Events included the inauguration of a synagogue in the small
eastern town of Belmonte, where Jews secretly preserved
their religion and traditions for centuries,
Portugal's President, Jorge Sampaio, joined Israel's
Parliament Speaker, Dan Tichon, and officials of the
Portuguese Government and Catholic Church for prayers today
in Lisbon's synagogue.
Then, speaking before a packed Parliament, President Sampaio
called the expulsion of Portugal's Jews an ''iniquitous
act with deep and disastrous consequences'' for
Portugal, at the time one of Europe's richest and most
powerful nations. He called the action ''a renunciation
of the best we were and had.''
·
New Jewish translations in Portugese such as by Jairo
Fridlin, the editor and publisher of Sefer, Brazil's
foremost publisher of Jewish books of the first complete
Hebrew bible (Tanach),and
the two volume Kitzur Shulchan Aruch by the Chabad-Lubavitch
publishing house
www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/639515/jewish/Landmark-Work-a-First-for-Portuguese-Speaking-Jews.htm
·
Portuguese kosher wine is now available
·
Many marranos we met while in Porto have been to Israel and
have formally converted to Judaism.
·
A big chanukia (similar to the one in Golders Green, London)
is lit each year in the centre of Porto
·
Many communities around the world are now collaborating with
and helping Portuguese Jewry
·
April 19, 2008, will see a ceremony sponsored by the Lisbon
Council to commemorate the 2000 Jews burnt in two enormous
bon fires in the 1506 Jewish massacre in Lisbon. It
will be called the MEMORIAL TO THE VICTIMS OF INTOLERANCE
and include sculpture contributed by the Catholic and Jewish
communities
On Sunday December 17, 2006 at 17h30,
Ladina will hold a public ceremony, lighting the 3rd candle
on a giant three metre(10 feet) Hanukkahia (Menorah) in the
Olival, the old Jewish quarter of Porto, Portugal. It is the
first time since the forced baptism of Portuguese Jews
(Sephardim) in 1497 that such a ceremony has been held in
Portugal even though a great number of Portuguese people are
of Jewish descent. Some historians estimate that
approximately one fifth of Portugal's one million people in
1497 were forcibly converted. These Jews became known as New
Christians or Marranos (ostensible Catholics with Jewish
hearts).
Following the forced baptism, the King
compelled intermarriage between New Christians and Old
Christians so that today a majority of Portugal's population
is a result of that mixture. There is virtually no anti-semitism
in Portugal. Portugal was a safe haven for Jews during the
second world war. According to a recent European Union
survey, Portugal is the least anti-semetic country in the
Union. Jewish values, traditions, and culinary habits
continue to this very day in Portugal. The Catholic church
has lost much of its power, unlike the days of the
Inquisition when prominent Jewish intellectuals, such as
Antonio Homem, chancellor of Coimbra university, head priest
of the cathedral in Coimbra, advisor to the pope, but burned
alive in Lisbon in 1624 for being a secret rabbi! His file
in the national archives occupies more than 1,000 pages.
Recently, following the pioneer work of
Captain Barros Basto who constructed a magnificant synagogue
for Marranos in Porto in 1938 at a time when synagogues were
being burned througout Europe, a Jewish renaissance emerged
in Portugal. Hardly a month goes by without a new book on
Jewish history or culure. The torah was recently translated
into Portuguese for the first time after 500 years.
Portuguese kosher products such as olive oil and wine are
now available for the first time in 500 years. There are
Marrano Returnee communities organized in Porto, Lisbon and
Belmonte. There is a fledging community in the Algarve. For
the first time since the pioneer work of Captain Barros
Basto, the Apostle of the Marranos (see Cecil Roth, the
History of the Marranos), there is a permanent rabbi
(courtesy Shavei Israel) at the Kadoorie Mekor Haim
synagogue in Porto, which the Captain called the Jewish
Cathedral of the North!
For more information in English or
Portuguese please visit the ladina blog at
www.ladina.blogspot.com or contact Manuel Azevedo or Jorge
Neves as below
Ladina-Association of Sephardic
Culture
Rua Nova Da Alfandega, No. 108-1, 4050-431
Porto, Portugal,
(351)222 088 152/ (351) 91 424 1288 (mobile)
www.ladina.blogspot .com
SPAIN
Spain
is seeing a revival in its Jewish heritage. For
example Jews settled in Girona (Gerona) near Barcelona
in the ninth century. It eventually became a
Kabbalah centre and was the home of Rabbi Moses ben
Nahman (Ramban). Till September 15 2008 it
is showcasing its Jewish heritage with a special package
called “The Doors of Remembrance.” which includes
a dramatized walking tour allowing entrée to private
courtyards and gardens. Recently, much of the Call
de Girona has been restored under the supervision of the
Centre which also houses the Jewish History Museum (Museu
d'Història dels Jueus).
There are many internet
sources . Girona (Gerona) where Jews had settled
in the ninth century and eventually became a Kabbalah centre
and the home of
Rabbi Moses ben Nahman (Ramban) now has
a Jewish Museum.
Two Israeli organisations concerned with emerging
communities are
Shavei Israel and Kulanu
Shavei Israel,
(Hebrew:
שבי
ישראל,
Israel returns) was founded by Michael Freund in 2004
comprising academics, educators and rabbonim whose main
goal is to locate "lost Jews" and assist them in
returning (Hebrew "teshuva"
תשובה)
to Judaism. It is involved with emerging
communities in Spain, Portugal, South and Central
America and Mexico, It sponsors rabbis and teachers
worldwide. Rabbis are currently posted in Palma de
Mallorca, Spain, Porto in northern Portugal, Brazil, and
at the Shavei Israel Hebrew Centers in Mizoram and
Manipur, North-East India. Machon Miriam, is the only
Spanish-language conversion and return institute in
Jerusalem from which crypto-Jews graduate each year and
proceed to formal conversion by Israel’s Chief
Rabbinate. It helps converts to Judaism make Aliyah.
Books on Judaism have been published in a dozen
languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Mizo, Spanish,
French, Portuguese, Russian and German. Plans are also
underway to send rabbis to the remaining Subbotnik
communities in Russia..
Kulanu
is also dedicated to finding and assisting lost and
dispersed remnants of the Jewish people. For their
newsletters go to
www.kulanu.org/newsletters/