Portugal - Links to Video Interview with Rabbi Salas and Joao Johanan Diogo

The following are links to 5 videos that I shot of an interview with Rabbi Elisha Salas, the Rav of the Jewish community of Belmonte, Portugal, and with Mr. Joao Johanan Diogo, the President of the Belmonte Jewish community in Portugal. This was one long discussion which I uploaded in segments because of the restrictions on length on You Tube. But they basically follow in the order in which I have placed them. The interviews were conducted in Hebrew and Portuguese and translated by Rabbi Raphael Garson, the Rav of the Elstree Borehamwood Jewish Community north of London, who directed our tour of Portugal. Rav Garson also represents JRoots, an organization that sponsors Jewish Identity visits around the world.

I hope you will find these interesting.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Portugal - Belmonte - Worth coming just for this!

After leaving our guide Bruno in the small town of Guarda, we were off to Belmonte.

Belmonte is a magical tourist destination for the Jewish traveler.

We had arranged a guided tour of Belmonte thru the local Jewish Museum and they assigned Elizabeta to be our guide. Not Jewish but certainly educated in Judaism and its traditions, she was an excellent guide.

A word about guides. We had Gonçalo in Porto, Bruno in Trancoso and Guarda, Elizabeta in Belmonte, and Paolo in Lisbon; I will list their contact info at the end of this posting. All four were excellent and all four spoke perfect English. Elizabeta was only 40 Euros, presumably because she was assigned by the Jewish Museum. The others were 4 to 5 times that amount, which I guess is the going rate. None watched the clock and all were willing to spend as much time as we wanted. Of the four, Paolo has a Jewish father and a mother who, if we understood him correctly, was a Crypto Jew and all were well informed of the history of Portugal and especially its Jewish history.

Our meeting point in Belmonte was just below the castle walls at the top of the hill. 

It was a very small village and there were few tourists around. The tourist season begins around April and ends in October. It was chancy visiting the hilltop towns in February because it could still be very cold and snowy at this altitude, but today was a beautiful sunny day with quite warm temperature. 

It was clear that we were in a more Jewish town, as the signs pointed to the Jewish Museum, the Synagogue and the Jewish Quarter.

The history of Belmonte, a town of about 7,500 less than 30 miles from the Spanish frontier, is legend. A foundation stone dated 1297 was discovered of a synagogue showing that this is a Jewish community with a long history. 

It was ‘discovered’ in 1917 by Samuel Schwartz a Polish Galician mining engineer, who visited Belmonte. He met local residents and told them that he was Jewish and they said that this was quite impossible, as they believed that they were the last Jews on earth. Cut off from the rest of the world with no Google or internet, they had been living as secret Jews in this remote hilltop and would not accept that Samuel Schwartz was Jewish, until he recited the first sentence of Shma Yisrael and when we said the Hebrew name of God, they began to believe that perhaps he was Jewish. 

They had maintained their Jewish identity for over four hundred years by marrying mainly among themselves and adhering to the belief in a single God who would redeem his people at the end of days. 

They practiced some Jewish observances, the Sabbath and some holidays. They often lit candles on Friday night where they could not be seen from the outside and observed Passover and Yom Kippur a day or two before or after the Jewish calendar date to confuse agents of the Inquisition. The women were the carriers of the tradition and as a result, records indicated that more women were burned at the stake than men, because they were the ones caught transmitting religion to the next generation. 

In the past 15 years, the Israeli organization Shavei Yisrael has been assisting the community to become a fully integrated observant kehillah and arranged for Rabbi Elisha Salas to become their Rabbi. 

And because some could show that the lineage on their mothers' side had been uninterrupted since 1497, they were allowed a lenient conversion, which required circumcision and ritual immersion in a mikvah as well as adherence to basic mitzvoth of Shabbat, kashrut and taharat hamishpacha. 

Others were required to undergo a stricter conversion since they were considered Christians during the many generations since the Inquisition. 

Shavei Israel was founded in 2002 by Michael Freund. The following information was culled from the Shavei Yisrael website. 

While serving as the Deputy Communications Director under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 1997, Freund opened an envelope that arrived in the mail one day. That simple action was to profoundly change his life as well as that of many others.

The letter was from a group in northeastern India called the Bnei Menashe. They said they were descendants of the tribe of Menashe, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, and were pleading to return to the Promised Land. Their letter sent Freund on a mission to learn all he could about the Lost Tribes of Israel. In the process, he discovered that all across the world there are “lost Jews” dreaming of returning to their Jewish roots.

Shaved Yisrael believes that the Jewish People is a family with links that never vanish completely; they endeavor to strengthen the links wherever they may have been weakened by history, distance, or social parameters.

From northeastern India to southern Spain, from the coast of Portugal to the shores of Brazil, countless numbers of people are trying to make sense of their Jewish ancestry, wrestling with profound questions of history, identity and self. Many are literally knocking on Jewry's collective door, looking for a way to enter.

This presents the Jewish people with a tremendous opportunity to reinforce its ranks and reinvigorate its spirit by extending a courteous hand to all those who wish to return. 

Shavei Israel is the only Jewish organization today that is actively reaching out to “lost Jews” in an effort to facilitate their return. They approach each case on a human level, lending guidance and understanding in tracing Jewish roots, exploring Jewish history and evaluating options for returning to the Jewish people.

