The Centro Israelita do Paraná ( en, Israelite Center of Paraná) is the main gathering place for Jews in the city of

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the List of cities in Brazil by population, eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in ...

, Brazil.

History

The first

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

to arrive in Curitiba was José Flaks, who in 1889 arrived with his wife Roni and their children Michael and Frederick. Shortly thereafter came Max Rosenman. Both were originally from Galicia and settled in the area of Curitiba known as Barigui. The Flaks family were recognizable by their traditional

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

costume. Max Rosenman hosted religious services and even the manufacture of matzot for Passover. In 1913, the capital of Paraná had around 12 families and more than 20 single men. On 27 July 1913, at the initiative of Julius Stolzenberg, Bernard Schulman, Leo and Jacob Charatz Mandelman, it was decided that founded the Union Israelita do Parana, to care for cultural and religious needs of the community. Today, the community is one of the largest of southern Brazil. It has an active

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

youth movement in

Habonim Dror Habonim Dror ( he, הַבּוֹנִים דְּרוֹר, "the builders–freedom") is the evolution of two Jewish Labour Zionist youth movements that merged in 1982. Habonim ( he, הַבּוֹנִים, "the builders") was founded in 1929 in the U ...

and many other departments. A newsletter of community events called ''Oi Kehilá'' ( en, Hi Community) is produced and sent via E-mail to community members. In 2009, the community hired

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

Rabbi Pablo Berman, formerly the rabbi of the Israeli Community of El Salvador.

Facilities

Escola Israelita Brasileira Salomão Guelmann

Housed within the compound of the Jewish center is the Jewish school named after Salomão Guelmann who built and donated the school to the community in 1921, to serve as a foundation for the education of the Jewish children of Curitiba.

References

External links

Centro Israelita do Paraná

Escola Israelita Brasileira Salomão Guelmann

Official blog
Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Brazil Ashkenazi synagogues Conservative Judaism in Brazil Conservative synagogues Jewish Galician (Eastern Europe) history Polish-Jewish diaspora Synagogues in Brazil Ukrainian-Jewish diaspora Zionism in Brazil {{Brazil-synagogue-stub