The Portuguese Synagogue

Portuguese Jews before the building of the Esnoga

Three Sephardic congregations were founded in Amsterdam. The first, Beth Jacob, was established before 1610, possibly by around 1602. Neve Shalom was founded by Jews of Spanish origin between 1608 and 1612. In 1618 the third congregation was founded, Beth Israel. From 1622 onward, the boards of the three congregations cooperated in many areas. On April 3, 1639 the three congregations combined to form the congregation Talmud Torah, which later came to be known as the Portuguese Jewish Congregation.

Members continued to communicate in Portuguese, while Spanish was the language of culture and scholarship. Few of the newcomers knew Hebrew, so rabbinical approval was granted for services to be conducted in Portuguese. This made it easier for people to return to Judaism. Hebrew prayer books eventually replaced the Spanish translations.

The Portuguese Jewish Congregation kept in contact with fellow religionists in Lisbon, Bordeaux, Bayonne, Hamburg, London, and later also in Brazil –in many cases through relatives. The Amsterdam Jewish community set an example for those forming elsewhere, such as those who left Amsterdam – or Brazil – to settle in New Amsterdam, Suriname, St Eustatius, and Curaçao.

The Portuguese Jews were major players in the Netherlands’ cultural and economic development and loomed large in Jewish history. The congregation produced rabbis, scholars, theorists, artists, bankers, and founders and managers of leading international trading houses. Their luminaries included the celebrated philosopher Baruch Spinoza, who was excommunicated by the congregation in 1656. Historians dispute the reasons for his banishment, but the prevailing view is that his ideas conflicted with those of the rabbinate.

The Building of the Portuguese Synagogue

From the latter half of the seventeenth century, Jews were permitted to build synagogues that were visible as such from the street. The Jewish Quarter soon acquired two impressive temples: the Great Synagogue (1671) and the Portuguese Synagogue (1675), also known as the Esnoga. For diverse reasons – partly lack of space and partly a determination to stay in Amsterdam – the Portuguese Congregation decided to build its new temple here.

The land on which the present-day synagogue stands was purchased on 12 December 1670 and construction work started on 17 April 1671. The Esnoga was designed by Elias Bouman, who had also helped design the Great Synagogue of the Ashkenazim across the road. Elias Bouman later became the city’s chief architect. The temple’s austere, classicist style of architecture is similar to that of Protestant churches from this period. From the outset the colossal building dominated its surroundings, and so it does today. When finished, it was the largest synagogue in the world. The Esnoga faces a courtyard surrounded by low buildings that enclose the synagogue on three sides. This layout, as well as the shape of the building itself, recalls the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. Amsterdam possessed a wooden model made in 1642 by Rabbi Jacob Juda Leon Templo, a replica of which can be seen at the Bible Museum. The authentic courtyard or Safra was intended to serve as a walking area for adults and a safe play area for children.

 

There is no mezuzah at the entrance to the Synagogue. According to the Shulchan Aruch (Jore De'a, 286: 3) a synagogue without a dwelling does not require one. The temple’s interior follows the Iberian-Sephardi pattern: the benches are placed lengthwise and the pine plank floor is still strewn with fine sand – as was customary with wooden floors in the Netherlands – to absorb dust, moisture and dirt from shoes and to muffle the sound of walking.

1672

Inscribed above the main entrance, in gilded Hebrew letters, is 1672, the year in which the complex was to have been finished. In fact work was halted at the beginning of 1672, the “Year of Disaster,” until May 27, 1674. The text is taken from Psalm 5, verse 8: “In the abundance of Thy lovingkindness will I come into Thy house” (“Bishenat va'ani berob chasdecha abo beetécha lif'k”). In accordance with Jewish tradition, certain letters are marked to form a perat katan, signifying the year. In addition, the letters of the final few words contain the name Aboab, after Chacham Aboab, whose initiative it was to build the synagogue. The festive consecration of the Esnoga took place on August 2, 1675.

 

Annexes

Over the centuries the Esnoga’s annexes fulfilled diverse roles in the everyday and religious life of the Portuguese Jewish community. They are still furnished as far as possible in the original style, with the furniture and other heritage that the Congregation has preserved for centuries, and they are largely open to the public. These buildings once housed the congregation’s historical secretariat and archives, the boardroom, the seminary auditorium which was converted into a winter synagogue in 1959, the office of the Rabbinate, the areas for hand-washing and the ritual washing of the deceased (taharah), the candle room, and the Tabernacle (cabana/sukkah).

Most of these rooms have permanent exhibitions focusing on various historical and topical aspects of Jewish life from a Portuguese Jewish perspective. An audio guide provides visitors with more information about the rooms’ original uses. The complex also contains the mikvah/ritual bath, the kosher kitchens and the world’s oldest functioning Jewish library, Ets Haim. Some parts of the annexes are still used by the Portuguese Jewish Congregation.

The Portuguese Synagogue in World War II

At the beginning of the Occupation and the persecution of the Jews by Nazi Germany in 1940, the Dutch Jewish community numbered about 140,000, over half of whom lived in Amsterdam. Roughly 4,300 were Sephardim. Unlike the Ashkenazi synagogues, the Esnoga survived World War II. Thanks to the efforts of local people, the synagogue’s status as a historic building, and a great deal of luck, the Esnoga retained all its original  seventeenth-century features and collections. Its first use after the Liberation was on 9 May 1945, when Jewish survivors held a service there. After the war the Jewish community in the Netherlands numbered just 20,000, roughly 800 of whom were Sephardim.

Renewal: Back to its Origins

All elements of the Esnoga and the annexes that are monumental in nature were renovated and restored between 2011 and 2012, which involved the removal of all inappropriate additions and paneling.

The main building has undergone high-quality restoration of its façades, roofs, cast iron window frames, and sandstone decorations. Some restoration work was also conducted on the roof structure. The result is a seventeenth-century complex and courtyard that are open to the public. The Esnoga itself, its interior unchanged over the centuries, exudes the Zeitgeist of the seventeenth century. Intimidating in its vastness, serene in its peacefulness, magical in its function, and with a history that is both emotional and awe-inspiring, the synagogue leaves no visitor unmoved.