Curaçao synagogue

We are a close-knit Sephardic community of descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, originally orthodox but since 1964 a member of liberal and progressive movements of Reconstructionist Judaism and the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ.) We are the United Netherlands-Portuguese Israelite Congregation Mikvé Israel-Emanuel. Slightly over half the membership trace back their Sephardic ancestry at least eight generations whereas the other half are mostly Ashkenazi Jews, who were admitted as members starting in the 1950’s. The community comes together for Friday Shabbat evening and Saturday morning services, community events and holidays. Our Mikvé Israel-Emanuel community dates back to 1651 when the first Jewish families came from Amsterdam in the Netherlands and settled in Curaçao on land assigned to them by the Dutch West India Company to be used exclusively for agricultural purposes. Several generations before, they had left Spain and Portugal to escape the Inquisition and settled in the Dutch republic. Rabbi Hirsch arrived at Curaçao in 2023 for a rabbinical replacement and since February 2024, he lives in Curaçao with his wife, and is our permanent Rabbi. Erich Menig has been our organist since 1997 but he has been playing the organ in religious services since he was a teenager. He was only fourteen when the pastor of the Maranatha EBG church, of which his family was – and still are – active and observant members, asked him to play the organ once a week in special Saturday evening services. Since then, Erich has played organs in numerous Protestant, Methodist and Roman Catholic churches as well as with youth groups of the Anglican church. Erich played the organ while Rabbis Feintuch, Blackman, Zelermeyer, Tayvah, and Hazzanim Swerling, Marx, and Tracht – and not to be forgotten a variety of lay leaders – conducted services and he continues to do so today. His recollections of accompanying each are by and of themselves exciting, and if you meet Erich, do ask him about his long-time experience with music in the Snoa and with each religious leader. Erich believes that as organist you must have the ability to become part of the atmosphere and religious beliefs for which you provide the musical accompaniment. And when he was first asked to be a backup for and later take over after the death of organist De Castro, Erich says he was ‘illiterate about Judaism.’ In fact, when he was handed the music of the Kol Nidre service just one week before his first High Holy Days, he had never heard of it nor had he ever attended a Yom Kippur service. He did not let that remain so. He has followed correspondence courses in Judaism and reading Hebrew. He has attended Hebrew lessons with our rabbis. And he has been eager to learn about our music especially from Rabbis Tayvah and Hazzanim Swerling and Tracht. He enthusiastically guided and assisted our Congregation to reintroduce the music of the centuries-old organ after its renovation in 2002 and he has loved participating on the organ during Snoa concerts with such musical luminaries as Cantor Alberto Mizrahi, Harold Martina, Tania Kross and others. René David Levy Maduro z.l. who passed away on December 1st 2024, was a longstanding member of Congregation Mikvé Israel-Emanuel. He was a Community Board Member for over 40 years, serving as President and Chairman, and a Member of the Council of Elders (Ancianos) until his passing. We give a special mention to René in recognition of his love and devotion to our Synagogue and its traditions. He was passionate about the Mikvé Israel Emanuel Synagogue (the Snoa) and its history. He toiled tirelessly during his lifetime to educate generations and pass on the history and Sephardic religious traditions of his Jewish congregation, both locally and throughout the Dutch Caribbean and beyond. Would you like to become a member of our congregation, or would you just like to know more about the rules, regulations, and customs at our synagogue?