1654. The date etched into my American Jewish History pantheon as the year when 23 souls fled the Portuguese Inquisition retaking of Recife Brazil as the Dutch surrendered and ended up in New Amsterdam. I awaited our Jewish tour with baited breath to see where these Jews came from and was not disappointed by visiting the oldest first synagogue in the Americas. I learned that Recife earned its name from the rock hard coral reef that embraces the harbor. The synagogue's name is Zur Israel the Rock of Israel, a reference form our faith that God is always with us (cf Psalm 19:15 and the prelude to the Amida prayer). Rock hard perseverance of bnai anusim (conversos/New Christians) continues to inspire me three and a half centuries after its founding.
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