Legend:
Blue = Subjects connected with Judaism;
orange = dual rites, in different religions;
brown = reference to the bibliography.
Thoughts on
the Introductory Historical-Chapter
The
Presence of the Jews in Belmonte
From:
Antonieta Garcia (1993) The Jews of Belmonte – the Paths of Memory [1]
Sara Molho (2006)
Translated from Hebrew by Jeffrey M. Green
Dr. Garcia begins
her book on the Jews of Belmonte with a chapter entitled, The Presence of
the Jews in Belmonte, also referring to Marranos as Jews, although according to Halakhah
(Jewish-law), they are regarded as having strayed from orthodoxy and are
required to convert, either to set aside any possible doubt regarding their
Judaism (taking a lenient approach), or, more stringently, because they are not
regarded as Jews at all. (see below, from the
conclusions of Lucien Wolf and following). In fact, since the book by Schwarz (1925), who had become acquainted with the
Crypto-Jews of Belmonte in 1917, when they were still disguising themselves as
Catholics, many people have written about them, but no one lived among them as
he did, except: -
David A. Canelo and
Antonieta Garcia.
The works of Dr. David Canelo on the Marranos (see the chapter from
his writings on this web site: Crypto-Judaism goes on in Belmonte) began
to appear in the mid-1980s, and Garcia's first book, whose introduction is
under discussion here, was published in 1993. Since then she has written other
books on similar subjects.
Canelo's point of view is different from that of
Garcia, as is the way the two are regarded by their research-subjects, the
Crypto-Jews of Belmonte. Canelo was a resident of the town from his early
childhood. In the past he was a teacher, and today he is the principal of the
town's high school as well as the director of the Jewish Museum, which was
opened there in April 2005. According to him, he began to investigate the
subject upon the recommendation of his teachers at the university, since many
of his childhood friends were in fact Marranos, while he himself was a
Christian, though at the time he gave no thought to that. His self-image is
similar to his image in the eyes of his subjects, his friends. This point of
view explains his attitude of respect: he does not reveal everything known to
him, if he has the slightest apprehension lest something might be interpreted
by them as injurious. For example, I saw some material in his possession (such
as specific Marrano prayers), which he has not yet published, and it is
doubtful whether he will ever publish them. Perhaps this sensitivity of his is
the reason why he does not emphasize the feminist aspect of Marranism in
Belmonte, which has been brought out by many scholars – since he was never
present at the particular ceremonies held in secret by Crypto-Jewish women,
either because he is a man or because he is a Christian.
A Well in Belmonte, 1996
(Maria)
Antonieta Garcia is the wife of the Ex-Mayor of Belmonte whose term of office
lasted for more than eleven years during the 1980s (though they were from
another town in the area, where they live). This was a fateful period in the
life of the local Marrano-families, precisely when the young people – as a
somewhat belated response to the encounter with Schwarz – initiated the return
to the bosom of normative Judaism. It must be said that this process was
assisted both by the Town-Council and personally, by the Mayor. Thus it
happened that the Mayor's wife, Dr. Antonieta Garcia, began to look closely at
the lives of these families, observation that soon became a mentored scholarly
research for the purpose of writing a dissertation.
However, Garcia knew a great deal about Marranism
even before her research into the Crypto-Jews of Belmonte, since she herself
stemmed from Marrano roots, and the subjects of her research knew her as such.
Hence, in their eyes she was not an outside observer but "one of us,"
as they themselves told me. Perhaps that is the reason why she uses their (her)
way of speaking and calls them Jews in
every respect even before they officially returned to their original religion.
