The 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. An open Jewish community did not flourish in the colony because Judaism was prohibited by the Spanish Inquisition. 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.
It would be hundreds of years before an open Jewish community was established on the island. 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 first large group of Jews to settle in Puerto Rico were refugees fleeing German–occupied Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. The second influx came in the 1950s, when thousands of Cuban Jews (most of Eastern-European descent) fled after Fidel Castro came to power. 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.
Puerto Rican Jews have made many contributions in multiple fields, including business, commerce, education, and entertainment. Puerto Rico has the largest Jewish community in the Caribbean, with over 3,000 Jewish inhabitants. It is also the only Caribbean island in which all three major Jewish denominations—Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform—are represented.
First Jews to arrive in Puerto Rico
According to historians, the first Jews to arrive in Puerto Rico were conversos, Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism and were members of Christopher Columbus's crew during his second voyage to the so-called "New World", arriving in Puerto Rico on November 19, 1493. 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. The Jews who arrived and settled in Puerto Rico were referred to as "Crypto-Jews" or "secret Jews".
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. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms. Hundreds of Jews were killed, and their synagogues destroyed. One of the consequences of these disturbances was the mass forced conversion of Jews.
When the Crypto Jews arrived on the island of Puerto Rico, they were hoping to avoid religious scrutiny, but the Inquisition followed the colonists. The Inquisition maintained no rota or religious court in Puerto Rico. However, heretics were written up and if necessary remanded to regional Inquisitional tribunals in Spain or elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere. As a result, many secret Jews settled the island's remote mountainous interior far from the concentrated centers of power in San Juan and lived quiet lives. They practiced Crypto-Judaism which meant that they secretly practiced Judaism while publicly professing to be Roman Catholic. Still, since Jews were not permitted to worship, the Crypto Jews eventually intermarried with Catholics and therefore, Puerto Rico virtually had no Jewish history of which to speak.
19th century
By the 19th century, the Spanish Crown had lost most of its possessions in the Americas. Two of its remaining possessions were Puerto Rico and Cuba, both of which were demanding more autonomy and had pro-independence movements. The Spanish Crown issued the Royal Decree of Graces (Real Cédula de Gracias) which was originated August 10, 1815, with the intention of attracting European settlers who were not of Spanish origin to the islands.
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. The opening of new lands to Catholics resulted in some sales of existing cultivated lands to others. This, however, did not keep people of Jewish descent from settling in Puerto Rico. Among the Puerto Rican Jews who lived in Puerto Rico in the 19th century was Mathias Brugman.