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FILE - March 23, 2002 the leader of the Nation of Islam attended Sabbath services at the country’s only Jewish synagogue,

Kingston - Abraham Cohen Henriques, a Jewish merchant from Amsterdam, arrived in Jamaica in 1670 on a mission to find the hidden treasure of Christopher Columbus.

Acting on a tip handed down to him by a forcibly converted Jew, he scoured the thick vegetation of the island’s interior searching for the great explorer’s secret stash.

By most accounts Henriques turned up empty handed, but he liked the place Columbus dubbed the “fairest isle” so much that he kept coming back.

More than three centuries later, the Henriqueses are still here.

Ainsley Henriques, the leader of Jamaica’s tiny Jewish community and a distant relative of Abraham the treasure seeker, is now on his own mission here: Instead of looking for a treasure, he is its guardian.

For the past 30 years Henriques, who is in his 70s, has worked tirelessly to preserve the rich history and traditions of Jamaica’s unique Jewish community.

“I restructured the congregation, established an office, employed staff and persuaded the community to open a museum,” Henriques tells JTA. “We have hundreds of school children coming in to the synagogue every week to learn about the community.”

Read the full story at JTA 

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