YOM KIPPUR-Day of Atonement
 
DO WE ALWAYS HAVE TO FORGIVE?
R. Leo Michel Abrami

We are constantly admonished to forgive the person who has wronged us. Some prominent religious leaders invoke theological principles to support the view that we should forgive criminals and psychotherapists think it is just as important to free the victims from the trauma caused by the offense.What about the victims? Can they automatically forgive what was done to
them? Can the survivors of the Concentration Camps forgive those who
murdered the members of their family and their community even after they
were told it would be a noble gesture to do? This query is at the heart of a
book of memoirs which was written by Simon Wiesenthal under the title "The
Sunflower".  Actually, the author addresses this question to all of us: Should
we forgive the Nazis for what they did to the millions of innocent children,
women and men whom they murdered during World War II?
Wiesenthal tells us that while he was an inmate at the Lemberg Concentration
Camp in 1943, he was summoned by a nurse to the bedside of a dying Nazi
who asked him for forgiveness for the horrendous crimes he perpetrated. He
had murdered 300 Jews by setting ablaze the building in which they were
living. As the Jews were leaping out of windows in an attempt to escape the
burning building, he gunned them down. The Nazi was now begging Wiesenthal, a representative of the Jewish people, to accept his last moment remorse, so that he might die with a peaceful
conscience; but Wiesenthal could not find the will to forgive the Nazi and he
remained silent. In his own words, he says:
Was my silence at the bedside of the dying Nazi right or wrong? This is a
profound moral question that challenges the conscience of the reader of this
episode, just as much as it once challenged my heart and mind. There are
those who can appreciate my dilemma... and there are others who will be
ready to condemn me for refusing to ease the last moment of a repentant
murderer. Forgetting is something that time alone can take care of, but
forgiveness is an act of volition, and only the person who suffered is qualified
to make the decision.
The author concludes his account by asking the reader:
What would you have done if you had been in my place?
That question was addressed to fifty-three noted thinkers of different faiths,
including the Dalai Lama, and their responses were published in an
additional volume “On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness.”
By examining the various responses, one becomes immediately aware of
some significant differences between Jewish and Christian authors. The
Jewish respondents thought Wiesenthal had his reasons for remaining silent,
while the Christian respondents felt the Nazi murderer should have been
forgiven. Dennis Prager, one of the respondents, explains that this difference of
opinion is not surprising; it follows well-defined religious principles in the
two respective faiths. Indeed, Christian theologians believe that we must forgive every one without
pre-condition.

There is only one exception to this general rule that is
explicitly mentioned in the New Testament and another one which was carried out by the Church through the centuries. The first one applies to theperson who rejects God or the Holy Spirit. The New Testament regards this offense as an 'unforgivable sin.' In the words of the evangelist Mark:
“I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven
them. But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have
forgiveness, for he is guilty of an everlasting sin." (Mark 3:28-30)
This principle is restated by the evangelist Matthew in almost similar terms:
“Therefore, I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but
blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word
against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the holy
Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” (Mat.
12:31)
We must mention at this point that many Christians have struggled to
reconcile this affirmation with the belief in the infinite love and mercy of a
compassionate God. The other ‘unforgivable sin’ has been part of the teachings of the Church
Fathers and adhered to for centuries: it is the sin that the Jewish people
would have committed by not accepting Jesus as the Messiah and for being
responsible for his death. It ignores, of course, the fact that all those who
followed Jesus in his days, were Jews. However, for centuries, the Jewish
people has been blamed and persecuted for the death of Jesus at the hands of
the Romans. This accusation bore all the characteristics of an unforgivable
sin.

It behooves us, however, to state here that the Roman Catholic Church made
an historic decision at the Vatican II Ecumenical Council in 1965, a decision which was reaffirmed by Pope Benedict XVI3 two years ago: the Jewish people should not be held responsible for the death of Jesus Christ or as historians put it, they should not be held guilty of the sin of deicide. In spite of this radical change of attitude, the PEW Research Center still assessed that 26% of all Americans believe that Jews were responsible, a percentage that rose to 36% after the showing of Mel Gibson’s film “The
Passion of the Christ” a few years ago. In contradistinction, Jewish religious authorities, have always taught that God is willing to forgive all the sins which are committed against Him, even by those who deny His very existence. This principle is clearly stated in the affirmation we read at the onset of the Yom Kippur service:
“For sins against God, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) brings
forgiveness. For sins against one's neighbor, the Day of Atonement brings no
forgiveness until one has become reconciled with one's neighbor (or will
regain the good will of his friend.)”

Isn't that ironic? The Mishnah holds that God absolves all of our sins against Him, but not the offenses committed against our fellow human beings, until we have sought reconciliation with them and made peace with them! The contrast is stark. Indeed, Jewish teachings are unmistakably clear: all sins committed against God are forgiven, only the sins committed against our fellow human beings require that we seek reconciliation with them.You may ask: Shouldn't the offense against a mere creature, rank lower than an affront against God, who is Our Creator and Master? Why is then God forgiving any sin against Him but not forgiving those that were committed against humans?

The position of Judaism is that only those who have been wronged can forgive. Only those who have suffered from the consequences of an offense that was perpetrated against them, are entitled to forgive. A change of heart on the part of the offender and a reconciliation between the transgressor and
his victim, will ultimately earn them forgiveness. For God cannot forgive an offender as long as his victim is suffering from the consequences of the offense. How should we then approach the challenging question raised by Wiesenthal in his book?

As we have seen, it is not just a moral issue, pertaining to what is right or wrong; the issue is not whether or not inmate Wiesenthal should have forgiven, but whether or not he had the power to forgive for other people. Perhaps his response could have been:
"I am not able to speak on behalf of all those who have been murdered."

