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UID:6260@columbiajewish.org
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250918T203000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250918T203000
DTSTAMP:20250826T134759Z
URL:https://www.columbiajewish.org/events/travel-with-us-jewish-barbados/
SUMMARY:TRAVEL WITH US -- Jewish Barbados
DESCRIPTION:\nwith Neal Rechtman\, via Zoom\nThe restored Nidhe Israel syna
 gogue in Bridgetown is the oldest in the Western hemisphere.&nbsp\; A cont
 ingent of 285 Sephardic Jews fleeing the Portuguese Inquisition in Brazil 
 arrived in Barbados in 1654 under the protection of Oliver Cromwell\, the 
 Protestant leader of England at the time.&nbsp\; Some of the wealthiest pe
 ople in the world at the time — sugar tycoons — are buried in the adja
 cent cemeteries\, along with Jewish pirates and the most traveled rabbi in
  history up until the invention of railroads\, a Sephardic Ha-Ham named Ra
 fael Hayyim Isaac Carigal. This community thrived for 200 years but then v
 anished in the 19th century when the sugar cane economy collapsed.&nbsp\; 
 In the 1930’s a group of Ashkenazi Jews fleeing the Nazi Inquisition arr
 ived (if it’s not one Inquisition\, it’s another)\, and their descenda
 nts are the core of our current community of 50 souls.\nNeal Rechtman is a
 n American writer and historian who has lived in Barbados since 2016. He i
 s the author of two novels\, numerous essays and short stories\, and has w
 ritten and lectured extensively about Louis Brandeis\, the twentieth centu
 ry US Supreme Court Justice. He holds a degree in Near Eastern and Judaic 
 Studies from Brandeis University\, and is a volunteer docent at the histor
 ic Nidhe Israel synagogue in Bridgetown. His most recent novel&nbsp\;The A
 shwander Rules&nbsp\;(2019) is about a secret Israeli Mossad operation in 
 Washington DC that works to save the Jewish Chief Justice from assassinati
 on at the hands of domestic terrorists. His current non-fiction is a short
  book&nbsp\;Fear of Dying\, which documents his wife’s relatively stress
 -free acceptance of a terminal diagnosis of Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.&nbs
 p\;Neal is an active member of the tiny 50-person Barbados Jewish Communit
 y\, giving him the distinction of being 2% of the entire Jewish population
  of the island. He is also an avid bridge player who competes internationa
 lly as a member of the Barbados National Bridge team.\nPlease register in 
 advance\n\n
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CATEGORIES:Featured Events
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