Flanked by bustling cafes in downtown Recife on Brazil's northeastern coast is a little-known treasure of Jewish history in the New World — the oldest synagogue in the Americas. Sephardic Jews built the two-story Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue before 1641 — most likely in 1636 — when they enjoyed religious freedom under the Dutch, who ruled part of the northeast region from 1630 to 1654 to control sugar production.

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