Portuguese Synagogue

They decided to build a monument of absolute permanence to prove to themselves and to the Dutch that they were here to stay.

And that monument is the Portuguese synagogue.

It was officially consecrated in 1675.

And just to put this building in context, the architectural statement of it is pure defiance.

Um, and so when I came to government, when we had a, uh, a position of power, we decided that symbolically it was important to revoke the edict of expulsion.

Uh, and I went to the Portuguese Synagogue of Amsterdam, that by the way, is one of the most beautiful religious, religious buildings in the world.

Um, it's called Portuguese Synagogue because there were many of the, uh, Jews that were there in that synagogue had their, uh, uh, origin in Portugal.

Spinoza, of course, is probably the most well-known.

And, um, um, I remember, um, depositing, uh, there, I mean, our, uh, decision, uh, and then, um, to This went on, um, these policies went on, and, uh, there was a decision, uh, in which my party was strongly involved.

And this was sort of confirmed for me with an opposite experience.

And that was going to the Portuguese synagogue called the Esnoga, the Portuguese synagogue that is in Amsterdam and that was built in 1675.

And it was built by a congregation of Portuguese Jews that fled Portugal for Amsterdam.

And the congregation itself was founded in 1639.

And then the clincher sort of happened for me.

I took out my phone because I was sitting on one of these benches.

And I just looked up, how old are the benches at the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam? And the answer that comes back is that they are original.

They were there when it was consecrated, when it was finished in 1675, and suddenly I am sitting there.