Rebecca Shapiro<p>The oldest continuously open <a href="https://c18.masto.host/tags/synagogue" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>synagogue</span></a> in the western hemisphere is Nidhe Israel in <a href="https://c18.masto.host/tags/Bridgetown" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bridgetown</span></a>, <a href="https://c18.masto.host/tags/Barbados" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Barbados</span></a>. Started by Jews expelled from Spain, Holland, and Brazil they were allowed into <a href="https://c18.masto.host/tags/Barbados" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Barbados</span></a> in the early <a href="https://c18.masto.host/tags/seventeenthcentury" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>seventeenthcentury</span></a>. For a short time there was a second <a href="https://c18.masto.host/tags/synagogue" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>synagogue</span></a> in Little Bristol, now known as <a href="https://c18.masto.host/tags/Speightstown" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Speightstown</span></a>. Many Barbadians don't know about the synagogue, even its status as a museum.</p>