| Mikvé Israel-Emanuel | |
|---|---|
Hebrew:בית הכנסת מקווה ישראל-עמנואל | |
 The westernfaçade of the synagogue in 2008 | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Reconstructionist Judaism |
| Rite | Nusach Sefard |
| Ecclesiastical or organisational status | Synagogue |
| Status | Active |
| Location | |
| Location | Hanchi di Snoa 29, Punda,Willemstad |
| Country | Curaçao |
  Location of the synagogue inCuraçao | |
| Coordinates | 12°6′18″N68°55′57″W / 12.10500°N 68.93250°W /12.10500; -68.93250 |
| Architecture | |
| Type | Synagogue architecture |
| Established | 1651(as a congregation) |
| Completed | 1732 |
| Materials | Brick |
| Website | |
| snoa | |
TheMikvé Israel-Emanuel Synagogue (Hebrew:בית הכנסת מקווה ישראל-עמנואל,lit. 'Hope of Israel-Emanuel Synagogue'), is aReconstructionistJewish congregation andsynagogue, located at Hanchi di Snoa 29, Punda, in the city ofWillemstad,Curaçao, aconstituent country of theKingdom of the Netherlands in southernCaribbean Sea. The congregation was established in 1651 and the synagogue was completed in 1732, making it theoldest surviving synagogue in the Americas.
Commonly known as theSnoa (short foresnoga, an old Portuguese andJudaeo-Spanish word for synagogue), it is a major tourist attraction in Curaçao, and was visited by QueenBeatrix of the Netherlands and her family in 1992.[1]
The congregation,Mikvé Israel, dates from the 1650s and consisted ofSpanish and Portuguese Jews from the Netherlands and Brazil. In the nineteenth century there was a breakawayReform community (Emanu El); the two merged to form the present community in 1964. The community is now affiliated with Reconstructionist Judaism.
The first synagogue building was purchased in 1674; the current building dates from 1730.[2] One visitor to the synagogue observed, upon entering through a quiet courtyard, viewing the azure stained glass windows and walking across a sand covered floor toward the carved mahoganyTorah ark that the sand floors remind congregants "of how its Jewish ancestors on the Iberian peninsula covered the floors of their makeshift prayer houses so that their footsteps would be muffled and the suspicion of potential denouncers would not be aroused."[3]
With its three high vaulted ceilings, the ark and the pulpit, the galleries, the benches and the chandeliers,[4] the interior of the synagogue bears a marked resemblance to thePortuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam. Attached to the synagogue is the Jewish Historical Cultural Museum, whose collection includes replicas of artistic tombstones from theBeit Chaim Bleinheim in Curaçao, the oldest Jewish cemetery still in use in the Western Hemisphere.[5]
The otherRoyal Dutch island in the Caribbean with a historical synagogue isSint Eustatius, where the ruins of theHonen Dalim synagogue of 1739 still stand on the Synagogepad ("Synagogue Path"). An even older synagogue existed atJodensavanne,Suriname,Beracha ve Shalom ("Blessings and Peace"), built between 1665 and 1671. Unlike the Curaçao synagogue, however, these other synagogues are no longer in use.
| Active | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Former |
| ||
