Jewish Museum of Oporto

The Jewish Museum of Oporto was inaugurated in 2019 by the Jewish Community of Oporto (CIP/CJP) in partnership with B’nai B’rith International. At the inaugural speech, the president of this Jewish organisation, the oldest in the world, said: “This Jewish museum will mark the awakening of Jewish life in Portugal and serve as a beacon of light for the rest of Europe, a land now darkened by resurgent antisemitism”..
The Museum was disigned to help fight antisemitism. The Jewish Community of Oporto presented a video about the Jewish Museum of Oporto providing on film a comprehensive overview of the space.
The Museum is located on Rua de Guerra Junqueiro, opposite the synagogue. Once through the security gates, visitors will not be indifferent: the garden has a stone epigraph in memory of Chief Rabbi Isaac Aboab, the greatest religious authority of the 15th century, who when the Jews were expelled from Spain went to live in Oporto. Here he died and was interred by Abraham Zacuto, mathematician and astronomer. Ahead, a large display case contains a prison-carriage of the Inquisition, used in the film “1618", directed by Luís Ismael for the Community. Finally, at the entrance to the building is a message in Hebrew, which can be translated as follows: “Around the world, where a Jew encounters a Portuguese, he must help him; and where a Portuguese encounters a Jew, he must also help him.”
The first room has many important objects for the Jewish religion – the Torah scrolls, a replica of the Temple of Jerusalem, the volumes of the Talmud, the work "Mishné Torá" by Moisés Maimonides, a shofar and even a gold candelabrum. We are taken on a plurisecular voyage, which starts when Abraham’s forebears obeyed what are known as the Seven Laws of Noah, and continues with the story of his successors, the arrival in Egypt, the saga of the Hebrews arriving on Mount Sinai and the conquest of Canaan, the kingdom of David, the ten lost tribes, the destruction of the first Temple, the destruction of the second and the Jews’ departure into exile, which included the Iberian Peninsula. Here, for centuries the Jews lived side by side with the Romans, Germans, Muslims and Catholics.
Moving on from the first room, the voyage is accompanied by film shots of all ages, showing visitors the environment of the medieval Jewish community, the epigraph of Monchique Synagogue, the Edict of Expulsion decreed by King D. Manuel, the migration waves of the Portuguese Jews to all continents and three centuries of the Inquisition. A new section opens on the 19th century, particularly after the abolition of the Inquisition, when the first Jewish communities found shelter in Portugal – some were Sephardic: in Lisbon, Faro and Azores – others Ashkenazi: in Oporto, made up of Jews from Central and Eastern Europe. 
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly during the first half of this latter century, the Jewish community of Oporto was mainly Ashkenazi. Between 1927 and 1934, there was a brave attempt by the only Portuguese Jew in the community to attract the Marranos to Judaism. This project was a complete failure and did not produce a single official Jew but it was successful in that the Sephardic diaspora paid for the construction of the huge synagogue that today houses a Jewish community of some five hundred Jews, mainly Sephardim, who for centuries lived in Balkan, Arab or Muslim countries. That part of the museum covering the 21st century shows many religious and cultural activities, and letters received from prominent people such as Pope Francis, Prime Minister António Costa and the Director of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt. The last rooms of the Museum offer a splendid view over to the synagogue. One harbours a winery with Port wine, the mark of the city and of the Jewish community. The other displays the many awards won at film festivals for the films which the community produced in a unique project worldwide, with Oporto Diocese, which involves charity actions.
The Jewish Museum of Oporto is included in a strategy of the local Jewish community to fight antisemitism. This strategy includes school visits to Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue, films about the history of the Jews in Portugal; courses for secondary school teachers and others who are interested in themes relating to Judaism and the history of the Jews, and visits to the city’s Holocaust Museum. 
The president of the human rights organisation B'nai B'rith International declared that “Jewish and Holocaust museums are essential in a Europe where the Jews, Judaism and Israel are increasingly hated. In 2019, I myself opened the Jewish Museum in Oporto and met in Lisbon with Catarina Vaz Pinto to ensure that this city’s Jewish museum is not forgotten".
The National Director of the Anti-Defamation League underlined the need for the two museums to act in tandem to fight antisemitism: "The Holocaust Museum will convey an important lesson to all: 'Do not be silent in the face of evil!', while the Jewish Museum will tend to reduce conspiracy theories and evil stereotypes concerning the Jews"
In 2021, a protocol of partnership, friendship and cooperation was established between the Historical Society of Independence of Portugal and the Jewish Community of Oporto, with the aim of deepening knowledge of the history of Portugal and of both institutions. 
The protocol establishes an annual meeting, rotating between the Jewish Museum of Oporto and the Palace of Independence in Lisbon, to address a topic of public relevance and common interest. 