RE: [Cz-L] A most extraordinary cemetery restoration story...

[Moderator's note: After this post, we'll end this thread and return
to our list topic, Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish History and
Genealogy. Moderator Bruce]

As Simon his rightly pointed out, the synagogues in the Netherlands
Antilles are historically linked to the Brazilian Jewish community,
where Jews living under Dutch rule were successfully producing sugar
in the period of Dutch rule in Pernambuco from 1624-1654, and were
able to continue doing the same in the Caribbean after leaving Brazil
after 1654.

The Mikve Israel synagogue in Willemstad, Curacao is the oldest
synagogue in continuous use in the Western Hemisphere, established in
1651, and the Nidhe Synagogue was established in 1654, and so can lay
a claim to being the second oldest synagogue in continuous use.

But the distinction of being the first synagogue in the Western
Hemisphere belongs to the Kahal Zur Israel synagogue of Recife,
Brazil, established in about 1636.

Although the general location of the synagogue was long believed to
be known, its precise location remained a mystery until 1999,
when the Pernambuco Israelite Federation and the Federal University
of Pernambuco organized an archeological exploration to find the it.
Researchers were able to discover the original floors, foundation,
and mikvah -- nearly 350 years after the synagogue had been
abandoned.

It is now a museum open to the public on Rua do Bom Jesus (Good Jesus
Street), also called Rua dos Judeus (Street of the Jews). It was
beautifully restored, with a new balcony, bima, and Holy Ark,
transparent panels over the original stonework, and explanatory
exhibit texts. It is definitely worth visiting.

I don't believe there is anyone in Pernambuco now who can trace a
genealogy back to the Jews of Recife (many of them went to New York,
but that is another story, while others went to the Caribbean, and
some back to the Netherlands) but there is a curious coincidence in
that some of the folk art of the interior of northeastern Brazil --
an inhospitable arid land -- incorporates a Star of David and a
figure that looks like a menorah. The Jewish community of Recife
today is mainly of Ashkenazic origin.

There is more information about this synagogue at
<http://www.bh.org.il/Communities/Synagogue/Recife.asp>
<http://www.israelforum.com/board/showthread.php?t=13357>
<http://www.archaeology.org/0203/newsbriefs/synagogue.html>
<http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/922773.html>
<http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinagoga_Kahal_Zur_Israel>l (in
Portuguese)

Dale Prince
(US Embassy)
Brasilia, Brazil

-snip-

> Jerome:
>
> Thanks very much for this story, it was fascinating and had particular
> significance for me.
>
> As you may know, I was born and grew up in Barbados. Starting in the
> 1650s, Sepharadi Jews fleeing the Inquisition in Brazil began settling
> in Barbados and brought with them the technological knowhow to develop
> the sugar cane industry. In any event, they built a synagogue, the Nidhe
> Israel, (the second oldest in the Western hemisphere after Curacao) and
> a cemetery. The community played an important role on the island for
> almost three hundred years and many of its members are buried in the
> cemetery. Eventually, it died out however, the result of immigration and
> assimilation. The last member of the community died in 1931 and since
> the late 1920s there has been a smaller Askenazi community that came
> from Europe.
>
> Now the connection with the Yurburg cemetery and the remarkable work of
> Rita Vaiva. In 1936 Eustace M. Shillstone, a non-Jewish, Barbados
> barrister and history buff, recognized there was a rich Sephardi history
> "buried" in the cemetery that needed to be preserved. He taught himself
> Hebrew and copied and translated all the epitaphs on all the tombstones
> (at least the ones he could see). Ultimately, his work was published in
> a monograph entitled "Monumental Inscriptions in the Jewish Synagogue at
> Bridgetown Barbados." Shillstone's efforts played an important role in
> the ultimate restoration of the synagogue (staring in the 1980s) and
> subsequently in the restoration of the cemetery itself (in the process
> of which many other tombstones were discovered further underground).
>
> Best regards,
>
> Simon
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This moderated discussion group is for information exchange on the subject of
Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish History and Genealogy. The Czernowitz-L list
 has an associated web site at http://czernowitz.ehpes.com that includes a
 searchable archive of all messages posted to this list. Please post in "Plain
 Text" if possible (help available at:
<http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/PlainText.html>).

To remove your address from this e-list follow the directions at
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/elist/lyris/leave.html

To receive assistance for this e-list send an e-mail message to:
owner-Czernowitz-L_at_list.cornell.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on 2008-03-19 01:11:25