The first Jews in the Dominican Republic arrived as a result of a 16th-century Spanish policy of sending conversos (Jewish converts to Christianity as a result of the Inquisition) to Santo Domingo. Some historians believe that during the colonial period, most people living in Santo Domingo were conversos. 

When Hispaniola, the island the Dominican Republic is now located on, became divided between Spain in the east and France in the west, most Jews settled on the Spanish side—the future site of the Dominican Republic. Between 1781 and 1785, many Jews came to Santo Domingo from the Dutch island of St. Eustatius. Others arrived from Curaçao, St. Thomas, and Jamaica during the French occupation. Most of these immigrants maintained their foreign citizenship as Dutch, British, or Danish nationals. 

Though no organized community was established during the Haitian occupation period (1822–1844), the Jews of Santo Domingo thrived nonetheless; they lived in the capital, Santo Domingo, as well as Puerto Plata, Monte Christi, La Vega, and San Pedro de Macoris. Most worked as exporters of tobacco, timber, and jewelry. The Jews were also warmly received by the local population and seen as patriotic and productive. Marriages were performed by a cantor named Rafael Namias Curiel, and the children of these immigrants ultimately assimilated almost completely with the local population. Their descendants were among the most prominent figures in the history of the Dominican Republic, including President Francisco Henriquez Carvajal. 

The Dominican Republic’s open immigration policy regarding Jews saw its Jewish population steadily rise throughout the years before and during World War II. On the eve of World War II, there were 40 Jews in the Dominican Republic, and by 1947, a total of 705 Jews had made their way to the region. Though the project was intended to promote agricultural development as a kind of moshav (an Israeli agricultural settlement), by July 1947, only 166 out of the 373 Jews living in Sosúa were engaged in agriculture. The rest were mostly businessmen and artisans. Nevertheless, those who did continue with agriculture developed meat and cheese processing plants, which still supply much of the Dominican Republic today. The number of known Jews in the Dominican Republic peaked at 1,000 but began a downward trend in the postwar years due to emigration. It has declined ever since. 

To promote agriculture upon their arrival, the Dominican Republic Settlement Association would give the Jews ten cows, a horse, a mule, and a cart each. However, many Jews came from cities in Europe and had no farming experience. This was such an issue that the project hired Jewish farmers from Kibbutzim (communal settlements) in Palestine to assist the settlers. 

The Dominican ambassador to the United Nations, Max Henriquez Urena, who himself was the descendant of a marriage between a Jewish father and a converso mother, gave the welcome speech when Israel was admitted to the United Nations in 1949. An Israeli embassy was established in the Dominican Republic in 1964, six months after the Dominicans inaugurated their embassy in Israel. 

Though there was little antisemitism in Dominican society, there were several moments where the Dominican peasantry had been incited against the Jews, particularly during the Dominican Civil War of 1965. Several of the Jewish settlers claimed that their lives had been saved by the intervention of the US Marines. However, such incidents were infrequent, and as with the theft in 1971 of the whole stock of 1,000 chickens from a Jewish poultry farmer, these are considered to be more due to extreme local poverty than antisemitism. 

As a result of the increasing popularity of the Dominican Republic as a tourist destination, in the 1980s, many Jews sold their property to developers and emigrated to the United States or Israel.

Today’s Dominican Jewish community is quite small and concentrated, the result of decades of emigration and assimilation. Despite these trends, Jews in the Dominican Republic can practice their religion freely and openly. 

The Dominican Republic was one of the few countries prepared to accept large-scale Jewish immigration before and during the Holocaust. At the Evian Conference on Refugees, which was organized at the behest of the Roosevelt Administration in 1938, the Dominican Republic offered to accept up to 100,000 Jewish refugees.

President Rafael Trujillo, the country’s dictator, hoped that these refugees could contribute to the country’s agriculture and consequently donated land in Sosúa in anticipation of a Jewish agricultural settlement. It is also believed that he supported letting Jewish refugees into the country as part of a strategy to encourage European immigration rather than Haitians and to divert attention from his massacre of Haitians in 1937. He prohibited unmarried, single Jewish women, likely as a way to assimilate the Jews into Dominican society, and there was much intermarriage as a result.

The first immigrants arrived in the middle of 1940, and by 1942, the Jewish population was 472; approximately 5,000 visas were issued. While these visas allowed their recipients to escape the Holocaust, most European Jews who received the visas never actually reached the Dominican Republic, since transatlantic travel proved to be extremely difficult, especially for Jews from occupied countries. However, these documents were instrumental in allowing some of these Jewish refugees to flee Nazi-occupied Europe or to be sent to labor and transit camps rather than death camps. 

