Third "Great" Grandparents Trip - Summary of our week in Austria - Part 1

We are writing this on Motzaei Shabbat at the beginning of week #2 of our trip. 

Let's start by clearing up a misconception that has been created by our title for this trip. We have not yet become Greatgrandparents. Although we look forward to the day with great anticipation, we have no married grandchildren yet.

We however look at the opportunity to travel alone with our grandchildren as a singular memorable experience that allows us to develop wonderful bonds and connections. And therefore, those trips are great! So the title becomes the Third GREAT Grandchildren Trip. Each of our grandchildren trips have been GREAT and this one is no exception. We actually received humorous messages from a couple of our children asking whether, in this very fast paced world, they had blinked and missed something! 

On Sunday morning we began the drive to the area just south of Salzburg, Austria. When we told Eden, Emunah and Kyra that we would leave at 7 AM, we received looks of astonishment and bewilderment. But we explained that there was a five hour drive in front of us and while the first part of the drive would be four hours straight, we would then be able to space out the final 100 kms. or so, by stopping and visiting a number of attractions that we believed would break up the day and make the driving experience a bit more interesting. 

And while we do try to stick to schedule, it was admittedly difficult to leave precisely at 7 AM, but we were on the road by 7:15 AM, following the instructions that Waze was mapping out for us on the iPhone. 

Because we are so far behind the eight ball in terms of reporting daily (about a week behind), rather than give a detailed day by day report, we are going to try and catch up by summarizing each of the places that we visited from Sunday till Thursday last week. 

If your style of touring is anything like ours, ie; packing in as many attractions as possible into your day; spending minimal time on shopping and meals (because you made this long trek to actually see something unique, do something different, etc), and if you are travelling with a party of 5, then the cost of touring can become quite expensive. When touring Austria, there are many "passes" that group multiple attractions in one card for a single price. We looked at a number of them and determined that the best for our itinerary was the Salzburgerland Card. Many other cards offer discounts of 20% or 2 for 1 offers, but the SalzburgerlandCard packages close to 120 attractions that you enter for free once you have purchased the Card. The card costs 66 Euros per adult or 33 Euros per child (under 16) and is good for 6 days of touring. Our total for the 5 of us was 297 Euros.

Since we have now completed our Austrian portion, we can report that by using the SalzburgerlandCard from Sunday till Thursday, we visited attractions that would have totalled over 700 Euros had we not had the card. So we saved about 400 Euros or close to $600 Canadian. 

Our advice to anyone visiting this part of the world is to spend a bit of time researching the various cards to determine which works best for you. If you are headed for the Salzburg area, we believe that this card works wonders. It will certainly save you money. 

Here is a brief summary of the attractions that we visited from Sunday till Thursday.

Sunday:

Gerlos Pass - the Gerlos Pass was the first of many dramatic mountain passes that we crossed in our trip thus far. It is the doorway to many of the sites in the Salzburg Tourist area and is a series of hairpin switchbacks in the road that first allow you to climb to the top of the mountain at an altitude of about 5000 feet and then wend your way down the other side. The first road across the Gerlos Pass was built in 1630. The road that we took was completed in 1962 and you pay a special toll to pass across it. At the very top, we stopped to have our lunch and enjoy the scenery.

Krimml Falls & The World of Water at Krimml - as we descended from the Gerlos Pass, we were greeted by the sight of the Krimml Falls, Austria's highest waterfall. The local tourism bureau has capitalized on this beautiful natural resource by building an interactive exhibit dealing with "water" and combining it as a package with the Falls visit. This was a very good spot for us to stretch our legs after the 4 hour morning drive from Davos. 

The National Park 360 Exhibit in Mittersillt - after we left Krimml Falls we stopped at what we felt would be a worthwhile exhibit. It was called the Nationalpark 360 in Mittersill. And it featured a 360 degree wraparound movie of scenes of the national parks in the area. We had visions of Ontari-ari-ario at the Expo 67 World's Fair in Montreal. But the movie here was boring and dull with no music to liven it up. Additionally there were some displays of the flora and fauna in the area, a climbing wall etc. At 10 € each, it would have been a disaster, but given that it was included in our SalzburgerlandCard and situated right on the road we were driving, made it much less painful. Would not recommend stopping here. 

From this stop we headed right to our accommodation at Wagrain which is covered in more detail below.

