Jewish Neighborhoods: Rio de Janeiro
Throughout 2023, the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project has been taking a tour of “Yiddish Around the World”—the theme of this year’s Decade of Discovery and of the Center’s new core exhibition, Yiddish: A Global Culture, opening on October 15. This month we’re traveling virtually to Rio de Janeiro, the second largest Jewish community in Brazil.
Brazil boasts the first recorded Jewish community in the Americas, formed in the country’s northeast by Portuguese Jews from Holland during the Dutch occupation of 1630–54. After Portugal took over the region and imposed their Inquisition laws, Dutch Jews fled and went on to form communities in Curaçao, Surinam, and New York. By the time of Brazil’s independence in 1822, Jewish immigrants from northern Morocco and Alsace-Lorraine had established a Jewish community in Rio de Janeiro, which was then the capital and an important port city of the new republic.
The first Yiddish-speaking Jews likely arrived during the waves of immigration that started around the turn of the twentieth century and peaked during the interwar period. Between 1926 and 1942 more than 50,000 Jews entered the country. With this influx of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, Yiddish culture blossomed in Rio. Yiddish newspapers like Yidishe presse began to appear, and Yiddish reading groups, a dram-krayz (amateur theater group), and various political and mutual aid organizations were established in the early twentieth century.
The Estado Novo dictatorial period from 1937 to 1945 saw the forced closure of the Yiddish press and Jewish organizations, but a more democratic constitution in 1945 reestablished the stability of Jewish life. The return of democracy led to a revitalization of Brazilian Jewish cultural life, spurring the creation of Yiddish newspapers, Jewish schools (some of which taught Yiddish), and political organizations representing Zionists, communists, and Bundists. Many of these institutions exist to this day.
The past decade has seen a revival of Yiddish educational and artistic efforts in the city, especially from the Viver com Yiddish/Lebn far yidish (Live with Yiddish) programs and Yiddish courses. Many of these efforts have been spearheaded by childhood education specialist Sonia Kramer of Pontific Catholic University of Rio De Janeiro and colleagues, with whom we partnered to record oral histories in 2018.
Explore highlights from our Wexler Oral History Project collection for firsthand accounts of the Jewish community in Rio de Janeiro:
“A Flourishing Jewish Life”
Writer Zevi Ghivelder gives a brief history of Jewish settlement in Brazil, starting with the Dutch colonial period. He then describes the development of Jewish life in Rio de Janeiro in the first half of the twentieth century.
School Was Our Home
Siblings Israel Tabak and Lea Tabak Goldenstein look back on their parents’ early years developing the Sholem Aleichem school in Rio. At first the young couple literally lived in one of the classrooms with their young daughter, Lea.
Klientelshiks and Klapers in the Garment Business
Michel Pszczol recounts his parents’ arrival in Rio as Jewish immigrants from Europe and their work in the 1950s garment business. He explains how his mother began as a klaper (door knocker)—also known by the unique Brazilian Yiddish word klientelshik—selling goods door to door to save enough capital to open a storefront.
Yiddish Speakers Unite
Yiddish teacher Sarah Morelenbaum describes the Yiddish culture she grew up with, including her parents’ participation in a Yiddish reading group and the Associação Feminina Israelita Brasileira Vita Kempner (Vita Kempner Jewish Feminist Association of Brazil), which sent care packages to Jewish orphans in Europe.
A Leftist Milieu
Civil engineer Henrique Rzezinki, who grew up in a Bundist household, explains the Jewish history of leftist politics in Rio de Janiero.
Camp Kinderland in Brazil
Henrique Morelenbaum, z”l (1931–2022), a renowned choral conductor, explains how he became musical director at Colonia (Camp) Kinderland in Brazil and then wrote its anthem.
Mirian Garfinkel shows us her scrapbook from her days in the Yiddish theater in Rio. It's where she met her husband!
Photo from a Yiddish play presented by the dramkrayz (amateur theater group) of Monte Sinai (club) in Rio de Janeiro. Courtesy of Mirian Garfinkel.
Siblings Léa Tabak Goldenstein and Israel Tabak after their interview. Their father, Peysekh Tabak, was a beloved school teacher and principal of the Sholem Aleichem school.
Peysekh and Sara Tabak among others on a ship from Poland to Rio de Janeiro. Courtesy of Léa Tabak Goldenstein.
Henrique Morelenbaum, z”l, (1931–2022) shows us a wall of photos in his home. Henrique was born in Łagow, Poland and became a lauded classical music conductor during his life in Rio de Janeiro.
The Pro-Musica Coral, a Jewish chorus led by Henrique Morelenbaum in Rio de Janeiro. From the collection of Jayme and Sara Vaisman. (They met in this chorus!)
Wexler Oral History Project Director Christa Whitney speaking about the Yiddish Book Center at PUCI-Rio. It was a multilingual affair with an intro and slides in Portuguese, Christa's lecture in Spanish, and video clips in Yiddish with English subtitles. And a beautiful concert by some of the participants in the “Viver com Yiddish/Lebn far yidish (Live for Yiddish)” initiative followed.
Journalist and native Yiddish speaker Zevi Ghivelder posed for a photo with Christa Whitney after his interview.
Former Yiddish teacher Dora Kampela prepared a spread of documents in advance of our oral history visit. Organized in a way some teachers are, she had all the documents and photographs divided into thematic groups and annotated in Yiddish and English. Among what she showed were her father (also a Yiddish teacher)'s Yiddish grammar and poems, and photographs and costume design sketches from the plays she organized with her students.
A program from a night of Yiddish music organized by the Yiddish Committee in Rio, 1996. From the private collection of Dora Kampela.
"Di Zun a Farshemte (The Shy Sun),” a poem by Ts. Yucht, published in the Rio de Janeiro newspaper Undzer Shtime/Nossa Voz in July 1948. From the private collection of Dora Kampela.
A kindergarten class at Sholem Aleichem school in Rio, 1940. From the private collection of Sarah Morelenbaum.
Sonia (Surele) Kramer, from Rio de Janiero, Brazil, in 2014 after her interview at Yidish-Vokh ("Yiddish week" — a family summer camp entirely in Yiddish). She is working on projects to revitalize Yiddish through adult and early education in her home country of Brazil, now known as Nucleo Viver com Yiddish. Sonia led the Brazil side of our oral history fieldwork partnership.
Christa and videographer Maoma Faria grab a photo with Sara and Jayme Vaisman after their interviews. Sara and Jayme met in a Jewish chorus in Rio de Janeiro. Sara had recently been involved in running a monthly Yiddish activity called "Ot Azoy Dos in Yiddish" along with Sonia Kramer. Jayme often presents lectures on Jewish and Yiddish themes for the monthly events. Both came from homes in Rio where Yiddish was spoken.
Cover image is of the Escola Scholem Aleichem (Sholem Aleichem School)’s kindergarten class with teacher Ida Shpringer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, around 1940. Courtesy of Léa Tabak-Goldenstein.