communities could be found in very small towns. In 1907, the Israelite Beneficial
Society, (later the Israelite Society of Venezuela in 1919), was created to bring all the
Jews from various cities and towns together.
In the 1920s and 1930s the North African and Eastern & Central European Jews arrival
increased the number of Jews from 475 in 1917 to 882 in 1926, but by 1934, Venezuela
imposed specific restrictions on Jewish immigration, which remained until after the 1950s.
By 1943, nearly 600 German Jews and several hundred more from other European
countries entered Venezuela after WW II. By 1950, the community had grown to around
6,000 people. With the fall of Dictator Perez Jimenez in 1958, more than 1,000 Jews
immigrated from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Salonica, Turkey, an unknown number of Jews
from other Latin American countries, raising the community to more than 15,000 Jews by
the 1970s
Between 1980 and 2000, the community reached 35,000 Jews living in Venezuela, most of
them in the capital. Venezuelan Jewry is split equally between Sephardim and
Ashkenazim.2
At the beginning of 2008 the community was estimated in around 11.000 Jews.

1
Sephardic Jews who were forced to adopt Christian identities by the inquisition.
2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Venezuela
Organizations and Institutions

The oldest surviving Jewish organization in Venezuela is the Asociación Israelita de

Venezuela founded in the 1920s by Sephardic Jews of mostly North African origin.
Located in Caracas, this organization maintains various synagogues. Caracas also has a
significant Ashkenazi population with their own organizations including the Union Israelita
de Caracas, Shomrei Shabbat, and the Orthodox synagogue Rabinato de Venezuela. Also
located in the capital is a Hasidic congregation called Jabad Lubavitch de Venezuela.
At the Union Israelita de Caracas you can find the “Leo y Anita Blum” Library, which has
the mission to preserve, across documents, interviews and questionnaires, the memory of
the Ashkenazi Jewish community from Venezuela. It offers to the users a dynamic and
complete way to obtain information about the community life by consulting the
bibliographical database, video recordings of the history of the community and
iconographic databases.

The community has several active Zionist organizations, the majority based in Caracas.
The Federación de Asociaciones Israelitas de Venezuela, which is associated with the
World Jewish Congress, is the umbrella organization for the Sephardic and Ashkenazi
communities, as well as the various Zionist groups. In addition to Zionist organizations
such as the Jewish National Fund and Keren Hayesod, Venezuela also hosts WIZO,
Maccabi, Ken Najshon and Benei Akiba youth groups. Very close to the Union Israelita de
Caracas there is another community building, the BetAm, where you can find the office of
the Federación de Asociaciones Israelitas de Venezuela, the Yad Vashem Venezuelan
comity, Ken Najshon youth group, some other minor community offices and a very well set
up library with a lot of material regarding the Venezuelan Jewish community.

The Centro Social, Cultural y Deportivo Hebraica, a culture, sport, entertainment and
recreational community center offers many services in his 12 hectares of grounds. It was
inaugurated on March 31, 1968 and today is the center of the community life with fields for
almost every sport, cultural and recreational groups and activities for all ages.

Since the beginning both the Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities take active roles in
the institution's affairs and its reputation for outstanding academic standards has attracted
non-Jewish students as well, who comprise around 7-10 percent of the school's student
population. The first attempt of Jewish education was established in 1941 with the
foundation of the Talmud Torá School. In 1946, the Colegio Moral y Luces, Herzl-Bialik
integrated school (Ashkenazi and Sephardic) was established in Caracas with a total of 40
students. In 1953 they move to their own building with 630 students, 22 classes and 7
buses. In 1958 the High school is finished and another location of the primary school is
opened. In 1969 Hebraica opens a primary school inside the grounds of the community
center and the next year the Yavne academy and the Rambam School also open their
primary schools but they both close after a few years. In 1983 the Moral y Luces, Herzl-
Bialik high school building is inaugurated at the Hebraica’s grounds. Student enrollment
numbers are around 2,000. Also the same year a smallest religious school named
Cristobal Colon Sinay opens to gives classes to boys and girls separated from pre-school
to 2nd year of high school with and enrollment of aprox. 250 students. On 2002 the oldest
building of the Colegio Moral y Luces, Herzl-Bialik closes and all the educational activities
are held at the Hebraica installations.
Among time many periodicals and sporadic publications were issued by the different
organizations of the community. The first Jewish community newspaper, Mundo Israelita,
was founded in 1943 in Caracas. In 1973 the merge of previous publications (Unión,
Maguen and Mundo Israelita) give origin today’s newspaper Nuevo Mundo Israelita. Since
1988 the Jabad Lubavich organization issues a magazine named Rumbo a tu Judaismo.

Caracas has 2 main cemeteries in which each the community has several plots for burring.
At the Cementerio General del Sur 2 plots are administrated by the Union Israelita de
Caracas, 1 more by the Asociación Israelita de Venezuela and a third one by the Rabinato
de Venezuela. At the Cementerio La Guairita there is only 1 plot managed by the
Asociación Israelita de Venezuela. The third main cemetery is on the surroundings of
Caracas, next to the near city of Guarenas, and is managed by the Union Israelita de
Caracas. Both main organizations (Union and Asociación) have their own Hevra Kadisha
organizations.

Links

CAIV
Nuevo Mundo Israelita
Unión Israelita de Caracas
Asociación Israelita de Venezuela
Or Shalom Congregation
Sistema Educativo Comunitario
Centro Social Deportivo Hebraica
Alumnisec
Centro de Estudios Sefardíes de Caracas
Museo Sefardí de Caracas “Morris E. Curiel”
Bnei Akiva
http://www.caiv.org
http://www.nmidigital.com
http://www.uic.org.ve
http://www.aiv.org
http://www.uscj.org/world/caracas
http://www.secmyl.com
http://www.hebraica.com.ve
http://www.alumnisec.com.ve
www.centroestudiossefardies.org.ve
http://www.museosefardi.org
http://www.bneiakiva.com.ve

An historic timeline of the Jewish community of Venezuela activities and institutions can be
seen at http://www.uic.org.ve/tabla_his.htm.
A presentation of the resent exposition 50 year of the Colegio Moral Y Luces Herzl-Bialik
can be found at http://www.uic.org.ve/expomyl/index.html