Basque Country – Following The Converso Escape Route
Basque Country is a unique and fascinating region. It preserves its own language – not like any other, though it straddles both sides of the French-Spanish border. Located just west […]
Tag Archives: Portugal
The Portuguese Inquisition – Coimbra, Portugal
Upon visiting Portugal it isn’t generally apparent where significant moments transpired concerning Jews, unless someone shows them to you. That is mostly the case in Coimbra, too, where the Portuguese Inquisition […]
Lekh Lekha – The Secret of Circumcision
The practice of newborn male circumcision is synonymous with Jews and Judaism. The Torah records that the commandment of this procedure was first directed at Abraham and his family. Since […]
Shofetim – Immigration, Portugal, and Prohibitions
I finally feel like the proverbial Jew. For the first time in my life I am an immigrant! All joking aside, Jews are accustomed to relocating, whether forced to do […]
Castelo de Vide – Portugal
This post will leave you stunned. I’ve returned to Portugal, this time with a group of 40 Jews from Israel and America. One place that we visited that was entirely […]
Passover and The Living Law of Moses
It is true that Christianity is inextricably tied to Judaism. Not only is this so historically, but also theologically, as in the Christian self-conception as ‘New Israel.’ This adoption, or […]
Shemot – The Fifth Column Canard?
Pharaoh is the first world leader to levy an accusation that scores of others have since made throughout Jewish history. Pharaoh declares that the Jews must be enslaved lest ‘when […]
Vayhe – Like Reuben and Shimon
The Yosef saga concludes with the passing of his father, Ya’acob. Finally, we can see how the brothers really feel about each other without their worrying about how it will […]
Pondering Portugal
As I walked Portugal’s medieval streets, and spoke to its people, I began to understand Portuguese Jewish history. I now ‘get’ the Portuguese Jews of long ago. I more fully […]
Shaare Tikva, Lisbon (& Tomar)
I ended my visit to Portugal in Lisbon, where Jewish life first resurfaced in Portugal during the early 19th century. Fittingly, I first went to see Portugal’s oldest remaining synagogue, […]
