^{The Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue. Credit: CIP/CJP}

One of the social aims of the Jewish Community Oporto is to build a better, fairer, and more equitable world. It involves promoting a culture of investing in the values recognized by all of humanity’s ethical traditions, and working both individually and collectively to dignify, humanize, and nurture all people in their relationships with one another and with the greatest living entity they know, Planet Earth.

Creating a more just, refined, sustainable, and equitable future for all encompasses diverse areas such as combating discrimination, preserving the memory of the causes of the world’s great tragedies, improving health systems, and encouraging everyone to be envoys of peace, good children, good parents, good friends, good neighbors, and generally helpful individuals.

^{Book “Ten Myths About the Jews”, offered by the Jewish Community of Oporto to the participants of the training course. Credit: CIP/CJP}

In focusing on Jews, as is appropriate for the community, the issue of antisemitism becomes pivotal. Antisemitism exists in Portugal and worldwide and includes anti-Judaism, anti-Jewish traditions, anti-Jewish success, and anti-Israelism. It is expressed through verbal or physical manifestations against Jews, their property, and institutions, as well as against the Jewish state, and is intended to create a climate of fear or a hostile environment within the Jewish community. The old stereotypes of money and tricks are now associated not only with Jews but also with the Jewish state, with its capital in the land of Zion.

Training Courses for teachers

Over the past decade, the Jewish Community of Oporto has carried out extensive work in the field of training diverse audiences and agents who share the same purposes: combating antisemitism, deepening knowledge about Judaism, Jewish history in Portugal, the Holocaust, and the importance of human rights.

These initiatives primarily benefit teachers in Portuguese schools, but also extend to professionals working in the field of cultural and historical tourism. It is worth highlighting the involvement of renowned academics, both national and international, as well as professionals from various areas, members of the Jewish Community of itself, and even Holocaust survivors, whose direct testimonies bring an irreplaceable human dimension to the learning process. This allows participants to acquire not only theoretical knowledge but also a lived and experiential understanding of the topics at hand.

^{Training course at the Holocaust Museum of Oporto. Credit: CIP/CJP}

As an example, two courses organized by the Jewish Education Center of Oporto in 2021, aimed at teachers in public and private schools across the country, focused on the study of the Holocaust and its teaching, as well as the history of Jews in Portugal—topics of great importance for preserving memory and valuing the Jewish cultural heritage in the country. During these encounters, educators, academics, and professionals from different fields had the opportunity to share methodologies, pedagogical experiences, and supporting materials that reinforced the transmission of knowledge on a subject of immense historical sensitivity.

Another course of note was the Teachers’ Training Seminar of TOLI – The Olga Lengyel Institute, held in Oporto in 2020. Under the theme “Teaching about the Holocaust and Human Rights: learning from the past, acting for the future”, this initiative brought together teachers, researchers, and education specialists in an environment of critical reflection and knowledge building. The main objective was to provide pedagogical tools to help teachers address, within the school context, the memory of the Holocaust and the universal lessons that arise from it, particularly the defense of human rights and tolerance. This international seminar also fostered dialogue among different educational experiences and helped strengthen the network of professionals committed to preserving memory and promoting active, conscious citizenship.

^{Training course at the Holocaust Museum of Oporto. Credit: CIP/CJP}

In addition to academic and educational initiatives such as these, the Jewish Community of Oporto has also developed, over the past 15 years, continuous training for tour guides throughout the country—an essential area for valuing Jewish tourism in Portugal. These training sessions sought to provide knowledge on historical, religious, and cultural Judaism, equipping guides with the necessary tools to perform their work with high rigor and professionalism. In a country that preserves a vast Jewish heritage—from medieval Jewish quarters to synagogues, memorials, and museums—it is essential that tourism professionals are prepared to present visitors with a clear, respectful, and contextualized view of Jewish presence in Portugal over the centuries. These training efforts have not only enriched Portugal’s cultural offerings but also promoted a better understanding of the Jewish legacy as an integral part of national identity.

In summary, by combining historical education, civic awareness, and heritage appreciation, these initiatives promoted by the community have played an essential role in combating intolerance and fostering a more enlightened and respectful society.

^{The Holocaust Museum of Oporto. Credit: CIP/CJP}

Ecumenical and Interfaith Actions

These actions began locally, grew to a national scope, and eventually reached an international and global dimension. The initiatives carried out by the Oporto Jewish Community have a history that we will briefly summarize below.

