History of the Jews in Puerto Rico

Jewish immigration to Puerto Rico began in the 15th century with the arrival of the anusim (variously called conversos, Crypto-Jews, Secret Jews or marranos) who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage.

However, many migrated to mountainous parts of the island, far from the central power of San Juan, and continued to self-identify as Jews and practice Crypto-Judaism.

Very few American Jews settled in Puerto Rico after it was ceded by Spain to the United States under the terms of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish–American War.

The majority immigrated to Miami, Florida, but a sizable portion chose to establish and integrate themselves on the neighboring island because of Puerto Rico's cultural, linguistic, racial, and historic similarities to Cuba.

Historians believe that Luis de Torres, who spoke Hebrew among other languages and who accompanied Columbus as his interpreter, was the first "converso" Jew to set foot in Puerto Rico.

[3] In 1478, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, established an ecclesiastical tribunal known as the Spanish Inquisition.

The Spanish government, believing that the independence movements would lose their popularity, granted land and initially gave settlers "Letters of Domicile".

However, those Europeans who were of the Jewish and Protestant faith were excluded from direct acquisition of state land since it was expected of the settlers to swear loyalty to the Spanish Crown and allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church.

Together with his son, Hector, he joined them in a conspiracy to revolt against Spain and formed a revolutionary committee code named: "Capá Prieto" (a tree known as Spanish Elm, Ecuador Laurel, cypre or salmwood and used for its wood to build ships, among other things).

The law was an attempt to attract more settlers who would be faithful to the Spanish Crown by granting the right of religious freedom to all who wished to worship a religion other than Catholicism.

[13] In the late 1800s during the Spanish–American War many Jewish American servicemen gathered together with local Puerto Rican Jews at the Old Telegraph building in Ponce to hold religious services.

As a result of the program, many Jews migrated to the city of Ponce located in the southern region of the island and worked in the agricultural industry.

In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Aaron Cecil Snyder (1907–1959), born in Baltimore, Maryland as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico.

That same year a handful of American Jews established the island's first synagogue in the former residence of William Korber, a wealthy Puerto Rican of German descent, which was designed and built by Czech architect Antonin Nechodoma.

[20][better source needed] Abe Fortas, who was an associate judge for the United States Supreme Court, and the son of Orthodox Jews, was a friend of Luis Muñoz Marin and frequented Puerto Rico often during Roosevelt's, Kennedy's, and Lyndon B. Johnson's administrations.

In 1970, Raphy Leavitt organized a band with an original sound and style that became one of Puerto Rico's greatest salsa orchestras, "La Selecta".

This genre was made popular by Willie Colón, but La Selecta featured the addition of trumpets to lighten up the sound melodically.

[29] Puerto Rican literature has also been enriched with the works of Quiara Alegría Hudes who wrote the book for Broadway's musical In the Heights.

[33] Among the notable people with Puerto Rican and Jewish roots are: Geraldo Rivera, David Blaine, Bruno Mars, Benjamin Agosto, Hila Levy, Ian Gomez, Leslie Kritzer, Julio Kaplan, Joaquin Phoenix, and Jenna Wolfe.

The American television sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, which originally aired on the ABC network from September 9, 1975, to June 8, 1979, had a character named Juan Epstein, played by Robert Hegyes.