Artwork from the Art Gallery of the Jewish Community of Oporto, exhibited at the Rosh Pinah Library. Credit: CIP/CJP
The Centre for Research in the History of the Jewish community in Oporto was created in 2014. Its objective was, and is, to this day, to study and reconstruct the life of the Jews from their arrival in Sepharad to the present day, wherever they are, in order to produce private studies, publish books and create videos, films, paintings and music, which can, as a whole, give a broad vision of events.
The Jewish Museum of Oporto. Credit: CIP/CJP
Made up of the most cultivated elements and scholars of the Jewish community of, historians, museologists and various personalities from Portugal and abroad, the Centre is responsible for dedicating itself to the available historical sources, publications and historical records in the archives of the Kadoorie Mekor Haim synagogue and in public, private and university libraries, in addition to the collection of credible testimonies in the light of knowledge of the facts and rules of kinesia and paralanguage.
Performance by the Mekor Haim Choir at the Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue. Credit: CIP/CJP
The general public relates Jewish communities to synagogue life, forgetting that it is their duty, especially outside Israel, to promote Jewish culture and history. These duties result from the nature of the institutions that take the name of "Jewish communities", but also from Jewish philosophy.
The European Day of Jewish Culture, which is celebrated annually, has had the participation of the Jewish community in Oporto. The event mixes arts as diverse as Jewish cinema, painting, music, literature, videography and gastronomy, opening new horizons for culture lovers. Nowhere in Europe does a Jewish organization provide the public with such a complete event.
Exhibition of paintings during the European Day of Jewish Culture. Credit: CIP/CJP
Visitors can visit the largest synagogue in the country, as well as the Jewish museum, an art gallery, two movie theaters that show documentaries about the history of Portuguese Jews (produced by the community itself), and the Rosh Pinah library, a space for the preservation of memory, the promotion of history, education and intercultural dialogue that brings together tens of thousands of publications, in 13 different languages.
