Mikvé Israel-Emanuel Curaçao, N.A.

THE EASTERN FAÇADE

One of the major changes to the exterior of the building occurred at the close of the 19th century.

Records show that there were several small buildings, probably with common walls, standing against or near the back (eastern) wall of the Synagogue. The school rooms (MEDRASIM) of the congregation were located in one of these back buildings, possibly in the one at a northeastern corner. We know that a carriage house was located in the middle, between the two rain water drain pillars, and that it apparently extended into the ground floor of the two-storied building to the left (the south). The AJUNTA, the room where the Consejo de la Sinagoga (ANCIANOS) and the Colegio de la Sinagoga DIRECTIVA or PARNASSIM) held their meetings, was located on the second floor of this small building. It was reached by a staircase from the inside of the building next to it, the one in the southeastern corner.

In a letter dated November 2, 1892, the CONSEJO writes to the COLEGIO that the roof of the AJUNTA had to be replaced immediately as the room was no longer usable. In the same letter, they also state that it has been the desire of the membership ever since the city walls had been demolished, to move the main entrance from an alley to a main street.

(The Joden Kerk Straat was an alley no more than 2 meters wide at that time and the Concessiestraat had replaced the city wall along the back of the Synagogue).The CONSEJO made several suggestions as to what could be done. These included the demolition of the small buildings in the back of the Synagogue and the construction of a boundary wall with a main portal in their stead; the improvement of the exit for the women, etc. The COLEGIO approved the proposal on December 12, and on February 7, 1893, appointed a Comision de Tres (Mordechay Capriles, Dr. Abraham Jesurun and Jacob Penso) to prepare the details. The Comision reported as follows on March 29:

-	To only demolish the Ajunta and build a portal in its stead would beautify the street but certainly not the Synagogue.
-	There would not be enough room to build staircases to the women’s galleries at the back of the building as the new courtyard would be too narrow.
-	Building a new CASA CONSISTORIAL across the street would create additional problems as the ground floor of the building was used as the coach house for the congregation’s hearse.
-	It would only make sense to build the portico on the east side if the sanctuary entrance could be moved; and this would not be allowed for religious reasons as the HEYCHAL could not be moved.”

The Comision suggested that:

-	The two small buildings located at the northeastern and southeastern corners of the Synagogue be demolished. There was already a wide, untiled patio alongside the northern wall of the Synagogue behind the corner building. This patio (apparently a garden with trees and shrub) was used for the CABANA (Succah). There was also a narrower patio alongside the southern wall where the gallery steps were located? Having demolished the southeastern corner building, the steps to the CÁMARA CONSISTORIAL (AJUNTA) would then have to be rebuilt in the wide patio on the north side.
-	Build a main portal at either corner of the new eastern boundary wall, the height of which was to be the same as the existing walls along the northern and southern patios.
-	Remodel the outside of the carriage house and its door so as to become an ornamental part of the back of the Synagogue building.
-	The only entrance – ‘til then the portal near the southwestern corner of the wall along the Kerk Straat, would then be permanently closed. The men would then use the northernmost and the women the southernmost entrances in the new, projected eastern wall.
-	Leave for a later date, the possibility of building a second staircase (from the northern patio) to the ladies’ galleries.

The Consejo de Ancianos approved the project, including the laying of the marble tile courtyard and the construction of the second staircase. Because of the high cost, a specially convoked General Assembly was required; it approved the changes on June 8, 1893 by a vote of 41 to 18.

Left: The walled city of Willemstad and its surroundings

Bottom: Details northeastern section with Snoa

On December 8, the DIRECTIVA appointed Isaac M. de Marchena, Morris Cardoze, Moses Maduro and Sol de Casseres to constitute the Comision de Fabrica. Demolition of the two small corner houses and the SALA CONSISTORIAL began immediately. On January 29, 1894, the Comision reported that the new Ajunta or Sala Consistorial, with its steps and anteroom, could not be rebuilt at the back of the building where it had been because the space available was too small and because the style of the building would not fit with that of the Synagogue.

The Comision presented two alternatives:

-	To construct a balcony along the exterior of the back wall leading into the two women’s galleries connected to the street by staircases at the corners. Further, to build the eastern boundary wall with the three portals as suggested, but only for the men to use.
-	To beautify the back of the Synagogue wall so that it would be similar to the front (western) facade.
-	To build an eastern wall similar in height to the northern and southern patio walls and to pave a courtyard all around the building.
-	To build the three portals in the eastern wall as planned - allowing one to walk around the building to the main courtyard in front of the sanctuary entrance.
-	And lastly, to build staircases to the women’s galleries at either side of the building.

