History of the Jews in Iceland

[2] From the eleventh century, Icelanders have called the Jews gyðingar, a derivative of Guð (God).

[4] In 1704, Jacob Franco, a Dutch Jew of Portuguese origin who was living in Copenhagen, was appointed to be in charge of all tobacco exports sold in Iceland and the Faroe Isles.

In 1815, the Ulricha, a Jewish trade ship rented by Ruben Moses Henriques of Copenhagen, arrived in Iceland.

Two years later the parliament told the king that the law would be applied to Iceland and that both Danish and foreign Jews were welcome.

In the late nineteenth century there were a small number of trading agents which represented firms owned by Danish Jews.

In the late 1930s, the Hilfsverein der Juden in Deutschland (the Aid Association of German Jews) wrote a report to the Auswanderberater in Reich on the possibilities of Jewish immigration to Iceland and concluded it was impossible.

[4] He wanted to become fully Icelandic, left Judaism and adopted the name Ottó Arnaldur Magnússon.

Alfred Conway (AKA Abraham Cohen), a cantor from Leeds, sang the Kol Nidre prayer.

After the full day of fasting and services, followed by a photographing session, the hungry people gathered for a meal at a nearby Reykjavík hotel, and the first Jewish congregation in Iceland was officially founded.

The Rosh Hashana service in 1944 at the Naval Air Station Keflavik was attended by 500 Jews and a Torah scroll was flown in from the United States.

[1] In 2011, the community gathered for a Passover seder organized by Rabbi Berel Pewzner of Chabad, and also held Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services in Reykjavík.

[7] These were the first formal services with a rabbi and a Torah scroll held in the city since the end of World War II, according to community members.

[10] Dorrit Moussaieff, the former First Lady of Iceland 2003–2016, is an Israeli Bukharan Jew born in Jerusalem.

[4] After being denied departure in Israel after a short visit in 2006, she was asked by a border guard to present her Israeli passport.

"[11] Iceland has been criticized for reading antisemitic hymns during Lent on their public radio broadcast, which include statements such as "the Jewish leaders all decide that Jesus must be crucified.