Jews of Belmonte

Dec 5, 2019 | Blog

Portugal is a kosher tour favorite. This is because the country has a deep historical connection with the Jewish people. Jewish travelers from all around the world go to Portugal to discover discover new things about Jewish life in the country, heritages hidden deep in its past. One of these hidden heritages is that of Jews living in the peaceful municipality of Belmonte.

Photo Credit: wikipedia.org/wiki/Belmonte,_Portugal

Into Secrecy

It is believed that the Sephardic Jews have been living in Portugal as far back as 10 BCE. Belmonte’s first synagogue was even dated as early as the 1290s judging from the town’s oldest Jewish relic, an inscribed granite reliquary. The community back then lived in relative peace up until the 1490s, when King Manuel I forced Jews to convert to Catholicism.

In fear of losing their lives, they kept their faith in secret. They had Sabbath candles submerged in clay jars, and made sausages out of flour and chicken and hung them on their windows, all to keep the authorities from being suspicious about the faith they kept.

As regimes changed and generations passed, the Jews of Belmonte started gaining acceptance in their religious beliefs. In the 1970s, the community in Belmonte started reaching out to other Jewish communities, but it wasn’t until 1994 when a rabbi from Israel went to Belmonte to officially reinstate the community in the Jewish faith.

Saving Portugal’s Economy

In the early 2000s, Portugal was going through some tough economic conditions. To get some relief from the economic downturn, many locals in Lisbon looked towards the explosion of tourism in Belmonte because of the newly-found Jews in the municipality. The locals in Lisbon, Belmonte, and other nearby towns were given jobs because many Jewish travelers came to see the crypto-Jews of Belmonte.

The crypto-Jews of Belmonte

Belmonte is undeniably the most Jewish town in Portugal. Other locations may have historic connections with the Jews, but none of these towns have a deeper and more well-preserved connection to Jewish history than Belmonte. Join Kosher River Cruises in 2020 as we explore Jewish heritage in Portugal and Spain. Swing by the peaceful town of Belmonte, and meet the town’s Crypto-Jews.

Related Articles

Chicken Marengo

Chicken Marengo

According to a popular myth, the dish was first made after Napoleon defeated the Austrian army at the Battle of Marengo at Marengo south of Alessandria, Italy, when his chef Dunard foraged in the town for ingredients (because the supply wagons were too distant) and...

read more
Chicken Katsu in Sweet and Sour Sauce

Chicken Katsu in Sweet and Sour Sauce

Once again, we are looking at various recipes we will be featuring on our Japan & Korea cruise next year. Apart from Japanese and Korean dishes we will be serving our usual great variety of our modern Jewish cuisine, plus some old favorites. A very simple, but...

read more

BEYOND our expectations

We could not believe what we were served. Chef Malcom is a GENIUS!!! Please tell the directors that we do not have words to express how pleased we were. I suppose that we will be recommending you to every friend we know.

Jose T, Miami FL

Rhone River Cruise 2019

Fabulous & flawless service

I have been totally spoiled for future vacations. Riverboat is the way to go. I’ve met such nice people, staff was great, food fantastic. A really well run and well thought out trip

Harriet S

Another successful experience

Our experience was unique in that we were able to tour a lot of territory and a variety of places with minimal inconvenience. The fact that our boat was always with us and there were no long bus rides or waits made this mode of travel extremely enjoyable.

Micheol R