Davening on a Caribbean island

Age, sand and a powerful 139-year-old pipe organ recently restored as a gift of the Netherlands government are what distinguish the Mikve-Israel Emanuel Synagogue, one of Curacao's historic treasures.

It was a short walk across a floating pedestrian bridge supported by 16 pontoon boats near where our cruise ship, the Crystal Harmony, docked.

Occupying almost an entire block in the heart of downtown Willemstad, capital of the Netherlands Antilles, the stately lemon-colored building is the western hemisphere's oldest continuously operated synagogue.

It was built in 1732 nearly 100 years after the first Jews, mostly Sephardics fleeing persecution in Europe, arrived. More than 2,000 of them ultimately found refuge on the western Caribbean island.

Today, they number less than 600 of the island's 160,000 residents, own about 100 of the 1,000-plus businesses registered with the Chamber of Commerce and hold no government posts, says Elise Krijt, a spokeswoman for the synagogue's board of directors.

However, in Willemstad, the Antilles commercial hub, a third of the merchants are Jewish.

"We read about anti-Semitic incidents elsewhere, but we haven't experienced any here," Krijt adds.

About 80 percent of Curacao residents are Catholic, but Protestant, Muslim, Baptist, Adventist, Jehovah's Witness, Mormon and Methodist houses of worship dot the island, serving the needs of 55 different cultures.

Early on, the synagogue earned a reputation as "The Mother of Jewish Congregations in the Americas" because its members helped initiate and finance Jewish congregations in many North and South American communities, including Newport, R.I., home of America's oldest Jewish temple, the Touro Synagogue, in 1763.

A $2 entry fee opens Mikve-Israel's doors to visitors, and on a sunny day many were lining up to see the 273-year-old landmark and its adjoining museum.

"Only a very small percentage of our $350,000 annual operating expense comes from the admissions," Krijt explains.

"We employ a full-time rabbi, who conducts services every Friday evening and Saturday morning and on the first and last day of Jewish festivals."

He is Boston-born Gerald Zelermyer, 65, a graduate of New York's Theological Seminary of America who retired two years ago after 20 years as spiritual leader of the Emanuel Synagogue in West Hartford, Conn. He and his U.S.-educated, Curacaoan-born wife of 20 years, Heske, moved to the island in 2002.

His 300-member Willemstad congregation is affiliated with the liberal fourth movement of Judaism, the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation and the World Union of Progressive Judaism.

Reconstructionists, according to their proponents, do not believe in the supernatural origin of the Torah but take seriously Jewish traditions and adapt to new circumstances.

Another island synagogue, the Orthodox Shaarel Tsedek, has 150 members.

A thick layer of sand, some of which is said to have come from Israel, covers Mikve-Israel's floor. It serves as symbolic reminders of the exodus of Jews from Egypt and their 40 years of desert wanderings and the 15th-century Inquisition in Spain and Portugal. To muffle the sound of their secret prayer services during the Inquisition period, European Jews often covered their creaking wooden floors with sand.

The building's plain interior - coral and white limestone walls, vaulted ceiling and mahogany pews and benches - contrasts sharply with its striking exterior faÝade with blue glass windows. A 346-year-old Torah is still in use.

Four brass, 24-stem chandeliers with Dutch Delft patterns tower amidst four pillars. The organ, perched on a loft, is played during services that are conducted in English and Hebrew.

The chandeliers are only lit during the sacred annual Yom Kippur Kol Nidre service and for weddings and other special occasions because they have to be dismantled, cleaned and replaced before use. And that can require nearly a half day's work.

Some Jewish customs differ from those in the United States - weddings in particular. Instead of crunching a wine glass with his foot, the groom tosses the glass into a wedding tray. A 300-year-old wedding tray is among the artifacts exhibited in the synagogue's museum.

A rectangular 12-square-foot mikvah, the traditional bath used to ensure female ritual purity, extends from a brick wall near the museum entrance. Neglected and seemingly abandoned, it had about a foot of cloudy rainwater.

Shaped like a drumstick and only 35 miles from the coast of Venezuela, Curacao is an autonomous part of the Netherlands ruled by a democratically elected parliament.

Dutch is the official language, but multiracial islanders also speak English, Spanish and Papiamentu, a Creole patois.

Citing the island's rich Jewish culture, ethnic diversity, beaches, tropical climate and picturesque waterfront shopping area, Mikve-Israel Emanuel's board of directors encourages Jews from other countries to schedule weddings, bar mitzvahs and other familial gatherings in the historic temple.

Since it began offering its facilities to non-Curacao residents two years ago, there've been about 10 bar/bat mitzvahs and four weddings.

There's an $1,800 basic fee for use of Mikve-Israel's facilities but the cost may vary.

E-mail Rabbi@snoa.com.

Si Liberman of Palm Beach, Fla., is the retired editor of the Asbury Park (N.J.) Sunday Press in New Jersey.

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