Bahamas

History of Jewish immigration

The small Jewish community in the Bahamas has origins dating back to the 17th century.
Luis de Torres, who was the official interpreter of Christopher Columbus is believed to have been one of the first European Jews to set foot in the New World, when the Santa Maria landed in San Salvador in 1492.

After World War I, a few Jewish families in Poland, Russia and Britain settled in Nassau.


Today there are between 100 and 200 Jews in the Bahamas.

In Nassau, there is a Reform community called " The Jewish Congregation of Nassau " and is affiliated to the Union of Jewish Congregations of Latin America and the Caribbean.

In Freeport there is another community, the Synagogue "Luis de Torres", built in 1972 and affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism.
This Hebrew Congregation is located on Grand Bahama Port
Offers Shabbat services and other jewish celebrations.

A little about the country

The Commonwealth of the Bahamas is an independent state located on the Atlantic Ocean.

It is an archipelago of 24 inhabited islands, 600 uninhabited and more than 2,000 rocks and reefs.

The Bahamas is a hereditary constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth, or Commonwealth of Nations.

Bahamas has a tropical and subtropical climate.

The Bahamas is politically divided into a central district, New Providence and 32 local districts.

The official language is English.

The currency is the Bahamian Dollar (BSD)