New Zealand Jewish Community in 2012

New Zealand Jewish Community in 2012

Comprising Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, and also

Palmerston North, Hamilton, and other regional centres of both the North & South Islands

The NZ Jewish community has been a vibrant one ever since its establishment in the mid-nineteenth century, concurrently with the early settlement by Britain. Its main centres have been, and still are, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, and to a lesser extent, Palmerston North and Hamilton. In the twentieth century, although by sheer numbers, Auckland was the largest centre of Jews in New Zealand, some may argue that Wellington and Christchurch had more vibrant, more active communities. The 1970s and especially '80s saw a mass exodus of Kiwi Jews from Auckland and Wellington, which continued into the '90s, and has levelled off since the Milennium. Some went to Israel, some to England, a good number to the USA, but the vast majority have resettled in Australia. This comprised Melbourne primarily, Sydney a close second, and other centres such as the Gold Coast, Western Australia and South Australia. It has been a major challenge for New Zealand Jewry to maintain vibrant congregations over the last thirty years because of this massive emigration, but as a result of the close communities of the main centres and some regional ones, of which the latter have also been supplemented by entries from Russia, South Africa and Europe, their communities, synogogues and temples have survived and even prospered.