Shavei Israel supports, guides, and provides assistance for these personal journeys however varied they may be. Shavei Israel opens the door to all who have decided that Judaism and a return to the Jewish people are central to their fate and their identity. 
Shavei Israel does not proselytize nor does it support any form of missionary activity. 
Shavei Israel responds to personal expressions of desire to return to Judaism.
Shaved Yisrael is a team of academics, educators, and rabbinical figures and has the support of different rabbinical authorities in Israel and the United States of America. Their work is in complete accordance with Jewish Law and under the ongoing supervision of the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel.

Shavei Israel sponsors rabbis and teachers to work with various groups of “lost Jews” in places as far afield as India and the Iberian peninsula. Shavei Israel rabbis are currently posted in Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Russia, Italy, Colombia, El Salvador, Chile and Poland.

For those seeking to undergo formal conversion to Judaism, Shavei Israel offers various educational options in Israel, including Machon Miriam, the only Spanish-language conversion and return institute in Jerusalem. Dozens of Spanish and Portuguese crypto-Jews graduate from Machon Miriam each year, and proceed to undergo formal conversion by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate.

We walked with Elizabeta to the synagogue and met Joao "Jochanan" Diogo, the president of the shul. The synagogue was built in the late 1990’s, commemorating the 500^th anniversary of the publication of the Royal Decree of Expulsion of the Jews from Portugal. Representatives of the Jewish community of Belmonte, its municipality, and the Governments of Portugal and the State of Israel participated in the ceremony. 

It is a beautiful building consisting of a large Beit Knesset with four or five sifrei Torah, a social hall and kitchen, and a beautiful Mikvah. Jochanan speaks little English and Elizabeta translated. He told us that there is a minyan every Shabbat and Yom Tov and that about 20 to 30 attend services. They have adopted the sefarad liturgy and the kriat hatorah is done by either their Rabbi Elisha Salas or by one of the youngsters in the community who have spent time studying Torah in a yeshiva in Israel. 

The Ner Tamid (Eternal Light) over the Aron Hakodesh (Holy Ark) is a large scale replica of the type of container that would hold their Shabbat candles; effectively hiding them and allowing a small opening in the container where oxygen would allow the flame to burn in honour of Shabbat. 

The modern mikvah is now used by a number of local women.

We asked him many questions about the centuries of secret observance, some minhagim and the concept of marrying within your own family to ensure the sanctity of the Jewish lineage. It was fascinating and became even more interesting when we returned with the JRoots group the following Monday night and Tuesday morning. 

There was a plaque hanging in the shul lobby and it is worth translating the plaque to realize the uniqueness of this community.

"In this place the chain was never broken. Here in the village of Belmonte, in this house and the nearby houses, in the heart of the Jewish Quarter, people have been living full and richly Jewish lives from days of old. On the heels of governmental decrees, the residents of this Jewish village, like other Jews throughout Spain and Portugal, had to deny their religion, while quietly observing Judaism in their homes.

Here the candle was not extinguished. 

Here in the houses of the village, they kept the Jewish commandments in secret, for a period of 500 years from 1492 till 1992, while they passed on the traditions from generation to generation. They secretly observed Shabbat in their hearts, while appearing to observe religious Sunday openly in the eyes of their Christian neighbours. Forced to live double lives...always careful never to confuse the Jewish and Christian observances, for fear of falling into the hands of the Inquisition. They would bless the wine and the challah, mumbling words of Tefillah in darkness, guarding their Judaism within their soul. 

Here, the Jewish soul was not lost. Here the Jewish soul remains strong forever.

And from the past, will arise the future.

From the darkness and terrible times to the light of the new synagogue and centre of spirituality."

The menorah outside the shul

After our tour of the shul with Jochanan, we walked with our guide thru the small town and stopped outside the Jewish Museum, which is currently under renovation. In the courtyard of the Museum stands a huge menorah that is lit Chanukah time with the participation of the entire town, both Christians and Jews. It is significant and somewhat ironic that these Jews whose observances were hidden for so long, participate openly in a menorah lighting ceremony that personifies the mitzvah of "pirsumei nissah", open proclamation of the miracles of Chanukah.

Our guide then arranged for a local shop owner to open her store so that we could buy locally produced Sheep Cheese under the supervision of Rabbi Salas and Porto Rabbi Litvak. And a short walk down the street brought us to the temporary location of the Jewish Museum, right on the Main Street of town, next to the monument in honour of Pedro Alvarez Cabral, a Belmonte native who went on to discover and colonize Brazil in 1500 for the government of Portugal.  

Before leaving town, we drove over to the new hotel in town, Hotel Sinai, which has Sinai in large Hebrew letters on the side of the building and which has a large mezuzah on the doorpost. This was the hotel in which we would stay when we returned the following week with the JRoots group. We asked the receptionist if the hotel was kosher to which she replied that most of the ingredients are kosher, but if one wishes to have a strictly kosher meal, the hotel requires 24 hours notice to allow them to contact Rabbi Salas and make arrangements for a mashgiach to be on site. 

We left late in the afternoon for the three hour drive to our self catering apartment for the next two nights, in the coastal walled city of Obidos.

More to come with our posting of Obidos and Cascais. 

All the best

Fran and David

Portugal - Trancoso and Guarda

We are writing this near the end of our visit to Portugal and we are back in Porto.  

