THE BUILDING BEGINS
 

During this same time, the colonial government was also studying the possibility of extending Willemstad’s city boundaries as it, too, had become too small for the population living there. This would require demolishing the already existing city wall (which was very much in disrepair), filling-in the sea and marsh land behind it, and then constructing new defense walls further to the east. 
 

The PARNASSIM approached Governor Juan Noah DuFay and requested that he sell them a strip of land measuring 20 feet by 20 feet in the corner between the city wall (to the east) and the Kuiperstraat (to the north). Governor DuFay inspected the site with Fortress and Buildings Inspector Jan Kock, and agreed to sell them the 400 sq. feet of ground for 800 Pesos, a considerable amount of money at that time! This amount, remitted to Governor DuFay per his signed receipt of June 30, 1730, was supposed to include the demolition of the wall at that point and its rebuilding later on after the Company had drained and filled in the water behind it. 
 

Ten of the twenty feet along the eastern part (probably near the HEYCHAL today), were transferred to the congregation; the remaining ten feet of frontage and twenty feet along the Kuiperstraat were to follow as soon as the congregation needed them to enlarge the community’s school located near the city wall. The additional footage was apparently never transferred to the congregation, nor did it ever receive the refund which was ordered by the Company directors to its new Governor, Juan Pedro van Collen, in reply to a letter from the PARNASSIM to the Company in November, 1732. Not only was Governor van Collen not a friend of the “Jewish Nation on Curaçao”, but it seems that Governor DuFay had forgotten to register the 800 Pesos in the Company’s ledgers. Requiring a “master builder” to take on the responsibility for an edifice of the magnitude they envisioned, the PARNASSIM charged Elias and Manuel Namias de Crasto Jr. of Amsterdam, with the task of finding a “master carpenter” for them. To ensure that he perform according to contract, the PARNASSIM also required that someone stand guarantor for him. The Namiases succeeded in finding Henderik Schielach and contracted him on July 26, 1730.
 

	Collage of period documents relating to the building of our Snoa.
-  July 26, 1730 Contract with Hendrick Schielach, master carpenter of Amsterdam -  July 7, 1730 Contract with Jacobus de Wit of Amsterdam to purchase and ship the building materials -  June 30, 1730 Receipt for the purchase of 400 square feet along the city wall of Willemstad

 
In the meantime, they had also purchased a large quantity of building materials from Jacobus de Wit of Amsterdam. The Schielach family, their dog and the building materials sailed for Curaçao on the “Vogel Phoenix” in September of 1730. 
 

AMSTERDAM - 1675	CURAÇAO - 1732 (?)	CURAÇAO - TODAY

 

Working under the supervision of Pieter Roggenburg, “chief of master carpenters”, Schielach set to work immediately upon his arrival to design a building modeled after their parent, the “Great Synagogue of Amsterdam”, better known as the ESNOGA. 

The 1703 Synagogue was demolished soon after SHAVUOT, 1730, and excavation began for the foundation of their new SNOA on the 15th of Sivan, 5490. This being reclaimed land, they soon struck water. The MAHAMAD convoked the councilors and members of the community to the building site and urged each of them to throw a stone into the foundation pit to make each member feel that he was personally taking part in the construction. Then, in the presence of the entire community, Chacham Raphael Jesurun declared that “This building rises forth in the name of God and for the glory of His Holy Name on condition that, if at some future date the gentlemen of the Mahamad or councilors so decide, they are at liberty to rebuild or sell the site once the building has been razed.”