The history of the Jews in Eritrea stretches back many centuries. Eritrea once had a substantial Jewish community, fueled by immigrants arriving for economic reasons and to escape persecution.  The first Jews to settle in Eritrea were Adenites from Yemen who came in the 19th century to establish trade. In 1906, the Asmara Synagogue was completed in the capital.

Italian and other European Jewish immigrants came in search of economic opportunity and to escape the rise of Nazism in the 1930s. During British administration, Eritrea was often used as a location of internment for Irgun and Lehi guerrillas fighting for Jewish independence in the British Mandate of Palestine. Among those imprisoned were future Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Haim Corfu, a founder of Beitar Jerusalem.

The Jewish community boomed and then bust relatively quickly as a result of both Israeli independence in 1948 and political unrest leading up to the Eritrean War for Independence in 1961. The last wedding celebrated in the synagogue was in the ’60s, and the last rabbi was evacuated along with the great majority of the ex-pat community in 1975. By then, the community had shrunk to about 150.

With independence in 1993, all remaining Jews left, except for Sami Cohen. Sami is the custodian of the Asmara synagogue. In 1998, Cohen’s wife and daughters fled to Italy, leaving him behind. They meet up from time to time in various countries. His four sisters live in Britain, the United States and Israel. Times are tough and economic stagnation has hammered business, but Cohen plans to stay on in his home town, making a living from his import-export business.

The Asmara Synagogue is the only surviving remnant of the Jewish community in Eritrea. Built in 1906, it includes a Jewish cemetery, classrooms, and a main sanctuary. All aspects of the synagogue today are taken care of by Samuel Cohen, an Asmara native who remained in the country to look after the edifice. There are also a few non-native Jews residing in Asmara, some of them Israelis attached to the local Israeli Embassy.