We have come full circle, leaving Porto just over a week ago, travelling east to three mountain villages, Trancoso, Guarda and Belmonte; moving south west to Obidos; further south to Cascais; and then to Lisbon, where we met up with Irving and Ruchama Alter; and then joining with the JRoots tour from the UK to retrace our route through Castelo Da Vide, Belmonte and Trancoso; and finally returning to Porto this evening. 

Because we have actually visited a couple of the places twice, instead of the daily diary blog that we normally post, this time we will present a summary of the places we visited and the people we met since we departed from Porto just over a week ago. 

This has been a very interesting trip and has served to hammer home the strength, vitality and commitment of the Jewish people to its roots and to tradition, despite facing the greatest adversity imaginable.

We will start with a quote from Rabbi Elisha Salas, the Rav of the Belmonte Jewish community, one of the most unique places we have ever visited. If you want to watch the entire interview, and it is well worth it, imho, here is the link on our blog:

http://travelkosherwithus.blogspot.ca/2017/03/portugal-links-to-video-interview-with.html

Here is a picture of us with Joao Jochanan Diogo, President of the Belmonte Jewish Community and Rav Elisha Salas, their spiritual leader. 

When he spoke with us a few nights ago, he said (and I will paraphrase) "in a few weeks we will mark Yetziat Mitzraim (the Exodus from Egypt). We are taught by our sages that the reason that Jewish life was kept alive during the 210 years that Jews were in Egypt was because of three factors; they did not change their Hebrew names, their Hebrew language or their particular mode of dress; ie; they did not assimilate, and therefore Moses was able to lead them out of slavery to accept the Torah at Mount Sinai". 

"Here in Belmonte (a remote village high in the hills near the Spanish border), it was not 210 years but 600 years! They did not keep their Jewish names, they certainly did not speak Hebrew or Ladino, and they dressed the same as the Portuguese". And then Rabbi Salas flashed that warm smile of his and added "and I am certainly not Moshe Rabbeinu". 

And yet after six centuries, this tiny village, against all odds, in the darkness of their cellars, in total  secrecy, were able to continue to observe their Judaism with great courage; while externally, and constantly in fear of being discovered by the Church, they acted religiously like their Christian countrymen. Today, they are back in full view observing their Judaism openly; there is a minyan every Shabbat, a functioning mikvah, observance of Kashrut, youngsters going off to Yeshiva in Israel and returning to serve as the community's baalei kriah (reading the Torah) and local men walking through the village proudly wearing their kippot. 

It is a miracle and a testament to the eternity of Torah and our sacred traditions. Absolutely amazing. 

We began our trek a week ago early Sunday morning, driving almost due east from coastal Porto toward the Spanish border. And all the while you sensed that you were climbing in altitude as the highway snaked its way up into the hills. Our first stop was to be the tiny walled village of Trancoso where we met our first guide of the day, Bruno Fonseca. Bruno was recommended by the Regional Tourism Office in Belmonte and would be with us for the morning tours in Trancoso and Guarda. We would spend one hour walking thru each town and then drive on to Belmonte where we would meet our second guide, Elizabeta, a representative of Belmonte's Jewish Museum for a two hour walk thru the village.

Bruno led us thru the medieval wall of Trancoso and we were walking on an ancient cobblestone street. 

We walked to the town square down the shopping street and unlike some of the walled towns in Italy or Greece that we had visited, where the stores looked modern with attractive displays despite the ambiance of being housed in an ancient building, there was not a souvenir store in sight and the displays and product offerings in the store windows looked stuck in time from a period that we remember 40 or 50 years ago. 

No current advertising or signage, clothing that looked very dated, and it was eerily quiet, perhaps because it was Sunday morning and everything was closed. We passed the occasional villager on their way to church, and we were among the few tourists who were visiting that sunny morning. 

Bruno explained that Trancoso before the Inquisition had about 500 Jews which likely composed 25% of the population of the village. The Jewish presence in Trancoso dates prior to the 14th century, with Jews likely living there in the late 1200s. In 1363, King Pedro I designated the concept of the "judiaria", the Jewish quarter; but in Trancoso, the Jews were initially not in a Jewish Quarter, but owned houses on many streets in the town.  They worked as shoe makers, merchants, weavers, money lenders and tailors. 

In the 15th century, Trancoso Jews asked King João II for permission to enlarge the synagogue, which was granted in 1481. Enlargement was needed because of the population growth, making Trancoso the largest Jewish centre in the interior of the country.


We walked thru the town, past the large vertical concrete pillory in front of the church, to which people convicted of a crime were strapped and then beaten with lashes as punishment. We could not avoid seeing one of these instruments of brutality in the centre of each of the towns we visited and we could not understand why they left these "historical reminders" intact! 

Bruno pointed out markings on door posts indicating that here was the home of a "new Christian", "Converso" or "Crypto Jew". Rather than a simple cross, it was stylized to look like a upside down shin (as in the shin on a mezuza) or a circle. We heard different versions; one was that the conversos etched these in their doorposts to let the community know that they were now identifying themselves as Christians; the other was that local Christians or the Church etched these in the doorposts so that their neighbours could keep an eye on them and any sort of secret Jewish ritual that the residents might be observing. 

He then explained to us that because Jews were the merchants in the towns back then, you could recognize a Jewish home by the presence of a small door beside a double door. The small door led to the living quarters upstairs and the double doors opened wide in the morning as the place of business for the Jewish merchant.

