Familie

Then by 1703, thanks to a sizeable legacy from Abraham and Sara da Costa, a spacious house was bought by the PARNASSIM near the northeastern corner of the walled city. They had the house demolished and built a Synagogue in its stead, the predecessor to our present building on the same site. To raise the necessary funds for this new building, the PARNASSIM sold the honors of purchasing the four corner stones to the highest bidders, and had various members donate parts of the furnishings, equipment and decorations. Chacham Eliau Lopez consecrated the new Synagogue (referred to in the archives as the \93Old Synagogue\94) on SHAVUOT, 1703.

In 1659, with the arrival of the second group of Jewish settlers, cemetery Beth Haim was consecrated. The oldest tombstone dates from 1668, making it one of the first cemeteries in the New World. The cemetery contains 2500 graves; the tombstones of many of these have been adorned with beautiful sculpture representing biblical passages, often relating to the name of the deceased. The inscriptions on the stones are in Portuguese, Hebrew, Spanish, English, Dutch, French as well as one in Yiddish. Its antiquity, art and historical heritage makes the cemetery at Blenheim an extraordinary international monument.

Sadly, many of the graves have been lost to erosion caused by acid rain and sulfuric fumes from the nearby refinery. But some famous Jews are buried among the anonymous graves. Ribca Spinoza, half-sister of Baruch Spinoza, died on January 25, 1695. Jahacob Alvares Carrea, an assistant of Malag-born Eliau Lopez, the chief rabbi at Cura\E7ao in 1693, died on June 25, 1714. Many of the gravesites have both Jewish and non-Jewish symbols on them. Skulls and crossbones and hourglasses on the tombstones show the marks of Iberian Jews and more assimilated Jews who brought customs of the larger community to the Caribbean Jewish community.