Historic Synagogue Draws Tourists to Brazil
Symbol of Jewish heritage has become a main stop on the tourist circuit
RECIFE - Flanked by bustling cafes in downtown Recife on Brazil’s northeastern coast is a little-known treasure of Jewish history in the New World — the oldest synagogue in the Americas.
Sephardic Jews built the two-story Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue before 1641 — most likely in 1636 — when they enjoyed religious freedom under the Dutch, who ruled part of the northeast region from 1630 to 1654 to control sugar production.
The Mikve Israel Congregation in Curacao, a Dutch Antilles island in the Caribbean, was considered by some to have been the first congregation in the Americas. But it was founded only in 1651, also by Sephardic Jews from Holland.
In the world’s largest Catholic nation, whose best known icon is the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, the Recife synagogue became an important symbol of the Jewish heritage in Brazil.
