At the “Casa Cohen” people stock up on building material, housewares and food, before they return to their hamlets at the Amazon river banks.
The Spanish tiles decorating the outside walls are evidence of the former Jewish owners wealth. “The trading company “Casa Israel” was known in the whole region”, Abramovitz says. Their own ships picked up the raw rubber material from the collectors in the jungle and provided them with all kinds of supply needed for their survival in the wilderness.
“For decades the “Casa Israel” used to be the highest house in Iquitos and for decades Jewish mayors governed the city”.
The Jews of Iquitos have gathered for another service at the synagogue. The small congregation sings in Hebrew. “We want to stay here and live out our Jewishness”, says Jorge Abramovitz.
Information:
3,000 of 28 million:
About 3,000 Jews live in Peru today.
Three synagogues exist in the capital of Lima.
The Asociación Judia de Beneficencía y Culto de 1870 is conservative,
the Union Israelita del Perú (Ashkenazi) and
the Sociedad de Beneficiencia Israelita Sefardí is orthodox.
All three communities are united within the Asociacion Judia del Peru.
Apart from B’nai B’rith Loge and the Hebraica Club, a culture- and sport community, the Jewish community in Lima has its own school, the Colegio “León Pinelo“, one of the best private schools in
the country with its approximately 28 million inhabitants.
Book Reference:
Ariel Segal -
“Jews of the Amazon: Self-Exile in Earthly Paradise”
Jewish Publication Society of America,
Philadelphia,
Nov 1999,
342p.
ISBN: 0827606699
http://journalperu.com/?p=319