Garcia sums up the historical chapter of her book as
follows:
In fact, when we began our research
in Belmonte, we could not have known what we would have the good fortune to see
and participate in, during this eventful period [when the Marranos returned to
the bosom of normative Judaism]. That is why we found it necessary to collect
every document, to record all activities, and to be witnesses to the process of
change. We experienced difficult times together, in which old and new clashed
with one another. Nevertheless, we sought to retain a connection with everyone,
so as better to understand the religious and cultural changes that the
community underwent[2]…
We can confirm now that historical factors coincided to preserve historical
memory, especially when great ideological openness emerged. This openness could
have had the power to absorb and assimilate [the Marranos of Belmonte] among
the [non-Marrano] majority... as happened with other Marrano communities that
existed in the past but vanished now, such as in Porto, Braganza, and
Covilhã.
Just Belmonte, in the double rebirth
of the community – both in the course of the First Republic [after 1910, when
the monarchy was replaced by a republican regime, see below] and in the 1980s
[after the Carnation Revolution in 1974, which put an end to the fascist regime
that preceded it], women and men were discovered who maintained the unbroken
transmission of the [Marrano] heritage, with its personal resonance and its
social group existence.
(p. 56, of the Portuguese original; all brackets ours)
The Manueline-window in the
citadel of Belmonte, 1996
Although the author surveys earlier periods in
It is estimated that at most five
thousand people left the country, out of 75,000 Jews who originally lived in
(p. 35 of the Portuguese original; all emphasis ours)
Regarding Belmonte itself, Garcia points out that aside from the Hebrew
inscription that was found thrown away there, which, according to Schwarz, had been carved on the cornice of the
local synagogue dating from 1297,[4] there is no written evidence at all of the presence
of Jews in the town, either before or after the expulsion of the Jews of
Portugal. Hence it is not clear whether the continuous presence of the Crypto-Jews there was maintained or severed
over the course of the generations.
It should be recalled that,
according to the remarks of Baquero Moreno in Trancoso, at the International
Conference for the Study of the History of the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula
on November 13-15, 1987, the Jews of Belmonte
settled there between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Indeed, there
is a family tree in Belmonte of a [Marrano] family that began with a couple –
Maria Caetana and João Diogo Henriques - 150 years ago, to whom the
establishment of the community is attributed. Many people have seen this
family-tree. They repeat: “One-hundred-fifty years ago, a [Marrano] couple
settled in Belmonte.[5]
(p. 37 of the Portuguese original)
However, in Garcia's opinion, the existence of Inquisition-dossiers
against people from Belmonte in the Court of Coimbra in the seventeenth century
raises doubts as to whether the Jewish settlement of the town ever ceased to
exist, though it is entirely clear that some people did leave it.
In conclusion, and in the context of
the remnants and testimony that we have gathered, it would be hasty to conclude
that the well-populated community of the thirteenth century would be entirely
eliminated in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, only to return as a highly
connected social network to the same village in
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. However, in order to obtain precise
and absolute information, it is necessary to extend our evidence to early
times! In any event, the study that we took upon ourselves here mainly focuses
on the last century. Examination of the registry of births, marriages, and
deaths to be found in the
(p. 38 of the Portuguese original).
As mentioned above, in 1917 Samuel
Schwarz discovered the Marranos of Belmonte and convinced them that he,
too, was a Jew. This was after the establishment of the first
Old versus new in Belmonte, 1995
The minutes of the Town-Council meetings
show how much influence was concentrated at that time [the beginning of the
Republic] in the hands of members of the Mosaic Faith:
In a meeting on October 15, 1910, a
decision was made that José Henriques Pereira de Souza and José
Caetano Vaz [the Marranos] were to join the elected Council of the Republican
local authority, the former as chairman and the latter as a council-member for
the affairs of Caria [the second largest town in the area]. The vigorous
activity that they both displayed is very surprising, in comparison with
earlier council members...
On December 14, 1910, the Town
Council proposed to the Republican government... the establishment of various
schools because of the growth in the population... in
At that time various other decisions
were passed: sanitary measures were taken (such as the prohibition against
letting pigs walk in the streets); various kinds of trees were planted on the
town's uncultivated land; regional development was initiated by attaching the
base of the Republican Guard there; improvement of the service in the area to
the Beira Baixa Railroad Company was recommended; at the same time they also
decided to refurbish the Municipal-Building and the Republic Square. Following
the example of other places, here, too, they change the names of several
streets in honor of the Republican Movement and of national figures (indeed, a
few of the names stuck, while others did not!). During this José
Henriques Pereira de Souza’s term of office, the Municipality asked to be
included in the governmental planning for constructing a road to link Belmonte
with Inguias.
