Regardless of what season it is where you live, it is summer in Recife, Brazil! The average temperature year-round in this city of palm trees and white sand beaches is 80 degrees Farenheit.

But for Jewish travelers, there is something that sets Recife apart from other tropical vacation spots and makes it a significant destination. Recife is the home of the first synagogue that was ever built in the New World.

Just 10 years ago in 2000, this first synagogue was excavated and rebuilt. Interestingly, the Kahal Zur Israel synagogue was discovered right in the middle of what is now one of the city’s busiest blocks, a current home to restaurants, shops, and nightclubs.

The Kahal Zur Israel, or Rock of Israel, flourished in the mid-1600′s when the Dutch briefly controlled this part of northeastern Brazil. At this time, it served a community of approximately 1,500 Jews.

Soon after the Portuguese regained control of the area, at which time Recife’s Jews made their way to Manhattan, where they founded New York City’s Jewish community. The original synagogue building survived until the early 20th century, when it was then torn down.

Once the excavation of the synagogue was completed in 2000, it was rebuilt in order to resemble the synagogues that were built by Jews from Spain and Portugal in the 17th and 18th centuries. The space is home to a museum, which opened in 2001.

While there are four functioning synagogues within Recife, many of the city’s Jewish residents select this space for weddings because of its significance as the site of the oldest synagogue in the Americas. Each year, Kahal Zur Israel also attracts about 20,000 visitors with its annual Jewish festival. The festival, which takes place every November, is a huge celebration with Jewish cinema, music, food, and dance.

At the time that Kahal Zur Israel was excavated, the total Jewish population in Brazil equaled around 170,000, making it just about one-tenth of the country’s total population of 170 million. Since 2000, the city of Recife has experienced a sort of Jewish renaissance.

Many of the city’s residents were prompted to probe into their families’ long-lost Jewish heritage. Whereas Brazil was once an overwhelmingly Catholic country, it has experienced a rapid spread of Evangelical Christianity in recent years as well.

While visiting Kahal Zur Israel in Recife, you’ll certainly have no lack of other sites to see and fun things to do. Recife is known as the “Venice of Brazil” because of its picturesque cityscape, waterside location, and because there are even some channels within the city. There are numerous places to shop, museums to stroll through, and hopping nightclubs to dance in all night long.

One of the most famous spots within Recife is Boa Viagem Beach. Its warm green waters and soft white sands are completely alluring. Boa Viagem Beach is also known as an urban beach because it is surrounded by the city — and a complete infrastructure of hotels, restaurants, shops, clubs, and other recreational services.

If you’re looking for a quieter beach, you’ll find those, too. In fact, the entire coastline of the State of Pernambuco, of which Recife is the capital, is dotted with beautiful, tropical beaches.

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