Posts by Michael Rothwell
5 posts
Hello All, what can you tell me about the Bevis Marks Synagogue's Dowry Society, founded by Portuguese Jews in 1720?
Oporto's Jewish Community in the news: JTA - JewishTelegraphic Agency:
"Spain" and "Sepharad" - the same confusion at Portugal's expenseYesterday as I came down Rua Pedro Hispano in Oporto, I wondered why the only Portuguese pope had a name that suggests he was Spanish rather than Portuguese.In fact, the name means Peter the Hispanic, not Peter of Spain. He lived in the 13th C., a century after the birth of Portugal, but centuries before the birth of the country we k...
This weekend the Kadoorie Mekhor Haim Synagogue in Oporto held the largest shabbaton in Portugal for the last 500 years. It was attended by about 250 Jews, mostly descendants of Portuguese Sephardim, from countries such as Turkey, the UK, Israel, South Africa, Brazil, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Argentina. The distinguished guests included Rav Ishak Haleva, the Chief Rabbi of Turkey, ...
Portugal Begins Granting Citizenship to Sephardic JewsPortugal's new nationality law granting Portuguese nationality to descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews, in effect since 27th February, has born its first fruits. The Panamanian citizen Alfonso Paredes was the first to be granted citizenship under this law on 2nd October (the government's last working day before the recent national elections...