The Sephardic Jewish Community in Bucharest celebrated to-day its bicentenary. A special festival service was held in the Sephardic Temple here, which was attended by all the Sephardic Rabbis in Roumania.
Sephardic Jews settled in a number of places in what is now Roumania immediately after the Jewish expulsion from Spain, the largest settlements being in Bucharest and Craiova. The official Community was not constituted, however, until 1730, when the Bucharest Sephardic Community was formed. At present, the Bucharest Sephardic Community consists of about 10,000 souls, and maintains a number of cultural and welfare institutions. It has two autonomous Jewish elementary schools, and a People’s University, and a Library and a Museum are to be opened shortly.
The Roumanian Sephardim are organised in a Federation of Communities, of which Mr. Joseph M. Pincas, is President. Rabbi Sabbatai I. Djaen is the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Roumania.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.