The Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue, Entrance

1732

Photograph of arched entrance to building with Hebrew over lintel.
Mikve Israel-Emanuel is a synagogue that served the Spanish Portuguese Jewish community in Curaçao (and continues to function today as a Reconstructionist congregation). It is the oldest surviving synagogue in the Americas, its first building having been acquired in the mid-seventeenth century. The Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue is known for its sand-covered floors. Although the origins of this feature are unclear, some traditions hold that the purpose was to muffle the worshipers’ footsteps so as not to draw undue attention from the outside. The synagogue is built in a Dutch-colonial style and painted in bright shades of yellow and cream. The inscription over the doorway alludes to the year 1730 and is from Genesis 9:27: “May God enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem.”

Credits

Dolly442 / Wikimedia, Curaçao_synagogue5.JPG. Image was color-corrected. Available to license under (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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