Once the Indonesia Islands’ raw
materials and resources were discovered
by Dutch colonialism, Dutch Jews played a
key role in the development of the Spice
Islands. While its date of establishment
is unknown, an early Jewish settlement existed
in the Sunda Islands. During the 1850s, most
Jewish families were of German and Dutch
descent and lived predominately in Jakarta.
In 1850, after visiting Indonesia, the Jerusalem emissary Jacob Saphir requested that the
Jewish community of Amsterdam send a rabbi to
try and organize the Jews of Indonesia.
At that time, approximately 20 Jewish families
lived on the islands. Most Jews in the 1800s,
however, were not very religious and no
Jewish community center was consecrated.
By the 1920s, Jews were arriving from the Netherlands, Baghdad, and Aden and Jewish community centers were organized in numerous cities. The
Baghdadi Jews were the most observant of all Jewish Indonesians and
settled in Surabaya. Israel Cohen, the Zionist emissary, estimated in 1921 that almost 2,000 Jews were living in Java,
Indonesia. Most Jews worked as traders, with a few holding government
appointments.
Many European Jews in Indonesia fleeing the Nazis arrived in the late 1930’s. In 1939, nearly 2,000 Jewish Dutch
residents, and several other Jews from various European nations, were
placed in internment camps after Japan’s invasion of the islands.
After World
War II, many Jews left Indonesia because they had lost their homes
and possessions during the war, but several families remained. By the
1950s, the Jewish communities were beginning to thrive again, especially
in Surabaya. In the early 1960s, with the rise of nationalist and anti-Dutch
sentiments among the people of Indonesia, many Jews immigrated to the United States, Australia,
and the newly established State of
Israel. By 1970, most of the thriving Jewish communities of Indonesia
had almost vanished, leaving a scattered Jews behind.
Today, “descendants
of Iraqi Jews who came to Indonesia more
than a century ago to trade spices still
live and practice in Surabaya in the eastern
half of the densely populated (and almost
exclusively Muslim)
island of Java. Their Jewish traditions
are primarily ancient in origin (the Sabbath before Yom
Kippur, for example, the community leader
slaughters a chicken and swings it around
the synagogue courtyard to dispel the community’s
sins), though Dutch Jewish traders from
the 18th and 19th centuries introduced them
to some European Rabbinical teachings” (The
Jews of Africa).
As of 2008, only two synagogues were still in use in the entire country of Indonesia - the more prominent one in Surabaya and a much smaller, lesser known one in the small town of Manado. Unfortunately, however, both synagogues were closed or destroyed by 2013.
In Manado, a mostly Christian stronghold town in which few Jews live, the government dedicated a good amount of monetary resources to bolster the community and attract Jewish tourism. In Novermber 2010, the government paid nearly $150,000 to build a 62-foot-tall Menorah on a hill overlooking the city, now possibly the largest permanent menorah in the entire world. This synagogue seems to no longer be in use.
The largest of Indonesia's synagogues, the Beith Shalom Synagogue in Surabaya on the Island of Java, was built in the 19th century by Dutch Jews and grew in stature during the 1950's when the Jewish community was at its largest following the Holocaust.. The synagogue had a Star of David painted on the front door and was fashioned in a
traditional Orthodox, Sephardic style -
men and women were separated by a mechiza
and the pulpit and congregation face the
simple, plain wood ark. The ark had been
empty since its two Torah scrolls were relocated
to the Jewish congregation in Singapore.
During Israel's Operation Cast Lead in the winter of 2008, Muslims extremists in Indonesia protested Israel's actions and forced the government to shut down the Surabaya synagogue. In October 2013, a Dutch news site reported that the synagogue had been completely destroyed sometime during the past year. “It is not clear by whom and when exactly the building was demolished,” Freddy Instanto told the paper.
Since 2009 Israel has seen a dramatic increase in the number and percentage of tourists visiting from Arab countries, signaling a warming of relations between Israel and the moderate Arab world despite the looming possibility of a nuclear Iran. Over 250,000 individuals have come to visit Israel since 2009 from Arab and majority Muslim countries. Indonesia contributes significantly to this number, with more than half of these tourists (an estimated 124,000) coming to Israel from Indonedia. Other Arab countries that contributed to this increased tourism in Israel are Jordan (81,000 tourists), Malaysia (23,483), Saudi Arabia (38), The United Arab Emirates (168), and Qatar and Oman (147).
