In 1900 a number of Roumanian Jews went to Brazil, but effected no permanent settlement. A list of the leading merchants of the various cities in Brazil, which was published by the Bureau of American Republics about 1901, discloses a large number of names unmistakably Jewish, most of them apparently of German origin (_Jewish Encyclopedia_, s. v. Brazil). The formation of a Jewish community in Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, was reported in January, 1905 (in the _South American Journal_ of London), and a report in the _Jewish Emigrant_ of St. Petersburg, the Russian organ of the I. C. A., five years later (1910, No. 20), tells of Jewish merchants in many large cities of Brazil, including Rio Grande, Pelatas, Sao Gabriel, etc., and of Porto Alegra, Rio Grande do Sul, where a community was then about to be organized. The existence of a synagogue in Para, “where they worship on the festivals,” was reported in 1910. (_Jewish Chronicle_, Oct. 21, 1910.) The chief interest of the Jewish world in the Jews of Brazil is, however, concentrated on the agricultural colony, Philippson, in the state of Rio Grande, where there are now settled about 400 Russian Jews, mostly from Bessarabia. It was founded by the I. C. A. about six years ago, and is now under the direction of M. Leibowitz, one of its former oldest employees in Argentine. The colony is in a flourishing condition, and it is being constantly enlarged, while new settlements are projected in the same part of the country. Here, too, like in Argentine, the colony attracts some Jewish immigration, and it was also the cause of the establishment of small Jewish settlements in the nearby towns of Pinhal, Santa Maria, Cruz Alta, etc. The number of Jews in Brazil is now estimated at 3,000. There are, according to the report mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, about 150 Jews in Montevido, the capital of Uruguay, South America, most of whom came there from Buenos Ayres. About half of them are from Russia, the remainder hail from Greece, France and Alsace, and Roumania. They are engaged in various occupations and their material condition is not bad. Ten young Russian Jews joined the army and three of them attained the rank of sergeant. There is hardly any religious activity, except for a “minyan” held on Yom Kippur. Matzoth for the Passover are brought from Buenos Ayres, and a “Mohel” is also usually brought from there when the occasion arises.