History of the Jews in the Philippines
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As of 2005 the population of Jews in the Philippines stands at the very most 500 people. Other estimates range between 100 and 500 people (0.000001% and 0.000005% of the country's total population). Manila boasts the largest Jewish community, though even here it consists of around 40 families, give or take a few. There are of course other Jews elsewhere in the country, but these are obviously fewer and almost all transients, either diplomats or business envoys. Their existence is almost totally unknown in mainstream society. There are a few Israelis in Manila recruiting caregivers for Israel and a few other executives.
History
Spanish era: Sephardim and the Inquisition
The history of the Philippines' first Jewish presence spans back to the 16th century, to a few individuals during the Spanish colonial era. It was then that the earliest Jews in the Philippines are historically documented, when two Sephardic brothers (Jews of Spanish origin), Jorge and Domingo Rodríguez, are recorded as having reached Manila in the 1590's. By 1593 both were tried and convicted as Judaizantes (practising Jews) at an auto de fe at the Mexico City office of the Spanish Inquisition. Known as marranos or nuevos cristianos ("New Christians"; newely converted to Christianity), the two brothers had accompanied the Spanish conquistadors who colonised the Philippines. Eight other marranos in the Philippines were subsequently tried and convicted.
The first permanent settlement of Jews in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial years began in 1870 with the arrival of three Levy brothers from Alsace-Lorraine, who were escaping the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War. As succesful entrepreneurs, the businesses of the three brother grew, and with the opening of the Suez Canal in March 1869 it provided a more direct trading route between Europe and the Philippines, attracting other Jews to Manila. By the end of the Spanish period, the Levy brothers had been joined by Egyptian Jews (Mizrahim), and Sephardim from Turkey and Syria, creating a community of about fifty individuals.
American era
It was not until the Spanish-American War at the end of the 19th century, when the United States took control of the islands from Spain, that the Jewish community grew more than a few individuals. By 1918, twenty years after the Americans took over the Philippines, the Manila Jewish community totalled about 150 people, including a number of Russian Jews. By 1936, the Jewish community in the Philippines had a total population of about 500 persons.
A number of Jews were among the Thomasites, a group of American educators who volunteered to teach and set up institutions around the country. A number of American Jews, chose to settle. This included engineers, business men, architechs, physicians and others. The founder of the Makati Stock Exchange is an American Jew.
Nearing WWII and Return to the US
The largest influx of Jews in Philippine history occurred in the years leading up to WWII. In the late 1930's the Jewish American cigar manufacturer Alex Frieder - an expatriate from Cincinnati resident in the Philippines - along with his three brothers Philip, Morris and Herbert, organised the Jewish Refugee Committee after seeing Jewish refugees stranded at Philippine ports after having escaped on ships from escalating persecution in Europe. They coordinate for 1,200 mostly German and Austrian Jewish refugees to obtain passports and visas to enter the Philippines. At first the Frieder's intended to helped some 10,000 people make their way to the islands, but this was hampered by Japanese interventions. The Frieder brothers achieved the granting of permits of entry with the help of Alex's close friends, the then President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Manuel L. Quezon, and Commissioner of the Philippines, Paul V. McNutt.
For the refugees that did manage to settle in the Philippines, the committee organised finding employment and new homes for them in Manila. Though relatively modest in numbers, the newly arrived refugees overwhelmed the tiny Jewish community, and multiplied its numbers overnight.
At their height, Jews resident in the Philippines at one stage numbered over 1,000.† The period in which most of these Jews arrived was under president Manuel L. Quezon, when he allowed them entry as persecution in Europe increased, which eventually led to the Jewish Holocaust.
Bar the first few intrepid Sephardi individuals who made their way to the archipelago during the colonial era, the entire population of Jews ever present in the Philippines were of Northern and Eastern European origin (Ashkenazim). All but a few eventually found there way to other destinations, mainly the United States.
Communal Life
The original established community of the 1870's had largely been secular and decentralised, but with the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, and the following tide of Jewish refugees arriving to the Philippines - relative to the community's population numbers in Manila - sparked a renewed Jewish consciousness.
The one and only synagogue in the country - the second ever built in the Philippines - is Manila's Beth Yaakov Synagogue, located at Taft and Quirino Avenues. It was built in the 1980's. The only other synagogue which existed prior to the erection of Beth Yaakov Synagogue was Temple Emil, built in the 1920's. Unfortunately, Temple Emil was destroyed by the Japanese during WWII, a time when the Jewish community of Manila saw itself under attack, and many were interned in Japanese detention camps. Interesingly, at first German Jews in the Philippines were not detained, as the Japanese regarded them nationals of their ally, Germany. However, the Nazis were able to contact the Japanese and influence them. The German Jews were segregated from other non-Jewish Germans and grouped together with the other prisoners.
References
- † "Escape to Manila: From Nazi Tyranny to Japanese Terror". ISBN 0-252-02845-7 by Frank Ephraim. Narrates the story of the newly arrived Jews in the Philippines; from their day of their arrival, their daily life in Manila, to their departure to other destinations a decade later.
- ‡ PDF file:Jewish Cantor of Manila, Temple Emil
External references
- The Sino-Judaic Institute A Filipino-American Effort to Harbor Jews Is Honored
- Alpha-Canada Diplomats Who Saved Jews
- Clarity and Resolve.com
- Jews in the Philippines
- INQ7 News
- Jewish Student in Manila
- http://www.monmouth.army.mil/monmessg/newmonmsg/apr292005/m17hayden.htm During WWII]
- Frieder Family