Museu Judaico de São Paulo, São Paulo

The Jewish Museum of São Paulo is the first museum about Jewish history in São Paulo. It is located at Rua Martinho Prado, 128, and belongs to the Association of Friends of the Jewish Museum in the State of São Paulo. The building that houses the Museum is the former Beth-El Synagogue, designed and built by Samuel Roder between 1927 and 1932. The Temple is Byzantine in style and has seven sides, which refers to the Jewish numerology. In 2004 the Ashkenazi Israeli Congregation of São Paulo donated the building to the AMJSP, a loan agreement was then signed and the Association started the process of fundraising to create the Jewish Museum in that space.

Temple Beth-El was declared a heritage site by the Municipal Council for the Preservation of the Historic, Cultural and Environmental Heritage of the City of São Paulo on September 13, 2013, when restoration work was already underway to transform the Synagogue into a museum. The works, however, had already been approved by the Department of Historical Heritage and the Municipal Secretariat of Urban Development. The project foresees a new glass façade at the side entrance of the building, located on Avenida 9 de Julho, a way to unite modernity and the classic lines of the Synagogue.

The Museum was created with the intention of resuming the use of Temple Beth-El, expanding its cultural function and maintaining its religious function. The collection already has approximately 2 thousand items catalogued, including objects and documents that tell the history of the Jews in Brazil, emphasizing the fusion of Jewish and Brazilian cultures. The intention is to create a space that didactically promotes the rescue, the conservation and the promotion of the heritage built by the Jewish community in Brazil.