הונדורס יהודים | |
---|---|
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Total population | |
390 (self identified) | |
Languages | |
Spanish, Hebrew, Ladino | |
Religion | |
Judaism, Catholicism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Germans, Polish, Russians, Romanians, Arabs |
The history of the Jews in Honduras begins in the colonial period, during the proceedings of the Inquisition with the arrival of sephardic Jews to Honduran soil. [1] As of April 2020, in Honduras there are 390 self identified Jews who have gained the Honduran residence.[ citation needed ] Honduran Jews are able to practice Judaism peacefully and are included in Honduran politics and culture. The Jewish community is primarily concentrated in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, where there are synagogues. Honduras was one of the first countries to recognize the State of Israel, in 1948, and the Jewish community in Honduras has benefited greatly from Israeli aid. [2]
Sephardic Jews crossed the Atlantic Ocean on Spanish ships. They first became settlers, then Officials of the Crown, sailors, merchants, and other professionals. Their vision was to reach a piece of land to call home, first in Seville, then in the Spanish viceroyalties. The municipality of Trinidad in the Department of Santa Bárbara has deep Jewish historical roots and is related to Jewish society. There are many other municipalities that share these foundational roots, but they are more Christianized.
When the Province of Honduras was founded and the city of Comayagua was designated as its capital, several Jews settled there. They were distributed throughout the Honduran territory as it grew in commercial importance, as a policy between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Honduras was under the conservative administration of Captain-General José María Medina when the National Congress issued an Immigration Law on February 26, 1866. This law gave all foreigners who wanted to reside in the country access. The Political Constitution of 1876 also reflected the importance of immigration in the national territory. [3] [4]
Between 1875 and 1915 (before the First World War), 45 million Europeans crossed the Atlantic in search of better living conditions on the American continent. Of these migrants, a total of 2,500,000 were Jews from different European contexts. With the opening of the country to the world, thanks to the liberal reform, various groups were given the opportunity to migrate to Honduras.
This migratory movement included numerous Jews who found a new home in Honduras where they could prosper and contribute to the development of the country's economy. The arrival of these immigrants enriched the country's ethnic diversity and also brought with them traditions that were integrated into Honduran society, thus strengthening the nation's social and economic growth at that time.
The First World War led many Jewish merchants and financiers to take their fortunes out of Europe, with some moving to the United States and Latin American countries (mainly the Southern Cone) and others to Russia. In the case of Honduras, the arrival of European Jews began in full swing in 1920. Between 1920 and 1940, the majority of Jews who arrived in the country were Ashkenazis of German, Polish and Romanian origin fleeing Europe due to the onset of the Second World War. Many of these immigrated in 1939, when a total of 455 Germans were registered in Honduras, 95 of whom were Jewish.
The following year, a decree was issued during the administration of Doctor Vicente Mejía Colindres in which the Immigration Office was created and attached to the Ministry of the Interior. Colindres also oversaw the passage of a law that authorized foreigners of Arab, Chinese, Turkish, Syrian, Armenian, Palestinian, and African ethnicity, as well as Indians also called Colies, to immigrate to Honduras, provided that they bring 5,000 Silver Pesos and that they would make a deposit to the state coffers of 500 Silver Pesos per person within two months of arrival in the country. 25 Jewish citizens were naturalized between 1946 and 1956, 19 of which were Poles, which was equivalent to 76% of the naturalizations completed.
The president of Honduras allowed the entry of Jews during World War II, with the influence of the local Jewish community. In 1950 there were 40 Jewish families in Honduras. After the Second World War there was a brief boom in the community thanks to the arrival of dozens of new immigrants, but at the beginning of the 1950s most of them would emigrate to the south of the continent to Argentina and Chile where their governments were more inclined to receive Jews.
At the end of the 20th century during the government of Rafael Leonardo Callejas, more than a third of the Jews living in Honduras would leave for Israel, the United States, or Argentina due to the financial crisis in the country, depriving the country's Jewish population of much of its youth community. On 3 August 1997, the community in San Pedro Sula dedicated the Maguen David Synagogue to serve as a community center for future generations.
In 2001, Honduras won its first Jewish president, who was the businessman Ricardo Maduro Joest, who was a candidate for the national party and served his term from 2002 to 2006. This victory was an extraordinary case given that the vast majority of presidents of Honduras as well as the rest of Latin America until then had been Roman Catholics, adding that the Honduras community had always been very small, although this does not mean that it did not have weight in the social and political sphere.
