Yossi Geller

Streets in Lisbon named after JewsSeveral street names in Lisbon honor the Jewish community's historical presence. Could you list every street in Lisbon that has a Jewish name without using of Google or AI tools?One of these streets is named after Sara Benoliel, a prominent feminist and Portugal's first female pediatrician. During a period of high infant mortality, she made significant contributio...

The Portuguese False Messiah How many false messiahs existed in Jewish history? There have been many individuals throughout Jewish history who falsely claimed to be the Messiah. While there isn't a definitive number, we can identify several prominent figures, and many others have been forgotten or are not well-documented. One such case is of the Portuguese False Messiah - David Reubeni (1490/1541)...

Ninth of Av 1492Ninth of Av 1492. The Jewish population of the Spanish villages of Cáceres, Hervás, Valencia de Alcántara, and Alburquerque – Extremadura (a Spanish region next to the Portuguese border) was suddenly rocked by a proclamation issued by the Catholic monarchs. The Alhambra Decree. All Spanish Jews were required to leave the country immediately. Their exodus was hastily organized. Extr...

Covilha Portugal, a Cristao-novo hub? (Part2)This could be a regular postage stamp from Israel?But it’s not… it’s a stamp printed in Portugal issued for the Centenary of the town of Covilha and shows Star and wheel from Covilha coat of arms.Star of David like symbols swarm the mountain town. In the main market, on the uniform of its football team, on its town hall and other. In the turn of the 20t...

Covilha Portugal, a Cristao-novo hub? This could be the facade of a synagogue on the outskirts of Jerusalem overlooking the Judea hills. But it’s not…it’s the old police station in Covilha, Portugal. Star of David like symbols swarm the mountain town. In the main-market, on the uniform of its football team, on its town hall and other. In the turn of the 20th century Covilha was one of the largest ...

On the Danger of Forced Conversion“We would have never thought about educating our children in the spirit of Christianity; that is foreign to us. What we do now is only a means of sustaining our children; the end justifies the means.”This quote can be easily attributed to a Cristão-novo of the 16th century. And many Portuguese Jews did exactly that: convert in an act of self-preservation. In a Dec...

The Portuguese New Christians – A Polysemous People? (Part 2)The term polysemy, refers to the ability of a sign, image, or concept (including language) to have more than one interpretation. Did Cristao-novos use a polysemic lexicon as part of their survival mechanism? Were the Portuguese New Christians – A Polysemous People?One example that comes to mind was a prayer that some Cristao-novos recite...

The Portuguese Inquisition by NumbersNumerical approaches to the study of the Portuguese Inquisition have been used by historians to examine the political, sociological and economic implications of the period. While exact numbers are difficult to determine due to incomplete statistics, record destruction, and biased data, what is clear is that the period shaped the participants involved.Although d...

The Portuguese New Christians – A Polysemous People? (Part 1)The notion of being polysemic derives from the word polysemy which is the capacity for a sign, image or concept to have multiple meanings. Is the Estrella star depicted on the public coat of arms of the Covilha, Tortosendo, and Seia communities, adjacent to the Estrella Mountain range, and had a substantial New Christian population, repr...

Active Synagogues and Jewish Cultural Centers in PortugalJudaism in Portugal is generally conceived of as a single unit that only existed in the past. And although to some degree that is true, a revitalization of Jewish heritage in Portugal is currently underway. In recent years, Jewish culture has attracted increased interest in Portugal.There are several stakeholders in the Jewish cultural rejuv...

Cristao-novos (New Christians) and Early Zionism The two influencers of the Portuguese Cristao-novo movement of the early 20 Century, Barros Basto and Samuel Schwarz were both inspired by early Zionist thought. Both referred to Herzel and his vision of a Jewish state. Barros Basto, in his publication “Halapid” outlines “The idea of the resurrection of the Hebrew people arises, with Theodore Herzl...