Today, around 100 Jews live in the Dominican Republic, with the majority in Santo Domingo and about 30–40 in the historic Sousa. Most Dominican Jews are not religiously observant, and though the majority are Ashkenazi, there is still significant Sephardi influence. 

For over 60 years, there has been a Jewish cemetery; the community also assists with supervised repatriation services for the remains of Jews who need to be interred in other countries. There is also tzedaka (charity) care for the indigent striving to respect their dignity, as well as cooperation programs for the education of Jewish children in need, based in Santo Domingo.

Although Sephardic in its origins, the Jewish Community of the Dominican Republic is diverse and open. Jewish life is organized by the Centro Israelita de la Republica Dominicana. A chapter of the International Council of Jewish Women is also active in the region. For over 60 years, there has been a Jewish cemetery; the community also assists with supervised repatriation services for the remains of Jews who need to be interred in other countries. The Chabad community organization also puts on several events on Jewish holidays, such as Purim and Hannukah celebrations.

Despite the small size of Dominican Jewry, the community has two synagogues: one in Santo Domingo and the other in Sosúa. Though there is no permanent resident rabbi at either, both often host rabbis from around the world, including Miami and Colombia. Because of this, the Sosua synagogue only operates on the high holidays. A group of around seven Jews contributes monthly to the synagogue's upkeep and security.

The Dominican Jewish community also has a mikveh, and chuppah services are offered to foreign couples in coordination with the event planners at their resort of choice. The community offers preparational services for Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremonies, communal Shabbat dinners, and Judaic/Hebrew lessons. Religious services are conducted in Hebrew, with a few Spanish insertions. Separate seating is maintained (albeit with no mechitza), and no microphone is used as part of the Shomer Shabbat observance. 

1. The Dominican Republic was the first sovereign country willing to accept mass Jewish immigration prior to and during the Holocaust.

2. In the 1940s, the Dominican Republic was the only country in the world that offered asylum to large numbers of Jewish refugees, earning the moniker “Tropical Zion.”

3. The largest milk and cheese producer in the country, Productos Sosua, was founded by Jewish Holocaust refugees.

4. During the foundation of the first Jewish settlement post-World War II, experts from the kibbutzim in then-Palestine were hired to help the Jews of Sousa with agriculture.

5. Two prominent streets in Sosua, a popular tourist destination, bear the names of some of the settlement's Jewish founders.

Since kosher meat and poultry need to be imported, only dairy or parve food is served on the premises. Kashrut certifications for exporters are offered in coordination with one of the world’s most respected supervision establishments. The synagogue represents one of the leading international kosher certification institutions and serves the Dominican food export industrial sector. Kosher meats and other products are regularly imported from Florida, thus satisfying the needs of interested families.

The community does not have a full-time Hebrew day school. However, there is an after-school program at the Centro Israelita de Republica Dominicana synagogue for various age groups, and there is a Sunday school in Santo Domingo that is attended by an average of 15 to 20 children. Additionally, Chabad runs a children's after-school Hebrew school, as well as an online weekly Torah lesson for adults.

In the early days of Sosua, the settlers created a German-Spanish newspaper called La Voz de Sosua, which ceased publication in 1947. Now, the primary source of Jewish media comes from Chabad's magazine "Shelach," which includes Torah lessons, Jewish history, guides for Halachic living, recipes, and much more. La Voz de Sosu

Despite the small size of Dominican Jewry, there are some notable Jewish sites. Besides the two synagogues, there is a Museum of Jewish Heritage and the old living quarters of Jewish settlers in Sosúa. Additionally, the Jewish cemetery in Santo Domingo is also an area of Jewish interest.

An Israeli embassy was established in the Dominican Republic in 1964, six months after the Dominicans inaugurated their embassy in Israel. The Dominican ambassador to the United Nations, Max Henriquez Urena, who himself was the descendent of a marriage between a Jewish father and a converso mother, gave the welcoming speech when Israel was admitted to the United Nations in 1949.

Additionally, the Dominican Republic has a Parliamentary Friendship Group with the Israeli Knesset, where they promote bilateral relations, joint projects, the exchange of knowledge, and the common interests of both states. The Dominican-Israeli Interparliamentary Friendship Group has since condemned the Dominican Republic's vote in favor of the UN Security Council's recommendation to positively reconsider the State of Palestine's request for full membership. 

Embassy of Israel in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic:
Pedro Henriquez Urena 80
Apartado Postal 1404, Santo Domingo

Telephone: (+1 809) 920 1500
Fax: (+1 809) 472 1785