In 2016, the Jewish Community of Oporto signed a protocol of friendship and cooperation with the local Muslim community, then represented by the Islamic Cultural Center. Both institutions believed it was better to build local bonds of peace, and then allow them to radiate outward to other places, rather than attempting to achieve global peace through international or national forums, or through the promotion of agnostic beliefs. It was also noted, with deep regret, that relations between Jews and Muslims—so healthy for many centuries—were experiencing extremely negative episodes around the world.

As expected, the efforts of the Jewish Community of Oporto soon spread to other places and continents, the most prominent example being the Mukhayriq Initiative, which aimed to bring together Jews and Muslims in the United States of America. A founding member of this project, which continues to yield positive results to this day, the Community knew that current political circumstances tend to divide Jews and Muslims and to poison fraternal relations that endured for centuries. Led by the Combat Antisemitism Movement, the initiative has been able to bring together hundreds of organizations and thousands of prominent Jewish and Muslim figures around the example of Rabbi Mukhayriq ben al-Nadir, who, on the Sabbath, fought and gave his life in defense of the Prophet Muhammad in the year 625 CE (7th century). The rabbi, a great Jewish scholar who lived in Medina and was regarded by Muhammad as “the best of the Jews”, will always remain an inspiring source and guiding reference, so that new generations of human beings—not only Jews and Muslims—may walk hand in hand toward the construction of a more just world.

In 2018, the Community and the Diocese of Oporto signed a Protocol of Friendship and Cooperation similar to the one previously mentioned, bearing in mind that Jews and Catholics had lived peacefully side by side for centuries, even before the foundation of Portugal. This collaboration soon extended into the social, cultural, and philanthropic spheres, with the aim of restoring dignity to many trapped in poverty, deadly addictions, or moral misery. Since the signing of the protocol, Jewish and Catholic leaders have held regular meetings to strengthen their good relations, mutual respect, and friendship, guiding their members in a project of respect for differences, cooperation, and reciprocal friendship.

^{Scene from the film "The Nun’s Kaddish", showing a moving moment of interfaith respect.}

In 2023, the Diocesan Commission for Interreligious Dialogue in Oporto visited the Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue, the Jewish Museum, and the Holocaust Museum. This marked the beginning of a journey of dialogue between different faith traditions, with the goal of bringing together representatives of the various religions present in the city and fostering closer ties among them. And so it happened: since then, members of the Commission have met dozens of times in spaces belonging to different religions.

In 2024, the Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue welcomed all the members of the Commission and hosted them for a kosher dinner featuring traditional Jewish dishes. Around the same time, the important drafting of the Charter of Principles of the Interreligious Dialogue Commission of took place. This charter was signed at the Episcopal Palace by representatives of seven religions, in the distinguished presence of Bishop Manuel Linda. A few months later, the Commission was received by the Councillor for Social Cohesion at City Hall, who expressed pride in the Charter of Principles and highlighted the foundations of each religious tradition represented. The representatives of the Jewish Community of Oporto on this Commission are Michael Rothwell and Gabriela Cantergi.

^{The interfaith dialogue group was received at the Oporto City Hall Credit: Andreia Merca, Câmara Municipal do Porto}

Hatzalah Portugal. Founded in 2021, Hatzalah Portugal is an arm of United Hatzalah, an emergency medical service based in Jerusalem and spread across the world through Jewish communities. Run in Oporto by a rabbi from the local Jewish community, Hatzalah benefited from skilled training in Israel and brings together medical emergency technicians, first responders and paramedics with specialized training in first aid. It is equipped with a medical motorcycle that is able to help victims of health accidents in the shortest time and has rescue backpacks, and qualified personnel, in all religious and cultural institutions of the Jewish community of Oporto.

B’nai B’rith Portugal. The role of B’nai B’rith Portugal is to promote tolerance and defend human rights, including the protection of Jewish human rights, which are often denied in a world that persists in associating Jews and the only Jewish state on earth with negative material realities. Below is a brief summary of the activities of B’nai B’rith from its inception to the present day.

2020. B’nai B’rith Portugal was established, and strategy-defining meetings took place with the presence of the board of B’nai B’rith International based in Washington, B’nai B’rith Jerusalem, and B’nai B’rith of France. The organization celebrated a strategic partnership of cooperation with the International Observatory of Human Rights and created a network of contacts with forty young Jewish leaders from forty countries to promote Jewish human rights.

