Globetrotter Moshe Klein’s journey of history and mystery in Portugal

Photos: Moshe Klein

Moshe Klein’s adventures usually take him to places where a once-vibrant Jewish community is either on a steep slope of decline, or is already nonexistent. But his quick trip to Portugal was a completely different kind of experience, as communities buried under the oppression of the Inquisition have begun to reemerge after hundreds of years, creating a journey of history and mystery

Generations of Secrecy

AT some point, we’ve all studied the Inquisition — how  the Roman Catholic Church forced Jews, first in Spain and then in Portugal, to either convert to Christianity or leave the country. Those who remained and converted, but kept Judaism in secret, faced tribunals, torture, and death. Tens of thousands are known to have died horrific deaths over that dark period that spanned more than three centuries. It remains unclear how many lived double lives, pretending outwardly to be Christians while secretly practicing Judaism, and managed to survive.

With the Spanish Inquisition starting in 1478, one might think that the event has been relegated to the history books. But globetrotter Moshe Klein had always wondered what had become of those Jews, who have been variously labeled over the years as Anusim, Marranos, Conversos, and Crypto-Jews. At Amsterdam’s Portuguese Synagogue, during a recent trip to Holland, Klein asked a local if he knew what had happened to Portugal’s hidden Jews.

The answer left him speechless.

“He told me that there was a revived community of Anusim living in Belmonte,” says Klein, referring to a bucolic village located in northeast Portugal not far from the Spanish border.

Researching Belmonte became a priority for Klein, who soon discovered that it was one of six communities in Portugal’s remote countryside whose residents are believed to have descended from Crypto-Jews. Even though he was scheduled to head back home to Williamsburg in two days, the opportunity was just too appealing to pass up. Klein changed his ticket to schedule in a quick side visit to Portugal.

Klein’s itinerary was short and targeted, with a good friend joining him for the 28-hour trip. The two planned to go with a local Jewish tour guide to visit Belmonte’s Orthodox Jewish community, with an additional stop in nearby Trancoso, confident that they had just enough time to get a feel for two very different Jewish villages. Klein admits that he never imagined that he would end up squeezing in a last-minute visit to a third Jewish village in another part of the country, and discovering an authentic shtetl.