Monday:

The Salzburg Fortress and Funicular - this was to be our Salzburg Day. So early in the morning, we drove into town and parked for free at the Outlet mall and took the bus into town. We walked thru the centre of town, stopped to point out Judengasse (Jew Street) from the time when there was a Jewish Community here, admired the old architecture and marvelled at the huge Fortress that lurks over the city below. It is very high and huge. 

We walked thru a section of the shopping street and could not help but notice Mozart everywhere. Mozart was born here in 1726 and lived here for many years. Salzburg was where he composed many of his famous works. So the city fathers have capitalized on the Mozart phenomena and are marketing Mozart everywhere. There are concerts and museums dedicated to Mozart. A large statue of Mozart is in the centre of the Mozartplatz Square.  

Also, a popular chocolate has been developed called the Mozart Kuggelen which is marzipan covered with chocolate. The local Austrian brand is not kosher, but the Reber brand knockoff from Germany is certified kosher, and is available throughout Salzburg. So we all stopped off and had our first Reber Kuggelen experience. 

From here we walked to the Mozart Square and then visited the Panorama Museum which features large murals in a 26 metre circumference, painted by JM Sattler in the early 1800s that depict life as it was in Salzburg 200 years ago. He painted these scenes from the vantage point of the HohenSalzburg Castle. It was a very detailed painting in the round and is well worth visiting. 

We headed over to the square in front of the funicular and took some pictures of the man on the globe, the giant chess set and then we added to the graffiti that adorned the underside of the globe. 

And then we headed to the funicular which took us to the top of the of the hill that is the site of the castle overlooking the entire city of Salzburg. 

Construction on the castle began in 1077 and while it looks like many a battle could have been fought there, there never were any, because any army that thought of capturing Salzburg took one look at the imposing castle and had second thoughts about the chances of success. The castle eventually surrendered without a battle to Napoleon in the 1800's and in recent years is home to thousands of tourists who flock up for the amazing views.

When we descended from the castle, we walked over to the Mirabell Palace and Gardens, site of the filming of many of the famous scenes of the Von Trapp family in the Sound of Music. 

Tuesday:

Archery in Niedersill - on Tuesday morning, we drive about an hour to the small town of Niedersill where we had booked archery lessons for our group. We were using professional archery equipment and our instructor, though not speaking any English at all, was very patient with us and successfully guided us in the fine details of archery. It was really a wonderful way to start the day, and it was an activity that was enjoyed by all.

Weisssee Glacier World and Gondola Lift - from Niedersill, it was a short drive to the gondola lift that would carry us to to top of a very high mountain where we hiked around a glacier lake called Weisssee. It took about 20 minutes for the Gondola to complete the journey to the top and the scenery and fresh air on top was wonderfully refreshing. 

The Grossklockner HochAlpenStrasse - we continued our Tuesday adventure by driving to the top of the Grossklockner High Altitude Road, one of the tallest mountain passes in all of Europe. The pass is 48 kms. Long and consists of 36 hairpin turns which take you to the top of the Grossklockner Mountain to a height of about 2500 metres. When we first drove this road a number of years ago in the early summer, there was still deep snow atop the mountain. But this time, in late August, there was only snow on the peaks facing us, and the temperature where we were was in the low to mid teens. From the top, you had a bird's eye view of the entire area. Had we continued down the other side of the mountain, we would have ended up in Italy. 

The Kitzlochklamm Gorge - on the way back, with three very exhausted teenagers in tow, we made our final stop of the day at the Kitzlochklamm. A klamm in Austrian is a gorge. And Kitzlochklamm is a very deep gorge. You begin at the bottom of the gorge beside the river and begin a gradual climb until you are facing a very tall raging waterfall. You then climb up the stairs in front of the falls. It seems like hundreds of stairs (actually 450 steps) till you reach the top and then you begin the walk through the forest, gradually descending till you reach the entrance to the gorge, where you first began. It takes about an hour and seeing that I had promised Kyra that this attraction was relatively flat (when it clearly was not), for the rest of the trip, there was a running joke about the flatness of each attraction to which I would take the girls. 

More to come.....Part 2 which will cover Wednesday, Thursday and Friday is in production and will be posted soon....

All the best

Fran and David 

Switzerland and Austria - The Third Great Grandparent Trip - Arrival in Zurich and on to Davos for Shabbat

This is our third Grandparent - Grandchild trip. A number of years ago, we came up with the idea of travelling with grandchildren when they reach mid teen years ( 15 - 17 years) as a way of bonding with our grandchildren. 

