ALFREDO LUIS VASCO, de devoted guardian of the synagogue of Tomar (Museum Abrão Zacuto), Portugal, has passed away

Baruch Dayan ha-Emet.

ALFREDO LUIS VASCO, de devoted guardian of the synagogue of Tomar (Museum Abrão Zacuto), Portugal, has passed away on November 5th. at the age of 75.

Many members of Saudades have met him, at least once, during the excursion to Portugal, organized by Rufina, which my wife had joined there.

When I first visited the synagogue, in 1948 or 1949, we found the building closed, and we had to look all over the town for the former guardian, who, by the way, was living the building.

It was an empty house, which had only the four columns and the Jewish stone inscriptions which the donor Samuel Schwarz, had gathered from several places in Portugal.

Luis, a descendant of anusim, started to take care of the synagogue when he retired from active work, almost 40 years ago.

He has built, by his own hands, a bimah, a aron where he kept two Torah covers, which were left in the Customs, during the war, from the belongings of Jewish refugees, that never reached Portugal…

He gathered books, other Jewish symbols, decorated the room, prepared leaflets in several languages, including Hebrew, all of which he spoke fluently,

He was instrumental in the recovery of the room next to the prayer room which all covered by earth and building waste. A mikve was uncovered there.

He was always there, with his wife, senhora Teresa, to receive the visitors and to describe and tell the tale of the synagogue, full of enthusiasm.

I understand that he was not very successful because young people don’t have the time…

Senhora Teresa is always available at least to open the place, but she will certainly need help.

I hope that the recently created Association of Friends of the Tomar Synagogue, na initiative of Samuel Schwarz’s grandson, João Schwarz, will find a solution.

We offer our deepest sympathy to the widow, and thank her for continuing the work of this great Jew.

«Que a sua alma ditosa goze da vida eterna»

Inacio Steinhardt
Journalist – Translator -Researcher

MEMBER OF:
Tel Aviv Journalists Association, Tel Aviv
Israel Translators Association, Tel Aviv
Sociedade Portuguesa de Tradutores
Society for the Study of the Jews of Sefarad and the Sefardi Diaspora, Jerusalem

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Synagogue of Tomar, Portugal 

The Synagogue of Tomar is the best preserved of the medieval synagogues of Portugal. It is located in the historic centre of the city of Tomar, and houses a small Jewish Museum.

The synagogue of Tomar was built in the mid-15th century by the thriving Jewish community of the town. From the outside, it does not look different from the other houses in the street. The current main entrance, facing North, did not exist in the Middle Ages. It was the gothic pointed arch facing East – the direction of Jerusalem – that used to be the main entrance to the temple.

Inside, the synagogue is a square-shaped hall with three short aisles divided by four pillars supporting Gothic vaulting. The capitals bear geometric and vegetal motifs. Excavations in a building beside the synagogue revealed the remnants of a mikveh (ritual bath for women).

With the expulsion and forced conversions of Portuguese Jews in 1496, the synagogue served as jail, church and later as storage house. In the 1930s, the old synagogue was bought by the Polish scholar Samuel Schwarz, who restored the building and donated it to the Portuguese government with the condition that it should be turned into a museum.

Since 1939 it functions as the small Jewish Museum Abraão Zacuto (Abraham Zacuto), with several mediaeval tomb slabs from the whole country. Among its best exhibits is a stone plate from the Lisbon synagogue, dated from 1308 and bearing a greeting inscription.

Other well-preserved, pre-expulsion synagogues can be found in Híjar, Toledo, and Córdoba.