Only the victims can forgive the aggressors who committed crimes against them. “It is,” writes Dennis Prager, “as if these sins fell outside of God's jurisdiction, so to speak. For God has handed over to us the responsibility to make peace with our fellow human beings and to forgive them the evil acts
they committed against us, when they gave us signs of contrition and true remorse.”

Significant differences in theological teachings, thus explain why some would have been willing to forgive the Nazis for their gruesome crimes and others have remained silent. We have all been the witnesses of the way people reacted to the horrific killings of innocent people in schools and other public places. We saw the same difference of opinions in our country in the last few years.
“The bodies of the three teen-age girls shot dead by a student at Heath High School in West Paducah, Ky., were not yet cold, before some of their schoolmates hung a sign announcing, “We forgive you, Mike!” They were referring to Michael Carneal, 14, the murderer.” A preacher at a Martha’s Vineyard church attended by vacationing President Clinton announced that the duty of all believers was to forgive Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber who murdered 168 Americans. “I ask each of you to look at a picture of Timothy McVeigh and forgive him” said the Rev. John Miller. Other believers stated that Cho Seung-Hui who murdered a number of students and a professor at Virginia Tech a few years ago, should be “lovingly remembered just like the rest of the victims.” Some preachers also stated that they had forgiven the murderers who perpetrated massacres at the Columbine High School in Colorado and the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut. My friends, an offender cannot be forgiven automatically. “Forgiveness must be a decision taken with all our faculties and we cannot just overlook our best judgment, no matter what others may think about us” wrote Dr Laura Schlesinger. The victims of sexual abuse and rape are the only ones who can forgive the offender. They are the ones who are suffering from the consequences of the aggression. No one can grant forgiveness for someone else and we may add that the victim is not required to forgive unless the aggressor had a real change of heart. Dr Laura is quite adamant about this matter. “You should not forgive an offender until he/she has earned the potential for forgiveness.” She goes on
enumerating four requirements for meaningful forgiveness.

. Responsibility. The perpetrators need to take complete responsibility for
what they have done. They should not blame the evil action on anyone else,
their childhood, bullying or a sun spot. If it was their own decision, they
must take full responsibility for their actions.
. Remorse. The perpetrator must be truly remorseful. Many criminals only
feel bad because they were caught or had to suffer the consequences of their
offenses, however, that's not true remorse. The victim must be convinced that
the offender is truly sincere.
. Repair. The perpetrator must do whatever it takes to repair the damage.
Some damage cannot be repaired especially when the victim is dead.
. Repetition. The perpetrator must take whatever steps may be needed so that
this action is never repeated.

Unfortunately, the criminal mind is not easily reformed; many sex offenders and other criminals tend to relapse into their pattern of crime. And that is why the civilian and legal authorities must intervene in all these cases, because the ecclesiastical ones do not have the power or the willingness to punish the criminals and thereby protect society from their evil deeds.

“Forgiveness comes from within. It is not something that can be imposed by
others. Either you can do it or you can’t. If you cannot, don’t think that you
are a bad person or that you failed in some way. In many cases, forgiveness is
not possible. You may learn not to despise the perpetrator, but saying you
forgive can be a hollow statement, if that is not what you truly feel.
Don’t give in to peer pressure. Don’t say you forgive someone, when you
don’t. It won’t make your life easier. On the contrary, when someone asks
you to forgive, it is not to make your life more bearable, it is to make the
person pressuring you, feel better.”

For some people, forgiving is a way of freeing themselves, and it acts as a catalyst for healing. However, others can’t bring themselves to forgive as they don’t feel that it will bring them any relief. Such people are being honest about their true feelings, and honesty in feeling is the best policy.
With time you may find it in your heart to forgive, or you may not. As you work through your healing process you find the things that bring peace and light into your life. How you feel is how you feel, and no one can dictate that to you no matter how hard he or she tries. Your heart is your own. Your spirit
is your own. Your growth is your own. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, argued, ‘‘No one can forgive crimes which were committed against other people. It is therefore preposterous to assume that anybody alive can extend forgiveness for the suffering of any one of the six million people who perished.
According to Jewish tradition, even God Himself can only forgive sins committed against Himself, not against human beings.” Lutheran theologian Martin Marty appeared to struggle with his belief that
forgiveness should be appropriate, because he did not want it to be ‘‘cheap grace,’’ to minimize the offense, or promote the forgetting of the offense. Despite his reservations, however, Marty responded, ‘‘My answer would be that in every circumstance that I can picture, more value would grow out of forgiveness than out if its withholding.’’
His religious convictions eventually led him to the opinion that he would forgive. However, forgiveness is not something that can be granted automatically. Take for example the victims of sex crimes. Though some seem to have found a way to move forward in life, forgiveness eludes them. They may have made a concerted effort to set aside the sequels of the aggression, it is always present. This is what many religious dignitaries did not understand or have been been tempted to cover up on occasion in order to defend the honor of the religious denomination they represented. All these considerations have little to do with the hatred of those who have done evil. It is the result of indoctrination and the way people have been programmed to believe.
When Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach was asked why he went to Austria and Germany to give concerts. “Why are you doing this? Don’t you hate them after what they did to the Jewish people?”
Reb Shlomo answered, “If I had two souls, I’d devote one to hating them. But since I have only one, I don’t want to waste it on hating.”
That is indeed the first step of a possible reconciliation. The next step will be the true repentance of the offender, For sins against one's neighbor, the Day of Atonement brings no forgiveness
until one has become reconciled with one's neighbor (or in an alternative
translation ‘will regain the good will of his friend.’)”

