Hello, I'm Emily Francis and welcome to our special Holy Land Uncovered episode on location in Porto, Portugal, a beautiful city along the Dorro River, which has thrived since ancient times. Join us as we dive deeply into the Jewish history of Porto and also explore the modern city, which is a must visit destination for tourists from around the world. Tourists of the Sephardic Jews who were kicked out of Portugal started making their way back into Porto and other cities in the 19th century. And by the 20th century, Ashkenazi refugees also found home here. Almost 100 years ago, the Kadori Makor Haim synagogue that we are in front of was officially inaugurated and still to this day it is the largest synagogue in the Iberian peninsula. Here's more on the history. We're now so happy to be joined by Gabriele Sonderovic, the president of the Porto Jewish community. Hello, and thank you so much for hosting us here in Porto. We're just having such an amazing time. Hello, you are more than welcome. It's hard to believe that this is a 100 year old synagogue and a very big deal that the synagogue even exists after nothing being here for 500 years. Yes, absolutely. It is, the synagogue amazes me since the first day was here. It's so beautiful. It's so Portuguese. I was very impressed. It was very different from the synagogues from Brazil where I came from. How many people in general are here and part of the community now in Porto? Okay, we have around a thousand members in the community, not only in the city of Porto, but in the surrounding cities. Of course, they don't come every week, these thousand people. They join us for the big holidays, but we do have a million, a consecutive million of nine years in a row for every Shabbat. Our main goal is to make history, as you say, to honor the Jewish members that were here in Porto many centuries ago, and also to keep the Jewish life flourishing here in the city. But is the community only made up of Jews that originally came from Portugal, or is it also mixed with Ashkenazi from Europe? It's mixed. We have the majority of our members from Sephardic origin, but we do have some Ashkenazi members as myself. We have over 25 or 30 nationalities represented in this community. Our members came from Venezuela, Brazil, the United States, Mexico, Turkey, all over the world. Porto is a very quiet city, comfortable, safe city, and the community plays a vital role in the decision of the newcomers to stay here, because we have many facilities. We have all the facilities to keep a Jewish life. We have a Miqvahua, we have a kosher store, we have restaurants, we have everything. Tell us why that is so unique for the community. Yeah, because we usually say that we are one of the strongest Jewish organizations in the world. We say so not because of the number of members or because of financial capabilities, nothing of that. We say so because we have a huge organization, we have a museum, we have a cultural department, we have a kosher department, we have a restaurant store, we have everything a Jewish people need to stay here. Gabriela, thank you so much for your hospitality and for sharing your journey, and you're doing an excellent job, and keep up the good work, my friend. Thank you very much. You do my best. You are more than welcome. Thank you. During the COVID pandemic, members of the community accomplished a major task, not only did they build a Holocaust museum, but also an entire Jewish museum. It's an intersection of the new and the old. The Holocaust Museum of Porto opened its doors in 2021, offering free admission to students and adults alike. What I can tell you is that most Portuguese families know that they have some kind of Jewish background. The key way that our community can fight anti-Semitism, not only today, but for the future, because we're doing our young people here, is through education. And we're very proud of the fact that in two years, we've had 100,000 school students here, which represents 20% of the school population in Portugal. Emily, I want to show you this very special room, our memorial room. It has the names of 32,000 victims of Holocaust. The museum's director, Michael Leo Rothwell, has a personal connection to the Holocaust. This is my grandfather. My middle name is Leo, in my name, and just a bit further along is Elsa Bok, my grandmother. Wow. And as I mentioned to you earlier, it's a source of comfort to have my grandparents remembered here. My mother and my uncle managed to leave Berlin on the Kindertransport in April and May 1939. I'm actually certain that as a result of Kristallnacht, that my grandparents decided that the children had to leave urgently. Did she ever talk about it? Very little indeed. She didn't want to talk about it. What many people don't realize is that Portugal was an important stopover for Jewish refugees trying to flee Nazi Europe. In June 1940, when Hitler conquered Paris, all the Jews in Europe realized they were no longer safe in Europe. They had to leave Europe for the Americas or for Palestine. And the only way to do that was to travel to Portugal, as you know, Spain and Portugal neutral countries during the war. And it was possible if you had a visa. Even though the Portuguese government was against it, as many as 150,000 Jewish refugees came through Portugal, many of whom as a result of a brave Portuguese consul in France. It was well known the heroic activity of Aristides Sosa Menge, who against orders wrote many visas so that people, Jewish refugees, could be saved and could get to Portugal. He decided to follow his conscience and he wrote thousands of visas in a few days and a few nights after speaking to being pleaded to by a rabbi. Even though the Jewish community has since flourished in Porto, the history of antisemitism is repeating itself. The synagogue was vandalized on March 11, 2022 in what is now dubbed the Day of Shame. These are local specific momentaneous incidents. We cannot disregard this, of course. But if we concentrate on these kind of things, we are feeding the eight feelings. Don't silence the crimes, but not too much giving too much importance to something that really is not meaningful. The Jewish community of Porto held a ceremony on the annual European Day of Jewish culture. But in the shadow of October 7, antisemitic protests and violence have only increased, forcing the Holocaust and Jewish