History of the Jews in Puerto Rico Very few American Jews settled in Puerto Rico after it was ceded by Spain to the United States under the terms of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish–American War. The first large group of Jews to settle in Puerto Rico were refugees fleeing German–occupied Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. The second influx came in the 1950s, when thousands of Cuban Jews (most of Eastern-European descent) fled after Fidel Castro came to power. The majority immigrated to Miami, Florida, but a sizable portion chose to establish and integrate themselves on the neighboring island because of Puerto Rico's
History of the Jews in Puerto Rico Jews. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Aaron Cecil Snyder (1907–1959), born in Baltimore, Maryland as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. Snyder became the first Jew and the last non-Puerto Rican appointed to that court. In 1953, Governor Luis Muñoz Marín appointed him Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, the first appointment that a Puerto Rican governor made to the court, addressing the nomination to "A. Cecilio Snyder". Snyder actually used the name "Cecilio" when sworn in as Chief Justice. After his departure from the court, Snyder practiced law in San Juan