The Jewish migration to the Amazon followed the latex. In the 1870s and 1880s, as world demand for rubber surged and the Hevea brasiliensis tree grew only in the Amazon basin, Manaus became one of the richest cities in Brazil. Merchants were needed to handle the trade, and Moroccan Jews, who spoke Arabic, Haketia, Spanish and French and had centuries of experience in Mediterranean commerce, answered the call. Most came from Tangier, Tetouan, Fes and Rabat, fleeing poverty, epidemics and the shrinking spaces afforded to Jews under late-colonial Morocco. The first Amazonian Jewish settlers had actually arrived as early as 1810 to the broader region. By 1925 the community had grown large enough to establish Manaus's first synagogue, Beit Yaacov. Then came the founding of the Jewish Committee of Amazonas on June 15, 1929, formalizing what had been informal for decades.

A second synagogue, Rabi Meyr, opened in 1937. For a quarter century the community worshipped in two places, reflecting distinctions familiar to any diaspora: different towns of origin, different prayer customs, different family alliances. In January 1962, the two congregations merged into one large new temple. During the 1960s, a fresh wave of immigration brought Jewish businessmen from southern Brazil and other Latin American communities, swelling the ranks. The 20th century Jewish community of Manaus has never been large in absolute terms. A recent community census counted approximately 850 Jews within the metropolitan population of roughly 2.0 million. What it has been is durable. The rubber economy that drew the founders collapsed. The city went through boom, bust, and partial reinvention. The congregation stayed.

The most remarkable story connected to the community is not Jewish so much as cross-cultural. In 1908, under instructions from Rephael Ancaua, the Chief Rabbi of Morocco, Rabbi Shalom Imanuel Muyal traveled to the Amazon to check on the Moroccan Jewish families who had been emigrating since 1810. In 1910 he died of yellow fever, a common fate for foreigners in the tropical city, and was buried in the Manaus Catholic Cemetery, the Sao Joao Batista Cemetery, because no Jewish cemetery yet existed. What followed was unexpected. Local Catholic residents noticed the careful tending of the rabbi's grave and began praying there for miracles. Over the decades, Manauaras who received answered prayers left small plaques of thanks at the site. Rabbi Muyal came to be venerated by non-Jewish Brazilians as the Jewish Saint, a living example of the religious syncretism that shapes daily life in the Amazon, where Yemanja, Saint John and now a Moroccan rabbi all receive regular offerings from neighbors of other faiths.

The congregation observes Traditional Judaism, running Friday evening services at 6:30 pm and Saturday morning services at 9:00 am. High holidays including Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Pessach draw the full community. Less common in the diaspora, Manaus also celebrates Mimouna, the post-Passover festival of sweet pastries and open doors that Moroccan Jews brought with them, along with Hilulot, the commemorations of great North African rabbis and tzadikim. Alongside these, the community marks the modern Israeli calendar: Yom Ha'Atzmaut, Yom HaShoah, Yom Hazikaron, Yom Yerushalayim. In recent years the youth movement shifted from the historic Habonim Dror to the Revisionist Zionist movement Betar, a change noted as active since early 2025. For security reasons, visiting Jewish tourists who wish to attend services must give the community advance notice. This is a living Amazonian minority, small but continuous, whose roots reach across an ocean and up a river.