museums to temporarily close for safety reasons. But everyone is trying to remain hopeful for a better future. It must be said that this impact we've had is thanks to the effort of the Portuguese schoolteachers. They have come from all over the country to bring their students here, realizing the difference it would make. And so the work we've been doing here has a huge impact on the future citizens of Portugal and our hope is that of course those citizens will grow up and understand about something about Judaism, something about what the Jews have been through. Not only to this beautiful space, but also to show us some of your beautiful work. Namely, we have some paintings here. Explain to us kind of your work and your project and what this is in particular, why the history of the Inquisition is such an important story to tell, because it really defined what happened to the Jews 500 years ago. Absolutely. It's quite important to explain the Jewish history of Portugal, because in fact in the curriculum, in the schools, we don't learn much about it. So that's why we are trying to do for the last years to explain not only the students, but all the visitors, especially the non-Jewish visitors, our Portuguese Jewish history. It happened to people that don't know, they know about the 1492 explosion, but they don't know the Portuguese side of it. Yes. Because the Portuguese let a lot of the Jewish families in and didn't want to expel them right away. Yes, in fact the Catholic kings of Spain expelled the Jews in 1492, and Portugal received thousands of Jews in our country. For example, just to talk about Porto, 30 of the most important families of Castile came to live here in Porto, including the great rabbi, Isaac Abouab, probably the biggest theological Jewish authority at the time.  They're walking baptized. Many episodes happen like this.  And that was the main idea, the main royal idea, is to convert the Jews in order for them to stay here. In 1496, 20% of the Portuguese population was Jewish, 20% are reminded that four years before we receive a huge wave of immigration from Spain.  Unfortunately, four years later, in 1496, our King Manuel I also signed the addict of expulsion, because in reality he wanted to marry the Spanish princes, and was actually a Spanish demand, the so-called new Christians. And obviously, if I forced you to change your religion in 10 months, you probably will say yes to protect your life and your family, but we'll keep your religion in secret. That's what happened, and that justifies why 40 years later, in 1536, we established the Inquisition. So what's the difference between these guys that got converted and what we have here, which is, you know, everybody who was a mystic or practicing Jews, they were a hermit and they were burned at the stake. This happened a lot, yes? Yes, and obviously, if you baptize people, they are, in theory, Catholics, but if you don't give them education or religious education, they will keep their religion. And that's what happened, especially in the first decades after the expulsion and after the creation of Inquisition, where you have people practicing Judaism in secret. And well, let's say, if you have a neighbor, if you have an ex-housekeeper who don't like you, someone will knock the door of the Inquisition and say, oh, he's Jewish, he's not eating pork, he's praying in Shabbat, so you are arrested, and you could be expelled from the country, you could be in prison or even killed. Wow. And when people were burned at the stake, they would gather, like crowds would come and gather. Yes, it was actually a party, it was actually a festival, a festival for all the city to watch. It was a huge festival, the so-called out-to-the-fan, no translation. Here you are, historian, you've done this, you are not a Jew, but it's very likely that you could be a descendant, because many new Christians became new Christians and they stayed. But explain, you didn't learn this in school? Like all Portuguese, I truly believe that all Portuguese have Jewish backgrounds somehow. Let's imagine that 20% of the Portuguese population was Jewish, if the majority of them stayed here in 1496, generations and generations, four centuries, almost five centuries, probably all have Jewish blood. Unfortunately, in Portugal, we don't talk about the Jewish presence in Portugal, or in Portugal at all. Even regarding the Inquisition, I learned at the school, in five minutes, that Inquisition was a hunting of witches, even if the majority of accusations were against secret Jews. So it was quite terrible. That's why we decided to create this department, this cultural department. That's why we decided to create the Jewish Museum, mainly to explain people how connected to us is the Jewish history. Why do you feel this is the best way for healing, for us to move forward, for us to discover who we are, what our ancestors were? Education is the only tool we have, the only tool we have to combat anti-Semitism and to educate people. It's the only tool. And obviously, we are not accusing nobody, but we cannot forget what happened in the past in order to prevent it happen again. How does that feel to know you've devoted your passion to this and you're actually seeing the fruits of it? It's not just members of the synagogue. I'm extremely happy. The majority are not members of the community. I'm extremely happy. I truly believe that the next generation will be more aware of their past and the importance of this event and the importance of tolerance. Hugo, thank you so much.  