The Kahal Zur Israel synagogue was founded in the first half of the 17th century. The Israeli community on Rua do Bom Jesus is recognised as the oldest synagogue in the Americas.

The remains that prove the existence of this place of worship were found during archaeological excavations between 1999 and 2000 and are now on display in the space that functions as a museum and Jewish cultural centre.

The Kahal Zur Israel synagogue (Congregation Rock of Israel) was the first synagogue in the Americas and operated in Pernambuco during the period of Dutch rule (1630-1657).

The Israeli community has been part of Pernambuco’s life since colonial times, preserving its cultural and religious traditions.

More than a religion, Judaism is linked to the history of a people that became a nation three thousand years ago.

Currently, the Israelite Federation of Pernambuco (FIPE) estimates that there are around 1,500 Jews in the state – the vast majority of whom live in the capital and have little impact on the city’s daily life.

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Sinagoga Kahal Zur Israel em Recife

Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue

1. The history

A very different scenario from the 17th century, when the Jewish population of Recife was similar to that of today, but in a province with just over 10,000 inhabitants.

There are currently about 1,500 Jews in Pernambuco. To be Jewish, one must be the son of a Jewish mother or have converted to Judaism.

The first migration of Jews to Recife took place in the 17th century and brought people from the Iberian Peninsula. “They were fleeing from the religious inquisition.

In Portugal there was a mass conversion of Jews to Christianity for this reason. They were called new Christians,” he explains.

Christian converts and those fleeing conversion came to Recife and practised Jewish rites and customs at home to avoid being accused of heresy.

Conversion and hidden practices were not an option; crypto-Jews – as those who practised their faith in secret came to be known – were certain to die at the stake in a public square if they came into conflict with the Inquisition.

Conversion: The conversion process could take up to two years, during which time Jewish history and culture were studied, as well as a little Hebrew. At the end of this period, the person attends a Beit Din (a kind of rabbinical court) made up of three members who judge whether the person is fit to join Judaism.

Jewish historian Odmar Braga points out that even before the first great migration in the 17th century, “new Hispano-Portuguese Christians” were arriving on Pernambuco soil.

“Between 1580 and 1595 there were two synagogues. One in Alto da Ribeira and the other in the Camaragibe mill, owned by the same family,” he explains.

In the 17th century, however, the Dutch invasions changed this scenario, albeit temporarily. “Holland was a Calvinist country that defended different religious colours. This made it possible for Judaism to be practised freely in Recife between 1630 and 1654. The inquisitorial Portuguese left the scene and the tolerant Dutch came in,” says Tachlitsky.

Traditions: At eight days old, Jewish boys undergo circumcision, in which the foreskin is removed from the penis. At 13, these boys participate in the Bar Mitzvah, which marks their “religious majority”. Girls come of age at 12, at the Bat Mitzvah.

After the arrival of the Dutch and the resulting religious freedom, Braga says that the remnants of the Alto da Ribeira and Camaragibe synagogues, along with their children, circumcised themselves and founded the Manguén Abraham Synagogue. “Later, they were also responsible for the founding of the Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue,” he says.

Tânia Kaufman, researcher and founder of the Jewish Historical Archive of Pernambuco, says that under Dutch rule, this Jewish contingent of Iberian origin, called Sepharadites, did not have to hide their faith, unlike the new Christians who arrived in the city at the beginning of colonisation.

They already found a Jewish atmosphere in Recife. “They began to enjoy the protection of the government of João Maurício de Nassau and the privileges of the social and economic elite of the time,” he says.

Given this favourable scenario, Jewish immigration reached its peak. Odmar Braga recounts the arrival of Rabbi Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, whose Catholic name was Simão da Fonseca, who studied to become a rabbi after his family fled to Amsterdam.

Tânia Kaufman points to this event as a sign that Jews were beginning to put down roots in the city, to the point where the first rabbi in the Americas was possible.

“It was also at this time that the first synagogue in the Americas (Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue) was built in one of the mansions on Rua do Bom Jesus, then known as Rua dos Judeus,” says Kaufman. Construction of the synagogue began in 1638 and was completed in 1641.

