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SÃO PAULO, Brazil (JTA) — Strolling down Rua Martinho Prado in São Paulo’s metropolis middle, it’s arduous to overlook Temple Beth-El. The quick, hexagonal constructing, adorned with Hebrew writing on its partitions, which remained virtually unchanged since its inauguration in 1932, stands out on the street lined with fashionable high-rise buildings.
The temple, which has sat empty since its final Excessive Vacation service in 2007, has been given a brand new life and remodeled into the Jewish Museum of São Paulo, set to open on December 5. It will likely be the most important establishment in Brazil devoted to the historical past of the nation’s Jewish life.
Every of the museum’s 5 flooring has a distinct theme.
“The very first thing you see proper once you stroll within the foyer is a chunk that explores what it means to be a Jew,” defined Sergio Simon, president of the museum.
That query, stated Eduardo Lifchitz, a 34-year-old Hebrew and English instructor from Rio de Janeiro, is vital in Brazil, the place he stated “folks don’t know what it means to be a Jew.”
“Oftentimes, the picture that involves folks’s minds is the picture of an ultra-Orthodox particular person, however they by no means take into consideration folks like [popular Brazilian TV personalities] Luciano Hulk, Silvio Santos, and even Natalie Portman,” Lifchitz stated. “Individuals have to find out about them.”
Although no census has taken place in over 50 years, Simon estimates there are 120,000 Jews in Brazil, with an estimated 60,000 in São Paulo and 30,000 in Rio de Janeiro. The remaining are distributed all through the nation. São Paulo is residence to a number of Jewish golf equipment, faculties, a federation and the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, thought of among the finest hospitals in South America.
The museum constructing is now buzzing with exercise in preparation for the upcoming opening, however “it was a really sluggish course of at first,” Simon stated. When he first took on the duty of remodeling the outdated synagogue, in 2004, rainwater had been leaking in and crops had began taking up the partitions.
The workforce’s purpose was to revive the synagogue to match its unique look from 1932 and so as to add a four-story glass extension to the facet. Additionally they made an effort to revive the synagogue’s stained-glass home windows, which required contacting the unique producer in the US.
On the second ground, guests arrive at an exhibit on the historical past of Temple Beth-El, which incorporates historic photographs from its building and opening within the early Thirties. Within the cupula towering over the synagogue, a slideshow depicts the historical past of the Brazilian Jewish group, by means of photographs of immigrants projected on the ceiling.
Considered one of them is Simon’s father, who immigrated from Germany.
“It’s as in the event that they’re wanting over the folks touring the exhibit,” he stated. “This turned out higher than I anticipated.”
Partitions of the synagogue-turned-museum are coated with explanations on Jewish holidays and lifecycle occasions, and on what used to function the synagogue’s altar, organizers positioned Torah scrolls and sacred books, some courting again to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There can even be “a digital Torah that individuals can use on the altar and it’ll clarify tips on how to learn the Torah and directions on tips on how to use the yad,” or Torah-reading pointer, Simon added.
That degree additionally covers modern-day Jewish points, similar to conversion, interfaith marriage, the position of sexuality and gender identification in Judaism, and B’nei Anusim — a motion of native Brazilians who consider they’re descendants of European Jews compelled to cover their Jewish identification through the Inquisition.
Emphasis is positioned on educating non-Jewish Brazilians.
“Brazil is a really Catholic nation,” stated Augusto Chagas, a 36-year-old non-Jewish threat analyst in São Paulo, who expressed his want to go to the museum as soon as it opens. “We don’t typically know an excellent deal about different religions.”
Chagas stated that his Jewish training was primarily targeted on the Holocaust. As soon as, on a airplane to New York Metropolis, he noticed a Jewish man placing on tefillin and didn’t know the explanation behind it. Chagas hopes that his museum go to will present a possibility to be taught extra about such spiritual rituals, and even culinary traditions.
Simon’s favourite ground is situated under and is devoted to the historical past of Jews in Brazil.
“Many individuals consider that Jews got here right here due to World Struggle II,” he stated, “however actually, Jews arrived in Brazil as early because the 1500s.”
Early immigrants to Brazil have been largely crypto-Jews, also called marranos or New Christians — the ostensible forebears of the B’nei Anusim — who have been compelled through the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition to observe Judaism in non-public whereas sustaining a Christian public picture. The museum’s first two non permanent displays might be concerning the Portuguese Inquisition in Brazil, which solely ended 200 years in the past. Between 1560 and 1821, many crypto-Jews have been arrested and despatched again to Portugal to be killed.
“The exhibit will even embrace torture devices and garments of the inquisitors,” stated Simon, “although we’re limiting the variety of torture devices on show as to not take away the main target.”
Additionally on this ground are displays depicting Brazil’s early Jewish communal establishments, which date again to 1910, when waves of Jewish immigrants, primarily from Russia and Ukraine, started arriving in Brazil, creating Jewish cemeteries, hospitals, faculties and credit score unions. At first, Jewish establishments have been situated within the of Bom Retiro neighborhood, a 20-minute metro experience from the museum.
“On this neighborhood, life was completely Jewish. All the things was written in Yiddish and Hebrew. Yiddish was spoken within the streets,” stated Simon.
Whereas the neighborhood has given option to a extra Korean affect within the final 30 years, a Jewish legacy lives on by means of a number of Jewish buildings and faculties nonetheless current within the space.
The museum additionally touches on Brazil throughout and after the Holocaust.
“The Brazilian authorities was pleasant with Hitler,” Simon famous. “And the largest Nazi celebration outdoors of Germany was situated right here in Brazil.”
After the warfare, many Jews got here to Brazil as refugees — as did many German Nazis. One well-known instance is Josef Mengele, the notorious Nazi physician also called the Angel of Demise, who moved to South America after the warfare.
The ultimate two ranges are devoted to the fashionable state of Israel and the Jewish love for the written phrase, together with the Hebrew language.
With opening day approaching, members of São Paulo’s Jewish group are enthusiastic about its potential.
Ariel Lebl, a Jewish 32-year-old who works in fundraising in São Paulo, sees the museum as an opportunity to succeed in out to the non-Jewish residents and construct bridges between the communities.
“It will likely be an excellent place to take political leaders, teachers, and children from close by faculties,” he stated. “It’s about connecting folks to the content material they wouldn’t usually see.”
He added: “[The temple] was a spot just for Jewish folks, and now it’s a Jewish place for everybody.”
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