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In a busy shopping street of Bangkok, where the temperature is above 80 degrees in December, you least expect a Hanukkah candle service. But that is what you find in Chabad House on Khao San Road, home to the Jewish Association of Thailand.

There about 30 Jewish men and women, some of them dressed formally with black suits and talit, recite the Hanukkah blessings, sing familiar Hanukkah songs and enjoy fresh jelly snouts. "Jewish life in Thailand is very much alive and well," says a community member and the association welcomes all Jewish visitors to the country, regardless of nationality or affiliation.

There are about 1,000 Jews in Thailand, including tourists and a few hundred resident families in a country where 95 percent of population are Buddhist. Most of them live in Bangkok while there are small Jewish communities with synagogues in Chiang Mai, Phuket, and Koh Samui. "About 70 percent of the Bangkok Jewish population are from the U.S. and Europe and the rest from Israel," said Rabbi Yosef Chaim Kantor, who has been the community rabbi since 1993.

Kantor came to live in Bangkok with his wife, Nechama Dina, as the first permanent rabbi in Bangkok.

"The Jewish community asked Chabad in New York to send a rabbi. My wife and I had always wanted to be Shlichim (Chabad emissaries dispatched by Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe) so we answered the call and came here with one way tickets intending to be here as long as we could help and build Jewish life in Thailand," Kantor said.

Asked if there were difficulties in children’s education, Kantor, a father of six, said, "We have a small Jewish school and send our kids abroad for higher education."

There are some difficulties for a small community such as Bangkok, but "The close knit feeling of all the different kinds of Jews practicing and celebrating together, makes up for the inconvenience of the smallness," Kantor said. "We have no plans to leave our posting Thailand in the near future. So long as there is work to be done for the Jewish community in Thailand, we intend to be here to serve them."

Jewish life in Thailand dates back to 1601, with the arrival of a few Baghdadi Jewish families. In the 19th century a few Eastern European Jewish families settled in Thailand, including the Rosenbergs who established one of the first modern hotels in Bangkok After World War I Russian Jews came to live in Thailand, such as Haim Gerson, who was successful businessman and served as the leader of the Jewish community. In the 1930s, about 120 German Jewish refugees settled in Thailand. During World War II, several Syrian and Lebanese Jews established textile businesses, including Isaac Djemal. During the 1950s, Jewish community included Jews from the U.S., Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran.

In 1964, the Jewish Association of Thailand (JAT) was formally established. During the 1960s, JAT established a religious school, a sisterhood, and regularly scheduled religious and social events. In the 1970s, a small Sephardic congregation, Even Chen, was established. In 1979, Elizabeth Rosenberg Zerner, the Thai-born daughter of the first Jewish family in Thailand, donated a parcel of land and a residence for the synagogue, which JAT named "Beth Elisheva" in honor of Elizabeth Zerner.

Today, there are three synagogues in Bangkok -- Ashkenazi and Sephardic synagogues and a Chabad House. There is kashruth under the supervision of Kantor and kosher foods are served in the restaurant and sold at the market on the first floor of the Chabad House.

Kinue Weinstein is a native Japanese speaker and contributes travel columns and recipes to The Jewish State. She currently resides in New Providence.