In the Peruvian Jewish community there are fewer than 3,000 Jews, almost all of them in the capital city of Lima. There are traces of remains of other communities in other areas, but most of these consist of intermarried descendants and are not counted in the official community calculation. Stories also surface occasionally of Converso communities in remote jungle areas.  These rumors remain unsubstantiated, members of such groups are not considered part of the contemporary community.

The Converso core of the early stages of the community is real. This dates back to the sixteenth century arrival of the Spanish in South America, which included the area known today as Peru. Today, historians recognize that many of those who arrived in the early colonial days were secret Jews or people from Jewish families who were trying to leave the horrors of the Inquisition behind them. Networks of secret Judaisers were active in the area and in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, many were uncovered by the local Inquisition, losing their lives or languishing in prisons for years. Most of those who survived are believed to have assimilated and lost any contact with Judaism; but the rumors persist that secret communities remain until the present day.
See Shavei Israel Organization and information about the Jewish community of Trujillo

The roots of the modern community date back to the mid-nineteenth century with the arrival of Ashkenazi Jews from Western and Central Europe, including England, the German lands and Alsace. Settling in Lima, they mainly worked as agents of commercial firms. Later in that century, Jews who arrived from North Africa  were mainly attracted by the development of a rubber industry, settling in the lands around the Amazon and in the town of Iquitos.

In the pre World War I and inter-war periods, more Jews arrived from Eastern Europe, and from the lands of the disintegrating Ottoman Empire. In the 1930s, a substantial group of German Jews arrived, the second group of immigrants from that region. The population reached a maximum number of around 6,000, but has declined over the last generation due to a mixture of political and economic problems. Recently, as the economy has picked up again and stabilized, some additional Jews have been attracted from Argentina and from other lands.

Over the last thirty years or so, several hundreds Catholic indigenous Peruvians converted to Judaism. These modern converts appear to have no pre-modern Jewish roots. The initiative for their contact with Judaism came from a certain charismatic Catholic who started to study Judaism in the late 1960s, and persuaded several hundred Peruvian natives that this was the right direction. A number of years ago, they were formally converted to Judaism by a Beit Din that came especially from Israel. Subsequently, several hundred made aliyah to Israel and another community developed in Peru. The Jews in Lima rejected them and refused contact with them.  This group is called Bnei Moshe. 

Thirty years ago, most of the Jews in the Peru were involved in business and trade. Today many are in salaried jobs in industry or the professions. In recent years, more Jews have entered the world of politics: there has even been a Jewish Prime Minister. The community can generally be called middle-class;  In most countries in Latin America, this class is increasingly vulnerable and has tended to suffer from recent economic and financial instability.

The strongest and most established, accounting for some 75% of the community, is an Eastern European Ashkenazi stream of the Peruvian Jews. In addition, there is a more modern Ashkenazi-German stream, which accounts for about 15% of the community. The third, Sephardi-Mizrachi stream accounts for the remaining 10%. These three streams co-operate in the running of the community, rotating the leadership between them. There are currently three synagogues in the community. Two follow the Orthodox tradition (one Sephardi and one Ashkenazi), while the third is defined as Conservative. 

The community school, named after Leon Pinelo gives a full school education to some 90% of the Jewish children in the community. It only accepts children from families that are officially defined as Jewish. Enrollment having fallen from over a thousand at the beginning of the 1970s to around some 400 today.

The community has a sports and country club, the Hebraica. Many of the current community leaders have come out of the ranks of the one flourishing youth movement, HaNoar HaTzioni, established more than fifty years ago. There are a number of Jewish organizations in Lima, many of whom have connections with Israel. One of the stronger bodies is Bnei Berith. The community produces two regular publications.

The Peruvian community has seen a lot of assimilation. Apart from the original Spanish settlers, both the European settlers of the mid-nineteenth century and the North African settlers of thirty or forty years later faded away, leaving very few heirs. Since the early to mid-twentieth century, however, the Jews of Peru have tended to lead a fairly insular life within their own community and around their own institutions.

Peru is a strongly Catholic country. This has unquestionably been one of the factors that has led to cohesiveness within the Jewish community, sandwiched as the Jews are between the poor, native, indigenous population and the white, strongly Catholic, governing group. In recent years, however, as community numbers have dropped, the difficulties in maintaining Jewish cultural and social life have become apparent and have translated into a variety of different phenomena. Many young people have gone abroad and remained there. Among those who have stayed, assimilation and intermarriage have taken their toll. The percentage of intermarried couples stands at well over 20%. It should be noted that many of these families raise their children as Jews. 

Since the end of Spanish immigration to the community, which connected Jewish settlers in the region with very specific historical circumstances, the reason that has mainly influenced the inflow of Jews to Peru seems to have been the possibility of improving their economic status, rather than dramatic persecution.

On the other hand, four elements have sometimes caused Jews to leave. Firstly, some Jews left when the economic situation in Peru worsened. This was the case with many of the early Ashkenazi immigrants, who left in the last years of the nineteenth century. A similar situation developed in the early 1970s, when a radical government started a program of nationalization that frightened many Jewish traders and business people. The last decades of the twentieth century were generally marked by tremendous economic instability and very high inflation, which also effected Jewish emigration.

There is political instability in Peru. This resulted from the actions of left wing underground and terrorist groups that declared war on the government. The eighties and early nineties were particularly uncertain and fearful - especially among the middle and upper classes - due to the actions of such groups as the Tupac Amaru (foremost) and the Sendero Luminoso (the Shining Path). As kidnappings, robberies and car bombs became commonplace, many decided that this was not a good place in which to stay. The underground groups have almost disintegrated since the early 1990s, and now pose little threat to the regime or the middle class residents of the country.

Another reason for leaving Peru is the desire of young Jews to look for fresh horizons and romantic prospects.  A thousand Jews have left Peru over the years to make aliyah. 

In recent years, the Jewish Community in Peru focused more attention on the plight of the poor in the community. The community also supports two old age homes for its members. The general economic instability that has characterized the Peruvian economy, like many of the other economies in Latin America, continually places new demands on the welfare mechanism of the Jewish community.

The problems of physical security that have affected the community are generally less connected with their Jewishness than with their image as symbols of capitalism in the eyes of the leftist underground movements. As a result of abductions and threats by the leftists, many Jews - along with many others in the middle and upper-middle classes.- have taken precautions to guard their families and their property.

The economic climate of Peru stabilized in the early 1990s. At that time, it seemed that the community’s main problem was simply surviving in such small numbers. There has been less economic stability in the past few years. Nevertheless, it still seems that survival within a small community remains the main problem. Many other small communities face identical problems. Such communities usually ask the young two key, related questions. The first relates to their willingness to remain in the country; the second relates to their willingness or ability to stay in the community if they decide to remain in the country. Both questions are relevant to the Jews of Peru.
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