The Israeli Ambassador to Portugal, Oren Rozenblat, visited the synagogue in Tomar on July 1, 2026. Dating back to the mid-15th century, that synagogue is the only one from that era still completely intact and preserved in Portugal.
With a grandmother of Portuguese origin named Rappaport, Ambassador Rosenblat remains increasingly connected to the entire history of Portugal, which was magnificent during the time of the Jews. Times have changed greatly since then, and with the advent of communism in Portugal, the old and glorious Portuguese history has been transformed into a kind of national shame. A new political country is desired. The Hamas embassy itself has already been opened in Lisbon.
Built during the reign of King Afonso V, the synagogue in Tomar served not only as a place of worship but also as a school, courthouse, and community center. Its unique, proto-Renaissance architecture features four central columns and twelve corbels representing the twelve tribes of Israel. The synagogue was closed in December 1496 when King Manuel I issued the decree expelling Jews from Portugal.
Over the following centuries, the building was used as a prison, a Catholic hermitage (Ermida de S. Bartolomeu), and later as a warehouse. It was rescued in 1923 by Samuel Schwarz, a Polish Jewish engineer, who bought the structure and donated it to the Portuguese state.
If Schwarz had not bought the synagogue and donated it to the state on the condition that it honor the nature of the space, the building would be a communist headquarters in Tomar today, probably Stalinist, Maoist, moderate socialist, social democratic, animal rights party, or environmentalist party.
Today, the synagogue in Tomar operates as the Luso-Hebrew Museum of Abraham Zacuto, functioning as a vital historical connection to Portugal 's rich Jewish heritage prior to the Inquisition.