Our first trip saw us take two grandchildren from Israel and two from Toronto to Tuscany. It was a great trip. We rented a villa and because there was minimal kosher facilities available, we all joined together to prepare delicious meals from whatever fresh ingredients were available. We toured all over Tuscany, visiting many hilltop walled villages, seeing the leaning tower of Pisa and touring whatever Jewish sites we could find.

Our second trip involved three grandchildren from Toronto and we flew to Panama. We saw the canal, visited a native community, enjoyed some of the finest kosher restaurants around, spent Shabbat in the middle of Panama's amazing Jewish community and then flew to Boquete in the hills where we spent the better part of a week zip lining, white water rafting and hiking through the rainforests and coffee plantations. 

This trip sees three cousins, Eden from Israel, Kyra and Emunah from Toronto joining us for two weeks in Switzerland and Austria and rather than revealing our itinerary at this time, will leave it for you to read our blog and join us on our journey. 

We were scheduled to leave Toronto at 6:30 PM Thursday evening on an Air Canada Flight to Zurich, with granddaughters Kyra and Emunah. Eden, was scheduled to leave Israel at 5 AM and if all would proceed according to plan, we should all meet at 8:00 AM in the Zurich airport near the car rental booths. 

But as luck would have it, our Air Canada plane had a mechanical problem and we finally pulled back from the gate at 9 PM, 2 and a half hours late. Eden's ElAl flight was on time and so instead of us waiting for her for 20 minutes, she had to wait for our arrival for over two hours.

It is obviously getting a lot easier to plan a rendezvous of this kind than it was the first time we went on a Grandparent trip with grandchildren from both hemispheres. Back then, no one had a device and you had to hope that everyone would find their way to the selected meeting point. But today, with Whatsapp and Messenger, we can pretty much be in contact with each other, as long as there is wifi access in the facility and most major airports provide wifi connectivity. 

And so as soon as we saw that we would be late leaving, we began sending messages to Eden coordinating exactly where we would meet when we finally arrived in Zurich. We decided that since we were flying to the same terminal, that we would meet at the exit doors from baggage pickup. As soon as we landed, we got a whatsapp from Eden telling us that she had arrived and that we should just exit the baggage area and she would be waiting for us.

We went straight up to Europcar and collected our van which would serve as our mode of transportation for the next two weeks.

Our initial plan was to drive into Zurich and shop at Koscher City for our kosher supplies. But because of our extended delay, we changed our plans and headed straight from the airport to Davos. Fortunately, we had brought enough frozen cooked vacuum packed meat and chicken with us, and our research had shown that there was an extensive list put out by the Jewish community in Zurich that highlighted the many products available in the supermarket, that were certified kosher even without a recognizable symbol. And because Davos is the home in the summer for many Orthodox tourists, we were told that local supermarkets there carry many kosher products and freshly baked breads for our Shabbat table. 

The weather was beautiful and during the two hour drive to Davos we saw glimpses of the beautiful mountains, lakes and green coloured meadows that would be with us for the duration of our trip. 

We arrived in Davos which is a resort town deep in a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains. In the brilliant sunshine when we arrived, Davos is breathtaking. During the three week summer period between Tisha B'Av and Rosh Chodesh Elul, hundreds of chassidic families from Israel, Europe and North America come here for the clean air, and beautiful scenery. And as soon as we entered the town, we could see many groups of chassidim walking through town, shopping for Shabbat. 

We found the apartment complex where we were staying and were very satisfied with the two storey, three bedroom home that we rented for the weekend. We unpacked, and headed out to the local grocery to stock up on food for Shabbat. 

We went to the EuroSpar grocery store that we were told carried the largest variety of Kosher products. We were not disappointed. There was meat, fish, chicken, packages Israeli goods, local cheeses with hashgacha, wine, breads, etc., all is displays labelled "Kosher". There were families shopping for Shabbat and many stopped to point out to us which items in the regular supermarket section were acceptable according to the Swiss Kosher List. As well, we were able to confirm the minyan times in the local Shuls.

We returned to our apartment and our "head chef Eden" with her sous chefs, Kyra and Emunah, along with their consulting chefs Fran and David, swung into action to prepare the delicious meals that we would enjoy over Shabbat. As well, everyone had time to prepare for Shabbat and then when I noticed a number of chassidim walking within our complex, I spoke with them and discovered that there was even a minyan in a garage in the complex, literally 30 metres from our front door. Huge bonus as rain was called for on Friday night and Shabbat morning. The only downside was that there was no women's section and therefore I was the only one going to shul this Shabbat.