Bruno showed us the Casa Do Gato Preto, the House of the Black Cat. Above the door was a relief of a lion, symbol of the Lion of Judah, indicating that someone Jewish and important (perhaps the Rabbi) lived in this large home. 

The community was now capitalizing on its new found success as a Jewish tourist spot and had supported the building of the Isaac Cardozo museum and synagogue in memory of Isaac Cardozo, a Jewish doctor who lived in Trancoso in the 17th Century. 

It is very strange, because the museum is just about empty. A striking modern building set amongst 500 year old stone houses, and within the structure there is a room entitled Bait Haknesset Mayim Chaim (the Living Waters Synagogue). The shul is modern and has a modern stylized Aron Hakodesh, within which resides a kosher Sefer Torah. We were told that they are in the process of collecting and cataloguing items for the museum and my guess is that an occasional tourist group uses the synagogue for tefillah should they happen to pass by the shul at mincha time. Eventually the centre will catalog the archives of the 700 Jews who were born in Trancoso and who were persecuted by the Inquisition. But it is still strange and we are trying to understand what it is doing in a town with no active Jews or Jewish Community.

We walked to the castle, which resembles the type of castle that seems to be present in every town we visited, and climbed the stairs to the top to see the 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside. 

And it was quite strange standing atop the walls of an ancient castle and looking into the distance to see very modern windmills in the distance that are now dotting the Portuguese countryside in the nation's quest to preserve and harness electrical energy. 

On our way out of town, we passed a house in the town square whose owner, while doing renovations, discovered a window covered by a wall. Realizing that this was a Jewish home originally, he uncovered the window and now there is a beautiful stained glass menorah in the town square.

All in all, nice little town stuck in time, but unless something happens to improve the value of the Cardoso Centre, we would feel little reason to urge people to visit Trancoso. 

On to Guarda, another ancient Jewish town on the recommended list of hilltop towns worth visiting. Well, this one was even less interesting than Trancoso. Nice place, good mountain views, the ever present pillory but almost nothing preserved of its rich Jewish history. This sign, indicating the Jewish quarter, is one of thee few indications of a Jewish presence in Guarda 600 years ago.

We said good bye to Bruno and drove a half hour to the town of Belmonte. After a week and a half in Portugal, we can now say that while there were many memorable moments and encounters, our two visits to Belmonte made the entire trip worthwhile, that is, from a Jewish historical point of view.

Next post will feature Belmonte.

All the best

Fran and David

Portugal - Portuguese Jewish History

It was now Sunday morning and we were beginning our exploration of hilltop towns that were places of refuge for Jews fleeing Spain in 1492.

We are travelling by car from Porto eastward towards the mountain towns of Trancoso, Guarda and Belmonte; and then later on Sunday we will make our way back to the coast and the walled city of Obidos. It is an ambitious travel day, packed with tours in three small towns and a lot of driving. 

Later in the week, we will travel further south to the resort of Cascais; and finally to the capital city of Lisbon for our second Shabbat. It is here that we will meet the JRoots group from England and begin 4 days of intensive Jewish Portuguese history as we make our way back up to Porto where we began our adventure. 

Our friends, Irving and Ruchama Alter will also be part of the group tour and as it would have been impossible to arrive here in time from Israel, they will arrive on Thursday afternoon and together we will spend Friday touring Jewish Lisbon and Shabbat with the community in Lisbon.

This posting which unfortunately will be picture free, will be an attempt to present a brief history of Portuguese Jewry. 

But before we get to the history, a few short observations.

1) We are amazed by the roads in Portugal. Wherever you go, you are on a modern 4 - 6 lane motorway. They are all toll roads and many electronic, like Toronto's highway 407, and so we opted for an "easypass" system in our rental car so that we will not have to stop at any booth to actually pay a toll. It just seems that there are expressways within a mile of wherever you may be in the country. 

2) Waze is used extensively here, and it covers the entire country efficiently. As one who loves maps and fought for a long time against being controlled by "apps", I have conceded and now admit that without Waze, I am lost. However, I must say that I still like to look at a real map so that I not only know where I am going but where I am in relation to the sea, what direction am I travelling etc. 

3) We have found that things are relatively inexpensive here. Hotels, Airbnb, etc. are reasonable. Supermarket prices are low. We have walked out of supermarkets and talk for a while as to how we can have so many bags with so low a bill. Sobeys....please take note!

4) Gas prices are high (€1.50 a litre) but distances are short, so it is a trade off. 

5) People are friendly and eager to help.

6) Portugal has embraced energy conservation and is a world leader in renewable energy – by July 2014 around 70 percent of its energy came from renewable sources such as wind, hydro and solar power. There are windmills dotting the countryside wherever you drive. Innovative projects include a floating wind farm (the WindFloat) and WaveRoller, which converts the movement of ocean waves to energy and electricity.

7) On the coast, some of the best water surfing is found here. Not that we are surfers, but we marvel that a year ago, a record 100 foot wave was surfed not far from where we will stay in Cascais, a suburb of Lisbon.

8) As far as we can tell, and from most of the people with whom we have spoken, there is no antisemitism in this country. Certainly no one has commented or even looked at my kippah. And as well, we are told by everyone we meet that this is a very safe country....we certainly feel safe walking around.

At the same time, the shuls have police and guards outside; But I have worn a kippah everywhere and have felt totally safe.

