History of the Jews in Vietnam

[1] Although Jews have been present in Vietnam and Judaism has been practiced since the late 19th century, most adherents have been, and remain today, expatriates, with few to no native Vietnamese converts.

[6] Jules Rueff was still active in regional trade as late as April 1889, when he co-signed a petition to the French government requesting relief on duties being charged on cotton imports from Indochina.

[7] A coastal and river steamship was later (1920) built in France and christened 'Jules Rueff' to recognize his role in the development of the region's maritime activities.

[11][12] According to the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Sylvain Lévi was one of the founders of the École française d'Extrême-Orient (French School of the Far East) in Hanoi.

"[17] As late as 1939, the estimated combined population of the Jewish communities of Haiphong, Hanoi, Saigon and Tourane in French Indochina numbered approximately 1,000 individuals.

[19] In 1940 the antisemitic Vichy-France Law on the status of Jews was implemented in French Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos) by its Governor Jean Decoux.

[25] On 25 May 1954 Robert Capa, a photo journalist made famous for providing the first photographs of the Allied landing on Omaha Beach, was killed while on assignment covering the French-Indochina War.

Approximately 30,000 Jewish-Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces in Vietnam; amongst them, Colonel Jack H. Jacobs won the Medal of Honor for heroism for his service.

The discovery of the wild saola species in Vietnam in 1993 made note in the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School's Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society's Fall 1999 issue.

According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the Chabad Center is reportedly used largely by business people and tourists from Israel and the United States, and as of 2007, there are some 100 Do Thai, or Jews in Hanoi and about 200 in Ho Chi Minh City.