At that time, too, the Jews
[=Marranos] of Belmonte, upon the initiative of the head of the Municipal
Council, witnessed the appointment of Antonio Pereira de Souza junior, as tax
collection agent for the Council. Similarly Raphael Diogo Henriques and Anthero
Caetano Vaz [also Marranos] were appointed as guarantors (Fiadores).
In April 1911, Alfredo Pereira de
Souza was appointed to the post of secretary, with a salary...
On July 26, 1911 a special meeting
of the Council was held, at which “the President was unanimously elected as a
representative to the Electoral Commission of the district capital for the
purpose of setting up the municipal-political factions.
When funds dwindled and the Council
discovered that it did not have the means to pay salaries, the president
“forwent his salary” to make it possible to pay the salaries of the clerks.
From our investigations we have learned that J. H. P. de Souza made a dynamic
personal impression on the management of the
Municipality, which was in contrast with the routines of his predecessors.
Clearly the establishment of the Republic made it easier for the descendants of
the New-Christians in the municipal council.
Anti-clericalism was typical of
those times: in early 1912 the Municipality sent Senator José de Castro
as its representative to the anti-clerical demonstrations in
(pp. 39-41 of the Portuguese original)
As to the events following Samuel Schwarz'
appearance on the scene,[7] the author sums them up as follows:
Samuel Schwarz alerted the Jewish Community
of Lisbon and proposed the establishment of a school in which the members of
the Mosaic Faith could learn about their religion properly. Contributions were
raised to this end, leading to the dispatch of Lucien
Wolf, the historian and diplomat. In 1926 he visited the kernels of the
communities of Belmonte, Caria, Covilhã and
(p. 42 of the Portuguese original)
A
street in Belmonte, 1996
At the same time as in other places in
Among others, three men from
Belmonte studied [in the Yeshiva of Porto], who were meant to be the future
teachers and rabbis. In Halapid [the newspaper of
(p. 43 of the Portuguese original)
This, too, appeared in
Halapid:
On January 1, 1928, young travelers
from the Jewish youth organization Hehaver [of
(p. 43 of the Portuguese original)
In time, during the early 1930s, the new
regime took over in
On the Jewish holidays, the men
would go out into the street to avoid arousing suspicion. But it was up to us –
the women who stayed inside the house – to take care of everything. We sang and
we recited the prayers only after putting the young children to sleep. If they
had heard us saying the prayers, they might have unintentionally repeated what
they heard at home when out into the street. Only after they were mature...
[for example when they began] to keep all the fasts, did we include them in our
ceremony. Not only that: when we didn't come to church for mass, and other
people bothered us because of that in school, we were trained to say that we
had heard mass on the radio, or on television.
(pp. 44-45 of the Portuguese original)
It took time for some softening in the fascist
regime to take place, and in the 1960s contacts began to take place among
acquaintances and researchers of the past, who began to visit Belmonte again.
At the same time, for their part, the Crypto-Jews of Belmonte dared to report
to the synagogue in
April 1974 marks the end of an era.
The considerable freedom following that time brought about a change in the
behavior of the Jews. A new page was opened in the life of the community [of
Belmonte] during the decade of the 1980s, and the Marranos emphasized once
again the difference between them and their surroundings. In 1986 the community
also witnessed the election of one of its members, João Diogo, to the
Municipal-Council.
(p. 46 of the Portuguese original)
Beginning in the 1980s, Antonieta Garcia's
reports are presented directly, since she was an active participant in events.