9) There are very few immigrants in the country. It is estimated that over 90% of the citizens are native Portuguese. This is not due to an anti immigrant policy but rather due to the fact that immigrants can get much better social assistance in countries like Germany, Holland and the Scandinavian countries. People here have told us that they would welcome immigrants but instead, the immigrants choose to go to the countries where they get a much better deal. 

10) There is much more smoking in this country than in most countries that we have visited. After not being around it for a while, it really stands out.

11) We will deal with specific Jewish observations as we post during our travels. But as a general comment if you are considering a visit here as an independent traveler, there are no regular kosher restaurants (there are two hotels, one in Porto and one in Belmonte that will prepare a meal with 24 hour notice for you), so if you come here without a group tour dealing with meals, you would have to travel with basics like a soup pot and fry pan and stay in self catering apartments as we have done. Packaged kosher food is available in both Porto and Lisbon but in limited supply and very limited locations. Kosher bread is only available in Porto. More on that later. 

And now for the history lesson.....

As we have travelled around for the past week, we have heard the same story told over and over, by people we met in the shul in Porto and by the tour guides who we hired to show us Jewish sites in 4 different communities. And while there are slight differences in the story, what emerges is a history like many other places, where success and sadness go hand in hand. 

Legends say that Jews first came to the Iberian peninsula during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar in the 6th century BCE or maybe even beforehand during the reign of King Solomon in 900s BCE. 

During the 12th century, there were several established Jewish communities that enjoyed relative protection from the crown. As early as the 12th Century, Yahia ben Yahi III (also known as Yahya bin Yaish) was appointed the first chief rabbi of the community and official royal tax collector and supervisor by King Alfonso Henriques. 

Jews thrived in the 13th and 14th centuries during the Golden Age of Discovery, making major contributions to Portugal's success and emergence as a world power. 

With the advent of the Spanish Inquisition in 1492, and the edict to convert or leave, many chose to leave and because of the closeness of Portugal, there was a major influx of Jewish immigration here with reports of up to 150,000 Jews entering the country seeking refuge from the horrors of the Inquisition, such that Jews composed 20 - 25% of the total population in the country; likely one of the largest concentrations of Jews in a country (other than Israel) in history. 

Portugal was home to many famous Jews during this period. Rabbi Abraham Zacuto wrote tables that provided the principal base for Portugese navigation, including those used by Vasco Da Gama on his trip to India. Guedelha-Master Guedelha served as a rabbi, doctor and astrologer for both King Duarte and King Alfonso V. Rabbi Don Isaac Abravanel was one of the principal merchants and a member of one the most influential Jewish families in Portugal.

Jews prospered here and King Joao II of Portugal allowed them to enter because he was preparing for war against the Moors and wanted to take advantage of their wealth and expertise in weapon-making.

Jews became the intellectual and economic elite of the country. Jews were involved in all aspects of the Portuguese naval explorations, from financing the sailing fleets to making scientific discoveries in the fields of mathematics, medicine and cartography. Many were employed as physicians and astronomers as well royal treasurers, tax collectors and advisors. It was common to see Jews adorned in silk clothing, carrying gilt swords and riding beautiful horses. They were given preferential treatment by the kings.

In spite of its small size and population in comparison to the great land powers of Europe, Portugal was able to acquire an overseas empire of vast proportions, the first in world history to reach global dimensions. As examples, during Manuel's reign in the late 15th century, the world witnessed the discovery of a maritime route to India (1498) by Vasco da Gama; the discovery of Brazil by Pedro Álvares Cabral (1500); and the establishment of monopolies on maritime trade routes (1503 to 1515) to the Indian Ocean for the benefit of Portugal. 

But among the peasant and middle classes, jealousy of the Jews' success resulted in a rise in anti Jewish sentiment. And while King Joao II wanted the Jews to remain in his kingdom so he could make use of their wealth, ingenuity and influence, he only granted a small number of them permanent status with the balance being declared slaves, with their children forcibly snatched from them to be baptized and raised by Christian families. 

When King Joao II died in 1494, Manuel I was named king and granted freedom to the Jews. 

His relationship with the Portuguese Jews started out well. At the outset of his reign, he released all the Jews who had been made captive during the reign of Joao II. Unfortunately for the Jews, he decided that he wanted to marry Infanta Isabella of Aragon, (daughter to Ferdinand and Isabella). Ferdinand and Isabella were the authors of the Inquisition in 1492 and would never allow their daughter to marry the king of a country that still tolerated the Jews presence and as a result made as a condition of marriage the requirement that Manuel I persecute, exile or force conversion on the Jews of Portugal.

Manuel agreed to this condition but was torn between his marriage conditions and his desire to have the Jews stay and continue to contribute to the country's economy. 

And so he made it hard for Jews to leave by naming Lisbon as the only port of exit. And in order to keep as many Jews in the country as possible, he really did not give them the option of leaving the country, but instead tried to convince many of them to convert. 

In December 1496, it was decreed that all Jews either convert to Christianity or leave the country without their children. However, those expelled could only leave the country in ships specified by the king. When those who chose expulsion arrived in the courtyard of Dos Estaus Palace in Rossio Square, located about 1 mile from where I am writing this blog, they were met by clerics and soldiers who tried to use coercion and promises in order to baptize them and prevent them from leaving the country. But they were not enough boats to carry the estimated 20,000 Jews who chose to be exiled and in this way Manuel showed that he was keeping his promise to his bride and at the same time found a way to keep the Jews in Portugal. 

