The Oldest Synagogue

This Synagogue was beautiful in its simplicity. It is the oldest in the Western Hemisphere.

Dating back to 1728, the Mikvé Israel-Emanuel Synagogue is the oldest Jewish temple in continuous use in the New World. Commonly called the Snoa (short for the old Portuguese word for synagogue, esnoga), the temple was founded by Jews from the Netherlands and Brazil who were displaced during the Spanish Inquisition. Tourists may visit the adjoining Jewish Historical Cultural Museum, which houses a Torah scroll brought to Curaçao by the island's first Jewish settlers, along with other artifacts and Judaica.

Many recent travelers were in awe of story that the Mikvé Israel-Emanuel Synagogue has to tell, as well as its role in the history of Judaism. The temple's sand-covered floors symbolize both the 40 years that biblical Jews spent wandering the desert, as well as the sandy floors used by secret Jews in Spain to muffle the sounds of their illegal worship during the Inquisition.
I felt the sand covered floor was a powerful connection to its past.