There are a small number of individual Jews
living in Jakarta, but most are not very
religious. Essentially, the Jewish community
in Indonesia is continuing to decline because
of immigration sparked by a recent rise
in anti-Semitism.
Today only about 200 Jews
live in Indonesia, and most of them hide their religion in fear of discrimination or persecution.
Although the community is small, the members have tried to keep traditions alive. The Jewish community in Jakarta held a traditional Passover Seder in April 2016, which welcomed 50 guests including United States Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Muslim Clerics also attended the Seder, marking the first time the Muslim community leaders had “broken bread” with the Jewish community at a holiday celebration.
With the largest Muslim population of any nation in the world, Indonesia is not well known for having especially close ties with Israel in public. Despite their pro-Palestinian stance and no official diplomatic ties, Indonesia has enjoyed a friendly relationship with Israel and Israeli officials since the establishment of the Jewish state. The state's interactions were very limited at first, but during and after the presidency of Abdurrahman Wahid the Israeli-Indonesian relationship began to grow stronger. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin made a historic visit to Indonesia in 1993, marking the first trip of an Israeli official to the country. The following year Indonesian President Wahid visited Israel on the invitation of Shimon Peres in order to witness the signing of the 1994 peace agreement between Israel and Jordan. Wahid returned to Israel for a second visit in 1997. In 2000 Shimon Peres trevelled to Indonesia as the Minister of Regional Cooperation, and Israel's Minister of Economy visited Indonesia in 2013 for the World Trade Organization Conference. A group of high-ranking Indonesian officials made a secretive visit to the Knesset in 2013.
The Indonesia-Israel Public Affairs Committee (IIPAC) was established in 2002 by an Indonesian Jew living in Jerusalem. IIPAC remained silent and out of the public eye for eight years, but emerged in 2010 when they opened an office in Jakarta, Indonesia. Currently IIPAC has almost 4,500 members.
In order to facilitate and regulate the growing trade interactions between the two countries, in 2009 the Israel-Indonesia Chamber of Commerce was founded in Tel Aviv. A subsidiary of the Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce, the goal of this group is to strengthen the economic partnership between the two countries despite the lack of any official diplomatic ties.
The governments of Israel and Indonesia have collaborated in various different ways besides just trade. In 2008 an agreement was signed between the Indonesian government and Israel's Magen David Adom national emergency service for them to provide medical training to paramedics and emergency service workers in Indonesia. The Indonesian government has expressed interest in using Israeli manpower and advanced technology to build modern roads to the country's hard to reach provinces.
Trade between Indonesia and Israel topped $500 million during 2014, with Israel mostly exporting high tech products and Indonesia exporting commodities like food. Despite the warming of relations over recent years, Israel does not have a trade mission in Indonesia. Trade and administrative matters between the two countries are handled by Israel's representative in Singapore, who makes frequent trips to Indonesia.
Indonesian authorities at the Israel Foreign Trade Association Conference 2016 expressed great interest in Israeli agricultural technology. According to an unnamed top Indonesian venture capital investor who attended the conference, “there is a great deal of business going on between Indonesia and Israel... Indonesia is a quickly growing country with a lot of needs in areas where Israeli tech has made important breakthroughs, like agricultural technology.”
Israeli officials barred Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi from entering the Palestinian Authority on March 13, 2016, because she did not plan to meet with members of the Israeli government during her visit. Marsudi was travelling to Ramallah for the dedication ceremony of a honorary Indonesian consulate in the Palestinian territories. Israeli policy is to not allow foreign ministers of countries with which it has diplomatic ties with visit the PA without also visiting Israel, although no formal diplomatic ties exist between Israel and Indonesia. Fielding questions about Marsudi's visit, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely stated that Israel indeed has “unofficial” diplomatic ties with Indonesia. Despite lack of formal diplomatic relations, there is “continuous contact” between the two countries, according to Hotovely.
Five Indonesian journalists on a Foreign Ministry delegation trip to Israel were told by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that, “The relations between Israel and Indonesia need to change.” The journalists met with Netanyahu on March 28, 2016, and discussed relations between their respective countries. Netanyahu stated following the meetings that he hoped the journalists visit would help pave a path to full diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Israel.