With the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis, the local Jewish community became embroiled in the controversy. [5] Rumors spread throughout the Honduran media of Jewish and Israeli involvement in the coup d'état. [6] A commentator on Radio Globo, David Romero Ellner, suggested on the air that perhaps it would have been better if the Jews had been exterminated in the Holocaust. [7] His comments drew ire from ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa, and the Anti-Defamation League. [8]
Juan Orlando Hernández has led a pro-Israel government since his election in 2014. Israel under the prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became one of his greatest allies and the first country to recognize him after the allegations of electoral fraud that involved Hernández's re-election led to protests and subsequent repression that caused 30 deaths.[ citation needed ]
In recent years, some Honduran Jews have made aliyah to Israel due to anti semitic remarks. [9] [10] In 2015, Rosenthals have been implicated with longstanding corruption and other crimes. [11] Yankel Rosenthal, a former minister of investment, was arrested on 6 October 2015 after landing at Miami airport.
He, together with his cousin Yani and uncle Jaime Rolando, a newspaper owner and four-time presidential candidate, were also charged with money laundering and other services that support the international narcotics trafficking activities of multiple Central American drug traffickers and their criminal organizations. [12] Seven of their businesses were labelled under the US Kingpin Act as "specially designated narcotics traffickers". They have been accused of transferring drug money between accounts in New York and Honduras between 2004 and 2015. [13]
Despite this, the Jewish community of Honduras lives in total social stability and mutual cooperation with the rest of the Honduran population, mainly Christians. Jews in Honduras are very acculturated to the Honduran identity, sharing and actively participating in the traditions, customs and daily life of the country. This harmony has allowed the construction of new synagogues, reflecting the growth and strengthening of the Jewish community in the country. In recent years, there has also been an increase in conversions of Hondurans to Judaism, indicating a growing interest in and broader cultural acceptance of religious diversity in Honduras. [14] [15]
As previously mentioned, the second or third generation Jews who descend from those Azkhenazims who came to the country at the end of the 19th century they managed to adapt better to Honduran society, this added to the mixed marriages with the local christian population allowed them and their descendants to fully integrate into the Honduran identity, this also brought change and was the abandonment of their faith, becoming Secular Jews or conversion to Christianity of their descendants on Honduran soil.
There are two Jewish congregations in Honduras, one located in Tegucigalpa and the other in San Pedro Sula. The first synagogue in Tegucigalpa, the Shevit Ajim Synagogue, was built in 1997. However, it was destroyed in 1998 by Hurricane Mitch, and rebuilt in 2002 with international aid. The other synagogue in Honduras is the Maguen David Synagogue, located in San Pedro Sula. There are no Jewish day schools in Honduras, but educational activities like Jewish Sunday school and Talmud Torah classes are generally available in Tegucigalpa. [2]
Many Honduran Jews have made contributions to society in fields such as politics, journalism, business, and medicine.
In Honduras, the following Central European surnames are Ashkenazi Jewish; Hispanic surnames appear related to certain local populations of Hispanic Jewish origin. Apart from this, in general they did not start in Jewish families, and if that were the case, a genealogical investigation is necessary to determine if the name was inherited from them or from their slaves or indigenous people sponsored by them.
The history of the Jews in Latin America began with conversos who joined the Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to the continents. The Alhambra Decree of 1492 led to the mass conversion of Spain's Jews to Catholicism and the expulsion of those who refused to do so. However, the vast majority of conversos never made it to the New World and remained in Spain slowly assimilating to the dominant Catholic culture. This was due to the requirement by Spain's Blood Statutes to provide written documentation of Old Christian lineage to travel to the New World. However, the first Jews came with the first expedition of Christopher Columbus, including Rodrigo de Triana and Luis De Torres.
The history of the Jews in India dates back to antiquity. Judaism was one of the first foreign religions to arrive in the Indian subcontinent in recorded history. Desi Jews are a small religious minority who have lived in the region since ancient times. They were able to survive for centuries despite persecution by Portuguese colonizers and nonnative antisemitic inquisitions.
Jewish Cubans, Cuban Jews, or Cubans of Jewish heritage, have lived in the nation of Cuba for centuries. Some Cubans trace Jewish ancestry to Marranos who came as colonists, though few of these practice Judaism today. The majority of Cuban Jews are descended from European Jews who immigrated in the early 20th century. More than 24,000 Jews lived in Cuba in 1924, and still more immigrated to the country in the 1930s. Following the 1959 communist revolution, 94% of the country's Jews emigrated, most of them to the United States. In 2007 an estimated 1,500 known Jewish Cubans remained in the country, overwhelmingly located in Havana. Several hundred have since immigrated to Israel. Considered one of the most important Latin American Jewish sites, Beth Shalom Temple is the epicenter for current Jewish life in Cuba and still conducts weekly Shabbat services.
