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FIRST KOSHER PORT WINE
IN THE WORLD
december, 2006
http://ladina.blogspot.com/index.html

The Royal Wine company, founded in 1848,
has produced the first kosher port wine
in the world
with grapes grown
in the Upper Douro Valley at the
Quinta do Brunheda vineyard.
For the first time in 500 years,
since the forced baptism of 1497,
kosher products are again produced
in Portugal
such as table wines
Terras de Belmonte,
Sepharad and
Ben Rosh (Captain Barros Basto).
Olive oil labels
include Ribeiro Sanches and Sefaradi.
More on these products to follow.

PICKING SEASON
IN THE DOURO VALLEY

from left to right:
Rabbi M. Seckbach from Israel
Rabbi G. Dzialoszynski from Strasbourg
Delio Mesquita, owner of the Quinta do Brunheda
Pierre Miodownick from Royal Wine Co
 


Shavei Israel seminar in Oporto
RECALLING
A FORGOTTEN JEWISH HERO
http://shavei.web.aplus.net/articles.php?subtype=newsletters&subtype2=english

Over one hundred descendants of Spanish and Portuguese crypto-Jews gathered recently in northern Portugal for a special three-day seminar organized by Shavei Israel. The seminar, entitled “The Challenges of Jewish Belief in a Post-Modern World”, was held in the coastal city of Oporto and featured rabbis, professors and authors from Israel, Spain and Portugal. This unique gathering offered participants an opportunity to share ideas on Jewish history, religion and culture, and to grapple with questions of identity and faith in an open and warm environment.

The seminar was dedicated to the memory of Portuguese Captain Arthur Barros Basto, a decorated World War I hero from a crypto-Jewish family who returned to Judaism and then launched an outreach movement to encourage other “hidden Jews” to do the same. Captain Barros Basto worked to restore Jewish activity, opening the synagogue in Oporto where the Shavei-sponsored seminar in his memory was held. His activities ran afoul of Portuguese government and church authorities, and he was driven out of the military on trumped-up charges in the early 1940s. Historians have dubbed him the “Portuguese Dreyfus”, after French General Staff officer Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew who was wrongly accused and convicted of treason in 1894 due to anti-Semitism. “The Captain was a Jewish hero whose only transgression was that he sought to restore the Bnei Anousim [Hebrew for people whose ancestors were forcibly converted to Catholicism during the time of the Inquisition] to Judaism,” said Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund. “He was a man of action and vision, and it is only fitting that we pay homage to his memory by convening a seminar for Bnei Anousim in the very same synagogue that he was responsible for having built.”

> Taking Action

Freund noted that for the past two years, Shavei Israel has been waging a public campaign to persuade the government of Portugal to posthumously clear Capt. Barros Basto's name as well as issue a formal apology for what was done to him. As a result of these efforts, letters have been sent by US Congressmen and various Jewish organizations to Portuguese officials, but they have thus far refused to reopen the case. We urge our friends to join us in this campaign. Please email for more details on how you can help correct this historic injustice against the Captain and his dream of returning the Bnei Anousim to the Jewish people.
 


How Portuguese Secret Jews (Marranos) Saved England
m lopes azevedo


LADINA FRIENDS IN FLORIDA
PRESENT AT CENTURY VILLAGE
ON FEB. 25, 2007,


ANDREW L. ROSENKRANK,
Florida director of the Anti Defamation League


speaking on Global Anti-semitism and featuring Ladino songs from the Kulanu choir.


