Bienvenidos a la Sociedad de Beneficencia Israelita Sefardi - welcome to the Lima Sephardic Community! Our community has a long and proud history, dating back to when the first Sephardic immigrants arrived to Peru at the turn of the 20th century, principally, from Izmir and Salonika. Family names like Palti, Franco, Shaloum, and Alcabes are all common in our community. Driven to Peru principally for economic opportunity, our small community began to flourish and formed in 1920. In 1933, we built our first Sephardic synagogue in Lima, and our community grew well after World War II, with an influx of a number of Holocaust survivors from Greece and the Balkans.
Today, at 1,000 families strong, our Sephardic Community is a vibrant hub of Jewish life in Latin America. We still practice many of the customs and traditions from our Ottoman roots, with services every Shabbat in Ladino, like Bendicho Su Nombre and Ein Kelohenu, as well as Sephardic hazzanut. About eight years ago, we built a beautiful new synagogue in the heart of the Jewish neighborhood of Lima, now called Bet Haknesset Rabi Abraham Benhamu, named in honor of our community Haham of over 50 years. We continue to actively engage with our Jewish youth, young families, and wonderful programming. We still have daily minyanim and classes, and encourage everyone to come and visit us for a Shabbat.
Comentários