On Fridays we don’t have class, which is really nice actually. This Friday with the group we went to what is called Recife Antigo (Old Recife). It is the downtown area of the city and is really neat because it is more old-fashioned in its architecture and design, stemming from the Portuguese influence. The buildings and churches were all similar to what we have been studying in class as far as Portugal's colonization here (Recife was one of the very first places that was settled in the 1500's). We visited a couple of different sites, including the very first Jewish Synagogue in all of the America’s. It was interesting to see some of the persecution that they had to face as a people, and how they were able to overcome it. One evidence of this persecution is found in the name of the street. The current name is Rua do Bom Jesus (Good Jesus Street), which was changed years ago from its former name Rua dos Judeus (Street of the Jews). The synagouge was interesting to see and tour, we all wore yamakas on our heads as well.
This I saw as a mixture of the two cultures, Portuguese and Brazilian. We can see the Portuguese architecture in the background, but the thousands of motorcycles that are seen on a daily basis on the streets is very Brazilian.
At the square in Recife Antigo with an old church behind me.
The Portuguese architectural influence is very evident in the buildings behind me in this picture.
Some more beautifully colored buildings in Recife antigo. This is the Rua do Bom Jesus.
The entrance into the Jewish synagogue that we visited.
Sporting my sweet hat. I felt like I was back at Beth-Emek preschool where Carson and Matthew were educated in the finer parts of the Jewish tradition as they learned to read and write. To this day Carson still refuses to eat bread if there is any yeast in it, he literally smashes his rolls at Sunday dinner to feel more at home.
At the front of the chapel in the synagogue. They had the men and the women sit on opposite sides as is custom in Judaism.
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