Jewish community emerges from hiding in Portugal after 500 years
BELMONTE, Portugal, April 15 (AFP) – More than five centuries after the start of the Inquisition, a small Jewish community in a northern mountain town in Portugal is slowly emerging from years of secret observance of its faith.
The 180 Jews who live in Belmonte, a town of granite-walled houses of 3,500 people less than 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Spanish border, opened a new synagogue — the first since the 15th century — eight years ago.
Last week the community, which only began producing kosher wine and olive oil in 2004, formed an association of kosher food producers, yet the town’s Jews are still reserved when questioned about their religion by outsiders.
“The Inquisition ended but the fear stayed behind,” the vice-president of the community, Jose Henriques, said as he stood by a synagogue window which provides a sweeping view of the surrounding mountains.
When Spain’s zealous Roman Catholic rulers in 1492 launched the Inquisition, which aimed to expel or forcibly convert to Christianity all Jews and other non-believers in the country, thousands crossed the border into Portugal and many settled in remote towns like Belmonte.
Portuguese Jews from large cities started to flock to the region five years later when Lisbon — under pressure from Spain — gave Jews the choice to either leave the country or convert.
Some historians estimate that 20 percent of Portugal’s population, or 200,000 people, were Jewish before the start of the Inquisition.
Many were successful traders and scientists, and such was the visibility of Portugal’s Jews in international markets that the term “Portuguese” was synonymous with “Jews” at the time.
Today there are roughly 3,000 Jews in Portugal, including those in Belmonte, according to the 2001 census. Most are concentrated in Lisbon and the majority came to the country after the Inquisition was officially abolished in 1821.
Hundreds of Jews were tortured or burned at the stake in Portugal after being accused by church tribunals of being heretics during the 16th and early 17th century.
Many Jews who stayed in the country and continued to secretly practice their faith in hiding while publicly proclaiming to be Christians eventually gave up their religion.
But not in Belmonte.
“The community was stronger here, more persistent, it did not give in,” said David Canelo, a history teacher from Belmonte who was written a book about the town’s Jewish community.
Throughout the years Jews in Belmonte married mostly among themselves and they found ways to carry out their rituals in hiding.
The practice of circumcision was abandoned and objects like menorahs used in Jewish rituals disappeared.
The Sabbath lamp, which is traditionally lit every Friday, was placed at the bottom of clay jars so that the light could not be seen from the outside.
Celebrations that would attract attention, like Hanukkah, were dropped and the ritual killings of lambs and cattle were no longer publicly performed.
It was only after a military coup toppled a repressive right-wing dictatorship which had ruled Portugal for nearly five decades in 1974 did Jews in Belmonte gradually start to observe their faith openly once again, Henriques said.
Jews formed an official organization in 1989 and the first full-time rabbi came to the town one year later who led the Jewish remarriage of dozens of couples and oversaw the circumcision of men as old as 79.
In recent years the restoration of Jewish practices has enjoyed the support of local officials, who are keen to protect the heritage of the town as well as develop the tourist potential of the Jewish presence in the region.
The local tourist office offers maps with suggested itineraries that highlight Jewish points of interest in the region and on Sunday the mayor of Belmonte will officially open a new museum dedicated to the history of Judaism in the town.
The three-story museum, which cost over one million euros (1.3 million dollars), is the first in Portugal dedicated to Jewish history.
“This is the only part of the world where Christians are doing all they can to recoup Jewish heritage,” said Jorge Patrao, the president of the Serra da Estrela tourist association which covers the town of Belmonte.