Hawaiian Islands (Formerly Sandwich)

Group of twelve islands in the North Pacific Ocean, eight of which are inhabited. They have a population of 154,000 (1902), of whom about 100 are Jews. As the territory of Hawaii the islands were annexed to the United States in 1898.

The first Jew who visited Hawaii was A. S. Grinbaum, who arrived in Honolulu in 1856; a few years later the firm of M. S. Grinbaum & Co. was established. It is still in existence, and is one of the largest wholesale houses in the territory. After the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani in 1893 a number of Jews settled there. In 1901 the first Hebrew congregation of Honolulu was formed, under the presidency of S. Ehrlich (vice-president, Elias Peck); it numbers forty members (1903). Four Jewish weddings have been solemnized under the Jewish ritual by visiting rabbis having special authorization. The cemetery was consecrated Aug. 24, 1902, by Rudolph I. Coffee and by S. Ehrlich, president of the cemetery association. A scroll of the Law, said to be of ancient origin, was owned by King Kalakaua; it is used in the services on holy days.

Bibliography:

  * Coffee, Jews and Judaism in the Hawaiian Islands, in The Menorah, xxxiii. 259;
  * American Hebrew, lxxi. 605.



A. R. I. C.