You're amazing. And thank you so much for all of your hard work. You're doing a great job. What you've done is just incredible. Thank you. Keep up the good work, my friend. We're about to introduce you to a woman named Isabel Lopez, who has taken it upon herself to reclaim the dignity of her grandfather, a World War One hero who suffered for coming back to his Judaism and being part of the construction of the Kedori synagogue. I'm very happy to meet you and get a chance to hear your story. So thank you. Thank you also for me. It's very, very important to speak with you. So you are here filling the legacy of your grandfather, who is one of the founders of this synagogue. Yes. Tell us. I was seven years old when he died. My grandfather is Artur Carlos de Bachos Basto. So explain what happened. So he was a Christian, like many people in Portugal, descendants of the Moranos. He was in World War One and he was a hero in World War One. Yes, he was a hero. He has been, he received lots of congratulations due to what he has done during the war in France. Why did he get kicked out when he came back? Was he talking about being a Jew during World War One or this all happened when he came back as a veteran? During the war, he found a rabbi. And when he arrived here, he was completely decided to be a Jew. He married with a Jewish girl and he came to a portal and he felt it was important to create the community, to fund the community, the Jewish community in Oport and the synagogue. He began all his work, the work of rescue of the Moranos of the Christod Jews. Did he know his whole life that he was a crypto-Jew? Did he grow? Because many crypto-Jews have no idea until now. Because his grandfather told him that he was the descendants of crypto-Jews and he was 11 years old only, but he was so interested and he began to study everything about the inquisition and what happened in Portugal. So why did he get kicked out of the army for embracing being a Jew? He was considered immoral to be a Jew, the circumcision and all this was the reason why he was separated from the army. For him it was so bad because he was a hero. He was very proud to be in the army and he was forbidden to dress everything. He kept the things and when he died he wanted to go to be dressed after he's dead.  Yes. Wow. The only thing we kept it was the hat. Have you taken it upon yourself to clear his name so he deserves the recognition for the great heroic work that he did not only as a soldier but as somebody who took a chance to ruin his life, to live his truth. My mother died in 2005 and then I began working here. The rehabilitation was possible in the parliament and the parliament recommended to the Portuguese government to make the reintegration in the army. The paper, the document saying that he should be a coroner since 1945. What would he be saying right now if he were alive 100 years later? Yeah. This is his legacy? Yes, I think that for him justice has been done with all our work. Not the reintegration is so important for him. Seeing even children here in the synagogue. Being in Porto for how many years? 52 years. 52 years. How did you get from New York to Porto besides an airplane? Yeah, well we just decided that it was time to see the world. Decided to take a year off and the one year turned into 52 years. So how did but why Porto? It got good press. Good press. There was a New York Times magazine cover 50 years ago which said Portugal is Europe's best kept secrets. The food is good. The fish is fresh. You know where it's got? They sell it just down the street in the little bins having just caught it. There are absolutely no negatives. It was a lucky, lucky choice. So tell us the secret formula to being 95, still driving, still walking and high heels. That I can't even walk in. What is the secret because we all want to be like you and lived in 95? I really think it's the food I've been having in Portugal for the past 52 years. In America everything is processed or canned or old. Like also to take young kids out of the environment of you know the nest of New York? Well my my my feeling is when you do something major you don't ask your children you tell them. God was here. We went to see it and there were two to three people there. Little different than Queens and Brooklyn. Bobby was it a profession for you? It was a profession. You see that roof over there? Yes. That was a bar that was a little restaurant and that bar was called the Praia do Origo because that's what the praia is called. And I played the piano in that bar every Saturday night for three years and the hardest part of the job was crossing the streets. Were you a concert pianist? Did you grow up with classical piano? I was never a concert pianist because I just used to love to play popular the American popular songs.  My cold musicians named it the Flitterman Jazz Band. The Flitterman Jazz Band, nice name. Would you say playing the piano every day is a secret to the fountain of youth also? But it makes you happy. Makes me happy. That's the key. You're happy. It makes me happy. Emily it makes me happy because I know that this is what I do best and if you ever have moments if you feel lonely or whatever you come to the piano and the music it's my friend. This is my friend. That's right. So true. Yeah it it does what I ask it to do. It responds. Never talks back. It doesn't yell at you. It doesn't exactly. Thank you so much for watching our special episode of Holy Land and covered on location in Porto, Portugal. We really love being here and I'm sure you could tell from all of the reports that we brought you. This is a place that if you have the opportunity you must come visit. Thanks again for watching. I'm Emily Franci.


By the way, if you're interested in this topic, I have two great courses that I've done on this issue that you can get for free on my podcast. One is called A Brief History of the Middle East, and it's in five parts, five lectures with Q&A, and the other is called The Rise of Totalitarian Islam, which is in four lectures. And combined, that will give you the best introduction, the best introduction I think ever presented on the problems we face in the Middle East. If I can be so arrogant as to say, I don't think anybody's put it all together quite as well as I have in those two courses in terms of presenting the problems and indicating the solution. So you can get that on iTunes or anywhere where my podcast is available, and it's free. That's the amazing thing, it's free. So if you go backwards, the September 27th episode, it's called History Lesson, The Rise of Totalitarian Islam, that's one course, and you can go back further back into September, and you will find history lesson, a brief history of them at least part one through five. I encourage you all to listen to it because I think you'll learn a lot. I think you'll also enjoy it, and I think it's the best. I really do. I think if you want to understand them at least, if you want to understand the enemy that we are fighting, still fighting. I think we started this war started in 1979 when Iran-Homeini took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. That's November 4th, 1979. Yep, almost 40 years ago. That's when the war started.