Portugal's Hidden Jewish History: Lisbon, Porto & the Crypto-Jews

Portugal's Jewish story is unlike anywhere else in Europe. In 1496, King Manuel I ordered all Jews in Portugal to convert to Christianity or leave. Unlike Spain's 1492 expulsion (which gave Jews the choice to leave), Manuel's decree was especially cruel — many Jews who had fled Spain to Portugal were now trapped. The majority were forcibly baptized and became "New Christians" (cristãos-novos). But many continued practicing Judaism in secret, behind closed doors, for generations. These crypto-Jews (anusim, or in Portuguese, marranos — though many find that term offensive) maintained Jewish practices in hidden ways: lighting candles on Friday nights in closets, fasting on Yom Kippur while claiming illness, baking matzah in secret. This continued for centuries. In some remote villages in northeastern Portugal (particularly Belmonte), crypto-Jewish communities were discovered in the 20th century still practicing recognizable Jewish rituals after 500 years. Today, Portugal has come full circle. A 2015 law granted Portuguese citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from Portugal, and small Jewish communities have re-established themselves in Lisbon and Porto.

Porto's Jewish revival has been more dramatic than Lisbon's. The Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue, completed in 1938 with funding from the Kadoorie family of Hong Kong (themselves of Baghdadi Jewish origin), is the largest synagogue on the Iberian Peninsula. It's an imposing granite building that makes a powerful statement about Jewish continuity in a country that tried to erase its Jews. The attached Jewish Museum of Porto is comprehensive and moving, tracing the story from the medieval golden age through the Inquisition to the modern community. The Porto Jewish community has been actively reaching out to descendants of crypto-Jews, and the community has grown significantly in recent years. Kosher food in Porto is available through the community — contact them in advance for Shabbat meal arrangements. Porto itself is a beautiful, walkable city famous for port wine, azulejo tiles, and the dramatic Douro River valley. The Livraria Lello, the bookshop that inspired Hogwarts, is worth the queue. The Douro Valley wine region is a short trip from Porto and makes a wonderful day excursion.

For the most remarkable chapter of Portuguese Jewish history, you need to leave the cities. The town of Belmonte, in the remote Serra da Estrela mountains of northeastern Portugal, is where a community of crypto-Jews was "discovered" in the 1920s by a mining engineer named Samuel Schwarz. These families had been practicing Judaism in secret for over 400 years, maintaining Friday night candle-lighting, Yom Kippur fasting, and Passover rituals — all while outwardly living as Catholics. The Belmonte Jewish Museum tells this extraordinary story. A small synagogue now operates openly, and some community members have formally returned to mainstream Judaism. Getting to Belmonte requires a car or organized tour from Lisbon or Porto (it's about 3-4 hours from either city). Several other towns in the region — Trancoso, Guarda, Castelo de Vide — also have crypto-Jewish heritage and old Jewish quarters (judiarias) worth exploring. These are not typical tourist destinations, which is part of their appeal. The landscape is rugged, beautiful, and eerily quiet — you can imagine how these communities maintained their secret for centuries.