Because of the importance of her account, along with her quoted accounts of
informants, I will present some of them in full:
In November 1987 a ceremony to
welcome the Sabbath was held in the Municipal Auditorium, with sixty-three
people present, including ourselves. The Hebrew ceremony was held by Rabbi Haim
Shapira [from the United-States], accompanied by a translation into
Judeo-Spanish. In the course of the ceremony R”R, a man from Belmonte,
whispered in my ear: “We pray differently, but we always make sure to keep the Sabbath,[8]
while in
(pp. 46-47 of the Portuguese original)
In that year, Garcia
reports about a most interesting conference, mentioned above, on the Jews of
Portugal, which was held in Trancoso, to the north of Belmonte:
The International Conference in
Trancoso on
the History of the Beiras[9]
and the Jews of the Iberian-Peninsula (November 13-15, 1987), was sponsored by the Association
for Portuguese-Israeli Friendship, the Municipal Council of Trancoso,
the Israeli Embassy in Portugal, the Civil Administration of Guarda,
and also the Bureau of Archeology and History of Trancoso. The program
of the conference included: lectures, exhibitions, films, guided tours of the
Judiarias [Jewish quarters] and of other historical sites in the region.
It was reported there that the B'nai
Brith Organization showed interest in the secret Jews of Belmonte. A
representative of a Parisian organization, Roch-Pinah... also took an
active part in the Trancoso Conference... and it was decided to hold its second
pan-European session in Belmonte itself... People spoke there of the urgency of
a return to the bosom of Judaism ... (meaning: avoiding Catholic rites). At the
conference it was also reported that they intended to make Belmonte in
(On the conference, pp. 47-49 of the Portuguese original)
Having discussed in brief the relation of the
Jews of the world and their organizations to the Marranos of Belmonte at this
Conference, I will cite now Garcia's remarks about what the same Marranos had
then regarded as representative of their Jewish-life,
which is reflected by their traveling on the
Sabbath (!!) from Belmonte to the Trancoso-Conference.
It is important to hear this description first hand:
These were the first steps: about
thirty of the Jews of Belmonte traveled on the Sabbath for the
discussion that was held during the Conference about the television program Portugal
Forever.[11]
They explained: “We couldn't get here yesterday [for the beginning of the
Conference] because Fridays are devoted to cleaning the house and to things
that can only be done on that day!”
They also lamented that it was said of them as they set out for the
Conference: “There goes the municipal-bus, and it's loaded with Marranos…”
The dinner that was organized at the
conference also received a good measure of criticism and protest: the codfish
that was served was garnished with none other than cold ham and was immediately
called “porco travesti” (disguised pork). The organizers of the Conference were
unaware that Jews are not allowed to eat pork, and indeed, it was not eaten
there... Again we were very surprised at the joy of those who took part in the
Havdala-ceremony that was held on Saturday night by the Rabbi of Yavneh in the Auditorium of Trancoso Municipality and was
concluded with folk-dances.
(On the conference see pp. 47-49 of the Portuguese original, all
emphasis ours).
The
Later on the author lays out before us the process that developed
gradually before her eyes in Belmonte, But first, it must be pointed out that,
as is proper, Garcia attributes particular importance to the term Community
(=Kehilah) in Judaism, following a book in Spanish by Paloma Dias Mas, published in 1986: Garcia cites:
“Belonging to a Jewish-Community
involves registering those who are interested, and includes paying
membership-dues. These dues are the main source of income for The Community,
which offers in return religious, cultural, and educational services as well as
welfare.”
(see p. 243 of Dias Mas' book)
According to Garcia’s own report, the cluster of Marrano-families in Belmonte
went from stage to stage in their slow return to Judaism: beginning with the traditional
Marrano situation, through consolidation into a quasi-community,
yet pre-communal in my eyes, while preparing and studying for the official
establishment of a Halakhic Jewish Community (=Kehilah). Thus in reality Garcia
describes in 1988 a pre-communal stage, preceding the
official establishment of The Community, and/or the
acquisition of knowledge of how to run it, which was missing in Belmonte.
Moreover, since the official conversion had not yet taken place, this should be
seen as a quasi-communal stage.
