Update: First Passover Seder on Portuguese island of Madeira
Danby and Dr. Marvin Meital outside the synagogue in Madeira
Two weeks ago, we told you about Jerusalem residents Danby and Dr. Marvin Meital who, with Shavei Israel’s help, organized the first Passover Seder in centuries on the Portuguese island of Madeira. Our original story is here.
Well, the article went viral: it was picked up by newspapers and websites around the world and became the basis for a 3-page in-depth piece that appeared on the front page of the main newspaper in Lisbon, Portugal’s capital.
The result: “as soon as we arrived in Madeira at noon on Monday, the day of the Seder, we were overwhelmed with phone calls,” Danby Meital tells us, excitedly. “The phone didn’t stop ringing until 6:00 PM,” just before the holiday, and participation in the Meital’s Seder increased by more than 50%, with 20 people attending in the end, compared with the original 13 expected. Response was so positive, in fact, that the group met a second time for a meal during the Shabbat of Pesach.
Along the way, the Meitals made a number of beguiling discoveries about Jewish life – past and present – in this far-flung island community, some 600 miles from the European continent and 300 miles away from Africa.
Perhaps the most exciting was when the Meitals were given exclusive access to what was once the only synagogue in Funchal, the capital of Madeira. The building where the synagogue once stood today houses an interior design firm on the main floor. Upstairs is a dusty, decrepit warehouse, the only sign of its former Jewish glory a Star of David in a window, as you can see in the picture to the right. A third floor may have served as the rabbi’s quarters and a student apartment in later years, Danby speculates.
Star of David in window as seen from inside the old synagogue
The status of the synagogue is controversial. While the local government is officially supposed to protect religious sites, Danby explains, the owners of the building have an interest in ensuring its history is forgotten; they wish to tear it down to build a modern hostel.
A similar story of neglect surrounds the Jewish cemetery in Madeira, which the Meitals attempted to visit but could not. As Danby describes it, “the key to the cemetery doesn’t seem to exist anywhere.” Indeed, the last time someone ventured inside the locked doors was two years ago, when the Israeli ambassador to Portugal came to see what could be done to preserve the aging facility, which was established in 1851 and is perched on the edge of a cliff; some graves have even fallen into the sea.
“They thought about moving it to a different location,” Danby explains. But when none could be agreed upon, “the doors were relocked and that’s how it remains until today.” The delicate nature of maintaining old Jewish cemeteries in Europe was the subject of a JTA article just this last week.
Ancient cemeteries and synagogues notwithstanding, the Meital’s Seder was filled with a very modern exuberance. For most of the participants – all except one live on the island itself, and many are Bnei Anousim (descendants of Jews who were forcibly converted to Catholicism 500 years ago) – it was not just the first Seder in Madeira in centuries, but their first Seder ever.
The Meitals sprung into educational action. “We taught the women the blessing on lighting the candles on the night of the holiday and Shabbat,” Danby says. “The children learned how to sing ma nishtanah [from the Haggadah]. We also adopted the traditional Moroccan custom where, when we sing dayenu, everyone takes these long leeks and hits them on the table! When we said the hamotzei [the blessing over the matza], you couldn’t believe the reactions, the lights in their eyes.”
The Meitals had printed out Haggadot in Hebrew and Portuguese to use during the Seder, which they brought along with a few of Shavei Israel’s own leather-bound Hebrew and Portuguese Haggadot. Also on hand: several kippot (skullcaps) bearing the logo of Shavei Israel for the men to wear.
During the Seder, Marvin read a passage from the Book of Exodus (12:3-4) about how each household of Israelites would sacrifice a lamb. Exodus explains that a “household” could consist of more than one family. “So I told them that, by the very fact that we are here tonight celebrating the Seder together, we have become a family,” he explains. “On that basis, when we then got together again on Friday night for Shabbat, I decided to bless the children as if they were my own.” [There is a custom on Shabbat night that parents recite the priestly blessing over their children.] “There were 7 children all together. I was like the pater familias,” Marvin laughs, switching from Portuguese to ancient Latin.
The Meitals brought with them gefilte fish, powdered chicken soup mix and matza flour to make matza balls from Israel. All the fruit and vegetables, as well as the main course of salmon steaks, were bought locally and prepared in the Danby’s hotel room. Shmura matza (specially prepared matza for the Seder) was flown in from the Jewish community in Lisbon.
How did they stretch supplies originally intended for just 13 participants at a single Seder to two full meals (with that surprise Shabbat) and a table of 20 – hungry for both spiritual and physical nourishment? “Well, Marvin and I lost 3 kilos each!” Danby quips, indicating that she ensured their guests had enough to eat. The hotel, moreover, went out of its way to help, providing the Meitals with all new dishes and silverware for Shabbat, in addition to the brand new pots and pans already supplied.
The Bnei Anousim who met the Meitals in Madeira are very private, Danby and Marvin emphasize. So, in the photo gallery, which you can find here, we’ve been careful not to show any identifying information. But behind the hidden faces, a potential revival in Jewish identity on the island of Madeira may be brewing. Such is the power of Passover – to instill in participants the feeling that they too were present and delivered from bondage in both real and metaphorical Egypt. For the 20 Seder-goers last week, “in every generation” became tantalizingly tangible.
If you’ll be in Israel during April, the Meitals will be giving a presentation, open to the public, on their experience in Madeira later in the month. Please contact us for details on where and when.