2021. B’nai B’rith Portugal organized a meeting of young Jewish leaders from Europe under the title “Challenges of the Future World,” chaired by the ambassador of Israel in Portugal, Raphael Gamzou, and the President of B’nai B’rith International, Charles Kaufman.

Around the same time, the Israeli press presented the concept of antisemitism, which the organization adopted. This concept included physical or verbal manifestations of anti-Judaism, anti-Jewish culture, anti-Jewish success, anti-Israelism, refusal to honor Jewish and Israeli merits, promotion of the image of the material Jew, and deliberate omission of aid by those who are invested in a duty of aid.

B’nai B’rith Portugal also promoted the construction of the Entebbe Room in the Jewish Museum of Oporto to bring the State of Israel closer to Portuguese Jewish youth and show non-Jewish visitors that antisemitic acts of terrorism will never again go unpunished in any country in the world. The President of B’nai B’rith Portugal, Gabriela Cantergi, received the prestigious “B’nai B’rith International President’s Award 2021” in Washington.

^{The Entebbe Room in the Jewish Museum of Oporto. Credit: CIP/CJP}

2022. B’nai B’rith Portugal and the International Observatory of Human Rights offered a tribute of gratitude to Holocaust museums around the world that provide education to youth to better understand the tragedy that occurred during World War II. A similar tribute was bestowed on the B’nai B’rith leadership in Washington and Chicago for their work for Jewish human rights over two centuries.

A meeting took place with Israeli institutions on special interests much like Qatargate that circulate between Latin America, Portugal, Spain, and a bank in Guinea—an international “Palestinian question” that corrupts states and threatens Jewish life and the State of Israel. B’nai B’rith Portugal provided a record of contemporary Jewish history in the country of Dom Afonso Henriques, with facts, dates, names, and protagonists, for permanent recording by the entities responsible for security in the Jewish state.

^{Representatives of the International Observatory for Human Rights and B’nai B’rith Portugal. Credit: B’nai B’rith Portugal}

2023. B’nai B’rith Portugal and the International Observatory of Human Rights celebrated an event with representatives of the worldwide Chabad Movement and granted a posthumous tribute of gratitude to Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitch Rebbe (a direct descendant of Rabbi Baruch Portugali), who influenced generations of boys and girls with the importance of education, a solid character, and the strengthening of bonds of friendship. The Rebbe’s legacy continues to inspire both the Jewish and non-Jewish worlds. In the United States, March 22nd, his birthday, is celebrated as the “National Day of Education and Sharing.”

Additionally, in a joint initiative with the European Jewish Association and Israel’s ambassador to Portugal, Dor Shapira, the two organizations awarded a tribute of merit to Shimon Peres’s family for their role as guarantors of stability in the State of Israel and in the capacity of the Jewish State to defend Jewish communities around the world with security, information, and material assistance.

^{Tsvia Walden, daughter of Shimon Peres, shared her memories with members of B’nai B’rith Portugal. Credit: B’nai B’rith Portugal}

2024. Along with the Israeli embassy in Lisbon, B’nai B’rith denounced in the Jewish press, the silence and inaction of the Portuguese political, media, and justice elites in the face of growing antisemitism in the country. This included lists of Israeli companies in newspapers and demonstrations for better housing with posters against “Zionist capital.”

At the same time, B’nai B’rith Portugal and the International Observatory of Human Rights launched the book “Human Rights”, composed of texts by forty young Jewish leaders from forty countries. The book launch was chaired by Israel’s ambassador to Lisbon, Dor Shapira, with guests of honor including some of the young writers and Manuela Franco, then the coordinator of the fight against antisemitism in Portugal.

The year was filled with other tributes. A tribute of gratitude was offered to Bishop of Oporto Manuel Linda for being, and for having been for many years, an “ambassador of peace and tolerance” in all spheres of his life, which involved close relations of cooperation and friendship with the Portuguese Jewish community.

^{Tribute to Bishop Dom Manuel Linda offered by the International Observatory for Human Rights and B’nai B’rith Portugal. Credit: B’nai B’rith Portugal}

The Jewish world on all continents was reminded of an act of “Christian kindness” in Oporto in 1982 when, in the absence of an active Jewish community, a nun of the Order of Carmo performed the Kaddish ritual for a deceased Jew whom she had cared for in hospice.

