Brazil offers a splendid field for the colonization of Jews from Eastern Europe in the near future, declared Dr. I. Raffalovitch, chief rabbi of Brazil, last week, upon his arrival in New York to confer with Hias officials here regarding Jewish immigration to Brazil, where he has had charge of the work of Jewish colonization since 1923.
“Of the 40,000 Jews who are living in Brazil today,” declared Dr. Raffalowitz, “about half that number have arrived during the last five years and the annual quota will become increasingly larger.”
More than three-quarters of all the 6,000 Jews who came to Brazil during 1929, he said, were assisted upon their arrival by the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society.
“An interesting fact in connection with the work of establishing the newcomer is that out of the total number who arrive in Brazil, over 73 percent remain in the country,” stated the Chief Rabbi of Brazil. “We have offices in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre, Pernambuco and Bahia. In 1929 6,025 Jewish immigrants arrived and were met at the various ports; 414 unaccompanied girls were met and looked after; 3,389 immigrants received shelter and meals; employment was found for 1,906; 108 received instruction in trades and in Portuguese classes and a loan fund of $9,200 was created to enable the newcomer to purchase tools. We have already 408 families who have settled on the land and 26,093 hectares as land capital owned by the colonists.”
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.