THE MYTH OF THE MARRANO NAMES
by professor Anita Novinsky,
University of São Paulo

http://historia.fflch.usp.br/sites/historia.fflch.usp.br/files/THE%20MYTH%20OF%20THE%20MARRANO%20NAMES.pdf

"The romantic historiography about the Marranos and Marranism created
a series of myths in relation to the names adopted by the Jews during and
after their forced conversion in 1497 in Portugal......."

Text published in " Revue des Études Juives"
Juillet-décembre 2006

CARLOS FARINHA  

(All paintings are acrylic on canvas unless otherwise stated. All prices are in euros net of shipping costs. For more information contact, ladina.sefarad@gmail.com or the artist.)

Carlos Farinha, forty-two years old, started painting when his family returned to Portugal from France at the age of  fifteen.  He is the son of José Antonio Ribeiro Farinha  and  Maria do Carmo Rosa Lourenço, who live in the village of Maxiais, province of  Beirã, near the city of Castelo Branco, home of the renowned  New Christian Jewish doctor Amato Lusitano (1511-1568).  His mother continues the traditional New Christian occupation of weaver.

Carlos has worked full time as a painter since 2007. He was won many prizes for his work. Inspired by Chagall and Anglo-Lusa painter Paula Rego, he describes his work as the “world at his bedside”.  When he was nineteen, future Nobel prize winner Jose Saramago purchased two of his paintings. His next exhibition is in Paris in the fall of 2013 and Brussels in 2014.

SANDSTORM

(50 x150 cm (19.7 x 59.1) 2011  1,500 )

KING KONG

(195 x 150 cm (76.8 x 59.1)  2013 oil on canvas 4,000)

MAKING SUNS

(60 x 30 cm (23.6 x 11.8)  2013  650) 

I AM OR I AM NOT

(50 x 50 (19.7 x 19.7) 2012  650)

The Last Marranos

Portugal Passes Law of Return 500 years after forced baptism

(what does it all mean?)

by mlopesazevedo

       In 1492, on the 9^th of Tisha B'Av, all Jews were expelled from Spain. Four years later, on December 4, 1496 king Manuel of Portugal ordered all Jews to leave Portugal, but in 1497, in an about face, the king ordered all Jews forcibly baptized; only about 60 were allowed to leave the country. The king promised the newly converted Jews that there would be no inquiries as to their private religious practices for 20 years and no inquisition. This, in the late professor Yerushalmi's view, created a distinct group of modern Jews, outwardly Catholics but inwardly Jews, Jews in their hearts. Portugal's secret Jews became know as New Christians or Marranos.

      For almost 300 years the secret Jews of Portugal who did not flee the country were terrorized by state and Church, imprisoned, tortured, and burned alive. Their houses, land and assets were seized by the Inquisition. Families were torn apart. There are over 45,000 Inquisition files in the “Torro de Tombo”, Portugal's national archives, mostly of charges against New Christians for Judaizing. Like the Nazis, the Holy Roman Apostolic Catholic Church kept meticulous records, a blessing in disguise. Now Historians can minutely research the lives of thousands of New Christian Jews.

      The New Christians resisted. Many continued to secretly adhere to the essential rituals of Judaism, observing Shabbat and dietary laws, celebrating the high holidays, reciting prayers and fasting on Tuesdays and Thursdays; obviously circumcision was discontinued. Books were prohibited but they were smuggled into the country. Sometimes New Christian “rabbis” travelled to communities in the diaspora for instruction, such as the case of Domingos de Oliveira the barber of Carção near Bragança, who on the pretext of travelling to Rome to get permission to marry his cousin, went to the well established Portuguese Jewish community of Livorno for religious instruction. When he returned home, he formed an “irmandade” which built a chapel and conducted “dry” mass. The resistance to the Inquisition continued to the 20^th century as the now famous secret community of Belmonte attests.

     Now, after more than 500 years, the Portuguese national Assembly unanimously passed a law permitting any descendant of forcibly baptized Portuguese Jews to regain Portuguese citizenship. Although the maxim of “justice delayed is justice denied' is apposite, the dramatic action by the national government is yet another step in the long overdue recognition of Portugal's Jewish heritage.

      In 1989, then president Mário Soares apologized for the Inquisition. On the 4^th of December 1996, the National Assembly revoked the 1496 Edict of Expulsion. And last year, Captain Barros Basto, the “Portuguese Dreyfus” was finally rehabilitated by a unanimous vote in the National Assembly after being condemned for leading a Marrano revival in northern Portugal in the 1930's. In 1938, the year of Kristallnacht, the Captain completed the Kadoorie Mekhor Haim synagogue in Porto, one of the largest synagogues in Europe, still standing. Finally, he and Aristides Sousa Mendes who saved many more Jews than Schindler during World War II are now being recognized for the heroes that they are.

      What is happening in Portugal? Is the new law of return just a ploy to entice Jews to invest in Portugal at a time of crisis, as some suggest? For almost 500 years the subject of Portuguese Jewishness has been taboo in Portugal; almost like the Mafia law of “Omerta”, imposing its law of silence on every aspect of society, it's not discussed, it's not taught in schools, better to pretend it does not exist. There are no national museums of Judaism or the Inquisition, and until recently there were no local Jewish museums either. 

     The persecution of Jews is a a dark stain on Portuguese history. Its consequences are imbued in the psyche of every Portuguese person as the distinguished professor and essayist Eduardo Lourenço, resident in France observes, “The Inquisition is the most present, obsessive and enigmatic episode of our collective life”. But things are changing.

