Beth Israel Synagogue (Oranjestad, Aruba)

The Aruban Jewish community is an independent congregation with a liberal style similar to Reform or Conservative Judaism.

[2] The community consists mostly of Jewish immigrants that arrived in Aruba from different parts of the world, and made it their home.

After 1924, a large group of Eastern European Jews, mostly from Poland, settled here, together with Jews from the Netherlands and Sephardic families from Suriname, another Dutch colony at that time.

The community opened a Jewish center in 1942 – the Jewish Country Club – and four years later, with the arrival of some Holocaust survivors, the community was officially organized.

Due to its small size, and the intimate, close knit nature of the community, one joint organization was formed, blending the Sephardic with the Ashkenazic traditions, respecting the common culture, and enjoying the differences.