Davening was long, with a very, very long communal rendition of a tradition chassidic niggun sung to Lecho Dodi, and a Baal Tefillah who apparently did not realize that we were running on very little sleep. I was the only one there without a shtreimel, the traditional fur hat worn by chassidim. I was also the only one there wearing a watch, as the rest considered wearing a watch as carrying and therefore violating the Sabbath and its restrictions on carrying in a place with no eiruv (halachic boundary). I discovered this as people were coming over periodically to ask me the time, wanting to make sure that their prayers were offered in the appropriate time period as set by Halacha or Jewish law. 

When I returned "home", (and it was already raining) we sang Shalom Aleichem, made kiddush and sat down to a meal of delicious home cooked soup, BBQ chicken (which we had brought with us from Sobey's), a variety of salads that we had made, vegetarian schnitzel, and dessert (our daughter Chavi's delicious cookies flown in specially from Israel!:-). We sang zemirot using our Let's Bench sheets made exclusively for this trip and Eden treated us to a dvar Torah. 

A great way to begin Shabbat and now tired after long flights and a long day, we all happily accepted Shabbat Menucha or rest that we all so richly deserved. 

Shabbat morning, it was overcast and the beautiful mountains that we had seen when we arrived were now no longer visible, completely enveloped in heavy clouds which hovered over the valley. 

While everyone was still catching up on their sleep, I left for the very short walk to shul and again the style of morning prayer was very chassidic and somewhat drawn out.

I returned to the apartment and we made kiddush and decided that since it had stopped raining and since it was going to be a very long Shabbat day, that Fran and I would take a walk into the centre of town to explore the area. Along the way, we met various groups of chassidim who were returning from their prayers at a number of the local "three week" temporary synagogues set up in town to accommodate the summer visitors. 

There was a large group in the Derby Hotel, a strictly kosher establishment that opens just for this period. And even though shul was over by this time, we walked over to another shul a few streets away, because we were told that when we would return to Davos the next Shabbat, it would be the only operating shul in the area, as with Rosh Chodesh Elul occurring this week, the rest of the entire infrastructure would be disassembled until summer 2018. Very interesting that all of this is set up for such a short operating season. 

We had a good one hour walk and tho it was threatening, the rains held off and we returned to a wonderful lunch of gefilte fish, herring that we made on Friday, roast beef, lots of salads, hummus with chick peas, etc. A meal that we all enjoyed and again, lots of zemirot. We ended our early afternoon with a few spirited games of Bananagrams and then the girls went off for a hike into the hills and we retired to bed for a relaxing Shabbat nap.

The rest of the day was filled with reading, Seudah Shlishit (the third Shabbat meal) and then we ended Shabbat with Mincha, Maariv, and Havdalah. It was a very enjoyable beginning to what is hopefully a memorable grandchildren trip.

And before heading off to bed, we packed everything up because on Sunday morning we were planning an early 7 AM start for our 5 hour drive into the Austrian Alps. 

More to come.

All the best,

Fran and David

Crypto Jewish Customs

During our trip and our research, we either read about or were told about various customs that developed within the Crypto Jewish communities that existed in Spain, Portugal, parts of Central America and in New Mexico. 

The motivation for these customs was to a) keep the Jewish tradition alive or b) to make it appear to the Christian neighbour that the Crypto Jew was following non Jewish behaviour so that he/she not be discovered and reported to the Church authorities. 

As a result of b) above, essential Jewish practices like "brit milah" (circumcision), "mikvah" (ritual baths) and "shechitah" (ritual slaughter of animals) were not practiced since the Inquisition. They were too visible to the general public and you risked burning at the cross for performing these halachic rituals. 

But where possible, the Crypto Jews secretly or quietly observed Judaism inwardly while appearing to be full Christians in public.

Marriages took place in the Church, but if the one performing the ceremony was likewise a Crypto Jew, he would quietly say "Em nome de Deus de Abrahao, Isaac e Jacob, eu vos uno, Cumpri vos a Sua bencao";  "in the name of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I unite you with His blessing".

The Hebrew language disappeared except for the name for God "A-Do-Nai". 

Entering a church, Crypto Jews were known to have quietly whispered preceding Mass,  "I do not worship wood and stone, only the God of Israel". 

