There are Jews on the exotic island of Tahiti as well as a synagogue located on rue Morenhout, Quartier Farripiti in Papeete.

The history of the Jews in French Polynesia can be traced back to the 1769. The first Jew to settle in French Polynesia was Alexander Salmon, a banker from France and the son of a rabbi from London. He married into the Tahitian royal family upon his marriage to Princess Arrioehau, a member of the Tevi tribe. Although Tahitian law at the time prohibited marriage to foreigners, Queen Pomare IV suspended the law for three days to allow the marriage. Their daughter, Queen Marau, was the last Queen of Tahiti. Between 1841 and World War I, Tahiti attracted three permanent European Jewish settlers.

More Jewish settlers arrived, but when Catholic priests later arrived, most of the Jewish population assimilated and converted to Catholicism. The majority of Jews in French Polynesia are of North African Sephardi heritage. The first organized Jewish community was established by Algerian-Jewish refugees in the 1960s. Most of the Jews here hail from Morocco and Algeria via France.

The Jews here formed ACISPO, a French acronym for Cultural Association for Israelites and Polynesian Friends, which was established in 1982. Sponsored by ACISPO, the congregation claims a membership of about 200 people, a pretty reliable figure, because that is the number of Jews who show up for Yom Kippur services.

Even though this congregation functions thousands of miles from its nearest neighbors, it desperately tries to keep Judaism alive. And it does so without a full-time rabbi and cantor, except occasionally for the High Holidays. Kosher food products arrive from Australia and are sold at the synagogue, though some supermarkets stock kosher food.

A synagogue and Jewish community centre were established in 1993 in Papeete. There is no official Jewish cemetery, but there are several graves with Jewish markings on the tombstones.