Colonia Carmel Cemetery.
It was built on a piece of land donated by Felipe Jaimovich, a settler. The first graves go back to 1898, evidencing the year in which the cemetery was created. Behind a simple door with iron bars and forged Stars of David, there is neat green piece of land where the Jews from Carmel and other neighboring areas rest in peace. The graves are oriented east towards Jerusalem. In the past, men were placed on the right hand side and women on the left. Kids and suicides were buried according to a special distribution. One of the important gravestones is Moisés Jaimovich’s, placed on the right of the cemetery, where pioneers were buried. He passed away on January 25, 1931, at the age of 88.
Colonia Carmel Synagogue.
Until the temple was built in 1900, any religious meeting was held in the settlers’ houses. But a few years later, in the best times of the colony, over a hundred families would gather in the synagogue, also attended by inhabitants of Jurado and Rajil. They used to come by foot, as they could not ride their horses on Shabat. It was a two room building with a big room for men and a small one for women.
The temple closed in the 50’s, after the settler’s massive migration. It was restored in 2000 but only one room - the main one- which was used by men, remained. If you face the entrance door, you may see on the left side wall the windows connecting it to the room where women would pray.
The synagogue, made of bricks fixed with mud and painted totally in white, has a ridge zinc roof and a restored wooden door.