History of the Jews in Indonesia

[1] Most Indonesian Jews arrived from Southern Europe, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, the Middle East, North Africa, India, China, and Latin America.

[3] Therefore, members of the local Jewish community have to choose to register as "Belief in One Almighty God" (Indonesian: Kepercayaan Terhadap Tuhan Yang Maha Esa) or another recognized religions on their official identity cards.

Indonesian Jews suffered greatly under the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, and were interned and forced to work in labor camps.

During the Dutch colonial period, there were hundreds of Jewish immigrants living in Surabaya, most of whom worked as government employees, soldiers or merchants.

[11] Surabaya was an ideal place to live for immigrant Jews at that time because the Dutch colonial government protected and gave them civil rights without discrimination.

The Israelitische Gemeente Soerabaia was founded by Izak Ellias Binome Ehrenoreis Rechte Grunfeld and Emma Mizrahie on 31 July 1923, in Surabaya.

[14] However, during that time the congregation did not have an official synagogue space and weddings and bar mitzvahs would take place in private homes (especially that of Charles Mussry) or rented rooms in institutional buildings.

[11] International and national events negatively affected the IGS and drove waves of emigration to Israel, the United States, Australia and the Netherlands throughout the 1950s.

The Sinai War, Israel, the United Kingdom and France attacked Egypt to seize the Suez Canal, led to increased hostility against the Jewish community in Indonesia.

Indonesian Jews face the challenge of declaring a religion on their government ID cards called KTP (Kartu Tanda Penduduk).

The community in Surabaya is no longer big enough to support a minyan, a gathering of ten men needed in order to conduct public worship.

[22][23] Since 2003, Shaar Hashamayim synagogue has been serving the local Jewish community of some 30-50 people in Tondano city, Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi.

[24] A tiny local Jewish community remains in the area, composed mostly of those who rediscovered their ancestral roots and converted back to Judaism.