On a back street in downtown Yangon, nestling among Muslim-run stalls selling rope and paint for the city's fishing fleet, lies Myanmar's only synagogue. It's a testament to a Sephardic community that once numbered in the thousands and now - across the entire country - is down to no more than 20.
The Musmeah Yeshua synagogue dates from when British-ruled Rangoon, as the city was then known, was one of the most cosmopolitan commercial centres in Asia.
"The synagogue was started in the 1890s," says Sammy Samuels, 34, whose family has shouldered the responsibility of keeping the building and the community alive. "It has a beautiful interior and shows how rich the community once was. Every Friday the synagogue was filled for service. Now it's so sad that we don't have many people left."
More than 2,000 Jews once made their home in what was then Burma. Early in the last century, Rangoon had a Jewish mayor. The grandest of the city's colonial-era business blocks was built by Isaac Sofaer, a Baghdad-born trader.
The Sofaer family left Burma in the 1920s. The community was already in decline when the Second World War broke out and the country was occupied. "When the Japanese came, they thought Jews were spying for the British so we had a difficult time," Mr Samuels recounts. "Many Jews started leaving and moving to India. And again in 1962, when the government started nationalising businesses, many said there's no hope and left."
The Jewish school, which once had 200 pupils, closed decades ago. The community has had no rabbi since 1969. Mr Samuels jokes that he once came across a bigger group of Burmese Jews in Golders Green than now gather at Yangon's synagogue.
Myanmar's many years of isolation have had the incidental benefit of conserving the city's remarkable colonial architecture. The synagogue is firmly on the heritage trail - and Sammy's father, Moses, is there most days to welcome a steady stream of visitors to a graceful and well-kept place of worship.
On the notice board are photographs of a wedding in the shul last year - the first for more than 20 years. Mr Samuels was the groom. His bride was also from the community. "A rabbi from Israel came," Mr Samuels says, "and all the neighbourhood people came, because they had never seen a Jewish wedding. It was wonderful."
Mr Samuels has spent two years living in Israel. He now runs a travel firm, Myanmar Shalom, and divides his time between New York and Yangon.
He sees the recent gradual opening up of Myanmar as offering new hope for the community: "One good thing, the country is changing. We have many visitors and the ex-pat community is growing. With the tourists, the ex-pat community and the Israeli embassy, we have services - mostly in the high season for tourists.
"Sometimes, there's only two of us, my father and me. But we feel that we have a responsibility. If I don't go to a synagogue when I'm in New York, who cares? But here in Yangon, if me or my father don't go, who is going to open the synagogue? So I feel more responsibility being a Jew here in Yangon."
