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Spain

 

Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits'.

The Moors ruled Spain for centuries in medieval times and greatly influenced Spanish culture.

'Spain's medieval Jewish Golden Age came to an abrupt halt with the 1492 expulsion decree by Isabel and Ferdinand, whose inquisition turned the Iberian peninsula into a bastion of anti-Semitism and religious intolerance for centuries to come.'  The Edict of Expulsion by the Spanish monarchs in 1492, ended over a millennium of co-existence between Jews and Christians on the Iberian peninsula.  In 1487-88, the Inquisition falsely accused a group of Jewish and New Christian neighbors near Toledo of committing ritual murder on a Christian child.  The sensation trial was instrumental in the royal decision to expel the Jews.  Trial documents reveal the complex daily interaction of Christians and Jews under the Inquisition - and how the Inquisition read that coexistence as a threat to the nation's integrity and security.

'Only after the legalization of non-Catholic faiths in the 19th century did Jews begin to trickle back to Spain.  Today's community numbers around 14,000, mostly Moroccan Jews who immigrated in the 1950s, along wit expatriates from the Americas and some Spaniards rediscovering their Jewish roots.'

Ted Margulis on the way up the street to the Synagogue and Mikvah in Gerona

A few years ago, my wife Shirley and I were in Gerona, Spain and during our wanderings, we found the synagogue and mikva'ot'oth in the old, hilly part of town.  There, you will find the Catalan Museum of Jewish Culture.

This area is referred to as "The Call" and probably the name came from the Hebrew word Kahal, meaning community. "The Call" was an autonomous government within the city, which had no jurisdiction over the Jews. 

Gerona is about 40 miles by train from Barcelona and is a very well worth day trip. The train is comfortable and once you arrive in Gerona, you will quickly see how the Jewish residents lived before 1492.  You'll walk in streets of the old Jewish Quarter, so narrow that your shoulders will literally touch the walls of the buildings on both sides of the twisted and turning "streets" ... better to call them paved paths. This area was discovered during the Franco regime and has been full restored.
http://www.kosherdelight.com/orthodox.htm

"Stones of Silence,"
Recounts the visit to the medieval Jewish quarter of Gerona, Spain, some resources, history and more by author Schelly Talalay Dardashti.
www.jpost.com

Click on Jewish World, scroll down, or use this complete URL
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull%26cid=1062646044353
 
http://tinyurl.com/mje3

Nat Reiss  reiss@rci.rutgers.edu  in a message on JewishGen dated 4/6/99 stated in answer to a question from Menna Megan Kearns "Why do many Sephardic surnames seem quite Italian ... or at least sound like it?"

"Your observation is correct, and I know of at least two good reasons.   First, some ethnically-Italian areas - Sardinia and Sicily - were under Spanish control at the time of the expulsion from Spain in 1492, and the Jews living there were in a similar situation to those living on the Iberian Peninsula;"

"Second, and probably more importantly, at the time of the Spanish expulsion, most areas on the Italian peninsula were accommodating to Jewish immigration.  However, this changed drastically over the next decades and centuries as persecution of Jews became common, forcing many Jews to leave."

"The Islamic Ottoman Empire, which then included most of the eastern Mediterranean, was close-by and welcomed the Jews.  It was the logical place for them to go. Many Jewish families from Turkey were of Italian origin and many kept their Italian citizenship. Turkish Jewish families often have names of Italian towns including Cori, Taranto, Pontremoli, Modiano/Modigliano, etc."

Jews have been living in Spain from before Christ.  More and more Sephardic sites are appearing on the web.  Those links that I am aware of at this time are available below, but I can assure you that as more sites are discovered, they will be added to my site.

Names and lots of personal information about Jews who lived in Spain prior to 1492 can be found in the Notarial records of Spain, of which there are about 2-3,000 per town per year and in which Jews are clearly mentioned as such.  Extracts of these Notarial records are found in books such as Leon Tello's 2 volume book "Los Judios de Toledo" and several others.

For more information check out Jeff Malka's website pages and go to "Early Notarial and Inquisition records of Spain".
http://www.orthohelp.com/geneal/sefardim.htm

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Books  

"History of the Jews in Aragon, Regesta and Documents 1213 - 1327"
Authored by Jean Regne and published in Jerusalem in 1978

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"Jews in the Notarial culture: Latinate Wills in Mediterranean Spain, 1250-1350" 
Authored by Robert I. Burns and published in Berkeley by the University of California Press in 1996.

