History of the Jews in Thailand

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Jews began settling in Thailand in the 1700s, including Baghdadi families and other European Jews. During World War II Thailand sided with the Axis, but it has had friendly ties with Israel since 1954. Today the community is mostly Ashkenazi Jews from Russia and the Soviet Union, with Persian Jews who moved here after Iran’s revolution in the 1970s–80s. The permanent Jewish community is over 1,000 people, mostly in Bangkok near Khaosan Road, with smaller groups in Phuket, Chiang Mai, Ko Samui and Koh Pha-ngan. Vacationing Jews from Israel and the United States join for holidays and Shabbat, making big dinners of up to about 1,000 people on weekends.

In the 1960s–70s, U.S. Air Force chaplains served as the rabbi for the Jewish Association of Thailand. The first permanent Bangkok rabbi, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Kantor, arrived in 1993 and is part of Chabad; he was joined in 1995 by Rabbi Nechemya Wilhelm. Chabad of Bangkok is a small center serving mainly young Israeli travelers and helped after the 2004 tsunami. After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, entry to some centers was restricted to the Jewish community for security.

Bangkok offers Jewish education from kindergarten to high school, including an Orthodox yeshiva. Finally, a Jewish cemetery was approved next to the Bangkok Protestant Cemetery in Bang Kho Laem.