Shavei Israel is an Israel-based Jewish organization that encourages people of Jewish descent to strengthen their connection with Israel and the Jewish people. Founded by Michael Freund in 2002, Shavei Israel locates lost Jews and hidden Jewish communities and assists them with returning to their roots and, sometimes, with aliyah. The organization's team is composed of academics, educators and rabbis.
The history of the Jews in Venezuela dates to the middle of the 17th century, when records suggest that groups of marranos lived in Tucacas, Caracas and Maracaibo. The Jewish community, however, did not become established in Venezuela until the middle of the 19th century. Since Hugo Chávez took power in 1999, tension has existed between the government and Jewish population, which has seen large numbers emigrating. Today, the majority of Venezuelan Jews live in Israel, while modern-day Venezuela continues to host a modest Jewish population.
Jews have been present in El Salvador since the early 19th century, starting with Sephardic Jews and continuing with the arrival of refugees from Europe during World War II. El Salvador has the second largest community in Central America, the majority established in San Salvador, which is the second city with the most Jews in Central America, behind Panama City.
The history of the Jews in Mexico began in 1519 with the arrival of Conversos, often called Marranos or "Crypto-Jews", referring to those Jews forcibly converted to Catholicism and that then became subject to the Spanish Inquisition.
The Sephardic Jews that were exiled from Spain and the Mediterranean area in 1492 and 1497, coupled with other migrations dating from the 1700s and during World War II contributed to Dominican ancestry.
Jewish Nicaraguans or Nicaraguan Jews are Nicaraguans of Jewish ancestry who were born in or have immigrated to Nicaragua. They are part of the ethnic Jewish diaspora.
The history of Jews in Myanmar,, begins primarily in the mid-19th century, when hundreds of Jews immigrated from Iraq during the British colonial period. Cochin Jews came from India and both groups were part of the development of the British Empire, becoming allied with the British in Burma. At its height in 1940 the community of Jews in the country stood at 2,500 members.
The Jewish immigration to Puerto Rico began in the 15th century with the arrival of the anusim who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage. An open Jewish community did not flourish in the colony because Judaism was prohibited by the Spanish Inquisition. However, many migrated to mountainous parts of the island, far from the central power of San Juan, and continued to self-identify as Jews and practice Crypto-Judaism.
The predominant religion in Honduras is Christianity, with Catholicism and Evangelicalism being its main denominations. The country is secular and the freedom of religion is enshrined in the nation's constitution.
The Maguen David Synagogue in San Pedro Sula, Honduras is one of the two synagogues in San Pedro Sula where the Orthodox Synagogue Mishkan Shlomo was founded in 2022, these 3 are the only synagogues in the entire country. Built in 1997, it serves as the central gathering place of the tiny Jewish community of San Pedro Sula.
The history of the Jews in Bolivia goes back to the colonial period of Bolivia in the 16th century. In the 19th century, Jewish merchants came to Bolivia, most of them taking local women as wives and founding families that merged into the mainstream Catholic society. This was often the case in the eastern regions of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando, where these merchants came either from Brazil or Argentina.
The history of the Jews in Uruguay dates back to the colonial empire. The most important influx of Jewish population occurred during the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, mainly during the World War II.
The history of the Jews in Chile dates back to the arrival of Europeans to the country. Over time, Chile has received several contingents of Jewish immigrants. Currently, the Jewish community in Chile comes mainly from the migrations occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries, mostly of Ashkenazi background.
Sephardic Bnei Anusim is a modern term which is used to define the contemporary Christian descendants of an estimated quarter of a million 15th-century Sephardic Jews who were coerced or forced to convert to Catholicism during the 14th and 15th centuries in Spain and Portugal. The vast majority of conversos remained in Spain and Portugal, and their descendants, who number in the millions, live in both of these countries. The small minority of conversos who emigrated normally chose to emigrate to destinations where Sephardic communities already existed, particularly to the Ottoman Empire and North Africa, but some of them emigrated to more tolerant cities in Europe, where many of them immediately reverted to Judaism. In theory, very few of them would have traveled to Latin America with colonial expeditions, because only those Spaniards who could certify that they had no recent Muslim or Jewish ancestry were supposed to be allowed to travel to the New World. Recent genetic studies suggest that the arrival of the Sephardic ancestors of Latin American populations coincided with the initial colonization of Latin America, which suggests that significant numbers of recent converts were able to travel to the new world and contribute to the gene pool of modern Latin American populations despite an official prohibition on them doing so. In addition, later arriving Spanish immigrants would have themselves contributed additional converso ancestry in some parts of Latin America.
The history of the Jews in Peru begins with the arrival of migration flows from Europe, Near East and Northern Africa.
The 2022 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship was the 7th edition of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship, the men's under-20 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was held in Honduras, in the cities of San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa.