The History of the Synagogue: Mikvé Israel-Emanuel (Mikvé Israel) Synagogue is located at Hanchi Snoa 29 in the main shopping area of downtown Willemstad, the capital of Curaçao. Dating to 1732, the synagogue is the oldest continuously functioning Jewish house of worship in the Western Hemisphere. It was established by Sephardic descendants of Amsterdam Jews who had fled the Inquisition, first in Spain and then in Portugal.

The first Jew to arrive in Curacao in 1634 was Samuel Cohen. He was an interpreter for Johan van Walbeeck aboard the Dutch fleet that defeated the Spanish and took over the island. Then, 17 years later, in 1651, 10 to 12 Jewish families from Amsterdam’s Sephardic Portuguese community, led by Joao d’Ylan, arrived as agricultural settlers. By 1654, they had established Congregation Mikvé Israel.

In 1659 a Torah scroll that was sent with them by the Amsterdam Jewish community. It is still used in the synagogue. The Jews from this period focused on trade between Northern Europe and South America. Several successive synagogues went up on the island, followed in 1703 by the first on the current site. The present 1732 building is modeled after the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, which dates from 1675.

In the mid-1700s there were about 1,500 Jews on the island. A very vibrant Sephardic Jewish Orthodox community. In 1731 they decided that the building that was here wasn’t enough for the growing population. So the building that is presently on Hanchi Snoa Street was commissioned and opened in 1732.

Except for a few changes, including a 1974 renovation, the building today is as it was 285 years ago. It is designed as a Sephardic synagogue - with the bimah in the center with the seats on either side. The azure stained-glass windows provide a beautiful blue glow. The dark wood of the bimah and the benches and the ark is mahogany, and most of it dates back to the beginning of the synagogue. The gleaming copper chandeliers all go back at least to the synagogue’s beginnings and the one closest to the ark is likely from the previous building. A ship with all the material needed for the synagogue came from Holland. The synagogue site also includes the small Jewish Historical Cultural Museum devoted to religious and cultural artifacts, among them a gleaming silver Chanukiah that has been lit each year for 300 years.

The floor of the building is covered in white sand. (Several Caribbean synagogues, including one on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands also have sand floors) Some say the sand is symbolic of the desert that the Jews traveled over when they fled with Moses from Egypt. Others say it is a reminder of the Inquisition, when Jews prohibited from practicing their religion would hold secret services in their basements, whose floors sand to muffle sound. Whatever the reason, it is a unique and beautiful experience praying with your feet in the fine sand.

One of the nicest parts is the Torah service, which goes back to it origin and is a combination of Portuguese and Hebrew. It still starts off with a blessing in Portuguese for the Royal House of Orange in the Netherlands, which basically allowed us to come here in 1651 and have religious freedom.

Under the clock, in a raised section, are the seats for the board—in those years, until the mid-19th century, the board was more than simply governance of the congregation. It could actually mediate not only issues between Jews that affected the congregation but also as judges in civil cases. Not only were they sitting higher, but they’re right at the windows, and when the windows are opened it’s the coolest part of the synagogue.

In the 1850s, the synagogue remained Orthodox, but the Reform movement that had started in Germany and moved elsewhere in Europe and to the United States was reaching the island. “Young people who studied in Holland and other places liked those ideas and came back and started demanding changes in the ritual, but the powerful rabbi and board were very Orthodox and said no to any modernization. So in 1863, there was a schism. Those younger members left and formed Temple Emanuel.

When the reform congregation at Temple Emanuel put in an organ Mikvé Israel, bowing to the musical pressure, the installed an organ as well. The present synagogue’s organ is still the original and one of the four or five oldest pipe organs made in Holland that are still in existence.

In the 1950s, with the congregation shrinking, they decided to amalgamate and in 1963—almost 100 years to the date of the schism they unified. Although the present shul remains a Sephardic synagogue about 30 percent of its members are Ashkenazi. These days, there are only about 325 Jews on the island.

The synagogue is open to visitors Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; admission is $10. Shabbat services, Fridays from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to noon, are open to worshipers, with proper dress requested. (Monday the shul is closed.)