Indeed, in the course of consolidating as a quasi-community,
when supervision of religious matters passed from the adult women to the
young men – with their entire permission – on January 19, 1998 the Mayor
of Belmonte received an official announcement from the highly connected network
of Marrano families regarding the holding of the founding-meeting of the Jewish
Association of Belmonte (again: Association but not Community.
The definition of Community would finally be given to another
association only after one more year had passed). The address of the
preliminary 1988 Association was the residence of the Vice-President of
the Council, who were:
President Antonio Henriques Morão
Vice-President João Diogo
Secretary Elias Antonio Sousa Nunes
Treasurer Rafael Henriques Rodrigo
Members: a Antonio
José Henriques Vaz
b Julio
Mendes Henriques
c Antonio
Luis Henriques
d Manuel
Sousa Daniel
(p. 49 of the Portuguese original)
Following it, from early 1989, the establishment of a new organization
was proclaimed: The Community. Though I must repeat that the
apprenticeship in the principles of normative-Judaism takes a great deal of
time, and just as it began with small steps in the 1980s, it lasted far longer
than the official establishment of the institutions of The Jewish
Community (1989), and even beyond actual conversion (from 1992 on), and
of course far after the conclusion of Garcia's book (1993). Regarding this
extended glide into Judaism still going on, which I myself followed at least
until 2000 and afterward, see the chapter Feathers etc. on this
web-site.
At the time of passage from quasi towards true-community,
frequent visits began to take place on the part of activists from the Lisbon
Community such as the judge Dr. João Guerra and Professor Pereira – both
of whom were of Marrano origin – who supported the efforts of the young men in
the Jewish Association of Belmonte. This trend increased afterwards, and
other heads of Jewish organizations who came were Sam Ben-Chetrit, the head of
the Beyahad movement, or, for example, the Israeli author, Amnon
Shamosh. According to Garcia's account, since the Marranos began to take note
of the differences in rite between theirs and normative Judaism, over time,
with the generous help of Jews from outside, they began to adopt innovations derived from normative Judaism such as
the sending of New-Years cards or renewed acquaintance with holidays that had
been forgotten: The Marrano children presented a play in the local Cultural
Center called “Hanuccah", the Holiday of the Maccabees.” Purim was also
celebrated, now according to the normative tradition, in the presence of
cultural activists from the various Jewish communities who had helped inspire
and organize the celebration.[12]
In that way, in tiny steps, they began to observe all the normative holidays
and festivals again, and later (in early 1991) normative Jewish marriage
ceremonies as well, which were held in the temporary synagogue
that had already been founded in Belmonte.
Normative Jewish Symbols
in the home of converted
Marranos, 1998.
As our author relates:
In May 1988 we took part for the
first time in a Sabbath ceremony that was held
by the Portuguese Jews. The event, which bore the name One Sabbath in
Belmonte, was organized by the Jewish Center of Portugal, the Student
Association of Portugal, in cooperation with the Jewish Association of
Belmonte. It included lectures and films as well as Sabbath rituals. The
prayers were held in the Municipal-Council Chamber. Along with the Jews of
Belmonte and other Jews from
(p. 50 of the Portuguese original)
In the days of this Association, which
preceded the Jewish Community, there was no lack of dramatic
events, including replacement of the chairman. A controversy that arose on May
28, 1988, in public forum brought about the replacement of the head of the Jewish
Association of Belmonte and an announcement to that effect in the newspaper
Noticias da Covilhã. This event made
waves both among Jews and Crypto-Jews. On June 16, 1988, a public apology was
made to the Municipal-Council for the “incident” that took place in the
restaurant on May 28. Official notice was also given of the replacement of the
president of the Jewish Association by his colleague (the former
secretary, see pp. 50-51 of the Portuguese original).
