Jewish Heritage Trip to Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar Blog

Our first stop today was the University of Coimbra. This is the oldest university in Portugal and the fourth oldest in Europe. Originally, the site of a royal palace, the university was established in 1544. Its library was established in 1717 and first used in 1777. The Hebrew Bible of the famed Rabbi Isaac Abrabanel is housed here. As with many communities, there was a Jewish Quarter in Coimbra. We were told about the location of the medieval Mikvah, though it is not visible today.

We continued our tour to the town of Tomar. There, we davened Mincha in its medieval synagogue which has been restored. One can see the combination of original aspects with contemporary additions. The pews, reader's table, and holy Ark were all contemporary. The four stone pillars surrounding the reader's table were original and symbolize the four founding matriarchs - Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah. The Torah inside the Ark was donated by a Jewish group from San Francisco. A large shofar resting on top of the Ark was donated by a Jewish group from Massachusetts.

After the synagogue had been taken over by the Christian community after the Inquisition, Sam Schwartz, who had recognized the crypto-Jews in Belmonte, came to Tomar and purchased the site of the synagogue in 1923. He transformed the original synagogue back into being a specifically Jewish place. There are no longer any Jews living here. The site is a museum and used by visiting groups such as ours. We also viewed next door to the synagogue what was once a Mikvah in medieval times.

The rest of our stay will be in Lisbon which has a small active Jewish community. We will be there over Shabbat to the end of our tour.

Our group davening Mincha in the Tomar synagogue
 

Rabbi Morrison in front of the contemporary Aron Kodesh in the medieval Tomar synagogue

​​​​​​​Tomar Mikvah from the medieval period
 

The medieval authentic four pillars surrounding the contemporary reader's table