Shabbat in Belmonte

NOVEMBER 20, 2021: Shabbat in Belmonte. As Shabbat is supposed to be, today was a restful day. After a week of being on the go from sunrise to sunset, we needed it.

A few words about the house we are staying in. It is a small home, one bedroom made of stone. In the living room are three unusual features – large vats made of stone. Maybe these were part of an ancient wine press. Definitely something old that got incorporated into the current building. History under our roof.

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Shabbat morning, Mark went to services. He seemed to be the only tourist. All the rest were locals, mostly older but some young. Around 20 men and a handful of women. The prayers were chanted out loud. It was hard to communicate with the people – most spoke only Portuguese and had a very limited Hebrew. Friends who had visited several years ago, had told us that the locals were very private and not friendly. Mark found that this was not true – people were friendly and tried to welcome him, even without a common language. When he went to services last night, it was dark, and he did not see the view. This morning, the scenery was visible, and it was spectacular.

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David joined us for a lunch of leftovers from the night before. Although we had no way to heat the food, it was still good. After lunch, we took a short walk around town. This is the first place you actually see some signs of a living Jewish community – men with kippot walk the streets, doors have a mezuzah, there are Hebrew signs on some houses, a Jewish Portuguese radio station broadcasts from here, there is a kosher beer house and stores selling Judaica. We even came across an office of Shavei Israel, an organization dedicated to assisting descendants of Jews to reclaim their roots. All of this, is among the usual Christian churches and chapels that are found in all the villages here. Belmonte is truly a community where the different religions live openly side by side.

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We had bought tickets on Friday for the Belmonte Jewish Museum, but now it was closed for siesta. David returned to his hotel, and we returned to our house for our own siestas. Later in the afternoon, Mark and I returned to the museum. It is nicely done, and tells the amazing story of the Belmonte Jews.

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The last exhibit in the museum is a movie, interviewing some local residents about their experience as a Jew in the past, and what they see for the future. Mark recognized people that he had seen in shul in the movie. Basically, the older people talked about how when they were younger, the Jewish traditions was something secret you did at home, and never talked about outside the house. Whether this was lighting candles, baking matza or saying prayers, it was something always private. With the building of the synagogue, it moved from being something private to belonging to a community. This was not an easy transition for some people to make and took some time for it to be accepted. Today, the Jews participate in the community proudly. However, the future for the community is unknown. The young generation is moving to Israel. Without a new generation, the community here too will disappear.

After the visit in the museum, Mark went to the synagogue for afternoon prayers. They had a seudah shlishit meal in the synagogue (too bad we did not know this ahead of time, I was home preparing our own seudah shlishit) Mark returned to our house, we ate our meal, and then he returned to the synagogue for evening prayers. The meal in the synagogue was still taking place, and the room was full of both men and woman. The whole community participated, both in the meal and in the havdaleh service after Shabbat.

Once Shabbat ended, we called David, who had spent the afternoon resting and reading in his hotel. Our plan for the evening was to go to the artisan brewery in Belmonte that makes a kosher beer. Looking on the internet, I saw that they close at 7:00, which was only 15 minutes away. Mark quickly went and brought three bottles for us to enjoy at home. David arrived and we opened the beer. We did not like it. Very cloudy, thick and something not quite pleasant about the taste. Felt unfinished. Maybe just takes getting used to. We chatted for a while and then called it a night.

Recently, Rabbi Weiss of Raanana led a Jewish tour of Portugal that visited Belmonte. He had an article in the Jerusalem Post where we he wrote that for 500 years the Jews here went through such hardships and took great risks to preserve the Jewish traditions and pass them down orally generation to generation. Today, when it is so easy to be a Jew, many are forgoing the tradition. Food for thought.