WORLD HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY,JANUARY 28, 2007-
ACTION TO DENOUNCE THE TEHRAN CONFERENCE

MEKOR HAIM SYNAGOGUE,
PORTO, PORTUGAL

Showing of NIGHT OF FOG
by Alain Resnais , France, 1955
at 1800
 


Arvit, Psalms, and Kaddish in memory of the victims of WW2

LADINA TERTULIAS
HEBREW EDUCATION IN LIGHT OF THE TORAH,

Sunday, January 28, 2007 22.h
at the LITERARY CLUB OF PORTO,
Porto, Portugal



JUDAISM AND 15TH CENTURY ARCHITECTURE IN THE BEIRA PROVINCE(INTERIOR), PORTUGAL


(Conference of the Society of Portuguese Architects,
January 15, 2007, Lisbon, Portugal)

Lisbon, Portugal
m lopes azevedo


JORNAL DE NOTICIAS, 12/18/2006,
(LARGEST DAILY NEWSPAPER IN PORTUGAL
)

"SEPHARDIM EVOKED MIRACLE"

SINAGOGA RENASCE EM LISBOA/ SYNAGOGUE IS REBORN IN LISBON

is the title of this article published today, December 27, 2007 by the Expresso national newspaper, online version (http://expresso.clix.pt/Actualidade/Interior.aspx?content_id=374702). The article states that a group of residents from greater Lisbon who have discovered their Jewish roots have formed an organized Jewish community in the Ohel Jacob synagogue, founded by Ashkenazi Jews fleeing the second world war and directed by Hahaber. Some of the people interviewed lamented their non-acceptance in other synagogues            

 

American Friends of Marranos
in Belmonte for Pesach 2007
(
PORTUGUESE FRIENDS OF MARRANOS
Largo Leonor Faria Gomes, No. 9-1ºE
Paço D’Arcos, Oeiras
Portugal 2700-108

Yaacov Goldstein with two Belmonte students

Two volunteer Jewish educators, sponsored by the American Friends of Marranos are in Portugal to work with local Marranos, descendants of Jews who were forced to become Catholics against their will in 1497.

Over 3,000 years ago, in this time, the Hebrews of Egypt miraculously fled the slavery of the Pharaohs. After the destruction of the Temples of Jerusalem, the Hebrew people scattered to many parts of the world, including Sefarad, the Iberian Peninsula. From the very founding of Portugal, Jews played a key role in its development and culture. Just before the forced conversion of 1497, Jewish culture in Portugal was at its height, contributing to a flourishing society. Jewish astronomers showed Vasco da Gama the route to India. Jewish doctors attended to the lepers and the poor. Jewish bankers financed the Discoveries.

In 1497, the Jews of Portugal were forcibly baptized and forced into spiritual slavery, their synagogues turned to churches, their holy books confiscated. Yet, despite the outer appearance of Catholicism, the Marranos continued secret practices, rituals and prayers of their inner Jewish soul, such as the “cutting of the waters’ with olive branches, recalling the parting of the Red Sea.

On April 2nd, at sundown, the Hebrew nation starts celebrating the exodus from slavery with the eight-day festival of Passover, a festival of freedom. In Portugal, the remnants of the Hebrew nation will also celebrate. In Belmonte, where the fires of the Inquisition failed to destroy the Jewish people, the two educators will work to prepare the children to continue this tradition through stories, song, dance and poetry.

The Friends of Marranos support the strengthening of Jewish identity and traditions through education in Portugal. Recently, the newly created American Friends of the Marranos gave generous donations to expand the Lana Liner library of the Beit Israel conservative community of Lisbon, to strengthen Jewish education in Belmonte and to publish a new biography of Captain Barros Basto, in Portuguese and English.

The Friends of Marranos are dedicated to helping Marranos (Crypto-Jews/Anousim) strengthen their Jewish identity, and validate their traditions and customs, which were brutally suppressed by the (un) Holy Office of the Inquisition. Yaacov Gladstone and Manuel Lopes Azevedo are co-founders of the Friends of Marranos.