The men and women prayed separately, generally in services held in the open air out of town. The services were generally led by the women.

One of our guides told us that his great grandmother would always cover her eyes when passing a church, not wanting to recognize the church that had taken away her religion.

The same guide told us about a curious cleaning custom. When sweeping the dust on the floor, you always swept toward the centre of the room and then carried the collected dirt out of the room in a dustpan, so as to not disrespect the location of a mezuza. It was bad enough that you could not proudly have a mezuza adorning your doorpost, to sweep dust past the location where the mezuza should have been would have been adding insult to injury.

Candles were lit on Friday nights but were usually lit out of sight, away from windows. There were special clay or metal candle holders that had shields around the flame with a slot to allow oxygen to keep the flame alive. A large replica of this candle holder is now the "ner tamid" (eternal light) in the synagogue in Belmonte.

There are also stories about lighting 8 candles during the period around Chanukah or Xmas, again in the cellar of the home hidden away from sight.

There is a popular toy called "rapa" (the "r" is a harsh Hebrew "chet" sound) which is exactly like a dreidel except for the English letters RTDP on the four sides. We had read about this before going to Portugal and were determined to find someone selling these ultimate Portuguese Jewish souvenirs. We found a store called "A Vida Portuguese" which has a number of branches in Lisbon and Porto. They specialize in specific Portuguese traditional items. The branch we visited in Lisbon had a good supply. We then found another similar store (not the same chain) in Porto with a good supply. So we asked the salespeople in the store if they knew the rules for playing with this toy. They said that it is played around Xmas time by children and it is a pretend gambling game with very similar rules to ours. Everyone is given a supply of beads or candy. They spin the "rapa"; the R means take all, the D means leave everything in, the T means take one, etc. When I suggested to her that we have a similar game called dreidel, she said that she did not know that but that it did not surprise her because of the long history of Jews in Portugal. As an aside, we did not meet anyone in Portugal who questioned or made light of the Jewish history of Portugal. Everyone seemed to have this warm fuzzy feeling, almost to the point of making it feel cool to have Jewish blood in their DNA. 

There is a traditional Portuguese sausage that is made from pork. A "Jewish version" of this sausage called Alheira using chicken or lamb developed so that it would appear to the Christians that the secret Jews were eating pork, and therefore fully converted. That version is still available in the meat stores in Portugal.

They only ate fish that had scales. 

We heard a number of different versions of how Crypto Jews observed mezuza. They obviously could not have mezuzot on their doorposts. So instead, they carried the mezuza in their pocket in a small wooden holder. When approaching the door, they would take the mezuza holder in the palm of their hand and touch it to the doorpost and then kiss their hand. Another version of this story was the "flute" that held the mezuza scroll 
and it would be then touched to the doorpost.

To the left is a picture of a pocket mezuza.

Many stories abound about Crypto Jews who had the custom of wearing special clothing on Friday nights and Saturdays, or women who remembered their grandmothers who had designated Friday as the day to clean their homes or do the wash, "l'kovod Shabbat", in honour of Shabbat. 

Pesach was observed annually as Santa Festa Day and when we went to Castel Da Vide, we were told by the former mayor of the city (who has definite Jewish ancestry) about the annual slaughtering of sheep and baking of unleavened bread that had been going on for years at the time of Pesach. He described it as a Christian - Pagan - Jewish ritual which takes place in the town square every year. Last year 4000 sheep were slaughtered and the festivities go on for 7 days. Rabbi Raphy Garson, who led our group from JRoots joked that these people don't keep a second day Yom Tov (only seven days) and they have matzah and schwarma as their seudah ...what could be better?

In Belmonte we were told how they would bake matzot on the roof of their homes, as clay tiles were good as a base for baking; they would then lift up the tiles and hide the matzot under the Spanish tiles where they would stay until Pesach.

When it came to Yom Kippur, they would observe it on the 11th day of Tishrei, so as not to alert the Christians that they were observing Yom Kippur. 

One guide told us that his family even today breaks the fast at the end of Yom Kippur with a festive meal and with a deck of cards at everyone's place setting. This was done because in times past, the church's secret police would raid suspected Secret Jews' homes to see if they were having a meal to break the fast. Just below everyone's place setting was a drawer, and if they heard the knock on the door, they quickly shoved their dishes and cutlery into the drawer and pulled out the cards so that it would appear that they were just assembled for a friendly game of cards.

