Just 20 Jews remain in the world’s largest Muslim nation, and it’s not clear who demolished their last house of worship, Java’s Beith Shalom
The Surabaya synagogue, on the island of Java, Indonesia (photo credit: @najibnet via Twitter/File)
Reports suggesting the synagogue’s destruction have appeared in Indonesian media since May but were confirmed last week by the Indoweb.nl, which quoted the director of the Surabaya Heritage Society as saying that he intended to protest the demolition in talks with government officials.
“It is not clear by whom and when exactly the building was demolished,” Freddy Instanto told Indoweb.nl.
The interior of the Beith Shalom synagogue in Surabaya, Indonesia, in 2002 (photo credit: @IwanKamah via Twitter)
The City Council of Surabaya was in the process of registering the building as a heritage site. Istanto said that for that reason, the building “should have been protected.”
The Dutch news site also quoted Sachiroel Alim, the head of the Surabaya regional legislative council, as saying that it was unknown whether Muslim extremists had anything to do with the demolition.
Situated in in eastern Java, the small synagogue was built in the 19th century by Dutch Jews when Indonesia was still a Dutch colony. It had white-painted bricks a Star of David painted on the front door.
The first Jews arrived in Indonesia in the 17th century with the Dutch East India Company. During the 1930s and 1940s, the community grew due to new arrivals fleeing persecution in Europe, to reach an estimated 2,000 souls.
Currently, about 20 Jews are estimated to be living in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, according to Beit Hatfutsot, the Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv. Judaism is not one of the six religions officially recognized in Indonesia: Islam, Christian, Catholic, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.