      Although the “official” version of Portuguese history ignores the Semitic roots of its people and the great contribution of Jews to Portuguese culture, memory and history are combining to create a new societal dynamic in Portugal, one that remembers, values, and cherishes its Jewish past. Five hundred years is a long time, but not long enough to eradicate collective memory, to completely destroy the roots of a vibrant foundation.

      Until 1496, Portugal was a tolerant country where the people of the three books lived side by side in relative harmony. Jews have lived in Portugal before the country even existed. Portugal's first treasurer under King Afonso in the 12^th century as the chief rabbi Ben Yahia, a tradition that continued for hundreds of years. In the medieval period every king and queen in Europe wanted a Portuguese doctor, Jewish of course. In the 17^th century the “men of the nation” dominated trade and commerce in the Mediterranean; “Portuguese merchant” was a euphemism for being Jewish.

      The enshrining of the law of return in Portuguese law is another step in the awakening of Jewish memory in Portugal. It may also attract new immigration and capital which is sorely needed. It could help create a Jewish civil life for the remnants of the Jewish people, which in Portugal encompasses a great part of the population, DNA studies notwithstanding. After all, any taxi driver in Lisbon will tell you that most Portuguese people have a Jewish “rib”, and that the popular dish “alheira” is Jewish food. I rest my case.

 Alheira

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"This article deals with the Portuguese sausage."

Fried alheira from Mirandela

The alheira (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐˈʎɐjɾɐ]) is a type of Portuguese sausage, made with meats other than pork (usually veal, duck, chicken, quail or rabbit) and bread.

Although its name derives from the Portuguese word for garlic (alho) and was once used to describe any sausage seasoned with it, present-day alheiras don't necessarily contain garlic (although it is still a common ingredient).

The type of sausage currently known as "alheira" was invented by the Jews of Portugal, who were forced to convert to Christianity, as a way to deceive the Portuguese Inquisition. Since their religion didn't allow them to eat pork, they were easily identifiable by the fact that they didn't hang sausages in their smokehouses (fumeiros in Portuguese). As a cover, they replaced pork with a large variety of other meats, such as poultry and game, which would then be mixed with bread for texture. This recipe would later spread amongst Christians, who added the ever-present pork to it."

 Na raîz do Aristides — em Cabanas de Viriato, Viseu

(Installation by Eric Moed. Photos by Elisabete Pires Monteiro-July 13, 2013) 
 

CARLOS FARINHA, The Portuguese Chagall

Carlos Farinha, forty-two years old, started painting when his family returned to Portugal from France at the age of  fifteen.  He is the son of José Antonio Ribeiro Farinha  and  Maria do Carmo Rosa Lourenço, who live in the village of Maxiais, province of  Beirã, near the city of Castelo Branco, home of the renowned  New Christian Jewish doctor Amato Lusitano (1511-1568).  His mother continues the traditional New Christian occupation of weaver.

Carlos has worked full time as a painter since 2007. He was won many prizes for his work. Inspired by Chagall and Anglo-Lusa painter Paula Rego, he describes his work as the “world at his bedside”.  When he was nineteen, future Nobel prize winner Jose Saramago purchased two of his paintings. His next exhibition is in Paris in the fall of 2013 and Brussels in 2014.

CARLOS FARINHA  

(All paintings are acrylic on canvas unless otherwise stated. All prices are in euros net of shipping costs. For more information contact, ladina.sefarad@gmail.com or the artist.)

SANDSTORM

(50 x150 cm (19.7 x 59.1) 2011  1,500 )

KING KONG

(195 x 150 cm (76.8 x 59.1)  2013 oil on canvas 4,000)

MAKING SUNS

(60 x 30 cm (23.6 x 11.8)  2013  650) 

I AM OR I AM NOT

(50 x 50 (19.7 x 19.7) 2012  650)

http://forward.com/articles/175207/secret-codes-left-by-portugals-expelled-jews/

 Secret Codes Left by Portugal's Expelled Jews

Hebrew Letters and Markings Found in Ancient Homes

By JTA

Published April 21, 2013.

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Portuguese researchers have catalogued hundreds of secret markings that Jews left on structures in the northern Portuguese municipality of Seia in the 16th century, after their forced conversion to Christianity.

The team’s three members – Alberto Martinho, Jose Levy Domingos and Luiza Metzker Lyra – say they found 500 markings in Seia, including coded Hebrew letters and words carved into walls of homes where converted Jews used to live, as well as distinctive indentations in stone doorframes where the residents would have placed mezuzahs.
Martinho told Portugal’s Lusa news agency on Friday that the findings “elucidate the Jewish presence” in the region. According to Jose Oulman Carp, the president of the Jewish Community of Lisbon, Portugal had a Jewish population of about 400,000 Jews in 1536, when the Portuguese Inquisition officially began.
Many of the Jews in Portugal were refugees from neighboring Spain, where the Inquisition – an organized campaign of persecution led by the Catholic Church – began in 1492. Persecution in Portugal forced many Jews into exile, whereas those who stayed became known as “New Christians” though many of them continued to practice Judaism in secret and developed special customs to set themselves apart in discrete ways from the rest of the population.

Related

• Portugal Considers Giving Citizenship to Descendants of Jews Who Fled Inquisition
• Madeira Jews Hold First Seder in Centuries
• After 500 Years in Hiding, Jews Bring Prosperity to Iberian Town

The Portuguese parliament earlier this month passed a law which says descendants of Jews who left are entitled to citizenship. A similar bill is being prepared in Spain.
According to the researchers, who are scheduled to publish their full study within two weeks, they found 42 marked houses in the small village of Santa Marinha alone. The town of Trancoso has many more marked houses, they said.