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"Les nomes des Israelites en France"
Authored by Paul Levy in Paris in 1960

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General Spanish Genealogy         
Information

See also Sephardic web page

 

http://www.christopher-columbus.eu/who-was-columbus/jew.htm

http://womenslens.blogspot.com/2008/09/salonika-will-ask-to-be-included-on.html

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411 Information

http://springboard.telstra.com

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Archives

Archives
Archivo General de la Guerra Civil Espanola - in Stlamanca
http://www.mcu.es/lab/archivos/SGV.html 

Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People (CAHJP) http://www.orthohelp.com/geneal/sefardim.htm

Archives - National Archives in Lisbon

http://www.iantt.pt/ 

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Argentinean Jews

Significant numbers of Argentine Jews are moving to Israel and America, but ironically a number are also moving to Spain in an ironic twist of history -- cultural similarities, a common language and economic prosperity.

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Bloom Southwest Jewish Archives

Archive sites
Are located at the University of Arizona by following links from:
http://www.state.az.us/education.html

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Castelar's Web Site

By Clara Yael who resides in northeastern Brazil and writes about her background:
http://www.dispatchesfromthevanishingworld.com/dispatch34/d34_1.html

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Conversos

* Chuleta=chop (as in lamb chop) - Chueta=pork lard. The source for the latter which discusses the whole matters of Conversos in Spain.
http://shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/faq/13-05.html

Converso Information
Are You Jewish? Converted Jewish In Spain?- a web site developed by Jose Pardo Hidalgo E-mail: pardoinfo@ono.com   
http://usuarios.lycos.es/pardoinfo/crising.htm

www.semiticroots.com 

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Crypto Judaic Studies

This society unites descendants of Crypto-Jews with scholars who study them.  Most Jewish descendants of the Southwest trace their ancestry to secret Jews who arrived in what was then a remote corner of New Spain in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. 
www.cryptojews.com

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Espasfarad

A forum (in French) dedicated to Sephardic and Spanish/Portuguese researches
http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/espasfarad

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ETSI

ETSI ("my tree" in Hebrew)
The first Sephardi Genealogical and Historical Society, founded in 1998 in Paris, France. Contact :Laurence or Philip Abensur: or email to: laurphil@wanadoo.fr
http://www.hsje.org/Genealogy.htm

Sephardi Genealogical and Historical Society  
The purpose of "ETSI" is to help people interested in Jewish Genealogical and Historical Research in the Sephardi World.  "ETSI's" field of study covers the Ottoman Empire (Turkey, Greece, Palestine, Syria, Libya, Egypt); North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia); Spain, Portugal, Italy and Gibraltar.  The study of every Sephardi community or family who lived in other regions is equally within the society's aim. Email laurphil@wanadoo.fr

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Global Gazetteer

A great web site. It is a directory of  2,880,532 of the world's cities and towns, sorted by country and linked to a map for each town.  A tab separated list is available for each country.
www.calle.com/world/ 

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Ha Lapid, Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies

General focus on Iberian descent:
http://sephardiconnect.com/halapid

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A Haven From Expulsion, Ottoman Empire

http://home.earthlink.net/~bnahman/

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Hispanic Division, Library of Congress

http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/

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Hispanic Genealogical Society of New York

Contact by writing to Murray Hill Station, PO Box 818 New York, NY 10156-0602
http://www.hispanicgenealogy.com 

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Jewish Communities of Spain

Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain
Madrid 28010, Spain

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Jewish Network of Spain

During the 16th to the 18th century, there were important communities of Conversos in Spain.  These towns included Toledo, Gerona, Cordoba and others.  If you can read Spanish, Felipe Aira has pointed me to his web site
www.cidadesdixitais.org

The site asks for a password, but I suggest you just click on one of the names and read further. Felipe's email address is AIRAPARDO@terra.es 

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Jews and Gypsies

"During the Inquisition in Spain, the Jews, Moors and Gypsies were all persecuted.  Many took refuge together in the mountains.  The most notable byproduct of this cultural mixing is flamenco.  If you listen to the pure flamenco singer you might think you are in shul listening to a cantor. Surely, there was more going on among the cultures than just music!"  Marshall Kandell from a posting on JewishGen

The film Carpati is on a similar theme. A gypsy band is introduced to a surviving Jew from the Holocaust.
http://www.remember.org/carpati/CarpatiSummary.html

