The Jewish Community of Porto is a world leader in the promotion of Jewish culture, and this is not only due to its elites, but also to other professionals in the cultural field who have always been dedicated friends and faithful partners of the organization. André Pregitzer, who passed away today due to heart problems, deserves more than just praise. The Community's extensive videography was produced by his company EmRelevo, and he always oversaw every detail of the work. Documentary films also always featured prominently – and it was he who brought Luís Ismael's LightBox to handle high-level production that no other company in Northern Portugal could even dare to attempt.

"Shalom, nice to meet you. We want to make a film about our story. The script is here. There's only a problem. We need the film ready in two months" - David Garrett recalls how the relationship between the Jewish Community of Porto and André Pregitzer began in mid-2018, almost a decade ago.

"Pregitzer was one of the most Jewish non-Jews I ever met. He was intellectual and strategic. He liked to study and learn more. He lived to work, to produce, to cultivate himself. Judaism mandates that a person educate themselves to broaden their horizons, elevate their soul, and rise above mere animalistic behavior. I never heard Pregitzer speak ill of anyone," says Garrett.

"It is not easy to work with us. A slight moral failure gives rise to an immediate break in the relationship, especially due to sins of the mouth. In a certain way, Pregitzer respected Jewish moral rules and that is why he was able to cooperate with us for so many years. In Judaism, before speaking, one is advised to ask: "Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?". Jewish tradition cautions against being a "fool" (kesil), whose mouth is their undoing and who speaks without considering consequences. The man who speaks well and appropriately can build what God has left imperfect, unfinished or undone, but he who opens his mouth to spread lime is a leper from whom society must flee while his tongue rots."

The Porto community's 3.3 million views is unique and exceptional for a single, local Youtube's Jewish community channel. When searching for specifically named municipal Jewish bodies and official local community websites like NY, Moscow, Sydney, Paris, London, Madrid, etc, have significantly lower YouTube viewership, often in the thousands or low tens of thousands, compared to the more than 3 million views mentioned for Porto.

The strongest reason that explains the difference is that while other city-specific channels focus on Jewish community updates, attracting a local audience, Porto's content is designed for a global, historical, and educational audience. Opened in 2018, the channel has achieved this level of viewership through its focus on education, cultural preservation, and sharing the meaning of Jewish holidays with the Portuguese population. The channel, associated with the Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue and the Jewish and Holocaust Museums of Porto, features historical films produced by the community itself and content on the Jewish heritage, and the fight against antisemitism.

The Porto Jewish community has positioned itself heavily on the digital stage by investing in professional videography and documenting its history, although it operates with a relatively small number of 42 videos. Its Youtube channel holds a prominent place in global Jewry community digital outreach, with a very high-performing channel for a local community institution. Only global or media Jewish organizations like JTV and Chabad Lubavitch exceed these figures, although they are not single-city communities.

The model of the Jewish Community of Porto is unique worldwide due to the scale and diversity of its cultural activities. It attracts schools from all over the country for an immersion in Jewish culture. It manages two museums, a painting gallery, a library with 10,000 works, a male choir, and cinema rooms. The Holocaust museum has already received 30% of the country's teenagers, and the Jewish museum was awarded a commendation from the Brazilian university. The community even produces high-quality historical films. The most awarded film in national history has a Jewish mark, in a country that has been struggling to develop its film industry for two centuries. The scale of this cultural and educational project is unparalleled in Europe.

“To suppose that all this work could have been accomplished without the brilliant minds of non-Jewish partners of the Community would be absurd. André Pregitzer remains in the history of the Jewish Community of Porto and, more than anything, nurtured a deep love for the Jewish people, without whom Portugal would never have had a world leader in anything, neither in the past, nor much less in the present day”, David Garrett added.