The Rhythms Of Recife

The Sinagoga Kahal Zur Israel, whose congregation dates to the mid-1600s, is incongruously housed on a modern shopping street. Hilary Larson

The Sinagoga Kahal Zur Israel, whose congregation dates to the mid-1600s, is incongruously housed on a modern shopping street. Hilary Larson

by Hilary Larson
Travel Writer

Northeastern Brazil sways to its own tropical rhythm. When wintry chill envelopes the Northern Hemisphere, even when frost touches the hills around Buenos Aires and Santiago, the gentle cities of Recife and Olinda shimmer in hot sunshine.

With year-round glorious weather, northeastern Brazil offers a near-perfect blend of culture and pleasure. This was the first area of Brazil to be settled by the Europeans in 1500, when Portuguese explorers landed at Porto Seguro, and its 400-year-old colonial cities are living museums of Baroque architecture. Wintertime festivals, such as Carnaval and the Feast of São João, exploit the sunny southern winter to offer spectacular live music, dancing in the streets and folkloric pageantry.

And no discussion of Brazil is complete without a mention of the beaches. The area around Recife is home to some of the world’s most spectacular stretches of sand, most notably at Porto de Galinhas, a picture-perfect resort town south of the city.

It can cost a small fortune just getting to Brazil, but once there, the U.S. dollar goes a lot farther than it does in the Caribbean. The northeastern region of Brazil — which comprises the cities of Salvador, Recife, Olinda and Fortaleza — is particularly inexpensive, despite its heavy tourism.
These are towns and cities that explode with color: intense reds, exuberant pinks, hot yellows, mesmerizing blues. Buildings, adorned with lacey white balconies, look like wedding cakes. A walk down any street in Olinda or Fortaleza can pack the aesthetic punch of a day at MoMA (Yves Klein would eat his heart out).

Recife itself, in the state of Pernambuco, is a city of islands and canals, connected by a series of bridges. Most tourists stay in the Boa Viagem area just south of downtown, which boasts picturesque, social beaches. (Bring a good sunscreen: Brazil has some of the world’s strongest sun, and it is easy to burn even late in the day.)

Recife Antigo, the oldest quarter, dates to Dutch colonial rule in the early 1600s. This historic district is midway through an ambitious restoration effort and an engaging place to stroll, especially the area around Rua da Bom Jesus, the bustling main drag.

Incongruously, this modern shopping street is also home to one of the Americas’ oldest synagogues, Sinagoga Kahal Zur Israel, a Sephardic congregation founded in the mid-1600s. European-Jewish immigrants built a successful community under Dutch rule, participating fully in the port city’s thriving import and export trade. Jews were expelled after the Portuguese regained control of the region in the 1650s, a group of them landing in Manhattan in 1654 and establishing the first Jewish community in North America. The Recife community was reborn following waves of Ashkenazic immigration during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

While only a few hundred Jews still live in Recife — most have departed for larger cities — Jewish tourism and interest are flourishing. Though the original building of Kahal Zur Israel was destroyed, the synagogue was restored a decade ago in accordance with a centuries-old floor plan, and ruins of the ancient mikveh are preserved for viewing.

The graceful building is tucked between storefronts on a pretty street in the historic center. It now houses a museum and employs a full-time rabbi, and is one of the city’s most popular tourist sites.
Recife’s annual Jewish festival, coming up in November, regularly draws a crowd of thousands. It is organized largely by the Centro Israelita on Rua Jose de Hollanda 798, a Jewish community center and congregation.

Across the bridge from Old Recife is the district of Santo Antonio, another commercial area with a lively, youthful street scene. Pink baroque churches entertain a steady stream of worshippers, while cafes are full with coffee drinkers at any time of day. Santo Antonio is a good place to experience forro, the traditional folk music of Pernambuco, whose accordion rhythms waft from many a bar by night.
It’s less than an hour by bus from Recife to the center of Olinda, which looks much as it probably did when the Portuguese built it in the 17th century. A small, lovely colonial outpost, Olinda is a UNESCO World Heritage site for its beautifully restored historic core.

As in Recife, faith is a tangible part of Olinda’s appeal. The northeast, after all, is where African candomble traditions mingle with Catholicism, and where Sephardic Jewry still thrives after centuries of mixed fortunes.

While Olinda has little in the way of Jewish tourism, its historic churches are undeniably works of art. And unlike the cathedrals of Europe, they are constantly full of locals both young and old; the rich spiritual culture of Brazil animates these sacred spaces in a way that is very organic.

Wear your most comfortable shoes and wander up and down the scenic hills, pausing to browse at the many cute boutiques and open-air markets. Olinda may not have a world-class museum, but is surely one of the loveliest towns on Earth. Ask a local to name his or her favorite beach; with so many to choose from, and such ridiculously low prices, you could easily justify staying a month.

Resources:
Centro Israelita: +55 81-3227-0418
Jewish Archive of Pernambuco (in Portuguese; English site non-functional at press time):
http://www.arquivojudaicope.org.br/

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