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The Journal of Spanish, Portuguese and Italian Crypto Jews

Founded by Abraham D. Lavender, a sociology and anthropology professor at Florida International University in Miami.
http://www.cryptojews.com/

La Pajina Judeo-Espanyola

http://home.earthlink.net/~bnahman/

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Live From Santa Fe

Many magazine articles by Art Benveniste
http://www.livefromsantafe.com

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  Map of Spain

http://www.europeetravel.com/maps/

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Names From Spain and Portugal

Harry Stein's page
http://home.earthlink.net/~bnahman

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National Association of Sephardic Artists, Writers and Intellectuals

Site for those of Sephardic, Mizrahi and Crypto background 
http://www.ivri-nasawi.org

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The Portuguese Jewish Community in Tunis

Records
Offers quite a bit of interesting information and a link to Marriage Licenses issued from 1788-1823 & 1853-1878.  I suggest you start at Bob Cassuto's web page and just follow the links. 
http://www.bobcassuto.fr.st/

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Red de Juderias de España

http://www.redjuderias.org/red/index.php

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Sarajevo Haggada

http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/hagg.html

The lavishly illustrated manuscript that was hand written in Spain in the 14th century and brought by a circuitous route to Bosnia after the expulsion of the Jews in 1492
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarajevo_Haggadah

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Schulamith Halevy's web site 

Schulamith is of Sephardic descent and an expert on the subject:
http://sal.cs.uiuc.edu/~nachum/sch/index.html

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The Sepharade Page

European Sephardic Institute (English and French) -
http://www.sefarad.org/

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The Sephardi Connection

http://home.earthlink.net/bnahman/

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Sephardi Genealogical & Historical Society and Review publication

http://www.sephardim.com/

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Sephardic Family Site

A wonderful amount of Sephardic Information as well as information on the Malka-Gelfand family created by Jeff Malka.
http://www.SephardicGen.com/

Also look at my Family page where I continue to add family web page sites

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Sephardic Genealogy 

http://web.inter.nl.net/users/DJGH/letter.html

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Sephardic Genealogy Sources

http://www.SephardicGen.com/

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Sephardic Mikva'ot'oth Israel-Emanuel Synagogue

Established in 1659 as the oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere.  The original building dates from 1732 and was dedicated in 1763.  This congregation aided financially in the building of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York in 1729 and the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island in 1763. 

This information is confirmed in the book
"Precious Stones of The Jews Of Curacao"
By Isaac Emmanuel and in the 1984 edition of the

"World Guide For The Jewish Traveler" 
Authored by Warren Freedman.   

"According to Jacob R. Marcus in
"The Colonial American Jew 1492-1776"
A synagogue was established in Curacao by 1659.  Marcus says that they built another in 1692 which replaced a wooden house where services had been held since 1651, and both were superseded by the fourth synagogue in 1703 which apparently still exists, "the oldest extant Jewish sanctuary in the Western Hemisphere."  This is the one which was named Mikva'ot'oth Israel-Emanuel;  Marcus doesn't give a name for the earlier one.  Maybe the 1702 structure was considered to be a rebuilding of the 1659 structure."

"Marcus also notes that there were synagogues in the Sephardic community in Recife, Brazil when it was governed by the Dutch in the mid 17th century.  There were two synagogues probably dating from the 1630s and had at least one rabbi including Isaac Aboab de Fonseca.  The Portuguese, however, recaptured the colony, bringing with them the Inquisition.  He claims that this  was the largest Jewish community in the Americas until the 19th century, but it survived little more than two decades.  Some of those that fled subsequently settled in the Guianas, the West Indies, and of course, New York City."

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Sephardic Name Searching

http://www.sephardim.com

www.sephardic.com

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Sephardic World

Chaiya's - the history and culture of Jews in Medieval Spain

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Spanish Jewish Site - (Sinagoga La Javurá, Valencia (España)

http://www.uscj.org/world/valencia/

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Surnames (Jewish)

In Valladolid, Guadalajara and its province, Cuenca, Teruel and Valencia - from a posting to JewishGen by Laurent Germanaud on July 16 2000

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Translating  - see my Languages page

langtolang.com

SpanishSpanishGermanFrenchSpanishRussianItalian to EnglishSpanishGermanFrenchSpanishRussianItalian

Translating Services - Languages

 LingvoSoft Dictionary software English <-> Yiddish for Windows - 400,000 words
 

With this LingvoSoft smart dictionary software on your computer, you can easily switch between   English and Yiddish, for prompt translations of 400,000 words both ways! Download Free Trial now

