Jewish museum, Holocaust museum, central synagogue, cinemas, painting gallery. Free visits, education, paid transportation, sometimes even meals for how many young people aged 12 to 18 are poor and hungry.
The lessons to the young people have been provided by the director of the museums Michael Rothwell and the museologist Hugo Vaz. Topics as diverse as the history of the Jews in antiquity, the history of the Jews in Portugal, Judaism as a religion, the Jewish tradition as a culture, the Inquisition, the Holocaust, the modern state of Israel, and the benefits of "Jewish success" for each society.
This has been the work of the Jewish Community of Oporto over the years with schools in Portugal, including the islands, in the face of apathy and absence from the State. Not even the policing of spaces is ensured, as if it were the Community's duty to guarantee its protection and that of such a large number of schools.
The State appears to be unaware of the European Commission's own plan to promote Jewish life, Jewish culture, education, Holocaust education, combating antisemitism and protecting the most representative Jewish sites. However, the Community has continued its work in the belief that the new generations have much to teach adults.
Over the last decade, more than 300,000 students have visited Oporto's Jewish institutions and particularly the Holocaust museum, which for the worst reasons ends up being the biggest attraction. Students learn that the great tragedy was nothing more than the result of many small Holocausts that had been occurring for centuries in major cities throughout the known world, including Lisbon.
The school teachers, who always lovingly accompany their students, aim to instill in them respect for another culture and religion, in this case that of the Jewish people, mixed with a history of great value that for a long time was confused with that of Portugal. Jews are not immigrants in Portugal, since they already lived in the territory before the founding of the nationality. The large Jewish presence since the time of Dom Afonso Henriques resulted in great benefits for Portuguese society.
In the same line of teaching, the theme of "Jewish success" is taught, as a symbol of good and evil, a symbol of prosperity and persecution entangled in conspiracy theories involving millionaires, rabbis, anonymous letters and supposed obscure plans that ruling elites strive to take advantage of with great ferocity.
The Community has complained that, in Portugal, the European Commission's plan to promote Jewish life is a fantasy. As an example, the organisation mentions an event from two years ago, when the façade of the city's central synagogue was vandalized with "apartheid" inscriptions and no leader of a political party with parliamentary representation issued even the slightest condemnation.
It is within this political framework that thousands of young people visit the institutions of the Jewish Community of Oporto.