It is now mid February 2017 and we are flying across the Atlantic to London England. It is just a stopover and not our destination for this trip; we will be in London for four days before we fly to Portugal next Thursday morning. While in London, we will be staying in the West End and plan on touring some of the sights that we have never visited before such as the British Museum and the British Library. We will perhaps catch some live theatre as well, and also take the tube up to Golders Green to visit some restaurants.
Our main motivation for this trip, however, is Portugal.
As many of you know, we generally do independent travel. But there have been a number of exceptions over the years. Two notable exceptions were when we travelled with a wonderful organization called JRoots to Poland and to Morocco. Both trips were incredible and life changing.
Our main motivation for this trip, however, is Portugal.
As many of you know, we generally do independent travel. But there have been a number of exceptions over the years. Two notable exceptions were when we travelled with a wonderful organization called JRoots to Poland and to Morocco. Both trips were incredible and life changing.
One of the leaders of JRoots is our cousin Rabbi Raphy Garson, who is the Rav of the community of Elstree/Borehamwood, just north of London. JRoots trips typically are short, inexpensive and intensely focused on the Jewish experience. Their choices of destinations hinges on the presence of Jewish history, Jewish artifacts and notable Jewish sites. They are 3 - 4 days long, packing in what one would normally experience in a trip twice that length. The day starts early and ends very late. The leaders and guides are passionate educators who have researched the Jewish history and Jewish experience of the places they visit.
And so when Rabbi Garson emailed us that JRoots was adding Portugal as a destination for the very first time, we signed on immediately. The itinerary was a typical JRoots itinerary. Arrive on a Sunday and return to England by Wednesday night.
Before learning about this trip, we really had no idea just how rich the Jewish history is in Portugal. We did of course know about the horrors of the Inquisition some 500 years ago, but we had no understanding of the differences between the experience in Spain and that of Portugal. We had no grasp of the recent attempts at recreating a bond between Portugal and its sizeable Jewish ancestry (as one article described it, "10 to 20% of current Portuguese citizens have Jewish blood running through their veins"), and certainly no knowledge of remote communities who, over these many centuries had stubbornly clung to their Jewish roots, customs and minhagim. And we certainly did not appreciate just how important the Jews were to the country, to its naval expeditions and to the expansion of Portugal in the 15th century to become one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world at that time.
The more we googled, the more we learned about the place we are to visit and we are so pleased to be able to take you along for the experience. We do much research about each place we visit, but what we have discovered in this research is fascinating and we hope you enjoy it as we share our experiences with you.
In a couple of days, we will send you an introduction to the country and some notable facts about it. We will arrive on Thursday in Porto, the second largest city in Portugal and its cultural capital. It was one of the first urban centres in Portugal and was previously known by the name Cale, and since it was a port city, it became known as Porto Cale; the precursor for the name of the country, Portugal.
We will spend Shabbat at the Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue, the largest shul in the Iberian Peninsula, that is linked to the history of its founder Captain Artur Barros Basto, a Portuguese Crypto Jew who returned to his Judaism. More on him later....
All the best
Fran and David
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