Sephardi/Mizraḥi Jews make up roughly 40 percent of Venezuela’s Jewish population of about 15,400 and boast a long and important role in the history of the nation. As Jacob Carciente has described, Portuguese, Italian, and Dutch Sephardim were the three streams that initially shaped Venezuelan Jewish life. After a few short-lived settlements of Italian and Portuguese Jews before the eighteenth century, favorable economic conditions and nearby Dutch-controlled islands enticed many Dutch Sephardim to trade in Venezuelan ports. The country’s first synagogue existed in Tucacas fr…