Who is a Portuguese Jew?

By ©Inacio Steinhardt

Saturday, May 21, 2005


 

I have been interested in the history of the Jews in Portugal since my childhood and particularly in the crypto-Jews of Portugal since the 1950s;"

But then this statement would raise another question: "What KIND of Portuguese Jew am I? Who is really A PORTUGUESE JEW?"

I was born in Portugal.

I have always been a proud Jew and a patriotic Portuguese without prejudice of being also a committed Zionist and a patriotic Israeli. My parents where Ashkenazis, immigrants from East Europe. I am a Portuguese of first generation.

What would Lopes Cardozo of New York, or Vaz Dias of Haifa--or so many others in the Old and New World who descend from the ancient, vigorous Jewish population of Portugal that came to such an abrupt end with the forced conversion of 1497--say to this?

They would probably say that a "tedesco" - the name they apply to Ashkenazi Jews - is not entitled to the honourous title of Portuguese Jew. And they would probably be right.

. And for that matter, Rufina from South Africa, and Helio Cordeiro from Sao Paulo, they see themselves the remnants of the crypto-Jews, that defied the Inquisitions and maintained their Jewish traditions in the secret of their homes for more than 500 years. Aren't they more Portuguese Jews than me?

And my friends in the villages of the Northeast of Portugal, Francisco Gaspar in Rebordelo, Moises Abrantes in Fundao, Alipio Diogo Henriques in Belmonte, Olivia Rodrigues from Vilarinho dos Galegos, to mention just a few who are pointed by their neighbors as "judeus".

And the other Lopes Cardoso's, and Almeida Santos, and Graca Moura, and the Navarro's and the Espirito Santo's, well-known names of the Portuguese society, to whom the taunt of "judeu" is applied from time to time as a stigma by their detractors. Aren't they Portuguese Jews?

Who else? According to some estimations, based in reliable sources, the Jewish population of Portugal in 1497, amounted to about 200,000 persons, in a total of 1,000,000 Portuguese. One of each 5 Portuguese was a Jew. The number of those who escaped the forced conversion was about 5,000.

No wonder then the reaction of my ancient schoolmates, whom I met for dinner, on my first visit to Portugal after making aliah. When I told them that I was on a research trip to the "marrano belt" in the North, almost every one of them invited me to start in his home...

Without reaching any conclusion on the degree of "Portugueseness" of my Jewish identity, the fact that I was born in such a small community of mainstream Jews - what we used to call "golah betoh golah," a "Diaspora inside the Diaspora"- contributed largely for the challenge I found in learning more about the hidden reality of the Portuguese Judaism, something that we didn't learn in our normal school curriculum.

On the way the Divine Providence found to introduce me to the first crypto-Jews, click here for«My First Encounter»

 

Bibliography:

(click on title for more details)

The Portuguese Jews of Jamaica

By Mordechai Arbell

"A large part of the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 sought refuge in other Mediterranean lands..."

 

Prayers For The Festivals: According to the Custom of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews

 

A Treasury of Sephardic Laws and Customs: The Ritual Practices of Syrian, Moroccan, Judeo-Spanish and Spanish and Portuguese Jews of North America

by Herbert C. Dobrinsky

 

Reluctant Cosmopolitans: The Portuguese Jews Of Seventeenth-century Amsterdam by Daniel M. Swetschinski

 

500 Years in the Jewish Caribbean: The Spanish and Portuguese Jews in the West Indies

by Harry A. Ezratty

 

Spanish and Portuguese Jews in the Caribbean and the Guianas: A Bibliography

by Mordechai Arbell, Dennis Channing Landis, Ann Phelps Barry, and John Carter Brown Library

 

Minhath Shelomo : a commentary on the Book of prayer of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews

by Solomon Gaon

 

David Nieto: Haham of the Spanish & Portuguese Jews' Congregation Kahal Kados Sahar Asamaim, London, 1701-1728

by Israel Solomons

 

Portuguese Jews in Jacobean London

by Edgar Roy Samuel

 

Los djudios de Espanya i Portugal en la filatelia mundial =: The Spanish and Portuguese Jews in the postage stamps

by Mordehay Arbell

 

A discourse delivered in the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Synagogue: In Bevis Marks, on the second day of Passover, in the year 5602

by Louis Loewe

 

Address delivered to the Jewish working men at the Spanish & Portuguese Jews' school-room, on 26th Sebat, 5633 (Sunday, 23rd February, 1873)

by Serjeant Simon

 

History of the ancient synagogue of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, the cathedral synagogue of the Jews in England, situate in Bevis Marks: A memorial ... anniversary of its inauguration, 1701-1901

by Moses Gaster

 

Ascamot

by Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation (London, England)

 

Qedoshim Tiheyu: A discourse delivered in the Spanish & Portuguese Jews' Synagogue in Bevis Marks, on the day of the funeral of H.R.H. Prince Augustus ... (4th Iyar, 5603, A.M. - 4th May, 1843)

by Louis Loewe

 

The last Crypto-Jews of Portugal
by David Augusto Canelo



Passover and Pentecost service;: With former translations carefully compared (The Form of prayers according to the custom of Spanish and Portuguese Jews)

by Isaac Leeser

 

Historical record of the Withington Congregation of Spanish and Portuguese Jews;: 5664-5689, 1904-1929

by Joseph Pereira-Mendoza

 

Ode in honour of H.R.H. The Duchess of Albany,: On the occasion of her opening the new Spanish and Portuguese Jews Congregational Schools, February 10th, 1897

by Reginald Henry

 

The ancient melodies of the liturgy of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews

by Emanuel Abraham Aguilar

 

The divine judgments improved: Being a discourse delivered at the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Synagogue, Bevis Marks, on the Penitential Sabbath, 6th. Tishri, 5610

by David Meldola

 

The Mitsvot of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation, London (Sha°ar Hashamayim): A guide for Parnasim,

by G. H Whitehill

 

Studies on the History of Portuguese Jews from Their Expulsion in 1497 Through Their Dispersion

by Israel J. Katz and M. Serels

 

Ben-Rosh: Biografia do Capitão Barros Basto, o apóstolo dos marranos  
by Elvira Azevedo Mea and Inácio Steinhardt

 

Ben-Rosh

de Elvira Cunha Azevedo Mea e Inácio Steinhardt

 

A Fé da Lembrança - Labirintos Marranos

de Nathan Wachtel

História dos Marranos

de Vários

 

Cristãos-Novos Judeus e Os Novos Argonautas

de António Borges Coelho

 

Clérigos, Mercadores, «Judeus» e Fidalgos

de António Borges Coelho,

 

A Opção dos Judeus

de Jean Jacques Servan Schreiber

 

Os Judeus Sefarditas entre Portugal, Espanha e Marrocos

de Vários

 

Judeus e Cristãos-Novos de Cochim

de Vários

 

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