History of the Jews in Indonesia

The history of the Jews in Indonesia began with the arrival of early European explorers and settlers, and the first Jews arrived in the 17th century. Most Indonesian Jews arrived from Southern Europe, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, the Middle East, North Africa, India, China, and Latin America. Jews in Indonesia presently form a very small Jewish community of about 500–1,000, from a nadir of about 20 in 1997. Judaism is not recognized as one of the country's six major religions, however its practices are allowed under Perpres 1965 No. 1 and article 29 paragraph 2 of the Constitution of Indonesia. Therefore, members of the local Jewish community have to choose to register as "Belief in One Almighty God" (Indonesian: Kepercayaan Terhadap Tuhan Yang Maha Esa) or another recognized religions on their official identity cards.
Presently, most Indonesian Jews live in Manado on the island of Sulawesi.
In the 1850s, Jewish traveler Jacob Saphir was the first to write about the Jewish community in the Dutch East Indies after visiting Batavia, Dutch East Indies. He had spoken with a local Jew who told him of about 20 Jewish families in the city and several more in Surabaya and Semarang. Most of the Jews living in the Dutch East Indies in the 19th century were Dutch Jews who worked as merchants or were affiliated with the colonial regime. Other members of the Jewish community were immigrants from Iraq or Aden.
Between the two World Wars the number of Jews in the Dutch East Indies was estimated at 2,000 by Israel Cohen. Indonesian Jews suffered greatly under the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, and were interned and forced to work in labor camps. After the war, the released Jews found themselves without their previous property and many emigrated to the United States, Australia or Israel.
By the late 1960s, it was estimated that there were 20 Jews living in Jakarta, 25 in Surabaya and others living in Manado, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku and Papua.
Since the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, and Israel's retaliation in the ongoing conflict, Indonesia has seen a massive rise in antisemitism, which was already a significant problem for the majority-Muslim country. Mass protests, violence and discrimination have pushed the already-marginalized Jewish population to take further steps to conceal their faith.
Israelitische Gemeente Soerabaia (English: Israelite Congregation in Surabaya) is a Jewish association in Surabaya which was founded in 1923. It was founded by Iraqi Jews, who have historically made up most of its membership. The congregation had what was for years the only synagogue in Indonesia. The congregation was at its largest in the 1930s, when it had around 1000 members; after most of them emigrated by 1960, it has been reduced to a tiny fraction of its former numbers.
During the Dutch colonial period, there were hundreds of Jewish immigrants living in Surabaya, most of whom worked as government employees, soldiers or merchants. Surabaya was an ideal place to live for immigrant Jews at that time because the Dutch colonial government protected and gave them civil rights without discrimination.
The Israelitische Gemeente Soerabaia was founded by Izak Ellias Binome Ehrenoreis Rechte Grunfeld and Emma Mizrahie on 31 July 1923, in Surabaya. One of the first thing it established was a Jewish cemetery in 1926, one of only a handful in the Indies. By the 1930s the congregation seems to have reached its largest extent with around 1000 members. However, during that time the congregation did not have an official synagogue space and weddings and bar mitzvahs would take place in private homes (especially that of Charles Mussry) or rented rooms in institutional buildings. The community was persecuted during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies.
After renting various rooms to use as a synagogue, the congregation bought Eigendom Verponding, an estate formerly owned by the Kruseman family in 1948 and established it as the new Surabaya Synagogue. The estate was owned by Joseph Ezra Izaak Nassiem and the operation of the synagogue was supported by the Sayers family.
Despite their purchase of a new synagogue, Jewish community in Surabaya never again reached their 1930s numbers and continued to decline in the 1950s. The congregation embraced Zionism and the newly independent state of Israel and flew Israeli flags at the opening of the building. At first there was not a local rabbi to take up a position in the synagogue; eventually Ezra Meir, a rabbi of Iraqi descent living in Singapore, was recruited to take up the role.
International and national events negatively affected the IGS and drove waves of emigration to Israel, the United States, Australia and the Netherlands throughout the 1950s. The Sinai War, Israel, the United Kingdom and France attacked Egypt to seize the Suez Canal, led to increased hostility against the Jewish community in Indonesia. However, the true end of a vibrant Jewish community in Indonesia and the steepest decline in IGS membership came about as a result of the Dutch-Indonesian dispute over Western New Guinea, which led to measures against "Dutch" people living in Indonesia and the nationalization of the property of many foreign nationals, including Dutch Jews. The membership of IGS dwindled to around 100–150 by 1959, and to only 10 or so by the twenty-first century. During that period of decline the IGS nonetheless remained the most viable Jewish congregation in the country; the Jakarta congregation essentially merged with it and the Surabaya synagogue remained the only one in operation.
Despite the emigration of many adherents, the IGS is still considered to exist among a small community of descendants of the original group in the twenty-first century. The synagogue itself was sold and demolished in 2013, causing complaints from the remaining community members.
The social and cultural characteristics of Indonesia contributed to assimilation. Most Indonesian Jews changed their names to Indonesian names. Jews were obliged to change their names and beliefs. Later Chinese Indonesians were forced to change their names as well, but they were still allowed to practice Buddhism in Indonesia.
Religion in Indonesia is regulated by the government. Indonesian Jews face the challenge of declaring a religion on their government ID cards called KTP (Kartu Tanda Penduduk). Every citizen over the age of 17 must carry a KTP, which includes the holder's religion. Indonesia only recognizes six religions, none of which are Judaism. Reportedly, many Jews who have registered a religion have registered as Christians.
An estimated 20,000 descendants of Jews still live in Indonesia, though many are losing their historical identity. Since most Indonesian Jews are actually Jews from Southern Europe and the Middle East Area, the languages spoken by them include Indonesian, Malay, Arabic, Hebrew, Portuguese and Spanish.
The Indonesian Jewish community is very tiny, with most members living in the capital of Jakarta and the rest in Surabaya. Many Jewish cemeteries still exist around the country such as in Kerkhof Cemetery in Aceh, Semarang and Surabaya in Java, in Pangkalpinang in Bangka Island, in Palembang in South Sumatra, and in North Sulawesi.
A small congregation led by Rabbi Tovia Singer, previously the only rabbi in present-day Indonesia. It operates in conjunction with the Eits Chaim Indonesia Foundation, the only Jewish organization in Indonesia to have official sanction, under the auspices of the Directorate General of Christian Community Guidance (Ditjen Bimas Kristen), from the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs.
There was a synagogue in Surabaya, provincial capital of East Java in Indonesia. For many years it was the only synagogue in the country. The synagogue became inactive beginning in 2009 and had no Torah scrolls or rabbi. It was located in Jalan Kayun 6 on a 2.000 m lot near the Kali Mas river in a house built in 1939 during Dutch rule.
The home was bought by the local Jewish community from a Dutch doctor in 1948 and transformed into a synagogue. Only the mezuzah and 2 Stars of David in the entrance showed the presence of the synagogue. The community in Surabaya is no longer big enough to support a minyan, a gathering of ten men needed in order to conduct public worship. The synagogue was demolished, to its foundation, in 2013.
Since 2003, Shaar Hashamayim synagogue has been serving the local Jewish community of some 30-50 people in Tondano city, Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi. Currently it is the only synagogue in Indonesia that provides services. A tiny local Jewish community remains in the area, composed mostly of those who rediscovered their ancestral roots and converted back to Judaism.