The Online Dictionary offered by Word Magic
The most complete English to Spanish / Spanish to English dictionary on the web.  It is free and will help you with its huge amount of translations: idioms, phrasal verbs, plus other
parts of speech, both simple and compound.
http://www.wordmagicsoft.com/dictionary/tools/

Translating  See also my (Language) page
There are many translating services, some for free, available to help with your translating needs in most languages including Spanish and Portuguese.  One of these sites is
http://www.dictionaries.travlang.com/

Just in case you didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign language department.  They may offer to write letters and translate letters into English.  A nominal fee is usually charged.

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Yiddish and Judeo-Spanish: A European Heritage

Lots of information on this fascinating subject at
http://209.15.64.51/hosted/english/eblul/index.html

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Cities and Towns of Spain

Street in Gerona leading to the synagogue
Photo taken by Ted Margulis

Aventuriel

Site of the Jewish culture in Murcia, Spain in Spanish, but if you use Google, it will translate into English
http://www.iespana.es/heberg/

http://www.ayto-murcia.es/Inicio/default.asp

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Barcelona

The capital of Catalonia. Jews lived here as early as the 9th century.   The better, well-off among them settled at the foot of the Montjuic (Jewish Mountain) where a Jewish cemetery stood already in the first half of the 10th century and can still be seen.

The city of 1.6 million is the capital of Catalonia, an area of 7 million citizens with a parliament that defines it as a "nation." It has a Jewish community today, that numbers about 3,500, with two synagogues (the Chabad at 27 Joan Gamper Street and a second synagogue at 24 Avenir Street), a Jewish school, a Jewish Community Center on Avenir Street, and roots that indicate a thriving pre-1492 Jewish past. In the heart of the old Call (a Hebrew diminutive for Kehilla [Community] is the narrow Marlat Street. 

At number five is a small space with lots of history for you are at the oldest synagogue in Europe - the Synagogue Mayor, built in the sixth century and rebuilt in the 14th century.  A document from 1267 shows that King James authorized the restoration and elevation of the height of the Roman medieval synagogue.  It wasn't until the 20th century before the site was explored, excavated and restored.

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Castile

Don Pedro I ruled this area some 600 years ago and was known as a good friend to the Jews.  His Jewish minister of Finance was Rabbi Shmuel ben Meir Abulafa.  The Rabbi was such an efficient government minister that Don Pedro became one of the richest kings in all of Spain.  When a civil war broke out among the populace and Don Pedro was imprisoned, the insurgents made sure his Jewish minister was jailed along with him.  Rabbi Shmuel ransomed not only himself but also the king for a huge sum.  Don Pedro was restored to the throne and Rabbi Shmuel resumed his duties as head of the Royal Treasury.

In 1360, the Rabbi became the target of a libelous plot, in which his enemies accused him of revealing state secrets to a foreign power.  The Jewish minister was arrested, his wealth confiscated and he was tortured to death at the age of 40.

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Catalonia

Shlomo Gurevich talks about his visit to places where the prominent Spanish rabbis - the ancestors of the Horowitz family resided: Barcelona, Gerona, Narbonne, Montpellier, Lunel

Jews in Catalonia: 1250 to 1400
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/catalanjews/CatalanJews.html

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Cordoba

Once an important Sephardic-Jewish city in the Middle Ages - Maimonides was born there. It is also the home to Andalusia's only synagogue to survive the expulsion of Spain's Jews in the 15th century. There remains the streets of the old Jewish Quarter in the epicenter of Old Cordoba's historic center.
http://www.infocordoba.com/spain/andalusia/cordoba/jewish_quarter.htm

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Gerona   

        Sephardic synagogue in Gerona

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Lunel (Lunar City)

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Madrid

Photo of Madrid street taken by Ted Margulis

This is the capital city of Spain, and it is the home for more than 800 Jewish families.  There are four synagogues , but Beth Yaakov is the largest.

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Monpellier

Capital of the Province of Languedoc

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Murcia - See Aventuriel above

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Narbonne

http://www.jstor.org/pss/3622322

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 Segovia   

    http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=442&letter=S

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Seville

A tour group meets at Plaza Nueva via Maria Blanca to the city center where the tours meet.  Santa Cruz is the old Jewish area.  Maps are o.k., but there is a lack of street signs.  One of the most interesting to see sites is the Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) which construction started in 1527 and enlarged during the 19th century.