The Dutch period, though productive for the Jews, was short-lived. Just over 20 years later, the Portuguese regained control of the colony, causing a mass migration to the interior of the state – especially to the Sertão, where it was easier to maintain Jewish customs.

There they would be out of reach of the Portuguese Inquisition, which occasionally made incursions with the aim of persecuting heretics and then taking them to Portugal to be tried by the Holy Inquisition.

“Given the large number of Jews living in Pernambuco and the limited physical space of the ships of the time, many were unable to leave the country and decided to remain in the Sertão and other places beyond the borders of Pernambuco.”

Read – The Jews Who Built Brazil – Unpublished Sources for a New Vision of History.

2. Architecture and Conservation

The original synagogue was abandoned after the Dutch left, and the buildings were used for other purposes over the centuries. However, archaeological excavations and historical research in the 1990s led to the discovery of the synagogue’s foundations and various Jewish artefacts, allowing the site to be rebuilt and part of its history to be restored.

Today, the Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue is a cultural centre and museum that preserves the memory of the Jewish community in Recife and Brazil. The modern reconstruction was based on the remains found, incorporating architectural elements that refer to the style of the time, but with a contemporary approach.

The interior of the museum houses a permanent exhibition that tells the story of the Jews in Recife, with documents, objects and records that illustrate the life of the Jewish community during the Dutch period. The synagogue also has a small room dedicated to religious practices, used on special occasions.

3. Cultural significance

The Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue is not only an important landmark of Jewish history in Brazil, but also a symbol of Recife’s religious and cultural diversity. It represents the city’s role as a meeting place for different cultures and religions during the colonial period.

The synagogue is also an important tourist and cultural site in the city, attracting visitors interested in Brazilian history, Jewish history and colonial architecture. Its preservation is an example of how Brazil values and celebrates its rich multicultural heritage.

The second Jewish migration to Brazil

At the end of the 19th century and in the first decades of the 20th century, Pernambuco was once again on the Jewish itinerary.

This time as a destination for those fleeing persecution in Europe, especially in the east of the continent.

Jáder Tachlitsky himself has stories of this migration in his family.

His grandparents came from Ukraine, fleeing the persecution encouraged by the Russian czars in the region. “Hitler didn’t create the persecution of the Jews, but he took it to a more extreme level, killing millions of people. Before that, Jews had been persecuted all over Europe,” Tachlitsky points out.

These Jews, known as Ashkenazim, arrived in the city with a different status to those who came during the first migration, who consolidated themselves as Recife’s elite. Both the great-grandfather and grandparents of the economist worked in the informal trade of the Pernambuco capital.

“They arrived in a difficult situation. They travelled through the more isolated neighbourhoods of the time, such as Beberibe and Casa Amarela, and sold goods on credit, in 10 to 15 instalments. That’s how they made a living,” he says.

He says that because of the history of persecution, Jews kept the habit of living close to each other, something that remained in the Boa Vista neighbourhood until the 1970s. “The neighbourhood was home to the synagogue, the Israelite Club and the Israelite College. There was a habit of having everything close by. Praça Maciel Pinheiro, for example, was a meeting place for the Jewish community,” he points out.

Sacred Recife Route

On the Sacred Recife Route, the 1st Synagogue located on Rua Martins Júnior, in the Boa Vista district, the Shil Sholem Ocnitzer or Israelite Synagogue of Recife was inaugurated on 20 July 1926. It no longer holds religious services.

Boa Vista: The neighbourhood in the centre of Recife was the centre of Jewish housing in Recife until the 70s. According to Tachlitsky, Praça Maciel Pinheiro was a kind of meeting place. The house of the writer Clarice Lispector, who was Jewish, is near the square.

As a result, the second community entered Brazil through the less privileged strata of society, as Tânia Kaufman explains.

“The first contacts were with people with less purchasing power through commercial relations. The Jews quickly succeeded and became merchants at fixed points in the Boa Vista neighbourhood,” he says.

They then settled in commercial buildings concentrated in Rua da Imperatriz Tereza Cristina and the surrounding area. This area was used for both commercial and residential purposes.

Tourist Guide to Recife, Pernambuco and the Northeast

Religious Tourism and Sacred Recife

Tourist Guide to the Northeast

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