In this way, the Inquisition in Portugal was far worse than that of Spain. In Spain you were given the clear option of convert or leave and many thousands left. In Portugal, while on paper, we had the option to leave, the actual fact was that devious Manuel never gave our ancestors that option, and the only options were convert or die. 

This technically ended the presence of Jews in Portugal. Afterwards, all converted Jews and their descendants would be referred to as "New Christians", and to show just how much the Portuguese rulers really wanted to keep the Jews in his land, Crypto Jews (as the New Christians were called) were given a grace period of thirty years during which no inquiries into their faith would be allowed; this was later extended to end in 1534. 

This grace period was not a time without fear and pogroms, however. There were major incidents of terror during these thirty years, such as the Lisbon Massacre of 1506, when anywhere from 3,000 to 8,000 "New Christians" were massacred by raging mobs spurred on by the Catholic Church. And although King Manuel executed 45 of the main culprits who had incited the mob, to show his "protection of the secret Jews", Crypto Jews increased their methods of hiding their secret observances as Jewish life was forced underground. Understandably, Jewish observance waned and over a period of time, the traditions were something that the grandparents did but without formal Jewish life and education, real identification as Jews began to disappear amongst the vast majority of Secret Jews. 

The 1531 Lisbon earthquake occurred in the Kingdom of Portugal on the morning of 26 January 1531. The earthquake and the numerous subsequent tsunamis resulted in approximately 30,000 deaths. A rumor spread, apparently encouraged by the friars of Santarém, that the disaster was divine punishment and that the Jewish community was to blame, resulting in popular support for a Portuguese Inquisition. 

Pope Clement VII authorized the Inquisition and the first of many auto-da-fe (trial) and public burnings took place in Lisbon on September 20, 1540.

The right to seize and confiscate the property of the accused led to the arrest of every prominent "New Christian" family. Once arrested, death was only escaped if one admitted to Judaizing and implicated friends and family. Other sentences included public admission of the alleged sins, the obligatory wearing of a special penitential habit and burning at the stake.

Attempting to evade the Inquisition, many Portugese Crypto Jewish families fled to Amsterdam, Salonika and other places across the Old and New worlds. In 1654, 23 Portugese Jews arrived in New Amsterdam (New York) and became the first Jewish settlers in the United States. The stream of refugees did not stop until the end of the Inquisition in the late 18th century. The last public auto-de-fe took place in 1765; however, the Inquisition was not formally disbanded until after the liberal revolt in 1821.

Around 1800, Portugal decided to "invite Jews" back into the country and reverse Portugal’s economic decline. The first Jewish settlers to come were British. Tombstones, written in Hebrew and dating back to 1804, can be found in a corner of the British cemetery in Lisbon. Other Jewish immigrants came from Morocco, Tangiers and Gibraltar. Official recognition to the Jewish community was not granted until 1892. After granting the community recognition, Shaare Tikvah synagogue was built in Lisbon in the early 1900's, however, because of lingering anti Jewish sentiment and laws, the synagogue was not allowed to face the street.

In 1912, the new Portugese Republic reaffirmed the community’s rights. The Jewish community was able to maintain places of worship, a cemetery and a hevra kadisha (burial society) and could slaughter animals in accordance to Jewish law, register births, deaths, and marriages and collect charity.

In recent years, Portugal has become the first nation after Israel to adopt a Law of Return for Jews who can show Portuguese Jewish heritage. And while few people seized the opportunity at first, with Brexit and the rise in Anti Semitism in Europe, there is now an increase in Jewish immigration or at least registration of Portuguese citizenship. 

Portugal and Israel had low level ties in the 1950's. In 1959 the Bank of Portugal and the Bank of Israel established financial relations. Diplomatic relations were not established though until 1977. 

That's it for this post, next post will include our all day Sunday visit to Trancoso, Belmonte and Guarda.

All the best

Fran and David

Portugal - Arrival and Shabbat in Porto

We arrived in Porto at noon on Thursday and after clearing customs and collecting our luggage, we rented our car and were off to our accommodations in the BoaVista section of Porto. 

We are staying at a serviced apartment and it is modern and beautiful. It is a 15 minute walk from the shul and as a fully equipped apartment, it makes keeping kosher much easier. 

After unpacking and settling in, we were off to the Kosher Corner, a project of the Hotel Da Musica, which is located in the Mercado Bom Successo not far from our apartment.

It is the very first store with kosher products in the country,  both for guests and the general public. The store was created in partnership with the Jewish Community of Porto and aims to familiarize Kosher products to the general population. Porto Kosher Store is under the supervision of Rabbi Daniel Litvak, Rav of the Mekor Chaim Synagogue of Porto and is closed on Shabbat.

In addition, Hotel da Música will provide freshly cooked weekday or Shabbat meals with 24 hour notice under Rav Litvak's supervision. 

When we visited the store, we were a bit surprised by the lack of variety in the store and queried the young lady who was in charge of the store. She explained that the store opened a few months ago and had a wide variety of products available but there was a slew of visitors and tourists who depleted most of their stock. Currently many items are on order and they hope to expand the offering in the future. 