It seems strange that mention is made here of “staircases at either side” as one must have already existed somewhere along the southern wall! Was there another staircase, other than the one we know today? Could there have been one at the back of the building as in Amsterdam? Although there is no positive proof of this, one can make certain assumptions. For example: The casement of the east corner window of the southern gallery is different from all the other windows along that gallery. Could there have been a door there to give the women access to the balcony from a narrow staircase at the back of the building? (Note the final remark in the CONSEJO’s letter of November 2, 1892!) Could the bottom of that staircase have been in the same south-eastern corner building as the stairs to the AJUNTA? Could the ground floor of that building have been just a covered entryway to provide access to both staircases (to the AJUNTA and to the gallery)? If the men entered the Synagogue complex through a door at the western end of the southern wall, did the women use the same portal or a different one?

The possibility of a staircase other than the one we have, now becomes even more probable when we consider the Board’s January 31, 1894 petition to the Governor of the Colony of Curaçao, requesting him “to return to the congregation a 75 centimeter strip of land running along the entire length of the southern boundary wall which, according to them, belonged to the congregation but had been used as part of the Kerk Straat sidewalk by the authorities”. (The Kerk Straat was apparently narrower up to the corner of our boundary wall). The Board motivated their petition by stating that this would not only enhance the changes they had planned, but would also allow them to build a main entrance at this corner. Unfortunately, no reply can be found in our archives, but the sidewalk is a straight line today!

The DIRECTIVA gave the Comision its approval on February 2, 1894 “to proceed as it saw fit”. It is obvious from the present situation that they chose the second alternative.

The Comision also received approval to carry out major repairs to the roof, including the construction of two (additional) rain gutters along the outer edges of the roof to avoid damage to the walls. This, in turn, resulted in the construction of the elaborate cornices at the tops of the side walls to contain and screen the open drains, and the addition of the downspouts concealed inside the newly expanded corner pillars.

Six months and three General Assemblies later, on August 30, 1894, the Comision de Fabrica turned in its final report, including a detailed breakdown of expenditures totaling fls. 8,541.93 - more than double the amount approved a year before! To make the back (eastern) wall look more like the front (the western) wall, they also made certain improvements:

One of these was to construct three, third-floor windows on the exterior of the back wall. They serve only as an outward decoration as they are blind on the inside. Their counterparts along the front wall, however, are regular windows. Another was the addition of three windows at balcony level, in between the center drain pillars of the back wall, directly above and behind the HEYCHAL. In this case, two of these three new windows are real; the one in the middle is blind on the inside.

It is also interesting to note that, in spite of their zeal to make the two façades of the building the same, they did leave certain inconsistencies. For example: The size and the form of the casements of the third floor front windows differ from their counterparts in the back. Those in the front have no fanlights, only blind arches. All the other windows of the Synagogue have fanlights! Also, the three newly constructed windows between the pillars in the back have only two windows as counterparts in the front of the building.

Another difference is the design of the cornices of the four pillars which conceal the water drains in the front and back of the building. The corners of the pillars in the front are rounded, whereas the ones in the back are square.

Across the lintel on the outside of the central portal on the Concessiestraat (now known as the Columbusstraat), the Comision attached a wooden plaque with the following verse from Deuteronomy 28:6 inscribed in brass Hebrew letters:

BARUCH ATA B’VO-ECHA (Blessed will you be when you come in) and on the inside, above the same portal, the second half of this verse, also on a wooden plaque with brass letters: UVARUCH ATA B’TZEYTECHA (and blessed will you be when you go out).

As to the new AJUNTA which had been the cause of the entire problem leading up to the 1894 renovations: the buildings across the street were renovated and did serve as a meeting room for the CONSEJOS until 1909. In that year a new, one-story AJUNTA and MEDRAS (school) building was erected within the Synagogue courtyard directly across from the sanctuary entrance. It stood on the same site as the present SALA CONSISTORIAL and multistoried office building which replaced it in1952 (RDLM).

Punda

The Building Begins | Construction of Our "Snoa"

The Dedication | The Galleries | The Western Façade

Other Synagoues