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Modern: Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Peru), Hebrew (Israel) |
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•Jews |
Amazonian Jews (Hebrew: יהודי אמזונאס, "Yehudey Amazonas"; Spanish: Judíos Amazónicos; Portuguese: Judeus Amazônicos) are the communities of mostly Moroccan Jewish descendants found in Amazon basin cities and river villages of Brazil and Peru, including Belém, Santarém, Manaus, Iquitos, Tarapoto and others.
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Their origins trace to Moroccan Jewish traders and tappers who arrived in the Brazilian, and later Peruvian, Amazon basin during the rubber boom of the 1880s. They ventured as far as Iquitos.
For the Peruvian communities, an enduring casta system stemming from the colonial period has resulted in virtually no interaction between these Jewish descendants and the small mostly European Ashkenazi population concentrated in Lima (under 3,000) who are integrated into Lima's elite White European minority. Thanks to efforts made by Israeli outreach programmes, some have made aliyah and now live in Israel.
The surnames found in Belém and Manaus of jews from Moroccan or Spanish origin include Albaz, Almescany, Assayag, Azulay, Benesby, Benchimol, Benayon, Bemerguy, Bendayan, Benguigui, Bentes, Benzecry, Elaluf, Elmescany, Foinquinos, Hamú, Israel, Laredo, Levy, Ohana, Ovadia, Pinto, Sabbá, Salém, Salgado, Safdié, Sefdié, Serruya, Soares, Tobelem and Zagury.
The documentary, Eretz Amazonia (done by David Salgado), based on the Samuel Benchimol book "Eretz Amazonia; The Saga of Jews in the Amazon". They migrated from Morocco to the Amazon during the rubber boom. They used their traditional languages: Ladino, Hebrew and Haketia.