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Sinagoga

The small locality called Sinagoga, situated in the parish of Santo Estêvão, in the municipality of Tavira, preserves in its name a probable legacy of the former Jewish presence in the region. Although no physical remains of a synagogue or Jewish buildings exist there today, the place-name, together with nearby toponyms such as Malhada do Judeu, suggests that Jews or New Christians may have lived there and maintained religious traditions, perhaps even clandestinely, after the forced conversions of the fifteenth century. It is plausible to consider that, since Jews were also active in rural contexts, these lands may have belonged to Jewish families who established a small synagogue or discreet place of worship there, even if no material evidence has survived. The use of the term “Sinagoga”, specific to Jewish worship, and the oral preservation of the word “Esnoga” among older residents reinforce the hypothesis that the memory of Jewish practices remained alive in this rural area, making the toponym a symbolic testimony to the historical diversity of the Algarve.