City overview
Curaçao is a Dutch Caribbean island 40 miles off the Venezuelan coast, where pastel-coloured colonial waterfronts, a UNESCO-listed capital and more than 35 named beaches sit inside a dry, cactus-studded landscape that stays warm and largely rainless all year. Willemstad is the centre of everything — the floating Queen Emma Bridge, the Handelskade merchant houses and the island's museums — while the western half of the island holds the cliff-backed coves, national parks and reef diving. Jewish life on Curaçao goes back to the 1650s and the community today numbers under 350. Orthodox life on the island runs through Shaarei Tsedek in the Mahaai district, an Ashkenazi congregation founded in 1959 and led since 2017 by Rabbi Refoel and Chani Silver as Chabad of Curaçao, which also supplies the island's only kosher food.
Mikvé Israel-Emanuel Synagogue & Jewish Cultural Historical Museum
Curacao
The oldest synagogue in continuous use in the Americas, dedicated in 1732 and known for its sand-covered floor, with an adjoining museum of ceremonial objects and documents spanning more than 350 years of Jewish life on the island.
Time needed
1 hour
Hours
Monday–Friday 9:00 AM–4:30 PM, Saturday–Sunday Closed
Tips
Last entry is 3:30 PM and a valid photo ID is required to enter. The museum entrance is next door at Hanchi di Snoa 27.
Phone
+5999 461-1067Website
https://snoa.comNeighborhood
Punda, Willemstad
Activity providers
Kosher map of Curacao
Pick a place on the map or search an address or hotel to see what is kosher around it.