Jews in New Zealand

Jewish traders were among whalers , missionaries, and other Europeans who explored New Zealand in the first decades of the 19th century ^[1] . Joel Samuel Polak, the most famous and most influential of them, arrived in New Zealand in 1831 . Polak opened a store in Kororarek in the Bay of Islands and was revered by local Maori tribes. In 1838, in the House of Lords , Polak made a report on the state of the islands of New Zealand. In the report, he pointed out that unorganized European colonization would destroy Maori culture ^[2] . After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 , the Jewish family of Goldsmith co-founded the New Zealand company ^[3] . In early 1843, Abraham Hort the Elder arrived in Wellington , where, with the approval of the chief rabbi of London , he organized and promoted the Jewish community. The first religious service was held on January 7, 1843. In the 60s of the XIX century, in connection with the discovery of gold deposits, a massive migration of Jews to New Zealand began. This period includes the opening of several synagogues ^[4] . In 1873–1875 and in 1876, the post of premier of New Zealand was occupied by the Jew Julius Vogel ^[5] .

In 1881, laws were introduced to restrict the migration to New Zealand of representatives of any nations except the British , the Scots and the Irish . As a result of previously imposed restrictions, few Jews were granted asylum in New Zealand until 1945 . After 1945, this restriction was lifted. At the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries there was a migration from South Africa , Israel and the former Soviet Union ^[6] .

In 1848, 16,000 people lived in New Zealand, of which at least 61 were Jews, 28 in Wellington and 33 in Auckland ^[7] . The 2013 census data says that out of 4.5 million people in New Zealand, 6,867 people identify themselves as Jews ^[8] . In 2012, a book called Jewish Lives in New Zealand claimed that there were more than 20,000 in New Zealand Jews ^[9] . There are currently seven synagogues in the country ^[10] . 0.2% of New Zealand’s population professes Judaism ^[11] .

• HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN NEW ZEALAND