As experienced travellers, we are aware that many small towns charge exorbitant prices for kosher products because of the difficulty of importing these products and also because of the small size of the interested market. As a result, we were a bit surprised at the competitive prices of whatever they did carry and it was explained to us that making these items available at reasonable prices as well as the availability of a hotel that offers kosher meals would help put Porto on the map for the observant Jewish traveler. 

The hotel is not a kosher hotel not is it owned by Jews, but they are operating on the principle of "build it and they will come"; with the current interest in the history of Portugal's Jewry which basically disappeared from the early 1500's to the mid 1900's, there are many Jewish and Israeli tourists and a facility like this will attract the Jewish and kosher crowd. When you walk thru the lobby of the hotel, you cannot help but notice the musical theme but then you also notice the Jewish theme of the hotel. Quite remarkable in a city with just 200 Jews. 

Look at the Hechsher on the wall in the lobby bar

And the musical theme continues in the breakfast area with a Hebrew sign 

"And you shall eat, be satisfied and bless Hashem your Lord".

Quite amazing!

We then drove over to the Mekor Haim Kadoorie Synagogue a few blocks away. As expected the shul was closed, but we marvelled at the size and beauty of the outside of the building. It is the largest shul in the Iberian Peninsula, and has a very interesting history which we will cover in one of the upcoming posts.

We had spoken with Yoel Zekri, a dental student from Har Nof, who together with his wife, had been working hard to attract young blood to the shul in the 18 months that they had been in Porto and he had told us that the shul had a kosher store (specifically for the members of the community) which carried many more items including cold cuts, frozen chicken, cheeses, wine and grape Juice, challot, cakes, tuna, sardines, etc., and that we were welcome to come on Friday to buy whatever we needed for Shabbat.

As well, we received an email while still in London, inviting us to dinner in the shul after tefillah on Friday night, as the shul was hosting a dinner in honour of the Israeli Ambassador to Portugal, Tzipora Rimon, and MK Amir Peretz, who was attending the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean Conference in Porto. We naturally replied that we would be honoured to attend. 

While driving back to our apartment that evening, we noticed a couple walking along the sidewalk, and it was apparent that they were a religious couple. We pulled over to say hello and offered them a lift to where they were headed. Abe and Debi from Monsey were touring like us and they too had received an invitation to attend Friday night's dinner in the shul. 

We mentioned to them that we had arranged a walking tour of Porto for Friday morning which would highlight some of the Jewish sights and they asked if they could join the tour with us. 

On Friday morning we together with Abe and Debi met our tour guide Gonzalo Lima in front of our building Gonzalo is a graduate lawyer who is involved in real estate, renovation and guiding and has many Israeli friends and business associates. He was born in Porto and knows the city like the back of his hand. When we asked him why he was so interested in Jewish Porto, he replied that he had a Jewish grandfather and that certainly some of his ancestors were Crypto Christians or as they are sometimes called New Christians; ie, they were Jews who identified with Christianity in public but who observed Jewish customs and rituals in private. In fact, he estimated that a large percentage of Portuguese citizens have Jewish roots; later in the week, we heard numbers like 50 to 60% had Jewish blood in their genealogy. 

We spent over 5 hours walking and talking with Gonzalo (close to 9 Kms) and visited two of the three old Jewish Neighbourhoods.

In the oldest Jewish Neighbourhood, at the beginning of the Edict of Inquisition, the Church moved into the district (Judairia in Portuguese) and built massive structures used as convents, monasteries and churches. It was sort of like squatter's rights to the area. Today on the side of the huge Monastery, there is a plaque that was erected by the municipality in memory of the Jewish community who were given the "choice" of being forcibly converted or put to death.

Gonzalo shared with us the history of the Jewish community in Portugal and rather than use up a lot of space in this posting, I will dedicate the next post to speak in detail about the Jewish History of Portugal as well as highlight a number of heroes of Portuguese Jewry; Rabbi Avraham Zacuto; Captain Artur Carlos de Barros Basto; Samuel Schwartz; and Aristides de Sousa Mendes. 

We then visited a Catholic Church-owned senior's residence where they had uncovered a "heichal" or what we would call an Aron Kodesh in the wall of the building while doing a renovation to the dining room of the home.

The only ways to visit the Heichal is to knock on the door and request entry by the care givers/ professionals running the home, or if you happen to know the priest who is in the church next door. Gonzalo knew the priest and we were granted entry.

The following week when we returned with the group from England, our guide indicated that we would not be granted entry because we were such a large group. We volunteered to take Rabbi Garson and Rabbi Kelly as clergy to see the Heichal. When we knocked on the door, we were granted entry and then Rabbi Garson requested permission for the entire group to enter, which was surprisingly given. 

It was the site of an old synagogue and we were shown the secret stairs that were used to enter the shul from the small alley way in the back of the building rather than through the front door. 

We then walked down the narrow Escadas da Vitoria (Steps of Victory) which was previously named Escadas da Esnoga or Synagogue Steps which helps one navigate between streets in this very hilly city. 

We saw the old streetcars that are still in use in Porto...they make the TTC's cars look like something out of the space age.

We walked to the train station, said to be one of Europe's most beautiful, with huge tile murals covering all the walls, depicting ancient and modern Porto history. Portugal is famous for their tiles. They are everywhere; the sidewalks are all made out of hand cut and hand laid tiles; and many buildings are covered with beautiful intricate tiles; many hand painted. 

