Co-located with the Jewish Community Centre, they are the focus of Jewish life in New Zealand’s capitol city.

There are records of Jewish traders visiting New Zealand as early as 1829. The New Zealand Company, which had a number of Jewish shareholders, was set up in London, England to settle the colony of Wellington. The most famous of them was the Director Sir Isaac Goldsmid, Baronet. He was the first Jew to be given a knighthood.

Among the passengers on The New Zealand Company’s first four ships, which arrived near present day Wellington, were three Jews. From that time on, Jews continued to arrive. The first Jewish marriage in New Zealand was on June 1st, 1842. Most of these early settlers were traders and some became very prominent. New Zealand has had three Jewish prime ministers and the current PM, John Key, who has held office since 2008, is the son of a Jewish woman from Austria.

Wellington’s Jewish community gradually increased with the largest influx occurring as a result of Jews escaping the Holocaust during World War II. The City’s Jewish population was at its maximum, about 2500, then. In 1963 the Ministry of Works indicated that it would need the Synagogue’s property for the development of a motorway. The current property was acquired and the foundation stone of the Jewish Community Centre was laid in 1974. By 1977 the Wellington Jewish Community Centre was officially opened. It houses the Beth El Synagogue, mikveh, kindergarten, day school, the Wellington Jewish Social Club, Kosher Co-op, library and recreation areas.