Read more: http://forward.com/articles/175207/secret-codes-left-by-portugals-expelled-jews/#ixzz2RIaEXV3i

PORTUGAL-LAW OF RETURN

Article 1. º
Amendment to Law n. º 37/81 of 3 October
Article 6. Of Law n. º 37/81 of 3 October, amended by Law n. º 25/94 of August 19, by Decree-Law no. 322-A/2001 of 14 December, as amended by Decree-Law n. º 194/2003, of 23 August, the Organic Law n. 1/2004, of 15 January, and the Organic Law n. 2/2006 of 17 April is replaced by the following:
'Article 6. º
[...]
1 - [...]
2 - [...]
3 - [...]
4 - [...]
5 - [...]
6 - [...]
7 - The Government may grant nationality by naturalization, with waiver of the requirements in paragraphs b) and c). of  n. º  1, to the descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews, through the demonstration of the tradition of belonging to a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin, based on objective criteria proving connection to Portugal, including nicknames,  family language, direct or collateral descendancy. "

__________________________________________________________________________________

Artigo 1.º
Alteração à Lei n.º 37/81, de 3 de Outubro
O artigo 6.º da Lei n.º 37/81, de 3 de Outubro, alterada pela Lei n.º 25/94, de 19 de Agosto, pelo Decreto-Lei n.º 322-A/2001, de 14 de Dezembro, na redacção dada pelo Decreto-Lei n.º 194/2003, de 23 de Agosto, pela Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2004, de 15 de Janeiro, e pela Lei Orgânica n.º 2/2006, de 17 de Abril, passa a ter a seguinte redacção:
«Artigo 6.º
[…]
1- […]
2- […]
3- […]
4- […]
5- […]
6- […]
7- O Governo pode conceder a nacionalidade por naturalização, com dispensa dos requisitos previstos nas alíneas b) e c) do n.º 1, aos descendentes de judeus sefarditas portugueses, através da demonstração da tradição de pertença a uma comunidade sefardita de origem portuguesa, com base em requisitos objectivos comprovados de ligação a Portugal, designadamente apelidos, idioma familiar, descendência directa ou colateral.»

PORTUGUESE CITIZENSHIP APPROVED FOR DESCENDENTS OF EXPELLED PORTUGUESE JEWS

April 12, 2013

The Portuguese Parliament today approved unanimously Portuguese nationality to the descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from Portugal in the fifteenth century. The motions were proposed by the PS (socialist party) and CDS-PP (centre-right parties).

The motions by the PS and CDS-PP, both approved unanimously, provide for the attribution of Portuguese nationality by naturalization of the descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews who demonstrate, "a tradition of belonging to a community of Sephardic Portuguese origin, based on objective requirements proving linkage to Portugal, including nicknames, family names, direct or indirect descendants. "

Sephardic Jews are descendants of traditional Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Sefarad).

Targets of persecution in Spain, these communities took refuge in Portugal in the fifteenth century, where a law promulgated by King Manuel guaranteed them protection, a situation that changed in 1496 when the same king ordered the expulsion of all Sephardic Jews who did not submit to Catholic baptism.

Netherlands, the UK, North Africa and later Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and United States were the main destinations of these Jews, where even today there are descendants of communities expelled from Portugal.

12 de Abril de 2013, 16:14

Aprovada nacionalidade portuguesa para judeus sefarditas

Designam-se de judeus sefarditas os judeus descendentes das tradicionais comunidades judaicas da Península Ibérica (Sefarad).rr.sapo.pt

O Parlamento português aprovou hoje por unanimidade a nacionalidade portuguesa para os descendentes dos judeus sefarditas expulsos de Portugal a partir do século XV proposta em projectos do PS e CDS-PP.

Os projectos do PS e CDS-PP, ambos aprovados por unanimidade, prevêem a atribuição da nacionalidade portuguesa por naturalização aos descendentes de judeus sefarditas portugueses que demonstrem “tradição de pertença a uma comunidade sefardita de origem portuguesa, com base em requisitos objectivos comprovados de ligação a Portugal, designadamente apelidos, idioma familiar, descendência directa ou colateral”.

Designam-se de judeus sefarditas os judeus descendentes das tradicionais comunidades judaicas da Península Ibérica (Sefarad).

Alvos de perseguição em Espanha, estas comunidades refugiaram-se em Portugal a partir do século XV, onde uma lei promulgada pelo rei D. Manuel lhes garantia proteção, situação que se alterou em 1496 quando o mesmo rei determinou a expulsão de todos os judeus sefarditas que não se sujeitassem ao baptismo católico.

Holanda, Reino Unido, Norte de África e mais tarde Brasil, Argentina, México e Estados Unidos da América foram os principais destinos destes judeus, onde ainda hoje se encontram descendentes das comunidades expulsas de Portugal.

 

Portuguese lawmakers to grant citizenship for descendants of expelled Jews

10 April 2013

By JTA
The parliament of Portugal is scheduled to vote on whether to naturalize descendants of 16th century Jews who fled the country because of religious persecution. The motion will be brought to a first reading on Thursday by Portugal’s Socialist Party and is expected to pass since it also is supported by the ruling Social Democratic Party, according to José Oulman Carp, president of Portugal's Jewish community. Together, the parties hold 80 percent of the Portuguese parliament’s 230 seats.
Carp called the motion “a huge development” and told JTA it proposes to give Portuguese citizenship to descendants of the Portuguese Inquisition, which began in 1536 and resulted in the expulsion of tens of thousands of people and the forced conversion into Christianity of countless others. Portugal had a Jewish population of about 400,000, many of them refugees from neighboring Spain, where the Inquisition started in 1492.
Spanish lawmakers are said to be drafting a similar motion on their country’s Jewish refugees.
“There is no way of knowing for certain how many people would become eligible for Portuguese citizenship if the law passes and there is no bureaucratic system yet for vetting applications – all of that will have to come later,” said Carp, who has lobbied for the bill for several years. He hopes it will help attract new members to the country’s Jewish community of 1,000-1,500 people. The community would be involved in reviewing applications, he said. Many Portuguese refugees of the Inquisition settled in Turkey.
Popular support for the motion stems from a desire to “make amends” for a dark historical chapter in Portugal – a country which Carp describes as being “virtually free of anti-Semitism.” Some also hope the law would also attract investments by Jews seeking to settle in Portugal, one of the European Union’s most vulnerable economies.

