Viertes Erasmus+-Treffen in Portugal (Dezember 2015)

Das vierte Treffen in Portugal The fourth meeting in Portugal 12/2015 Montag Text folgt noch ... Dienstag On the 8th December 2015 the German delegation began the day with a breakfast at the hotel. After that we walked from our hotel to the school in Porto, called “Escola Profissional Raul Dória”. There we met the whole Portuguese mobility. About 11 o`clock we arrived the Synagogue Kadoorie - Mekor Haim. There we heard a really interesting Lecture from Mr. Rui Vieira Da Cunha about the Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt. We heard something about her live and her political thinking. Hannah Arendt’s represents the idea of political action. This idea includes the aspect of action, the aspect of freedom, the aspect of plurality and the aspect of speech. Really important words from Hannah Arendt are “promising and forgiving”. They are the base for a rich communal life. You have to promise to create good relationships between you and other people and you have to be able to forgive, to overcome the injuries that occur between people. These are only few aspects we learned about Hannah Arendt. After this lecture, Hugo Vaz, the Director of Dept. of Tourism, told us something about the Sephardic Jews. He told us something about their history and their traditions. We visited the synagogue at the time of Hanukkah, the festival of light, so we could see the Hanukkah candlestick with 9 Arms. Be careful, that you don`t mix it up with the Jewish Menorah, which have only 7 arms. On Hanukkah you enflame every evening one candle and at the end 8 candles burn. Beside the explanation about the Hanukkah candlestick, we were informed about the number of Jews in Portugal with an amount of 3000 and in Porto with an amount of 500. Many of the Portuguese people have Jewish blood, but only if the mother is Jewish the child also gets a Jew. About two o’clock we had lunch time. Then we get a tour to the Jewish Porto quarter guided by Francisco Pinio, the father of one of the Portuguese students. We first visited an old prison, which is now a museum. After that we walked around the old Jewish ghetto and had a look on the old synagogue, which is now a church. We also saw a secret synagogue. It was a really nice tour. After the tour at the end of the day, we ate together with the Portuguese students in groups at home. Mittwoch Text folgt noch ... Donnerstag Belmonte - "The land of Jews" The very inspiring day in Belmonte was worth the long trip by bus, which started way too early, at 6 o’clock in the morning. But why is this small city known as “the land of Jews”, although the Jewish community there consists of just 60 Jews nowadays? This decrease is caused by economical problems and a lack of opportunities to work for young people, who therefore emigrate to bigger cities. Another disadvantage is the fact, that someone is only a Jew if his mother is Jewish. But many Jewish men married Christian women. The very sympathetic woman who guided us through Belmonte explained that as a consequence the future of the local Jewish community is very uncertain. Well, back to the question, whose answer will be found in the past. During the time of Inquisition and persecution in Portugal, crypto Jews could live there in secret. These Jews pretended to be New Christians, who converted to Christianity, but in fact they still practiced their Jewish habits, traditions and prayers in secret. By definition Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek kryptos - κρυπτός, 'hidden'). The term crypto-Jew is also used to describe descendants of Jews who maintain some Jewish traditions of their ancestors while publicly adhering to other faiths. Crypto-Jews could hide their belief for five centuries in Belmonte. What is very fascinating. Moreover, it was very interesting, that the houses of the Jews were marked. It’s said on the one hand side, that they were marked by the Christian officials, to be sure, that New Christians live in those houses. On the other hand side, researcher try to find evidence that the Jews wanted to give messages to other Jews this way. We visited the small and very beautiful synagogue in Belmonte. The Rabi gave us some further information. He told us about his plan to bring non-Jewish students with Jewish routes in touch with the Jewish belief. Maybe even to win them over to Judaism. Furthermore, we visited the Museu Judaico de Belmonte, which is the biggest museum about Jewish society in Portugal. The Jewish Museum of Belmonte is aimed to become a unity of documentation, investigation, exposition and divulgation about the role played by the local Jewish community within the Jewish history and culture, to whom, this way the city council pays reverence. After many information we were glad to have lunch at a restaurant. To talk, relax and prepare for the long bus drive back to Porto. Anna-Lena Hahn Freitag Text folgt noch ...