The history of Jewish life in Aruba dates to the early 1750’s. At that time Moses Solomon Levie Maduro, a Sephardic Jew, who worked for the Dutch West Indies Company, received permission to move himself and his wife and six children from Curacao to Aruba. They remained in Aruba until 1816. By 1867, there were 23 Jews living on the island and while the population grew over the years it remained difficult to establish any organised communal groups.

There is an Old Jewish Cemetery in the capital Oranjestad which contains eight gravestones, the oldest of which dates back to 1563, and these are the main evidence of the earliest Jewish presence on the island.

The community consists mostly of Jewish immigrants that arrived in Aruba from different parts of the world in the early 20’s, and made it their home. After 1924, a large group of Eastern European Jews, mostly from Poland, settled here, together with Jews from Holland and Sephardic families from the previously Dutch colony of Surinam.

In 1942, the community created the Jewish Country Club on Palm Beach for use in events such as weddings and bar/bat mitzvahs and by 1946 it was officially The Jewish community of Aruba, a centre for worship, Hebrew school, and social events. The modern day community received official recognition from the Dutch government on 1 Dec 1956 and opened their Synagogue, Beth Israel on 4 Nov 1962.

As of 2013, the Jewish population is around 85. The Prime Minister, Mike Eman, is Jewish. His brother Henny Eman was the first Prime Minister of Aruba.