The main Tourist Information office is very close to the Alcazar, just around a couple of corners.  There hours are limited as is their information.

Casa de la Memoria
A small house in the Santa Cruz area, contains a museum of Old Sefarad and connected with the Casa de Sefarad in Cordoba.

      Maps
http://www.exploreseville.com/maps.htm

http://photos-seville.com/south-east.php

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Toledo

Ancient Castilian capital of Toledo

Names - List of surnames of Jews Residing in Toledo Prior to Expulsion Edict
http://home.earthlink.net/~bnahman/TOLEDOhtm.htm

Synagogue
Maria la Blanca aka Santa María la Blanca
(literally Saint Mary the White, originally known as the Ibn Shushan Synagogue, or commonly "The Congregational Synagogue of Toledo'") is a museum and former synagogue in Toledo, Spain. Erected in 1180,^[1] it is disputably considered the oldest synagogue building in Europe still standing. It is now owned and preserved by the Catholic Church.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sinagoga_Santa_Mar%C3%ADa_la_Blanca.jpg

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Gibraltar
                     

Surnames of Gibraltar from Genealogia Hebraica: Portugal e Gibraltar

http://sephardichouse.org/

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Books  

"Genealogica Hebraica"
Authored by Jose Maria Abecassis in Portuguese and published in 1990-91.  This is a five volume work that traces the genealogy of Jews from Portugal and Gibraltar.  It is based on families that returned to Portugal after the end of the Inquisition in 1821>URL Call Number: DS 135 P7A37 1990

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Majorca 

Chuetas of Majorca recognized as Jewish
http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=228936

"It might be of interest that when I was in Majorca 15 years ago, it was said that a third of the current Majorcan population was of Jewish origin. Conversos in Majorca are known as Chueta (i.e. pig)*.  I was staying in a pension and I noticed that there was an amulet on the wall which contained Hebrew lettering."

"I then went to a nearby religious and philosophy bookshop where I came across a book in Spanish of sights/sites of Jewish interest across the whole of Spain whose title I can supply.  From a posting on 9-5-03 by Nick Landau  N.Landau@btopenworld.com

* Chuleta=chop (as in lamb chop)
   Chueta=pork lard

The source for the latter is
http://shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/faq/13-05.html

which discusses the whole matters of Conversos in Spain.

There are plans for a rabbi and a Jewish studies center in Majorca, where many Jewish descendants live.

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Portugal 

 

Jewish History in Portugal ended in 1496, when the Jews of Spain who had fled to Portugal in 1492 and those Jews who had been living in the country, were forced to flee from the Inquisition.  There are about 300 to 900 Jews living today, mostly in Lisbon. 

They do not have a Rabbi, kosher food, nor can hold a Minyan, except for holidays, but they do have two synagogues - one is the Sephardic Shaare Tikva and the other is the smaller Ashkenazi Ohel Yaacov.  Portugal is about the size of the State of Maine.

The capital city, Lisbon, is interesting to visit, especially the Alfama quarter where large numbers of Jews settled in the 15th century.  There is still remnants including the Rua da Judiaria, which is found among the narrow streets.  At 8 Beco das Barrelai, you will find a site of an ancient synagogue.

In the financial section, known as Baixa, there were two Jewish quarters - the Judiaria Grande, which is close to today's Sao Nicolau Street, and the Judiaria Pequena, created in the 13th century in the place where today, the Bank of Portugal stands.

In the Archeological Museum in the Chiado quarter, you will find the "Mochique Stone" with inscriptions written in Hebrew.  And in the center of Lisbon, there is the Shaare Tikva Synagogue (Gates of Hope) at 59 Rua Alexandre Herculano which was built by several groups of Sephardic Jews from Gibraltar.

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Books  

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General Portuguese
Information

Four generations of Ramey women are shown in this 1916 photograph, from right, Mary Ann Jean Ramey, Redema Elizabeth Ramey Goode, Etalka Vetula Good Grimwood, and Elzina Vetula Grimwood. The family traces its root back to Egypt and Israel before fleeing to France in 1492.

http://www.melungeons.com/articles/march2003a.htm

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Algarve

http://www.jewishgen.org/cemetery/w-europe/portugal.html

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Archives

National Archives - in Lisbon
http://www.iantt.pt/ 

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Belmonte

In the 1990s, the 180 Jews returned to Judaism after 500 years of outward Catholicism and secret Jewish practice.  An interesting story can be found in the December 2002 issue of Hadassah Magazine about the Kehilat Beit Israel congregation's Rabbi.  The town is just up the road from Covilha.