Carção, Portugal – in the north-east corner of PortugalCarção is a small village of the north-east corner of Portugal, very near the Spanish border. Referred to as the Capital of Christao-novos (New Christians), in the 17th century, the Inquisition focused on the village and arrested 130 people of the 400 residents. No other town, small or large, has ever been so heavily devastated by the Portugu...

“The Lion of Judah is Roaring Again”Ricardo Jorge, a prominent Portuguese physician made this profound statement in 1925 in his introduction of Samuel Schwarz’s book: “The New Christians in Portugal in the 20th Century”. He was referring to the sparkle of the modern Hebrew language, the city of Tel-Aviv and the foundation of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. So, when the question of the connect...

Feliz 25 de abril.The Carnation Revolution in Portugal took place 51 years ago (today) on April 25, 1974. The revolution had a significant impact on the Jewish community, particularly in the Beira region (north-east Portugal). The revolution ended the Estado Novo dictatorship, a period of authoritarian rule that led to social and religious restrictions. The newfound openness allowed the Beira Jewi...

Fundao, Portugal saw the only known public resistance against the inquisition.The humble town of Fundao, in the heart of the Beira region of Portugal exhibited the only recorded defiance of the Portuguese Inquisition. As was customary in those days, a legal officer of the inquisition would arrive in a town secretly and make an announcement to the population that they were required to attend churc...

The Portuguese Republic that Legalized Judaism.The First Republic (1910-1926) created the conditions for the legalization of Portuguese Jewish communities. Portuguese Jews could freely practice and worship their religion. The period of the First Republic was a heyday for Portuguese Jews. After centuries of repression, Portuguese Jews were liberated with a revitalized identity, new synagogues throu...

Marranos celebrating Passover in the attic (1989).Frederic Brenner’s photograph -- a Jewish family in Belmonte, Portugal celebrating Passover in secret and symbolically hides in attic. It is their tribute to the Marrano traditions of their predecessors. In order not to rouse the attention of local spies, Maranos (Christo-Novo) created a tradition of preparing unleavened bread and simultaneously ce...

Tell me this is a coincidence? The colors? The shapes? The context?The official Covilha flag was unveiled in 1930 when the town’s residents included 6,000 Jews (Christo Novo), approx. 40% of the population. When the Sha’ari Kabbalah Synagogue was functioning, with Samuel Shwartz as its president.Was Covilha a Christo Novo hub in the early 20th Century? Was it a nucleus for Zionist thought and pre...

Esther, Mordecai and Haman in Belmonte, Portugal?This past Purim I had the honor of attending the reading the Megillha at the Beit Eliahu Synagogue in Belmonte. To my surprise around thirty men and ten women attended the reading. Their vociferous noise-making when “Haman” was mentioned was not only animated but load. Very load. I tried to imagine how the Megillha was read at the same location a hu...

Only in the Beira region of Portugal.Perhaps, it’s a stretch. But Jews and Christians buried together in the same cemetery is unique. But in Belmonte’s old cemetery you find Jewish and Christian head-stones side by side. Quite remarkable.

Star of David, Covilha (Portugal)…. Coincidence?Magen David is a symbol generally recognized as representing both Jewish identity and Judaism. Although not only a jewish symbol, its association as a distinctive image for the Jewish people dates to 17th-century Eastern Europe. In the 19th century, the symbol began to be widely used by the Jewish communities ultimately coming to represent Jewish id...

Cartoon of Portugal offering Angola as a second bride to widowed Israel, from a Yiddish satirical weekly, New York, June 1912.——————————————————————-Many know of the Zionist Uganda Scheme in the early 20 C. But less know of the Angola Plan of 1912-1913. To make a long story short…After 1910, Portugal's new republican leaders proposed Angola for Jewish colonization as both a practical solution to i...

My name is Yossi Geller, and I am doing a PHD at Bar Ilan University. My focus is on the Conversos in the Beira region of Portugal (north - east region). The towns of Belmonte, Covilha, Brancaga, Seia and others had rich Converso communities at the turn of the 20th Century. In Covilha of 1929 there were approximately 6,000 Conversos, around 40% of the community. Located 15 min. away from Belmont...