In Belmonte, there is a special celebration of Queen Esther who is a heroine to Crypto Jews for two reasons. First, because her history of observing Judaism in secret in Achashverosh's palace mirrored theirs; and second because as a woman figurehead, honouring Esther honours all the women who over the years were responsible for passing down the traditions and customs to the next generation. 

Marranos practiced Judaism privately in their own homes, however, they abandoned any obvious identifying Jewish practice, such as circumcision, mikveh and the celebration of any public holiday. The celebration of Yom Kippur and Passover were done a couple days late to confuse the Inquisitors. Shabbat lamps were hidden inside clay pots, so those outside could not see the light burning. Jewish women also led prayer services, since this was the job normally performed by males.

If a community member died, a minyan gathered at the home of the families members, but made it appear as if their attendance was just done to consol the mourners and they lit candles for 7 days as a remembrance of shiva. 

We are sure that there are many more customs and different versions, but it was a fascinating study of just what lengths people would go to preserve their belief in their Jewish heritage.

All the best

Fran and David

Portugal - Portuguese Personalities

This posting will begin with the life history of a number of personalities who played major roles in the history of Portugal Jewry; and then discuss some of the customs that continue to this day which had their roots in the lives of Jews before the 1500's.  

While many people have heard about the famous Lisbon born Rabbi, scholar and financier to kings in a number of countries, Don Yitzchak Abravanel, we had never heard about these four individuals who played a major role in Portuguese Jewish history: Rabbi Abraham Zacuto, Captain Artur Carlos de Barro Basto, Aristides de Sousa Mendes and Samuel Schwartz. 

*****************************************************************************************************

Rabbi Avraham Zacuto was born in 1452 in Spain and is likely the only Jew to have a crater on the moon (Zagat) named after him. He was an astronomer, astrologer, mathematician and rabbi; he was a student of the Menorat Hamaor, and the author of the Sefer HaYuchsin, a historical chronicle covering the entire history of mankind from a Jewish perspective.  

After the expulsion in 1492, he fled to Lisbon. He was invited by King Joao II of Portugal to become the official Royal Astronomer and Historian and consulted with the king on the possibility of a sea route to India. 

He had developed a new type of astrolabe, which allowed for the calculation of latitude at sea and he authored a historic astronomical work, called HaChibur Hagadol which detailed 65 astronomic tables charting the sun, moon and the five planets (pictured below), which together with his new metal astrolabe revolutionized ocean travel, allowing for accurate readings anywhere on land or at sea. 

The pictures below show the wooden astrolabe that was used by the early navigators. This devise was quite inaccurate when the ship neared the equator and as such, no explorers ventured all the way to the tip of South Africa until Vasco De Gama acquired and was instructed in the proper use of Zacuto's metal astrolabe which is shown on the right. 

Vasco de Gama and Christopher Columbus both used Zacuto's device and his tables and as such Zacuto's works are credited with their navigational success.

The following picture is one of Zacuto's original astrolabe complete with the markings in Hebrew. 

There is even a theory that the gold background on the Portuguese flag under the coat of arms, is Zacuto's metal astrolabe. We were told this by one guide and it was denied by others. But the colour and the shape seem to indicate a globe structure similar to the astrolabe. 

There is a famous story about Columbus that involves Zacuto. While in one of the Caribbean islands with his fleet and sailors, Columbus and his crew were threatened by local native tribes. Columbus who was carrying Zacuto's astronomical tables noted that on that evening there would be a lunar eclipse and therefore warned the natives that they better treat him with respect or he would make the moon disappear. They waited and watched that evening and sure enough, the moon disappeared. By morning, Columbus and his men were revered as gods by the locals and were granted protection and safety.

***********************************************************************************************

Captain Artur Carlos de Barros Basto was born in 1887 in Amarante, Portugal and died in 1961 in Porto. While still a young boy, he was told by his dying grandfather that the family had Jewish roots. This had a major impact on him and at the age of 17, he read that a synagogue was being inaugurated in Lisbon, the same shul in which we davened during our visit. 

While stationed in Lisbon for his army training, he attempted to join the shul but due to his Crypto Jewish background, was refused entry. He remained interested in Judaism and determined to examine his roots and heritage.

He entered the army and during WWI was decorated for acts of bravery and promoted to the rank of captain. 

