The Jewish community in Porto has experienced a renaissance period over the past decade. It comprises around 1,000 individuals who have gathered from over 30 countries and settled in the second-largest city in Portugal, a country with a history of persecution of Jews.
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In the city, one can find three synagogues, a Holocaust museum, a Jewish museum, a kosher hotel and a kosher restaurant. However, over the past year and a half, a dark cloud has loomed over all of this, threatening to tarnish the Jewish community.
In March 2022, Portuguese police conducted an aggressive search at the community's main synagogue. Two weeks later, following the publication of the so-called "Passport Scandal" in the media, the community's rabbi, Daniel Litvak, was arrested at the Porto airport while making his way to Israel.
He was suspected of granting Portuguese citizenship approvals in violation of the law, relying on the "Spanish Law," which allowed descendants of those expelled from Spain and Portugal to obtain Portuguese citizenship
Upon his release from detention, Rabbi Litvak's passport was confiscated and he was required to report to the nearby police station three times a week and was prohibited from leaving the country for six months.
In September 2022, the Court of Appeals in Lisbon revoked the restrictive conditions imposed on the rabbi and sharply criticized the prosecution. "There is not a single piece of evidence supporting the claim that officials enjoyed privileged ties with the rabbi," the judges wrote in their ruling.
When the scandal erupted, the Portuguese media "celebrated" and accused the Jewish community in Porto of selling affiliation certificates to the Spanish Jewish community in exchange for money, thereby enabling Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs to obtain Portuguese citizenship.
The most prominent case was that of billionaire Roman Abramovich, who did not face criminal charges. Even the French-Jewish media personality Patrick Drahi obtained Portuguese citizenship from the Jewish community in Lisbon, and in this case as well, allegations of bribery were raised, but ultimately amounted to nothing.
However, the damage to the Jewish community in Porto is done. The media, parliamentary and business frenzy surrounding the scandal led to the effective repeal of the "Spanish Law" in the country, starting from September 1, 2022.
The new requirements for obtaining Portuguese citizenship are now significantly more stringent and include providing strong evidence of a long-standing connection to the country, such as residing in Portugal for many years or holding historical and longstanding property ownership.
As part of its efforts to combat antisemitism, the Jewish community in Porto produced a full-length film titled 1618 about the history of the Inquisition in the city. Gabriel Senderowicz, the head of the city’s Jewish community, reflected on weathering the storm. "We felt as if the Inquisition had returned after 500 years, and the Portuguese authorities conducted a Soviet-style antisemitic attack against us," he claimed.
"They don't like Jewish success in Portugal... they accuse us of using the funds from citizenship applicants to enrich the Jewish community and label it as exploitation. They don't like Jewish life," Senderowicz claims
Since Rabbi Litvak’s arrest, representatives of the Jewish community in Porto have reached out to the European Union, the president of Portugal, and others, urging them to condemn what they have defined as "antisemitic actions" carried out against them and to assist them in "clearing the names of the community, its leaders and its founders." To this day, no one has apologized to the community.
The rebirth of a community
The story of the Jewish community in Porto dates back centuries. Around 500 years ago, the Jewish community was expelled from the city, just four years after the expulsion from Spain. For hundreds of years, there were no Jews in Porto, except for a small group living in hiding.
After the abolition of the Inquisition in 1821, Jews began to return. Dozens returned to Portugal from Morocco, Gibraltar and Turkey. In the early 20th century, there were 80 Ashkenazi Jews living in Porto. The city’s Kadoorie Synagogue was established in 1938 and remained empty with hardly any attendance.
Starting in 2010, the community has seen a transformation. The synagogue was renovated, a kosher restaurant was established and even a hotel was built. Jews from dozens of countries started arriving in the city. "The community was reborn," Senderowicz says, "it grew, and we created a strong unity. By 2015, the synagogue was very active."
Two factors enabled the community to grow and prosper. The first was the arrival of Jewish students from France. The community signed an agreement with the University of Porto, allowing Jewish students from France to study dentistry in the city, as it was challenging for them to be accepted in France.
The program was highly successful, and currently, there are 400 Jewish students studying in Porto. The synagogue became full, and on Yom Kippur, around 700 people, including 200 young individuals, attend a large and communal event, drawing Jews from other Jewish communities across Europe as well.
The second factor that propelled the community forward is the law that allows descendants of Sephardic Jews to obtain Portuguese citizenship. The original idea was to bring wealthy Jews and foreign investments to Portugal.
The law was highly successful and brought extremely affluent Jews to Portugal, such as Patrick Drahi, who acquired the country's largest communications company.
The direction seemed positive until March 2022, when the police raided the synagogue in Porto and arrested Rabbi Litvak. "The police alleged that the rabbi colluded with officials to grant Portuguese citizenship to a line of wealthy Jews, but those were falsehoods because he didn't know the officials and didn't speak Portuguese," says Senderowicz.
"They spread fake news against the community in the Portuguese media. They created a narrative against Roman Abramovich accusing him of corruption. The truth is that they were alarmed by the return of the Jews and their success. The Jewish community in Porto represented the reality they despise."
"The plan to attack us was simple. They claimed that Abramovich obtained Jewish approval through tricks from Wikipedia and bribed the community," he adds.
"In the end, it turned out to be regular administrative fees of 250 euros that every person seeking Portuguese citizenship is required to pay. The Portuguese exploited the conflict in Ukraine to spread lies about Abramovich. They broke into the synagogue and the homes of community leaders. The community was accused of corruption. These actions against us were based on false accusations and fake news."
