Asociación Bet-El is a

Sephardi Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

Orthodox

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

in the city of

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

that is affiliated to the

Israelite Association of Venezuela The Israelite Association of Venezuela, (Spanish: ''Asociación Israelita de Venezuela''), known as Tiferet Israel, founded in the 1920s by Sephardic Jews, is the oldest surviving Jewish organization in Venezuela. An association of Sephardic Jews, ...

. The synagogue was built between 1969 and 1973, with donations from Brazilian banker

Edmond Safra Edmond J. Safra ( ar, ادموند يعقوب صفرا; 6 August 1932 – 3 December 1999) was a Lebanese-Brazilian banker who continued the family tradition of banking in Brazil and Switzerland. He was married to Lily Watkins from 1976 until ...

, and is located in the

neighborhood of San Bernardino. Currently, the community is made up mostly of Jews from

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

(

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Melilla Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was par ...

(Spain) and northern

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, especially from the cities of Tetouan and

Chefchaouen Chefchaouen ( ar, شفشاون, Shafshāwan, ), also known as Chaouen (), is a city in northwest Morocco. It is the chief town of the province of the same name and is noted for its buildings in shades of blue, for which it is nicknamed the "Blu ...

. The synagogue is located on Avenida Cajigal. It can accommodate about 300 people in the men's section, which is adorned with stained glass windows designed by the Israeli artist Yaacov Agam; in addition to this, the wall that contains the Heichal is a sculpture made by the Venezuelan artist

Harry Abend Harry Abend, OFM (5 May 193718 January 2021) was a Polish-born Venezuelan sculptor and architect. Abend immigrated to Venezuela in 1948 and embarked on his sculpture practice in 1958 under the guidance of Miguel Arroyo while also studying archi ...

and can accommodate about 100 people in the women's section upstairs. The synagogue also has a lounge in the basement, which is used for celebrations and bar and bat mitzvahs, wedding receptions, meals and the sheva Brachot ritual, which was inaugurated in 1988. On the top floor of the building, next to the area of prayers used by women, is a study room or Bet Midrash. Available in the synagogue are Torah with Rashi,

prayer books A prayer book is a book containing prayers and perhaps devotional readings, for private or communal use, or in some cases, outlining the liturgy of religious services. Books containing mainly orders of religious services, or readings for them are ...

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and phonetic translation and Spanish for those who do not completely dominate the Hebrew language. Currently, the rabbi of the synagogue is Isaac Sananes.

References

{{coord missing, Venezuela Synagogues completed in 1973 Buildings and structures in Caracas Moroccan diaspora Sephardi Jewish culture in Venezuela Sephardi synagogues Spanish diaspora in Venezuela Synagogues in Venezuela Syrian diaspora in South America Orthodox synagogues Orthodox Judaism in South America