Belmonte Jews

Belmonte Jews

The Belmonte Jews are a community that survived in secrecy for hundreds of years by maintaining a tradition of endogamy and by hiding all the external signs of their faith. The Jewish community in the municipality of Belmonte, Cova da Beira subregion, Portugal, goes back to the 12th century and they were only discovered in 1917 by a Polish Jewish mining engineer named Samuel Schwarz. Their rich Sephardic tradition of Crypto-Judaism is unique.

Only recentlywhen did they contact other Jews and they now claim to profess Orthodox Judaism, although they still retain their centuries-old traditions.

ee also

*Sephardi
*History of the Jews in Portugal

External links

*http://jewishwebindex.com/spain.htm Jews of Portugal, Spain, Gibraltar and Majorca


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Belmonte — may mean::;Title:*Prince Belmonte or Princess Belmonte, a Spanish and Italian noble title:;Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church:*Cardinal Domenico Pignatelli di Belmonte:*Cardinal Gennaro Granito Pignatelli di Belmonte:;Character;* Belmonte ,… …   Wikipedia

  • Belmonte (Portugal) — Infobox Municipality pt official name = Belmonte image coat of arms = BMT.png Region = Centro Subregion = Cova da Beira District = Castelo Branco Mayor name = Amândio de Melo Mayor party = PS area total = 118.8 population total = 7,662 population …   Wikipedia

  • BELMONTE — BELMONTE, town in northern Portugal near the Spanish frontier. Its medieval community is seldom mentioned in the contemporary records, but there is preserved a Hebrew synagogal inscription of 1296–97, probably originally intended to be placed… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Belmonte (Portugal) — Belmonte est une ville portugaise du district de Castelo Branco de 7662 habitants. La commune comprend cinq paroisses. Belmonte est le lieu de naissance de Pedro Álvares Cabral, le navigateur qui découvrit le Brésil en l an 1500. Sa statue s… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • BELMONTE — BELMONTE, Dutch Sephardi family of poets and diplomats of Marrano extraction. The first member of the family to figure in Jewish life was JACOB ISRAEL (1570–1629). Born in Madeira as a Marrano under the name of Diego Nuñez Belmonte, he was one of …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • History of the Jews in Portugal — The history of the Jews in Portugal is directly related to Sephardi history, a Jewish ethnic division that represents communities who have originated in the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain).HistoryBefore PortugalJewish populations have… …   Wikipedia

  • Spanish and Portuguese Jews — are a distinctive sub group of Sephardim who have their main ethnic origins within the crypto Jewish communities of the Iberian peninsula and who shaped communities mainly in Western Europe and the Americas from the late 16th century on. These… …   Wikipedia

  • Sephardi Jews — akitía was subjected to pervasive, massive influence from Modern Standard Spanish and most Moroccan Jews now speak a colloquial, Andalusian form of Spanish, with only an occasional use of the old language as a sign of in group solidarity,… …   Wikipedia

  • Marrano — Marranos: Secret Seder in Spain during the times of inquisition, painting by Moshe Maimon Marranos were Jews living in the Iberian peninsula who were forced to convert to Christianity but continued to observe Judaism in secret. The term came into …   Wikipedia

  • Portuguese name — A typical Portuguese name is composed of one or two given names, and two family names. There is a division between given names and family names. The first surname is the same as the last surname in the mother s maiden name, and the second surname …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”