 http://www.worldjew ishcongress. org/en/news/ 13379/portuguese _lawmakers_ to_grant_ citizenship_ for_descendants_ of_expelled_ jews

BOOK LAUNCH

MARRANOS IN TRAS-OS-MONTES, NEW JEWS IN THE DIASPORA, AND THE CASE OF SAMBADE

Another book from these authors based on original Inquisition archival research by Fernanda Guimaraes.

 A PASSOVER STORY

NAH’SHON BEN AMINADAV
Silent hero of the Exodus
Leo Michel Abrami

The moon was shining in the sky over the province of Goshen. The waters of
the Nile river were flowing slowly on their way to the sea. All was peaceful and
quiet. The Children of Israel were asleep in their huts, when a loud voice was heard
in all their compounds:
“Hear ye, Children of Israel, the Pharaoh has just ordered us to leave Egypt at
once.”
“But, it’s the middle of the night; must we go in the dark?” asked one of the
Hebrews.
“Yes,” said the voice, “we must take the members of our family and some of our
belongings and we must start walking together toward the East.”
They gathered their kin, took their animals and some provisions for the
journey and they set out to walk toward the Promised Land. As they were
approaching the Sea of Reeds in early morning, the Children of Israel suddenly
heard the heavy noise of Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, rapidly advancing toward
them. They were terrified as they realized that they were trapped, with the Sea of
Reeds in front of them and the Egyptian army in their back. They cried bitterly to
Moses and said:
“You see what you have done. We are now locked in the wilderness and there is no
escape from this place: we will all be killed here. Oh Moses, why did you do that
to us? Were there too few graves in Egypt, that you brought us here to die?”
Moses did not know what to do. He prostrated himself to the ground and he
prayed for deliverance.
“O Lord of the Universe, I am like a shepherd desperately trying to protect my
sheep from falling over the edge of the precipice and I am afraid I may fail. What
must I do to save my people from destruction?”
No sooner had he begun his supplication, however, that God interrupted him and
said:
“My children are in great peril, they are crying for help and guidance and you are
on your knees, praying. Stand up, Moses, and tell the Children of Israel to go
forward. Lift up your rod and hold out your arm over the Sea and you will witness
the power of My Salvation.”
Moses stood up, lifted his rod and held his arm over the Sea, but nothing
happened. He tried again, carefully rehearsing God’s command, but there was no
sign of a divine intervention. He repeated the motions again and again without
success. Beads of perspiration rose on his forehead and he was about to cry out of
despair, but the sea did not move. The Children of Israel were terrified and Moses
felt powerless, incapable of providing the help that was urgently needed.
The Children of Israel are divided in four groups. Some are willing to
surrender to the Egyptians; “we shall be your slaves for ever, but please, do not
murder us” they say. Some others are resigned to die right there; “there is no hope
to survive this ordeal and we should rather die than face the misery which will
befall us after we are captured by the Egyptians” they mutter to themselves. Others
are determined to fight the enemy with whatever strength they have and others are
ready to follow Moses and walk into the Sea.
As they are still debating, a tall and strong man comes forward. He is a
prince of the tribe of Judah. He proceeds toward the sea and he jumps into the
water.
“Have you lost your mind, Nah’shon?” shout the members of his family.
“You will never be able to cross to the other side.” they yell to him.
But Nah’shon ben Aminadav is not deterred. He is fully conscious of the gravity of
the situation. He knows why the Sea would not split. Till this very moment, God
has acted on behalf of the Children of Israel. He sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh.
He inflicted the plagues upon the Egyptians and shattered Pharaoh’s arrogance.
Nah’shon also knows, that the time has come for the Israelites to take their destiny
into their own hands, and to put their lives on the line, in order to wrest freedom
for themselves. They now have to act in order to ensure their liberation from the
house of bondage.
The elders of the tribe of Judah are still trying to convince Nah’shon to
return and they shout to him:
“There is nothing you can do, Nah’shon, to stop the waters of the Sea and the
chariots of Pharaoh, come back, we beg of you, before it’s too late.”
The prince pays no heed to their words; he is not afraid of the mighty waves
of the Sea. He continues to paddle in the water until it reaches his nostrils. Many
others are now following his example; they are prepared to listen to the voice of
the Most High relayed by Moses. They are ready to brave the elements, to do
whatever they can do in order to escape the fury of their enemies. The Egyptians
are bewildered. As they come nearer, they must think:
“The Hebrews don’t know what they are doing. They will surely die in the Sea.
And we shall capture the others and bring them back to Egypt to be our slaves.
At that very moment, when everything looked doomed, a most astonishing
feat happened. The waters slowly receded and the Children of Israel were able to
walk through the Sea of Reeds and reach to the other shore.