'We were targeted by the government'
Over the past seven years since the law came into effect in 2015, the Jewish community in Porto has approved 100,000 applications, all of them from Jews, with the vast majority being Israelis.
"Following the police investigation, there was a surge in antisemitism on social media, and it's disheartening. We wanted to bring investments to Portugal, and they portrayed us as people who sell the country for money," Senderowicz says
During the same period, the community in Lisbon approved 40,000 requests, many of which were not from Jews themselves but from descendants of Jews who were expelled from Portugal centuries ago and settled in other countries.
"There were days when we would receive 600-700 emails from Jews seeking approvals. That's how it has been for seven years," Senderowicz says. "Some of the lawmakers who initiated this law regretted it. Initially, they had a romantic notion that wealthy Jews would come. But when the community established a Holocaust museum, built new synagogues, opened kosher restaurants and established a local charity network, which led to the production of historical films and even brought thousands of Portuguese youth for visits—this angered them.
Following the police investigation, there was a surge in antisemitism on social media, and it's disheartening. We wanted to bring investments to Portugal, and they portrayed us as people who sell the country for money."
He explains that "the local media was the worst. They mentioned former Mossad director Tamir Pardo, who applied for Portuguese citizenship, and accused him of being involved in drugs—a complete lie." Pardo is the chairman of Cann10, a company that produces medical cannabis products and received approval for cultivation in Portugal, which led to false allegations of illegal drug trafficking.
"The investigation was driven by antisemitic motives," Senderowicz claims. "They don't like Jewish success in Portugal. On one hand, there are wealthy community members who have invested billions in Portugal, and on the other hand, they accuse us of using the funds from citizenship applicants to enrich the Jewish community and label it as exploitation. They don't like Jewish life. This is a problem that has existed for hundreds of years, not just in Portugal, but throughout Europe.
"We were targeted by the government. No one protected us because it's very easy to destroy a Jewish organization. We were easy prey. Just mention the word 'corruption,' and that's enough. The police raided the Jewish museum and community offices, confiscating millions of documents without any valid reason, reminiscent of the dark days of the Inquisition."
From your perspective, is the ordeal behind you?
"The court ruled that there is no evidence. From our standpoint, the ordeal is over. Abramovich proved that his ancestors were Sephardic Jews with Portuguese roots. We accuse the government and the media of corruption. They tried to destroy the strongest community in Portugal. We are now suing them in court."
'The court dismissed all charges'
Community leaders are disheartened by the fact that neither the State of Israel nor the Jewish world came to their defense. "The Jewish world has disappointed us. Only the European Jewish Association (EJA) and President [Isaac] Herzog supported us. We are also disappointed in the Israeli government and the Israeli embassy in Lisbon for doing nothing to assist us.
We allocated over €400,000 to the Israeli embassy in Lisbon for cultural events and Independence Day celebrations to create a better image of Israel in Portugal, yet when the incident occurred, they remained silent and offered no help to prevent an attempt to destroy the Jewish community. The Argentine embassy in the country supported us and provided substantial assistance to Rabbi Litvak on a weekly basis due to his Argentine background."
Community leaders add in pain, "No one has apologized to us. In the end, we will prevail. We may be few, but we will prevail. We are not afraid of anyone. If our rabbi were corrupt, we would remove him, but they haven't presented a shred of evidence. We stopped issuing approvals for an entire year. The best proof that the entire investigation was a lie is that they forgot about Roman Abramovich."
Attorney David Garrett, a member of the Jewish Community Council for Legal Affairs in Porto, emphasizes that "it is important to understand that the entire investigation against the Jewish community in Porto was based on anonymous allegations, and it was conducted by the police in Lisbon, despite the Porto police stating that there is no evidence for the investigation and everything is based on false accusations.
A year and a half after the investigation was opened, no indictments were filed, and the court dismissed all charges. However, we are still waiting for them to apologize to us."
Garrett promises that the Jewish community in Porto will file defamation lawsuits against anyone who pushed false allegations and also against those who initiated the investigation in Lisbon.
Renew our days as of old
The Jewish community in Porto recently inaugurated its new cemetery. The community's previous burial ground was destroyed in 1497 following a decree prohibiting the practice of Judaism in Portugal. "We do not forget that in the past, all our properties and homes were plundered, and even the cemetery was demolished," said Rabbi Asaf Portal, one of Porto's rabbis.
The new cemetery is named "Equality Field in honor of Isaac Aboab." Aboab, known as the "last gaon of Castile," lived out his final days in Porto after the expulsion of Jews from Spain. "Unfortunately, we don't even know where the last gaon is buried due to the persecution and erasure of any trace of the Jewish community from that period," said Rabbi Daniel Litvak.
The beautiful cemetery is nestled among trees, lawns and a lake. It was impossible to establish a private burial ground in a peaceful and discreet location in Porto. The community decided to purchase land outside the city, in a tranquil spot in the town of Maia, several miles away from Porto.
As a testament to the strength of the Jewish community in Porto, it recently hosted the annual conference of the European Jewish Association (EJA) in partnership with the World Zionist Organization. The conference was attended by about 150 community leaders and Jewish organizations from across Europe, as well as parliament members from European countries, including the European Union.
During the two-day conference, Jewish leaders discussed the troubling rise of antisemitism from both the right and left across the continent, the religious freedom of European Jews in the face of attempts to ban Jewish practices such as ritual slaughter and circumcision, and the implementation of national programs to combat antisemitism in several countries.