Jewish Sanctuary in the Atlantic World: A Social and Architectural History

Appendix: Survey of Atlantic World Synagogues

Appendix Survey of Atlantic World Synagogues Portuguese Synagogue (I) | Amsterdam, Netherlands Built 1636–1639 Years Extant 1636–1931 The front elevation of the Portuguese Synagogue (I), of the Talmud Torah congregation in Amsterdam, built 1636–39. Engraving by Romeyn de Hooghe. William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection, Special Collections, College of Charleston Library. 220 Appendix Interior of the Portuguese Synagogue (I), of the Talmud Torah congregation, Amsterdam built c. 1636–39. Engraving by Johannes Veenhuysen, c. 1662. William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection, Special Collections, College of Charleston Library. The synagogue was the first purpose-built in Amsterdam and had some features that were reminiscent of the schuilkerken that were common across the Lowlands during this period. The preceding synagogues of congregations Beth Israel, Beth Jacob, and Neve Shalom in Amsterdam had also been schuilkerken. The Portuguese Synagogue (I) construction was initiated by the Beth Israel congregation for its own use; however, with the merger that took place with Beth Jacob and Neve Shalom congregations between 1636 and 1639, a larger edifice than originally intended was completed to accommodate the additional congregants. After 1639 the schuilkerken that Beth Israel , Beth Jacob, and Neve Shalom had used were sold. The first synagogue of the merged Talmud Torah congregation was used until 1675, when it was replaced by a new and larger building. After 1675 the old synagogue was renovated on numerous occasions and used as an auxiliary synagogue, banquet room, and warehouse. In 1931 the building was demolished to make way for new construction.1 Based on the extant exterior illustrations of the synagogue the building was two-stories tall with a hipped roof. The front elevation was divided into Survey of Atlantic World Synagogues 221 seven bays with each bay separated by a Corinthian pilaster. The first and second stories were visually divided by a belt course decorated with garlands. The center bay had a small second story balcony with an elliptical window or fan above it. Throughout the exterior, Palladian ornamentation was used. A description of the interior survives from this period by Tobias van Domselaer in Bechrijvinge van Amsterdam, when he visited in 1665: below one enters a forecourt or large empty place where there is a Water Butt which is opened by a tap, with a towel beside it, for the Jews wash their hands before entering the Church; on each side there are stairs leading to their Church; The Women sit in the gallery above, separate from the Men unseen by them; at the one end is a great wooden box with two doors in which many precious objects are to be seen, among them the Books of Moses hung with costly embroidered mantles: their Teachers stand on a raised platform, above three foot above the rest: over their Hats the men wore a white shawl which hangs down over their shoulders and body, and each holds a Hebrew Book in his hands.2 Zur Israel | Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil Built 1640 Years Extant 1640–1900s In 1640 the congregation Zur Israel built the first synagogue in the Americas , which was a two-story building constructed of rock with a plaster exterior . After the fall of Recife to the Portuguese in 1654, Zur Israel Synagogue came into the possession of João Fernandes Vieira as a gift from the Portuguese authorities due to his assistance in retaking Brazil. Later the Vieira family donated the property to the congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in 1679, who used it for more than a century. In 1835 the former synagogue was used as an orphans’ school and then an asylum in 1862. At the turn of the twentieth century, the building was demolished to build a bank, which later became an electronics store. Arising in Brazil during the 1950s, there was renewed interest among historians in the former Dutch colonial history of the country as well as the Jewish presence that was once there. One of these historians of note was Arnold Witznitzer, president of the Brazilian Jewish Historical Institute, in Rio de Janeiro . Witznitzer published articles in the American Jewish Historical Society Journal as well as a book, The Jews in Colonial Brazil, in 1960. A Portuguese translation of Jews in Colonial Brazil was published in Sao Paulo six years later. In 1962 Professor Jose Antonio Gonsalves de Mello, an archaeologist at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFDP), made a startling rediscovery of Zur Israel’s...