At last The Kehilah (=Community)
of the Jews of Belmonte was established. Though its members had not yet
formally converted, henceforth it would be called The Community,
as published in “Diario da Republica” on January 9, 1989, series 3. This is a
list of the members of the Community Council for that year according to Garcia:
President Elias Antonio Sousa Nunes
Vice-President Joakim Manuel Vaz Morão
Secretary José João
Mendes Rodrigo
Treasurer Rafael Henriques Rodrigo
Members a Julio
Mendes Henriques
b Antonio Luis Henriques
c Eduardo Baltazar de Sousa Henriques
(p. 51 in the Portuguese original)
On February 8, 1989, the rights and duties of the
members of The Community were placed in writing, as well, of
course, as those who were entitled to join it. These were the goals of The
Kehilah as published on January 1, 1989:
1. To
spread the Jewish religion among the members;
2. To
spread the Jewish cultural tradition;
3. To
encourage and motivate unity and mutual assistance among the Jews of Belmonte
and in general among the Jews of Portugal;
4. To
be involved, as an autonomous community, in the Jewish community of
5. To
inform the Jews of the entire world about the return of the Crypto-Jews of
6. To
act toward cooperation with Jewish individuals and organization to achieve the
aforementioned goals ...
(p. 51 of the Portuguese
original)
The official stationery of the Rabbi who later
served the
Community of Belmonte, 1994
Above I have presented only the official
aspects of the process of return to normative Judaism according to Garcia.
However, from time to time she offers marvelous descriptions of the social
state of mind of the Marranos of Belmonte, and this is the situation of Marginal-Men (in the terminology of Kurt Levin's Field-Theory). That is to
say, the Marranos stood precisely at the contact point on the margins of two religious
cultures: Judaism and Christianity, or in the area where they overlap (see
above, for an example of this overlap, with respect to the term padres novos,
which was given to the Yeshiva-students of Porto). Clearly each of the
religions demands sole fidelity, thus the poor
Marginal People could do nothing but hesitate between the two cultures/religions and squat uncomfortably on the fence. Moreover,
Christian customs were well known to the Marranos, because they had pretended
to be Christians for centuries, whereas Halakhic
Jewish customs – which they were now expected to observe – were entirely new to
them, and they had to learn them first, to study them well, and to adopt them
from now on. Our author sums up these dilemmas in the daily life of these Marginal-People:
"It seems that this community is making a great effort to return to
Judaism. However, not everyone is endowed with the same degree of confidence,
decisiveness, or even will in this context." We owe a special debt of
gratitude to Garcia for her firsthand account of the way these things actually
happened. Below are several examples of the confusion
and hesitation during these
transitional-stages, in her words:
a.
It appears that the exposure disturbed some of them, while
others were willing to be overt. Families were divided by differences of
opinion, which reflected the uncertainty, the lack of confidence, and the great
apprehension that were prevalent in Belmonte.
(p. 48 of the Portuguese original)
b.
However, criticism as to holding
two positions simultaneously was soon heard. This took place during an
auction of landscape pictures from
(p. 52 of the Portuguese original).
c. In
February 1989 [after the establishment of The Community], during
a procession with the statue of Our Lady of Fatima[14]
a confrontation broke out between the contradictory positions. The town, which
was mainly Catholic, took part enthusiastically in the preparations for
welcoming the procession; an atmosphere of closing the ranks was forged, which
also included those who habitually avoided religious ceremonies [i.e., the
Marranos, the Marginal-Men]. The local
church was full of people, and the processions involved many participants:
“Belmonte was capable of a reception that takes places once in a lifetime.”
This atmosphere influenced some of those known as the Jews
of the community [as noted, the author also uses the term Jew for Marranos who had not yet converted, S.M.].
Thus a “Jewish” woman was seen reciting a
prayer while Our Lady passed, and it was known that the women of one of the “Jewish” families took part in the farewell
procession itself. Moreover, blankets were spread out and statuettes were
displayed, such as a statuette of Our Lady of Fatima, in the windows of “Jewish” homes or the display windows of “Jewish” shops, as in the Pilgrims' Square and
elsewhere. At the same time, we ascertained the indifference of most of the
community, who remained at home. And if people did look out of the window, it
was just to look at the passersby.