We walked toward the centre of town and down an old shopping street that is now being gentrified and we learned about cork, one of Portugal's largest exports. It seems that you can make almost anything out of cork and we proceeded to buy a number of items in cork.
Below is a picture of a cork tree and shoes and sandals made from the lightweight, waterproof natural resource. 

And here is a picture of us with our cork hats, surprisingly light and very comfortable. On top of the pedestal to our left is the statue of Prince Henry the Explorer, pointing to the sea and the New World. Born in 1394, Henry is credited with transforming Portugal into a major naval power. The monument was built in 1894, on the 500th anniversary of Henry's birth and is located just up the hill from the river promenade right next to the historic Stock Exchange Building. 

We walked down toward the river and by this time the sun was shining and it was quite warm. 

The atmosphere was alive with many visitors and people sitting in the outdoor cafes that line the river walk. 

When we returned with the group a week later, we crossed the river to the other side where you can get amazing views of Porto on a sunny day including the gondola boats that transport tourists up and down the river as well as the bridge built by a student of Eiffel that now joins the upper hills of both sides of the river. It is a particularly beautiful setting. 

And by now, we saw that we were approaching 2 PM and so we "ubered" back to our apartment, said goodbye to Gonzalo and we drove to the shul to do our shopping for Shabbat lunch.

We met Mrs. Zekri and we did our shopping. Once again, we marvelled at the very reasonable prices, and we also had the chance to see the inside of the shul and take some pics. 

We headed back to our apartment and prepared for Shabbat. 

We returned to the shul at 6:30 PM and there were about 40 to 50 people in shul; mostly locals, except for the 4 of us; a couple and their daughter from Israel; he was attending a conference in Porto, and the 3 or 4 Israelis accompanying the Ambassador.

The tefillah was conducted in the sefaradic style and because of the presence of many local University age students who also served as shlichei tzibbur, the davening was spirited and lively. 

At the conclusion of davening, we all headed upstairs where tables had been set for the dinner and there were many salads on the table. We were seated together the other tourists and with David Garrett who is a local, a criminal lawyer and a member of the board of the shul. He welcomed us warmly and during dinner shared with us the vision that he and the other board members have for expanding the Jewish population in Porto.

We sang Shalom Aleichem and Eishet Chayil and made kiddush and hamotzi. There were a number of waiters present and the subsequent courses consisted of boiled vegetables, meat and couscous, followed by chocolate mousse. There was plenty of food; lively singing of many zemirot and a brief speech by the Ambassador and by MK Amir Peretz who was the former minister of defence and leader of the Labour Party in Israel. 

He explained how he as a Moroccan immigrant to Israel, from a poor family growing up in a poor city of Sderot rose to a position of leadership and how that speaks so well of opportunities in Israel. It was announced that he had been elected that morning to be the deputy head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean Conference, a very high honour and important recognition for an Israeli, especially as the conference includes many Arab countries, who voted for him. As well he spoke about his involvement in securing the Iron Dome technology for Israel and how Israel is always there to protect its citizens. 

During dinner, David Garrett, the shul board member sitting with us, told us that in recent years the shul had been under utilized and the current board together with its Rabbi Daniel Litvak and with Yoel Zekri had made changes to attract new blood to the shul. The city had 50 residents a few years ago and no regular minyan. Today, there are 200 members and they are proud that for the past 18 months, they have not missed having a minyan on Friday night and Shabbat morning. The shul offers its members free burial rights, an operational Mikvah, and a well stocked kosher store (open only to members) offering products at cost, to the extent that over 50% of its members now buy kosher food. 

He told us the community has no money problems and they are not looking for outside help. In fact, they are eager to spend money to make people feel welcome and have hopes that with a good first experience, people will consider moving to Porto.

It is a very safe city, inexpensive place to live, there is no anti semitism, and there is now a basic infrastructure for Positive Jewish Living. There are plans in the coming months (before Pesach) to erect a building behind the shul that will offer kosher food at cost to visitors as well, and to operate a kosher restaurant at very reasonable prices, so as to attract visitors to the city.  His enthusiasm and drive reminded me of the movie Field Of Dreams and the concept of Build It And They Will Come. 

It was really one of the most warm atmospheres that we have ever been in as a Shabbat traveller.

When we returned on Shabbat morning, David came over to me and said that I would be honoured with maftir Parshat Shekalim. I explained to him that I could only read it in the Ashkenazi style and he immediately said it was OK as they are a very inclusive shul; in fact, if there is a large visiting Ashkenazi group who outnumber the locals, they will switch the nussach to Ashkenaz so as to make everyone feel very welcome and comfortable. 

After davening there was a large kiddush complete with warm bourekas and cholent and we were so full that by the time we reached our apartment, we ate very lightly and had a wonderful Shabbat rest.

In the late afternoon Abe and Debi came over and after Havdalah, we had a melave Malka and then went over to their hotel where we had a drink in the roof top bar which commanded an amazing view of the city.

All in all, it was a warm, wonderful Shabbat. Good food, good friends, beautiful tefillah and wonderful zemirot. We did not have a high bar set in our expectation for Shabbat in Porto. The actual experience far exceeded our expectations. It is a great city to visit and a great place to spend Shabbat. 

And a final picture of Henry the Explorer.

Sunday we are off to visit a number of towns in the mountains bordering Spain which have clear evidence of Jewish life in the 14th Century. Our next post will be a history of Portuguese Jewry and a number of its most important citizens. 

All the best

Fran and David