He taught himself Hebrew and while living in Morocco, began the process of conversion, underwent circumcision and was finally accepted by the Beth Din in Tangiers. He returned to Lisbon, married a local Jewish woman, Lea Azcanot and had children and grandchildren. One of his granddaughters is the current Vice President of the Jewish Community of Porto. 

In 1921, he and his wife moved to Porto, which at the time had less than 20 Ashkenazi Jews, no formal Jewish community and no synagogue. In 1923, he formally registered the Jewish Community of Porto (Comunidade Israelite de Porto) and launched a Jewish newspaper, HaLapid, "the torch".  He opened a synagogue in a residential home in Porto and more and more people began to attend. These were not Jews but descendants of the Jews of the Inquisition days, who claimed that Jewish  customs and observances in their Christian homes over the centuries were proof of their Jewish roots. 

The existence of so many Crypto Jews attracted the attention of the Portuguese Jewish Community in London who together with Barros Basto created the Portuguese Marranos Committee aimed at identifying and integrating Portuguese citizens with Jewish roots into the Jewish community.

 In 1929 he purchased land and began raising funds to build the Mekor Haim synagogue in Porto which was completed and inaugurated in 1938. It took such a long time because they ran out of funds in the interim despite the support of the Portuguese Jewish community of London, England. However, in 1933, Laura Kadoorie, the wife of Sir Ely Kadoorie of Hong Kong, died. She was from a Portuguese Jewish family that fled in the time of the Inquisition and in her honour and memory, Sir Ely provided the funds needed to complete the project. As a result, the name Kadoorie has been associated with the shul ever since. This is the same shul in which we davened and which is the largest shul in the Iberian Peninsula. 

De Barros Basta's story does not end here. In 1937, as the shul was being completed, he was thrown out of the Portuguese army and stripped of his rank because of the sin of being too jewish, for encouraging Crypto Jews to return to their Judaism and for participating in circumcision ceremonies on returning Jews. his court-martial led the other Jews that he was helping to go underground and the shul was basically abandoned. It has a brief revival as a refugee centre for Jews fleeing the Shoah (more on that below) and then only recently has there been a major attempt at reviving the Jewish community in Porto, which is meeting with some success. 

De Barros Basta attempted to have his name cleared and became known as the Portuguese Dreyfus. He died in 1961. 

His family and the community fought for years and finally in 2012, the Portuguese parliament passed a unanimous resolution exonerating him and raising his rank to Colonel. The resolution stated that de Barros Basto " had been separated from the army due to a generic climate of animosity toward him, motivated by the fact that he was Jewish, not hiding it, and, on the contrary, showing an energetic proselytism converting Portuguese marrano Jews and their descendants". 

********************************************************************************************

Aristides de Sousa Mendes' story reminded me of the story of Japanese Consul General Sugihara, who was responsible for writing visas that saved 6000 Jews from Nazi death camps in defiance of specific orders from his government. De Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux at the time of the German invasion of France was responsible for writing 30,000 visas, passports and travel documents, 12,000 of those to Jews fleeing the death camps of the Shoah.

And yet, given the fact that he saved more Jews than Schindler or Sugihara, almost no one has ever heard of him. 

He was a career diplomat serving in Kenya, San Francisco, Zanzibar, Brazil and Antwerp, before being assigned to Bordeaux, France. He was a devout Catholic, was married and had 14 children. When the Nazis invaded France, people fled south, away from the conflict toward the region of Bordeaux, looking for a way out of the country, in the direction of Portugal; up to this point, neutral in the war.However, Antonio Salazar, the Portuguese dictator, in an attempt to appease Hitler, issued "Circular 14" which stated that "no Jews or dissidents be permitted passage to Portugal".

De Sousa Mendes was conflicted terribly. He was a devout Christian and his conscience told him this was wrong. Additionally, the Portuguese constitution clearly stated that neither religion nor political beliefs were reason to refuse entry to Portugal.

