The collection at the Jewish Museum of Porto highlights medieval history, religious artifacts, the Inquisition, and the founding of the modern local community. This history is highly characterized by extremes: a narrative of deep cultural roots followed by severe trauma, silence, and eventual redemption.
The most striking objects on display include a historic epigraph from a 14th-century synagogue, a Inquisition Carriage, famously used in the historical film 1618, Refugee Torah Scrolls presented to the city's synagogue by Jewish families who fled to Porto to escape Nazi-occupied Europe in the 1940s, Texts include centuries-old volumes of the Talmud, the Mishné Torá by Moisés Maimonides.
At the Jewish Museum of Oporto, a car tire is displayed as part of a highly specific exhibit regarding a modern campaign of intimidation against the local Jewish community. It relates to Ilan Cohen, a French Jewish university student living in Porto.
In 2022, Cohen and 43 other Jewish students sent a formal complaint to the Portuguese Parliament denouncing anti-Jewish hatred against the Jewish Community of Porto. Following this, Cohen stated his life was in danger after his car was tampered with in what appeared to be an orchestrated attempt to cause a fatal highway crash.
The damaged car tire is displayed as tangible evidence of this targeted attack on his life and the escalating hostility faced by members of the local Jewish community.
Tourists from around the world who visit the museum weekly are not only shocked by this story, but in most cases state that they want to be informed about the developments of the case, which cannot go unpunished.