Belmonte's Jews stem from a tiny community that preserved Judaism in secret after Portuguese King Manoel in 1496 ordered all Jews to convert to Christianity.  The community is now free to practice its faith openly, but many members of the community have left in search of jobs and Jewish life elsewhere.  

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Covilha

Like many towns and villages near the mountainous Spanish-Portuguese border, Covilha also is though to have a significant population of descendants of 'New Christians', descendants of Jews who converted under duress after a royal decree in the late 15th century.  Kosher wine is now being produced in a local winery.

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ETSI - Sephardi Genealogical and Historical Society  

The purpose of "ETSI" is to help people interested in Jewish Genealogical and Historical Research in the Sephardi World.  "ETSI's" field of study covers the Ottoman Empire (Turkey, Greece, Palestine, Syria, Libya, Egypt); North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia); Spain, Portugal, Italy and Gibraltar.  The study of every Sephardi community or family who lived in other regions is equally within the society's aim. Email laurphil@wanadoo.fr

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Evora

http://www.jewishgen.org/cemetery/w-europe/portugal.html

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Faro

http://www.jewishgen.org/cemetery/w-europe/portugal.html

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Jewish Portugal

Portuguese Sephardic History
http://www.saudades.org/

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Jews of Portugal

A collective work described in http://www.sephardicstudies.org/cal.html
Inacio Steinhardt's Synopsis of the Jews of Portugal
http://www.steinhardts.com/library.html

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Lisbon

Steps leading to the "Jewish Quarter" in Lisbon
Photo taken by Ted Margulis

The President of the Shaare-Tikva aka Lisbon Synagogue, is Jorge Sampaio,  It is the first synagogue built in Portugal after the 1497 expulsion of the Jews. (in Spanish)
http://www.cilisboa.org/sin_cent.htm

Jewish Community of Lisbon
Lisbon 1200-280, Portugal
http://www.jewishgen.org/cemetery/w-europe/portugal.html

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Maps

http://www.europeetravel.com/maps/

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Names From Spain and Portugal 

Harry Stein's page
http://home.earthlink.net/~bnahman

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Porto  

On the Costa Verde, the town of Porto has a long history and traditions of a flourishing Jewish community.  In 1386, the Jews of the town were given land to build a village and a synagogue was located on the Escadas da Vitoria, a set of steps that the local people still refer to as 'Escada da Esroga (the steps of the synagogue) and where today you will find a plaque with that name.  In the center of Porto, there is a synagogue that was built in 1929 called Mekor Haim (Fountain of Life)

In the 14th and 15th centuries, in the ancient town of Pointe de Lima, famous for its Roman bridge, medieval towers and beautiful manor houses, there was a Jewish Quarter.  The Jews of the town were the originators of the local fair which continues each month, to this day.

In 2008, for the first time in more than 500 years, a dairy product has been granted kosher certification in Portugal.  A well-known local cheese, supervised by the chief rabbi of the city of Porto, is the first dairy product that has been granted kosher certification since the expulsion of the country's Jews in 1497.  The production of Serra de Estrala cheese is supervised by Rabbi Daniel Litvak, an emissary for the Israel-based Shavei Israel organization, ministering to the descendants of the Anousim , Jews who converted hundreds of years ago against their will.  From an article compiled by JTA

The Portuguese National Tourist Office
offers a free brochure titled "Journey to Jewish Portugal". 
590 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10036
Phone 212 354 4403

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Saudades 

Portuguese site
http://home.earthlink.net/~bnahman/

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Sefard Forum

JewishGen's group Sephardic genealogy
http://www.jewishgen.org/sefardsig/SefardForum.htm

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Translating Services - Languages

 LingvoSoft Dictionary software English <-> Yiddish for Windows - 400,000 words
 

 With this LingvoSoft smart dictionary software on your computer, you can easily switch between English and Yiddish, (or Spanish or Portuguese and many other languages) for prompt translations of 400,000 words both ways! Download Free Trial now

Just in case you didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign language department.  They may offer to write letters and translate letters into English.  A nominal
fee is usually charged.

---

Yiddish and Judeo-Spanish: A European Heritage

Lots of information on this fascinating subject at
http://209.15.64.51/hosted/english/eblul/index.html

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