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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Portuguese Jews of Israel

The Portuguese Jews of Israel, numbering approximately 2,700 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a repatriated diaspora community of Portuguese-speaking Jews in Israel . They are an Diaspora people, in the Jews people cluster of the Jews affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Judaism. They primarily speak Portuguese.

Surinamese Jews in Suriname photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Copyrighted ©️ 2025 Cabeca de Marmore - Shutterstock Used with permission

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: North Africa and Middle East Peoples
Country: Israel
People Cluster: Jews
Primary Language(s): Portuguese (por)
Primary Religion(s): Judaism
Population: 2,700
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011758

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Pray for the Portuguese Jews of Israel

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Judaism
Religious Affiliation: Judaism

%
Judaism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Portuguese
Language Family: Indo-European

%
Portuguese Speakers

Media Resources in Portuguese:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Portuguese:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Portuguese bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Portuguese Jews

The Portuguese Jews are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Portuguese Jews

The Portuguese Jews are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Next steps for the Portuguese Jews

The Portuguese Jews are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Portuguese Jews of Israel

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
readEphesians 2:8-9

Pray that the lost among them will receive the gift of salvation by grace through faith, not by works, and be created for good works.

For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
readPsalm 57:10

Pray that God will work, even in the hearts of hard-to-reach people, and that they will rejoice in His steadfast love and faithfulness.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
readPhilippians 2:5-7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will imitate His humility in all they do.

There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.
readMark 7:15

Pray for Christians to take any opportunity to share the hope of Jesus with lost people here, praying they will be wise like Jesus as they share the truth about what can defile people and what can make them clean.

Jew, Portuguese reported in the following countries (ROP3):

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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