As the German army approached Paris, an estimated 6 to 10 million people packed their bags, flooded train stations and took to any form of transport to escape the Nazi onslaught. One of the refugees who fled to Bordeaux was Rabbi Chaim Hersz Kruger, with his wife and five children. Rabbi Kruger, a chassid, originally from Poland, but most recently a resident of Belgium, was befriended by De Sousa Mendes, who offered him and his family safe passage to Portugal, despite Salazar's Circular 14. Rabbi Kruger refused the offer, unless he could take all his brothers and sisters; i.e.; all the Jews who had assembled in Bordeaux looking for a way out. De Sousa Mendes was advised by his staff and by his wife to refuse Rabbi Kruger's request; defying Salazar's edict would mean total disaster for him and his entire family. But De Sousa Mendes wrote to his superiors and received the rejection letter that everyone expected.                      At this point, De Sousa Mendes traded patriotism to Portugal for something he felt more important; saving lives, and he advised Rabbi Kruger of his intention to issue as many visas as humanly possible before being stripped of his post. Rabbi Kruger went back into the city and collected passports from everyone he met so that visas could be issued. From June 12 until June 23rd, 1940, De Sousa Mendes, one of his sons, an aide and Rabbi Kruger, worked round the clock, with De Sousa Mendes signing the visas and Rabbi Kruger stamping them. 

The Portuguese government was alerted to what was occurring and immediately instructed all border crossings that no "De Sousa Mendes signed visa" be accepted as entry into Portugal. Below is a picture of one of the De Sousa Mendes signed visas. 

Rabbi Kruger and his family were among the last to leave, and when approaching the border, were denied entry. However, as in a Hollywood movie, De Sousa Mendes appeared at the same border crossing, and personally lifted the crossing barrier so that Rabbi Kruger and his family could reach safety, eventually reaching the USA.

De Sousa Mendes' story does not have a happy ending. He was stripped of his position and was forbidden any employment including his profession of practicing law in Portugal. He was denied a pension. His children were denied entry into universities and the entire family became outcasts and impoverished. 

De Sousa Mendes died in 1954, but never regretted what he had done. Before he died, the man referred to as "the Angel of Bordeaux" asked his children to try to restore his family's honour. 

In 1966 he was named by Yad Vashem as "Righteous Among the Nations". In 1988, the Portuguese government dismissed all charges against him and promoted him posthumously  to the position of ambassador. 

A foundation has been established to restore his family home, to create a museum and memorial site, and to develop an archive of the many people that he saved from certain death. 

We had never heard of him before this trip and learning about this courageous person and his self sacrifice to do what was right was one of the highlights of what we learned in Portugal.

*******************************************************************************

Samuel Schwartz is another person we had never heard of before this trip and he plays an important role in the lives of the Crypto Jews of Portugal. 

Samuel was born in Poland in 1880 and died in Lisbon in 1953. He studied Civil Engineering in Paris and became a mining engineer. 

When the First World War broke out he and his wife Agatha were honeymooning in Portugal and he began work there in the tin mines in the mountains bordering Spain. 

He spoke 10 languages; Russian, Polish, German, Italian, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew and Yiddish. 

In 1917, while in Belmonte, a small mountain town, he met members of a community who he identified as Crypto Jews. They had maintained their identity in secret for over four hundred years believing in a God who would redeem his people in the end of days. They married among a small number of families to keep the Jewish chain pure; they practiced Shabbat and holidays; they kept laws of Jewish burial like the sahara and lighting a candle for 7 days of shiva; they consecrated their own marriages with the statement "In the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I commend you to His benediction"; they developed their own sausages made from chicken and rabbit called Alheira, which they passed off as pork sausages to fool the local Christians. 

Even after the Inquisition ended in 1821, they kept their beliefs and observances secretly for fear of another Inquisition and the outside influences that would destroy their traditions. 

When Schwartz met them and identified himself as Jewish, they did not believe him as they had assumed that they were the only surviving members of a dead religion. It was only after he pronounced the name of Hashem in the Shma, that they believed him. 

Even so, they stayed underground until the "carnation revolution" of 1974 that ousted the dictator Salazar and brought total democracy to Portugal.

In 1923, Schwartz went on to purchase a house that was the former site of a shul in the town of Tomar, which is now under renovation, and as such we were unable to visit it. Built between 1430 and 1460, it is one of the best preserved medieval synagogues in Portugal. Excavations in a building next to the shul revealed an ancient mikvah. Schwartz restored the building and conducted the first excavations. 

In 1939, he donated the building to the Portuguese government in return for Portuguese citizenship that provided safety for him and his family during the Shoah. Below is a picture of the interior of the Tomar Synagogue. 

The building also serves as the Abraham Zacuto Museum and contains artifacts with hebrew inscriptions from the 1300's. 

Samuel Schwartz will be remembered as the man who began the process for the return of the Jews of Belmonte to Torah Judaism. 

We hope you have enjoyed this post as much as we enjoyed doing the reading and research on these four amazing individuals.

All the best

Fran and David