In the course of the 17th
century, a group of Portuguese Jews from Amsterdam settled in Naarden. Naarden
was a beloved place for rich Portuguese traders at that time. Initially the
Jews came together in a private house to practice their religion. In 1727 the
first synagogue, the Esnoga Magen David de Narda, was consecrated in the
Gansoordstraat. At first, the dead were buried around Amsterdam but after 1825
the Jews had their own cemetery inside the walls of Naarden. A Star of David on
the façade of the building at Kloosterstraat 78 still reminds one of this
graveyard.
In
the 19th century, the community of Portuguese Jews was in decline. It was in
this period that two letters were written about the Jewish Portuguese
synagogue. The first one is by M.C. de Leew and S.L. van Gelder and dated 19
August 1856. In this letter, the writers thank the owners of the Ring synagogue
in Naarden for the improvements and beautification that they made possible to
the Portuguese synagogue, and they noted that the ‘new’ place of worship will
be festively consecrated on the 31st of August. The second letter,
to J. Henriquez de Castro, is written by P. Verkerk Wz on 30 November 1856. This
document describes the current state of the restored synagogue. It also
includes the payment (?) to the building contractor E.J. Nijkerk and son. 
These
letters are true pearls, as documents concerning this synagogue are very rare
because of a monstrous act of pride. The Naarden synagogue was closed down in
1933 because of the decreasing number of religious practitioners. Furious at
the declining numbers, a man called S. Ph. Heilbron, burnt all the Naarden
synagogue’s archives. These two remaining letters, which give an interesting
insight in the history of the Naarden synagogue and the Dutch Jewish community,
are two of the few documents that survived this horrible deed. Click here for more information.
Benthe van Houtum
