Belmonte and Trancoso

The visit to Trancoso and Belmonte represented the core of our reason to be in Portugal and our interest in the Secret Jews.  We drove about an hour from Trancoso to Belmonte, where we were met by Yosef.  He took us on a walking tour of the extensive Jewish quarter (Juderia) and pointed out specific items of interest.  For example, it was always known where the Juderia started and now there is a magen David in the pavement to indicate the location.  He showed us crosses carved into the stone door posts to show where the Inquisition had confiscated Jewish houses.  Then he took us to the impressive new synagogue Beit Eliahu that he was involved in planning and building in 1996.  It has 32 families (300 members) that have returned to Judaism, and there are many more who retain their secret Jewish status even today.

It is estimated that ca. 40,000 New Christians (Secret Jews) were murdered by the Inquisition from 1536 – 1821, when it was finally abolished.  Of those, about 1,200 were burnt in autos da fe, mostly in Lisbon and Evora.  But, even after the Inquisition the Secret Jews were not safe.  During the 48 years of the Salazar dictatorship no Jewish practices were allowed in Portugal.  It was only after the 1974 revolution that religious practises other than Catholicism were allowed.  Still even today many Bnei Anusim will not openly declare that they are Jewish, but many will confess this confidentially. It is impossible to estimate the actual number of Secret Jews.

Returning to Trancoso we were taken on a tour of the extensive Juderia.  Here the houses are made of stone and all are grey.  The Jews, to show that they were conversos, carved crosses on the door posts, but they modified the crosses with the letter shin at the ends and also added menorot.  It was required that conversos move out of the Juderia and be replaced by Old Christians, so that the conversos would be removed from Judaic influences.  It was a capital offense to “Judaize”, i.e. say or do anything about Judaism, including having Hebrew books.  Since the practice of Judaism was publicly banned and there were no Jewish institutions, the secret practise of Judaism continued underground, in the home.  This explains why so many of the victims of the Inquisition were women.

Yosef took us to the new modern Jewish Center that they have built there that is not yet officially opened.  It is called the Isaac Cardoso Center for Jewish Interpretation, named after a physiciain born in Trancoso in 1603 who was a converso, and is funded entirely by the Trancoso municipality.  He told us that although they have support from the local municipality, a priest complained to him that the JC was built too close to a church.  He replied that they had built the Church on land confiscated from Jews, who they killed.  But, in general there is strong support for the return of Jewish worship and symbols as well as the open return of the Jews themselves.