PORTUGUESE NATIONAL TV NEWS ANCHOR AND POPULAR AUTHOR DISCOVERS HIS MARRANO JEWISH ROOTS WITH THE HELP OF  Fernanda Guimarães

Jose Rodrigues Dos Santos (en.wikipedia.org), a Portuguese  national tv news anchor, university lecturer and popular writer, discovers his Marrano Jewish past with help from Fernanda Guimarães, co-author of  Carção, Capital of Marranism. It is likely that the acclaimed journalist and author is a descendent of Isabel Luis, "Bonita", burned at the stake on October 29, 1696 in Coimbra (28 years old) for the crimes of "Judaism, heresy, and apostasy" (See, Bonita, the Marrano Mona Lisa, Incomunidade&Lugar Uriel da Costa, Lisboa, 2011 with the support of Ladina and Yaacov Gladstone)

carção, trâs-os-montes, portugal, 2007 - friends of marranos

friendsofmarranos.blogspot.com/.../caro-trs-os-montes-portugal-200...

During the 1700s, the village of Carção (pronounced Karssaow, in the province of Trâs-os-Montes (Behind the Mounts), northern Portugal)* had 150 households ...

LADINA

ladina.blogspot.com/.../mulheresmarranaswomen-i... - Translate this page

May 18, 2011 – mulheresMARRANASwomen in the Inquisition-LANÇAMENTO/BOOK LAUNCH. Bonita, a Mona Lisa Marrana/the Marrano Mona Lisa?

 

                                    BOOK LAUNCH

THE  ISIDROS, AN EPIC 

OF NEW CHRISTIANS

 FROM TORRE DE MONCORVO

 (TRAS-OS-MONTES) ,

 17.30  DECEMBER 14, 2012,

 CASA DO INFANTE, PORTO, PORTUGAL

The ISIDROS - An epic of a family of New Christians from Torre de Moncorvo (Tras-os-Montes, northern Portugal) is a work of historical research, in which the authors follow this family over several generations, almost throughout the entire Inquisition (1536-1821).

It is a family with origins in Torre de Moncorvo but which by its dynamism and entrepreneurship, some of their descendants stand out in the social context of the time, even in times of persecution. Many of them were imprisoned in the Inquisition and eventually left strong marks of Marranism during their lifetimes.

 20%

Os Isidros

A epopeia de uma família de cristãos-novos de Torre de Moncorvo

de António Júlio Andrade, Maria Fernanda Guimarães

Edição/reimpressão: 2012

Páginas: 128

Editor: Lema d`Origem

ISBN: 9789898342126

12,00€

9,60€

Normalmente segue para o correio em 10 dias 

Sinopse

OS ISIDROS – A epopeia de uma família de cristãos-novos de Torre de Moncorvo, de António Júlio Andrade e Maria Fernanda Guimarães, é uma obra de investigação histórica, na qual os autores seguem esta família ao longo de várias gerações, praticamente ao longo da Inquisição. É uma família que tem origem em Torre de Moncorvo mas que, pelo seu dinamismo e empreendedorismo, alguns dos seus descendentes acabam por se destacar no contexto social da época, mesmo em período de perseguição. Muitos deles estiveram presos nos cárceres da Inquisição e acabaram por deixar marcas fortes do marranismo ao longo das suas existências.

Os Isidros de António Júlio Andrade, Maria Fernanda Guimarães

H A P P Y   H A N U K K A H !

The True Meaning of Hanukkah

By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER

WHEN my brother was in kindergarten, where he was the only Jewish student, a parent organizing enrichment activities asked my mother to tell the class the story of Hanukkah. My mother obligingly brought in a picture book and began to read about foreign conquerors who were not letting Jews in ancient Israel worship freely, even defiling their temple, until a scrappy group led by the Maccabee family overthrew one of the most powerful armies in the world and won their liberty.

The woman was horrified.

The Hanukkah story, she interrupted, was not about war. It was about the miracle of an oil lamp that burned for eight days without replenishing. She urged my mother to close the book. My mother refused.

The woman wasn’t alone. Many Americans, Jews as well as Christians, think that the legend of the long-lasting oil is the root of Hanukkah’s commemoration. And perhaps that mistake is no surprise, given that for many the holiday has morphed into “Christmas for Jews,” echoing the message of peace on earth accompanied by gift giving. In doing so, the holiday’s own message of Jewish survival and faith has been diluted.

Hanukkah is one of the most widely celebrated Jewish holidays in America. But unlike Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Passover (or even the lesser-known Sukkot and Shavuot), all of which are explicitly mentioned in the Torah, Hanukkah gets only a brief, sketchy reference in the Talmud, the voluminous collection of Jewish oral law and tradition written down hundreds of years after the Maccabees’ revolt.

There for the first time the miracle of the oil is recorded: the ancient temple in Jerusalem held an eternal flame, but after the desecration by the foreign invaders — including the sacrificing of pigs, a non-kosher animal, on the altar — only one day’s worth of purified oil remained. Yet the faithful went ahead and lighted it.

The oil burned in the rededicated temple for eight days, long enough for a new supply to arrive. Hence the practice of lighting candles for eight nights to observe Hanukkah, which means dedication in Hebrew. (Perhaps just as significantly, the reference to oil also gave rise to a holiday tradition of eating foods like potato pancakes and doughnuts  that had been cooked in it.)

Though Hanukkah is a minor Jewish holiday, 19th-century activists in America promoted it to encourage their coreligionists to take pride in their heritage. During the 20th century it was embraced more broadly by Jews who wanted to fit in with other Americans celebrating the holiday season — and to make their kids feel better about not getting anything from Santa.

It helped, of course, that Hanukkah falls near Christmas on the calendar and traditionally involved candles and small monetary gifts. Over time, children began receiving grander presents, and Hanukkah-themed season’s greeting cards proliferated. Some families even started to purchase “Hanukkah bushes,” small trees often decked out with Stars of David and miniature Maccabees.

