I’m writing this during a trip with Becky through Portugal. As a Jew, experiencing this beautiful country with its rich history and culture, and bursting with gastronomic delight, one is struck by the absence of anything Judaic. Despite having one of the largest Jewish populations in Europe in the 15th century, there is scant evidence of that legacy today. Though the Inquisition began ambivalently in Portugal — the Portuguese king “only” mandated forced conversions of Jews rather than their expulsion in contrast to the Spanish expulsion in 1492. By 1536, as the Inquisition gained steam and trials of crypto-Jews (outwardly Christian, privately Jewish) became common, most Jews fled to regions more amenable to their presence. The Inquisition was finally and officially terminated in 1821!
Unlike elsewhere in Europe, and even Morocco, synagogues were destroyed, graveyards were covered over, and Jewish quarters of walled cities eradicated. Only hints of a Jewish presence remain. Our guides only occasionally pointed out a street, a stairway, a plaque indicating where the Jewish neighborhood once existed.
Notably, a small group of Jews hid from the Inquisitors and lived in the Belmonte region for 400 years, only reconnecting with world Jewry in the 20th century. Today, many Jews have returned to the region and there are small synagogues in Porto and Lisbon.
Before the expulsion of its Jews, Portugal was one of the world’s largest 15th and 16th century colonial powers. Among the iconic symbols from that era is a metalwork globe reflecting a world divided in half. In 1494, a Papal treaty between Spain and Portugal divided their current and future claims to the world. Hence, Brazilians speak Portuguese, and Argentinians Spanish. Macao, Angola, Goa have ties to Portugal while Spanish is spoken in the Philippines. Subsequently, of all the slave trading nations, Portugal brought the most Africans to the New World in bondage. 5.8 million as compared to Great Britain, the next highest nation at 3.8 million. Surely, beyond the Inquisition, another dark stain on Portuguese history.
In our era, Portugal prides itself on its relative neutrality. It should be noted that while Spain has staked a distinctly anti-Israel position and protests and graffiti reflecting that are common, Portugal is relatively reserved on that account.
If there is a pattern that becomes apparent across the centuries, those countries who have mistreated their Jews have not fared well. Portugal’s colonial power was greatly diminished with the expulsion of Jews, as was Spain’s. Germany’s rise to power today is reflective of its astounding reversal from the darkness of the 1930s and 40s as it has become a country that embraces and nurtures its Jewish inhabitants. Iran is another case in point. Interestingly, though Jewish communities suffered greatly during times of oppression, the Jewish people as a whole gained resilience and inevitably rebounded even more strongly.
This is an important insight for us as we are facing outbreaks of antisemitism throughout the world. First and foremost, we have been through worse and because of that our cultural resilience is astounding. And secondly, Jewish repression does not rebound positively for the oppressors. Clearly there’s an inverse relationship between Jewish oppression and national achievement. It seems that this historic truth is lost on those who find us intolerable today—but as people who carry history within our souls, we are well prepared to resist whatever may come with the strength of thousands of years of history and the awareness that ultimately the pendulum swings in a better direction.
— Rabbi Ron Stern