Jews began arriving on St. Eustatius in the seventeenth century, primarily Sephardic Jews of Spanish and Portuguese descent who had fled the Iberian Peninsula and later Dutch Brazil after the Portuguese reconquest of Recife in 1654. The Dutch-controlled island offered greater religious freedom and commercial opportunity than many other colonies in the region. Early Jewish settlers were involved in trade networks linking Europe, the Caribbean, South America, and North America.
By 1722, records indicate that four Jewish families, totaling twenty-two individuals, lived on the island. Additional immigration followed after 1730, largely from Amsterdam and other Dutch Caribbean communities. Both Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews settled on the island, though the Sephardic community remained dominant.
In 1737, the Jewish community petitioned the Dutch authorities for permission to build a synagogue. Approval was granted two years later, and in 1739, the Honen Dalim synagogue (“He Who is Merciful to the Poor”) was constructed in Oranjestad, the island’s capital. Built from imported yellow Dutch bricks, the two-story structure became one of the oldest synagogues in the Western Hemisphere. The building included a women’s gallery and a nearby mikveh (ritual bath).
During the eighteenth century, St. Eustatius emerged as one of the busiest trading ports in the Atlantic world. Hundreds of ships visited the island, and Jewish merchants became deeply involved in regional commerce. By the time of the American Revolution, Jews reportedly constituted a substantial portion of the European population of the island. Jewish trading networks facilitated the shipment of goods, including military supplies and gunpowder, to the American colonies.
St. Eustatius became historically significant in American history on November 16, 1776, when Fort Orange fired a cannon salute to the American brig Andrew Doria, carrying the flag of the newly declared United States. The event became known as the “First Salute” and is often regarded as the first formal international recognition of the United States by a foreign power.
The island’s prosperity came to an abrupt end in 1781 when British forces under Admiral George Rodney captured St. Eustatius. Rodney confiscated merchandise, ships, and private property across the island, but the Jewish population was singled out for especially harsh treatment. Jewish residents were imprisoned, stripped of valuables, and some were deported to St. Kitts. Jewish homes were looted, and even graves in the Jewish cemetery were disturbed in search of treasure.
Following the British occupation and subsequent periods of political instability under French and British control, much of the Jewish population left the island for other Caribbean communities, particularly St. Thomas. By 1818, only a handful of Jews remained on St. Eustatius, and the community effectively disappeared with the death of Anna Vieira de Molina in 1846.
Today, the ruins of Honen Dalim remain one of the island’s most important historic landmarks. Visitors can still see the synagogue walls, the staircase leading to the women’s gallery, and remnants of the mikveh. Nearby is the Jewish cemetery, where surviving gravestones dating from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries preserve the memory of the island’s Jewish community. Restoration efforts over the past few decades have helped preserve these sites as part of Statia’s cultural heritage.
Source: “Synagogue,” statia-tourism.com.
Yitzchok Livne, “The Jewish Community of St. Eustatius,” Stevens Institute of Technology.
Lucy Pilgrim, “Sint Eustatius: Jewish Heritage In Focus,” Outlook Travel, (December 11, 2024).
Olivia Haynie, “On the small island of St. Eustatius, the Jewish community turned the tide of the American Revolution,” Forward, (April 23, 2026).
Photo: CIA Factbook.