Between the Jewish communities of the world outside of Israel, Costa Rica could definitely be one of Israel’s best friends. People from two villages of Poland have managed to build a warm, close and prosperous Costa Rica Jewish Community. They began this process of immigration several years ago, before World War II. Back then most of the Jewish population came from Eastern Europe. Still afraid from the chaos going on in Europe at the time, Jewish immigrants were afraid to be called “Judios”, every called them “Polacos” (polish). This community has an estimate of 2,000 members, yet the community is well aware that there are about 1,000 non practicing Jews around the country, mostly North American retirees who have relocated in Costa Rica. We can also mention that the first Jewish settlers in Costa Rica were Sephardim from Curacao, Jamaica, Panama and the Caribbean these people arrived in Costa Rica in the 19th century. That was the beginning of the Costa Rica Jewish Community. They mixed with the local population and started to settle down in Cartago, then expanded to San Jose and the rest of the areas. German refugees were the main founders of the Jewish community we have nowadays.
Although the process has not been easy, the Jewish community has managed to create the necessary institutions to maintain their faith intact as much possible. Some of these institutions are: the Instituto Jaim Weizmann, which is a school (kindergarten through secondary school), children will attend at list until getting to secondary school where some are taken out to attend another schools specialized in proper preparation to attend North American universities. In Costa Rica, Jewish community is mostly Orthodox by choice, there are religious services every morning and Shabbat, for this matter the established synagogue is also Orthodox with a Jewish Cemetery nearby. There is an association called the B’nai Israel and they meet every Friday, they have a weekly Parasha and a Koleino on line, in both English and Spanish to keep the community as well informed as possible. The Hebrew Cultural Center, located in Rohrmoser, offers choices to learn the Jewish traditions and cultural values, as well as Hebrew history and language classes, cabala, and Hebrew philosophy and it’s sponsored by the Lookstein Center of the Bar llan University. Another great advanced for the Jewish Community is that The American Jewish Committee and the Centro Israelita Sionista de Costa Rica (the Jewish Zionist Center of Costa Rica) established a cooperative association to increase and bring closer the interests of the Costa Rican and American Jewish communities. Only two countries maintain their embassies in Jerusalem and Costa Rica is one of them.
Kosher food is available. The community has a kosher butcher shop, two shochetim, one of whom is retired, and a delicatessen, all of them ran by Orthodox Jews, getting the basics to maintain a Jewish life in Costa Rica is easy. The availability of kosher food in San Jose is more common. There are two kosher hotels in Costa Rica, both located in San Jose and a B&B, wich makes your trip to Costa Rica a lot easier. Our staff of travel advisors would be delighted in helping you out with all of these matters and any questions you may have regarding your trip or relocation to Costa Rica. Here is a list of important Jewish associations and centers you might find useful:
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