Sahar Hassamain Synagogue ( "Gate of the Heavens") is the oldest synagogue in

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, built after the expulsion of Jews from the Iberian peninsula.

History

The Shaar Hashamayim synagogue is one of only a few remnants of Jewish culture in the

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and in all of Portugal. Founded by Abraham Bensaúde along with other members of the

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

community of the city in 1836, in a building purchased for this effect. It is the oldest synagogue in Portugal built after the expulsion of the Jews from the country. There were formerly five synagogues in Ponta Delgada , and Shaar Hashamayim is the only one still existing. The first references to the establishment of Jewish families in the

is from the first half of the nineteenth century. Jews came to the Azores from Morocco because of the economic restrictions that were being imposed on them there at the time. In the same period, the influence of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

had declined in Portugal, and the advent of liberalism, particularly after the Liberal Revolution of Porto (1820), attracted Jews to the Azores. Jews were accepted at the time, in contrast to the persecution by the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

in previous centuries. It is likely that those Jews that arrived had Portuguese ancestry. Family names from this period are Amiel, Abohbot, Benarus, Levy, Zagory and Besabat.

Today

Sahar Hassmain synagogue was closed for more than fifty years. As of March 2009 it is temporarily open on Saturdays for guided tours in the context of the celebrations of 420 years of the arrival of the first

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

to the

. Services are no longer conducted. The municipality undertook recently to support the recovery process of the synagogue although the property is owned by the Jewish Community of Lisbon. The synagogue is located on an upper floor of a building that also included the rabbi’s residence. The exterior of the building is not recognizable, since it was built with the façade of a typical Azorean dwelling house. The interior retains its original character and on display are some objects of worship, especially a chair of

circumcision Circumcision is a surgical procedure, procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin ...

from 1819, chandeliers and diverse historical documentation in Hebrew. The archipelago came to have other synagogues on the islands of Terceira and Faial. Besides this synagogue, there remains only the Jewish cemetery of Santa Clara also in Ponta Delgada, from 1834, and the Cemetery in

Angra do Heroismo Angra may refer to: Places * Bay of Angra (Baía de Angra), within Angra do Heroísmo on the Portuguese island of Terceira in the archipelago of the Azores * Angra do Heroísmo, a municipality in the Azores, Portugal * Angra dos Reis, a municipali ...

from 1832. In 2010, historical religious objects, manuscripts and printed documents were found which constituted a valuable collection of the history of the community. The site of the former synagogue were donated by the Jewish Community of Lisbon and the Municipality of Ponta Delgada, which is finalizing the technical projects for the recovery of the property, seeking its reclassification as a museum and promoting it for cultural and tourism. In April 2015 it was announced that restoration was completed.http://www.timesofisrael.com/portugals-oldest-standing-shul-reopened Portugal’s oldest standing shul reopened

History

Today

See also

References

See also