Obj. ID: 30938
Jewish Architecture Sinagoga Israelita de Pinheiros Beth Jacob in São Paulo, Brazil
The following information was researched by Myriam Rosenblit Szwarbart.
The synagogue was founded on September 27, 1937, by the Polish and Romanian Jews from the Pinheiros district. From 1925 until this date they gathered for holidays in private houses.
Architecturally, this synagogue resembles other São Paulosynagogues of the same period - Brás, Cambuci and Peretz.
The main prayer hall is divided by the aisle. The chairs replaced the original wooden benches. The original benches have been preserved near the Torah Ark.
The Torah ark is decorated with two wooden lions flanking the Tablets of the Law.
Historical female galleries are on the upper floor, they are furnished with original chairs. The mechitza made it impossible to see praying women. At the moment, women pray at the back of the main prayer hall separated by the mechitza.
The entrance to the main prayer hall is directly through the ground floor, not through the side steps. The arched and double-leaf entrance door is made of wood. The rectangular or arched windows protrude the sides of the building. In the room that serves today rabbi's office, an arched window is decorated with Magen David. A side hallway leads to the large hall for Kiddush, located at the back of the synagogue.
In 1987, the David Iampolski Masonic Lodge reached agreement with the synagogue and took over the maintenance of the building. They refurbished the synagogue, replaced original benches in bad conditions (because of termites, a very common issue in the neighbourhood), installed air-conditioning, built a Kosher kitchen.
For a long time, the synagogue was active only on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Today, the synagogue holds the Shabbat prayers.
15 image(s)
