Shavei Israel returns to Peru with new outreach to the Bnei Moshe
In 2002, then-Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau paid a hospital visit to a very unusual ma...
20 July, 2015Over five decades ago, in the northern Peruvian city of Cajamarca, two brothers began a spiritual journey that would reshape their own lives and those of hundreds of others.
After Alvaro and Segundo Villanueva Correa read the Torah, they eventually decided to embrace Judaism, forming a community in 1958 whose members strictly observed the Sabbath and the Festivals and kept kosher. The group, which came to be known as the “Bnei Moshe” (or Children of Moses), makes no claim of Jewish ancestry. Rather, it consists of like-minded families and individuals who found their spiritual truth in Judaism and decided out of deep sincerity to join the Jewish people.
They continued to practice Judaism faithfully over several decades, expanding to the city of Trujillo as well, and growing in number to more than 500 people. Subsequently, nearly all of the Inca Jews underwent conversion by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate and made aliyah, thanks in part to Shavei Israel.
In 2002, then-Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau paid a hospital visit to a very unusual ma...
20 July, 2015Her journey is an inspiring one – and not just the trip on the bus to our meeting. Th...
11 November, 2012A member of the Peruvian B'nai Moshe community (also known as the "Inca Jews"), who a...
17 October, 2012Yehudit Jaksa has just finished her final exam to become a dental hygienist as she arrives for our interview. ...
27 August, 2012When I was 10 years old, I remember Father taking me to a church meeting. A Mr. Villa Nueva was there. He was ...
15 December, 2010I thank God that at a young age, from 1970 until 1983 I already began to know Judaism. We were very careful ab...
15 December, 2010We offer many fine gifts, unique prayer books, and free educational resources – available globally, in a range of languages.