In the country´s northeast, this city of about 1.6 million preserves one of the earliest chapters of Jewish life in the Americas. The Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue, founded by Portuguese and Spanish Sephardim in 1636 when Recife was very briefly a Dutch colony, is often considered the first synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. Although the original community dispersed after the Portuguese reconquest and the snagogue eventually torn down in the early 20th century, the site has been rebuilt as a museum in Recife’s historic center, where colonial streets and colorful buildings evoke the era in which Jews were briefly able to practice openly. Although the city´s Jewish population is currently just a few hundred, there are also currently four other synagogues here, although some function more as community centers or heritage sites, with intermittent religious services. 

Read more in my post 5 of Latin America´s Top Jewish Destinations.

Ricardo André Frantz/Tetraktys