By the 1980s, when I was a child, menorahs had been placed next to mangers in the public square and Hanukkah songs had been incorporated into winter holiday concerts. Despite this recognition, I still felt excluded enough to brag to classmates that my holiday was better than Christmas, since it had eight days of gift giving, instead of one.

While elevating Hanukkah does a lot of good for children’s morale, ignoring or sanitizing its historical basis does a great disservice to the Jewish past and present.

The original miracle of Hanukkah was that a committed band of people led a successful uprising against a much larger force, paving the way for Jewish independence and perhaps keeping Judaism itself from disappearing. It’s an amazing story, resonant with America’s own founding, that offers powerful lessons about standing up for one’s convictions and challenging those in power.

Many believe the rabbis in the Talmud recounted the miracle of the light alongside the military victory because they did not want to glorify war. That in itself is an important teaching, as are the holiday’s related messages of renewal, hope and turning away from darkness.

But it’s a story with dark chapters as well, including the Maccabean leaders’ religious zealotry, forced conversions and deadly attacks on their neighbors. These transgressions need to be grappled with. And that is precisely what the most important Jewish holidays do: Jews on Passover spill out wine from their glasses to acknowledge Egyptian suffering caused by the 10 plagues, and congregations at Rosh Hashana read and struggle with God’s order to Abraham to bind his son Isaac as a sacrifice.

If we’re going to magnify Hanukkah, we should do so because it offers the deeper meaning and opportunity for introspection that the major Jewish holidays provide.

Hilary Leila Krieger is the Washington bureau chief for The Jerusalem Post. 

TRIPS WITH NOTABLE JEWISH EXPERIENCES

Emanuel Baker, vice-president, Congregation Kehilat Ma'arav, Santa Monica California

http://km-synagogue.org/

My wife, Judy, and I, when we travel, often will visit Jewish sites of interest, particularly in foreign countries.  I sometimes get to do the same thing when I travel on business.  My visit to Dachau and attendance at a bar mitzvah at the Great Synagogue in Sydney, Australia, occurred while I was out of the country on business.  Many of the places we’ve visited are ones that just about every Jew who goes abroad has visited, such as the synagogues in Prague.  However, we have had the good fortune in some places to see things or participate in events that often aren’t available to the casual tourist.  For example, we attended a wedding at the Dohanyi Street Synagogue in Budapest, an event that had an unreal feeling to it.  The sound of the hazzan’s and rabbi’s voices filling the cavernous interior of the shul as they conducted the ceremony was for me an emotional event.  Here was a wedding ceremony taking place in a shul that the Nazis surely would have destroyed, and the ceremony was being conducted by people whose forebears were marked for annihilation.  What a stark reminder of the ability of the Jewish people to survive as a people.

Another memorable occasion was attending Rosh Hashanah services at the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, followed by attending Yom Kippur services in Tokyo ten days later.  Services in the Portuguese Synagogue were memorable.  The synagogue was built in the mid 1600s and to this day remains candlelit.  Reading a machzur by candlelight on Erev Rosh Hashanah while listening to an excellent hazzan leading the service with Sephardic intonation was quite an experience.  It was almost mystic.  On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, after services, we were invited by a member of the congregation to attend a brit milah at the Synagogue for his new-born son.

Perhaps the most memorable Jewish experience was during our trip to Portugal.  Several years back, we had committed to going to Portugal on vacation, and coincidentally, Vanessa Paloma, who was one of our Religious School teachers at the time, had presented a video about a study she was doing about the Marrano Jews in Portugal.  Through her, she put us in touch with Manny Azevedo, a Portuguese-Canadian Jew living in Lisbon, who is very active in helping the Portuguese Marrano Jewish community return to their Jewish roots.  He agreed to be our “tour guide”, taking us on a tour of Jewish Lisbon.  Among the places we went that day was to a university library where research was being done into the records of Jews convicted of heresy during the Portuguese Inquisition.  He showed us an original file comprised of parchment documents written with a quill pen and compiled by the Inquisition authorities back in the 1600s for a woman whose last name was Coelho.  It was a complete record of her investigation, trial, and judgment.  Can you imagine holding a 450 year-old record like that in your hands?

We also went to Porto on that trip, and Manny Azevedo arranged for us to have a private tour of the shul in Porto, which included a museum that featured the life story of one of its founders, Captain Arthur Barros Basto.  He was born in 1887 into a Christian family that had descended from Jews forcibly baptized in 1497 during the Inquisition.  In the 1920s, Captain Basto, a decorated Portuguese WW1 veteran who survived gas attacks in Flanders, began a quasi-messianic movement in northern Portugal to “out” Marranos and bring them back into the Jewish fold.  Captain Basto was wrongly and unjustly drummed out of the Portuguese military.  In 1937, the Portuguese military summarily expelled him from its ranks, unjustly humiliating him all because he launched a public campaign to reawaken Portugal's Bnei Anousim to return to their Jewish roots.  He became known as the “Portuguese Dreyfus”.  Within the last two years, a petition to the Portuguese government was successfully circulated worlwide, beginning the rehabilitation of Captain Basto.

An incidental piece of information is that the great great niece of Captain Basto is the actress Daniela Ruah, one of the stars of TV’s “NCIS: Los Angeles”.

 The Spanish Inquisition is better known by many Jews, but probably more from an academic perspective.  What made this trip especially memorable was getting deeply immersed in the Portuguese Inquisition, something I knew little about before this trip.  What better evidence exists of the ability of the Jewish people to survive than the existence and growth of the Jewish people in Portugal, many of whom have descended, like Captain Basto, from Jews forcibly baptized during the Inquisition?