Yaacov Gladstone is a Jewish educator and history teacher. He holds a masters degree in special education. He is the former director of the Early Childhood Program in East Harlem. He has dedicated his life to bringing Jewish education to the children of the Hebrew nation. He helped bring the Jewish children of Morocco to Israel and worked a number of years as a volunteer worker with the Jewish youth of Ethiopia who in 1984 were airlifted to Israel. This is Mr. Gladstone’s sixth trip to Belmonte where he is well known and loved for his dedication and generosity to the community. At present he is the sole voice in America lobbying on behalf of the Marranos of Portugal. He lives in New York and is the founder of the American Friends of Marranos. While in Portugal he can be contacted at 91 424 1288.
Vanessa Paloma is active as a soloist, performance artist and lecturer. She founded and co-directs Flor de Serena, a Judeo-Spanish ensemble.
In addition to being the Founding Artistic Director of the SYNERGY ensemble and its leader until 2003, Paloma was a soloist with Long Beach Opera, Camerata Pacifica Baroque, Ensemble Nuance (Jerusalem) and the St. Paul Early Music Society among others.
Paloma began her musical studies at a young age at the San Juan Children’s Choir in Puerto Rico and later continued at the Andes University in her native Bogotá, Colombia. After moving to the United States, Paloma studied at Indiana University’s School of Music where she received a Master of Music in Early Music performance, specializing in the music of medieval Spain. Ms. Paloma is a Fullbright Scholar in 2007.
For more information visit www.flordeserena.com.

AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MARRANOS
310 Lexington Ave; Suite 5D
New York, New York
USA 10016
 


OLIVAL HANUKIAH CEREMONY,
WELCOMING REMARKS
TO THE
ASSEMBLED
AND PORTUGUESE MEDIA (translation)
http://ladina.blogspot.com/index.html

Porto Portugal
Escadas da Esnoga/
Stairs of the Synagogue Square,
Olival
Dec. 17, 2006 (nightfall)

m lopes azevedo
Welcome everyone,

Ladina is an association of
Sephardic Marrano culture
dedicated to rescuing the memory
and culture of our Jewish people
who in 1497,
the year of the forced baptism,
constituted a fifth
of the Portuguese population.
We light these candles to celebrate
 Hanukah, the festival of lights
which comemorates
the re-taking of the Temple

We light these candles in memory of
 Captain Barros Basto,
Apostle of the Marranos,
a man of vision and courage
who in the 1930s
built a magnificent
Jewish Cathedral of the North.
He was a victim of the New State
and of Catholic intregalism.
He suffered an injustice
and needs to be rehabilitated.
We light these candles in memory
of the victims of the Inquisition,
of whom 3,000 were burned,
some alive,
like Professor Antonio Homem,
Chancelor of Coimbra University,
Abbot of the Cathedral,
and secret rabbi
who was burned alive in 1624
at an auto de fe in Lisbon.

We also remember our people
who fled the Inquisition
for places incognito,
such as Amsterdam, London, New York,
 Salonica, Venice and Brazil.

Also, in this place,
we remember
Gabriel da Costa (Uriel Acosta)
who was born here, around the corner,
on Sao Miguel Street before
he fled to Amsterdam
where he inspired
the great philosopher
Bento Espinosa (Baruch Spinoza),
whose family came from
Evora, Lisbon, Porto
and Ponte de Lima.
Uriel is the great forgotten Marrano
 intellectual of Porto.

We hope that in this era of tolerance,
our people are able rescue
their cultural and religious memory.

(Following these opening remarks,
Mr. Ferrão Filipe,
director of the
Israeli Community of Porto
 and Isabel Barros Basto Lopes
, granddaughter of the Captain
addressed the assembly.
Then rabbi Eliezer Shai Di Martiano
(courtesy Shavei Israel),
initiated the ceremony
 

 

BELMONTE HANUKAH
http://ladina.blogspot.com/index.html

2006/12/13
CONVITE CELEBRAÇÃO FESTA DAS LUZES - HANUKAH
PRIMEIRA CERIMÓNIA PÚBLICA 500 ANOS DEPOIS DA INQUISIÇÃO

INVITATION TO THE CELEBRATION OF THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS-HANUKAH
FIRST PUBLIC CEREMONY 500 YEARS AFTER THE INQUISITION



The Belmonte Hanukah was built several years ago with the support of the mayor of Belmonte, Antonio Pinto Rocha. It is four metres high, painted in silver and gold.