(p. 52 of the Portuguese original, all emphasis and
quotation-marks - ours)
The author describes the institutionalization of the
new Community step by step: the local authorities began to invite
its representatives to official local events,
and there was increased contact between The Community
and others, as well as with the Israeli Embassy. The Ambassador, Ms. Colette
Avital, came to make acquaintance with the Marranos of Belmonte in July 1989,
and after that visit, there were constant contacts between the Israeli Embassy
and Belmonte on various cultural matters. Among other things, the Ambassador
took part in a Sabbath celebration (normative,
not Marrano), which was sponsored by the Municipality. Here is Garcia's
description:
Bilingual texts were distributed,
and Hebrew and Portuguese sounds were heard, while the religious ceremony was
held in the Municipal Assembly room. We learned there that Jewish prayers are recited while facing east. For
that reason, the direction of all the benches was changed, and all the pictures
were removed from the walls, except the picture of the President Mario Soares,
which remained in its place. The Community had admired Soares since March 17,
1989, when he asked forgiveness of the Jews in the medieval Jewish-Quarter [the
Judiaria] of Castelo de Vide.[15]
When he stated: “The Jews have contributed greatly to our life and to our
history. Regretfully, religious fanaticism and the establishment of the
Inquisition in
(p. 53 of the Portuguese original, all emphasis ours)
Among the joint cultural activities of the Embassy
and the Municipality was the appearance of an Israeli chorus, there were a
number of painting and photography exhibitions, including Children of the World
Paint Jerusalem (1989), a photography exhibition (1990) of Frederic Brenner (who made the famous film about
the local Marranos at that time), which was called Israel, Characters and
Landscapes. There was also an exhibition of paintings by Akiva Wasserman, Vues
et Vies à Belmonte (Views and Lives in Belmonte), which was
sponsored by the European Council for Jewish Community Services in that
year. He painted these works during earlier visits, when he came to organize
various cultural activities.
This cooperation around the year 1990 led to contacts
to form a sister-city covenant with an Israeli town (see above, the report on
the Conference in Trancoso), and, after various hesitations, this
took indeed place, but in 1996, after Garcia's book was completed, and not as
planned: rather than Yavneh the sister town chosen was Rosh-Pinah, a mountain
town near Safed, and the agreement was completed after a new Mayor took office
in Belmonte. The connection with Rosh-Pinah was formed after a sister-city
covenant was made between Guarda - to the north of Belmonte - and Safed.
Nevertheless, in 1990 one of the high points of
cooperation took shape at the Israel Independence Day celebration there:
At that time The Community
held a festive banquet to celebrate
The President of The Community,
Elias Nunes, in his speech at that assembly, pointed out the importance of the
State of
The Mayor was pleased by the
decision to celebrate Israel Independence Day in Belmonte... In his speech he recalled
the great importance of Jewish participation in the Golden Age of Portugal, and
in that context he mentioned Gaspar da Gama, the Jew who, as a translator, had
accompanied Pedro Alvares Cabral, the native of Belmonte who discovered
(pp. 54-55 of the Portuguese original; all emphasis ours)
The historical chapter that begins Garcia's book ends
with the first practical, religious processes of the return to normative
Judaism among the Marranos of Belmonte. First Rabbi
Yosef Sebag, who had been appointed to serve The
Community, arrived from
At the time of the High Holy Days in September 1990,
the Rabino established himself in Belmonte, the
synagogue therefore moved to Rua Areal 58, and
henceforth this would be the address of The Community. The
descendants of Marranos now had a Jewish religious leader, lessons in Hebrew,
and they were on their way to normative Judaism.
The process continued, but Garcia's collection of
research data stopped here, just before the conversion, and her book was
published. For this rare documentation, we are, as noted, extremely grateful!
Chandelier in the new Synagogue,
dedicated in 1996. Belmonte, 1998.
© All rights reserved to Sara Molho, 2006
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