Costa Rica is a Jewish country

Even though the Costa Rican Jewish community is relatively small (approximately 4,000 people) is a very active one, with a a museum, synagogue, its own cemetery, the Dr. Jaim Weizman Institute, an Israelite Zionist Center, community centers and kosher establishments.

The community is Orthodox, however there are also reformist members. For example, the community center is Orthodox, therefore all meals offered must be under surveillance within Judaism, so the meat has to be separated from the dairy products and the animals to be consumed have to be sacrificed in a certain way. The synagogue is also Orthodox, so it has two floors where men go downstairs and women go upstairs.

If you live around Sabana, Pavas and Rohrmoser where most of the community currently lives, maybe you felt a different vibe the last few days, because they just celebrated Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, also known as the Day of Atonement, Forgiveness and Repentance. This holiday involves an absolute fast that begins at sunset and ends at dusk the next day.

In search of freedom

Some historians believe, the story of the Jews in Costa Rica dates back to the colonization of the Americas shortly after the arrival of Christopher Columbus, when a large number of Sephardic converts escaped from the Spanish Inquisition and settle mainly in the city of Cartago and later establish in San José. Most of them had to hide their Jewish heritage and convert to Catholicism, that’s why they didn’t organize as a congregation.

Later during the 19th century, Sephardic merchants arrived from the Caribbean to the Central Valley, prospering with trade and practiced Judaism in secret in Escazú. Some believed that’s the origin of the legend of the “Witches of Escazú”.

The migratory waves that escaped European anti-Semitism and the rise of Nazism between the 1920’s and 1930’s, came mainly from the towns of Żelechów, Ostrowiec and Warsaw in Poland. This part of the Jewish diaspora, were predominantly Ashkenazi, who came from Central and Eastern Europe and spoke in Yiddish.

Most Costa Rican known them as “Polacos” in Spanish and “Klapers” in Yiddish, due to their work as door-to-door trade vendors, who unconsciously invented the credit card system and installment payments, by receiving small payments for a product and writing down what customers owed them on a homemade card. That is why Polish demonym became a colloquial synonym of Jew.

Vilma Faingezicht mentions that many surnames in Costa Rica have a Jewish origin, such as Sasso, Maduro and Robles, a fact that many people where not proud of before, but nowadays included in any conversation about themselves (their family history).

The first to make the crossing were the men, and once they settled in a safe space and earned enough money for their family’s boat fare in fifth class, wives and children came to the country, usually through Limón in Puerto Vargas.

These pioneers arrived after multiple months at sea, speaking just Yiddish or Polish, with little money and using tick winter coats. Most of them were unaware black people existed and were surprised to see them at the port. In general, they went through a difficult adaptation process due to the different weather, eating habits and the new language, given many immigrants had limited education.

Their new land offered them security to go for a walk in the streets without being persecuted or singled out for being Jewish, freedom and human rights meant everything to them.

The next great immigration occurred in the aftermath of World World II from the survivors of the “Shoah” the Hebrew term for the Holocaust that means “destruction/annihilation”. Most of them were also Polish, becoming the largest community of Slavic origin in Costa Rica and the largest in Central America.

Most Jews, after adapting to Costa Rica and achieving some economic stability, agreed that their children should study and become professionals. Since the 1950s, many of the 50,000 Costa Ricans of Polish descent have become prosperous businessmen, writers, artists, musicians, and prominent politicians.

The last immigration wave of Jews occurred first in the 1970s from countries in South America suffering from dictatorships and in the 1990s by Americans and Israelis who decided to retire in Costa Rica.

Through their eyes

The Museum of the Jewish Community in Costa Rica opened its doors in 2005 and is located in the facilities of the Israeli Zionist Center of Costa Rica in Rohrmoser, San José.

During almost two decades, more than 60 thousand people have learned about the jewish traditions and festivities; the arrival and insertion of jews in Costa Rica; and the contributions of the community to the country. The target visitor are students, who as part of their education, come to learn more about the Shoah or the Holocaust during World War II.

The guided tour includes six rooms; a square called “Parque de la Vida” (2015) a monument in memory of the 190 survivors of the Shoah who reached Costa Rican shores; a brief visit to the Synagogue; and specialized talks such as the the history of Israel from Abraham to today and the life of Anne Frank.

It is a non-profit cultural and educational entity, whose motto is: “We cannot understand who we are if we do not know where we come from” that clearly represents their aim towards the value of knowing our roots and all we can learn from each other’s heritage. Is neither a religious nor political space, it simple tries to show to non-jews Costa Ricans, part of the journey of the community.

The Jewish Museum is a privilege that involved many years of effort and partnerships to obtain financing. Admission is free, but you must make an appointment in advance.

The Jewish girl in a Catholic land

Vilma Faingezicht was born in Costa Rica, but her story begins when her Polish parents survived the Holocaust and later emigrated from Żelechów to Alajuela in 1946, following the path of two of her father’s brothers.

During her formative years in public education, she bonded with mostly Catholic classmates, whom she discovered the value of multiculturalism and unity. She ate cod at Easter and her friends challah bread on Rosh Hashanah. One of her most memorable anecdotes from the book, is her Lebanese neighbors, their zinc roof and incredible cuisine.

All customs are compatible if they are understood with respect to what the other has to offer, stated Vilma. She added that all immigrants should have their own space of teaching their fellow citizens, how their migratory group arrived in the country and how they contributed to the Costa Rican idiosyncrasy, in order to demystify some preconceptions about them.

She remembers that her parents told her that they -as the rest of the jews- were terrified when the civil war broke out in 1948, because although it was not a world war, it involved an internal fight and they had just escaped decades of conflict and violence in Europe.

Faingezicht is the founder and director of the Museum of the Jewish Community in Costa Rica and the author of Tales of the Jewish Girl (2014) and two more books.

“We have all the rights and all the liberty in our life circumstances. We frequently visit all the places we want to and we can study and work anywhere, but…. are we integrated into the world as equals, as much through our own feelings and the feelings of others? This remains a great unknown for me”.

Tales from a Jewish girl by Vilma Faingezicht

Her book is recommended by the Ministry of Education for eighth grade.

Part of us

Next time you hear the expression “polaquear” remember the historical, social, economic and cultural value of the concept. Thousands of Polish-Costa Rican families owe everything to the initial work of their ancestors, who back in their home land were artisans, shoemakers, tailors, bakers and more.

Finally, if we know the history of our immigrant ancestors, we reconstruct our own story and value what it meant for them to start a new life in these tropical latitudes.