A tribute was granted to Portuguese police officer Ildefonso Pereira, who in 1979 lost his life while defending Israel’s ambassador in Lisbon, Efrahim Eldar, who was the target of a terrorist attack. Forty-five years later, Ildefonso’s colleagues, as well as the current chain of command of the Public Security Police, were present and spoke at the distinguished ceremony. Commenting on the event for the Jewish and Israeli press, the President of B’nai B’rith Portugal pointed out that “due to the way in which the hatred of Israel and Jews in Portugal is growing, it is only a matter of time before another attack of this kind will be repeated.”

Another tribute, of great symbolism, was granted to the relationship of friendship and cooperation between the first Portuguese king, Dom Afonso Henriques and Yaish Ben Yahia, who allowed the founding and transformation of a small county into an empire of world renown throughout history. Finally, the Mukhayriq initiative, which has as its founding member the Jewish community of Oporto, was honored. This initiative has gathered Jews and Muslims in the United States around a shared story of friendship, sharing, and common success. Rabbi Mukhayriq was a friend of Muhammad and died in his defense, in the middle of Shabbat. The main speakers, university professors Pedro Bacelar de Vasconcelos and Rui Pereira, spoke about the decisive importance of religions as a moral safeguard of human rights around the world.

^{A representative of the Mukhayriq Initiative receives a tribute in recognition of the work carried out. Credit: B’nai B’rith Portugal}

2025. B’nai B’rith Portugal and the International Observatory of Human Rights presented a book entitled “The Human Rights of Children” at a ceremony presided over by Israel’s ambassador in Lisbon, Oren Rozenblat. Filled with short texts and drawings, the book aims to raise awareness among young people about the need to fulfill and enforce their rights and associated duties. The ambassador highlighted Talmudic passages that place the greatest responsibilities on parents, lest they produce thieves and other offenders.

Captain Barros Basto was awarded a posthumous tribute as a symbol of patriotism, courage, and pride in his identity. He will forever be remembered as an example of fighting the adversities faced by those who intend to do great work for humanity. A decorated military officer for his acts of bravery in World War I, during which he suffered a gas attack in Flanders, Barros Basto was also a Jewish leader who united world Jewish philanthropy around the Jewish Community of Oporto, which he officially founded in 1923, together with Jews from Central and Eastern Europe, ending four centuries of absence of Jews in the city. He was a Jewish intellectual specializing in military history and Jewish themes. He made long trips, sometimes on horseback, to rescue thousands of Portuguese who descended from Jews to official Judaism. In short, he was a leading example of hard work, faith, culture, and dedication to a higher cause and a more evolved, just, and fraternal world. The main speaker at this event dedicated to the captain was the former Army Chief of Staff, who defined Barros Basto as “an exemplary officer.”

B’nai B’rith Portugal and the International Observatory of Human Rights awarded a tribute to Colette Avital, a remarkable Israeli ambassador to Portugal and the general consul of Israel in New York three decades ago. Following a long political and diplomatic career and the defense of human rights, showing great moral strength and a constant voice of moderation, Avital has become a leading example of dedication to a higher cause common to all humanity, especially for those who wish to see new generations walk side by side toward a more just and equitable world.

^{The former Israeli ambassador to Portugal, Colette Avital, spoke at a tribute event hosted by B’nai B’rith Portugal. Credit: B’nai B’rith Portugal}

B’nai B’rith Portugal and the International Observatory of Human Rights granted a posthumous tribute of gratitude to Yonathan Netanyahu, commander of Sayeret Matkal, an elite unit of the Israeli Defense Forces, for his pivotal role in building a fairer and more equitable world. In 1976, for the first time in two millennia, he proved to humanity that the perpetrators of terrorism and kidnapping against Jewish families would incur a high price, regardless of their geographical location. According to the tribute granted and handed over to a family member of the deceased officer who traveled to Portugal on behalf of the family, “The gratitude due to Yonathan is unlimited, and its merits deserve to be recognized worldwide. The eldest son of one of the greatest Jewish historians of all time gave his life in the most amazing rescue mission that history records, becoming an example for new generations for his faith, culture, courage, patriotism, and total dedication to a higher cause that succeeded in breaking twenty centuries of totally unrestricted and unpunished persecution of the Jews.” During the event, Israel’s ambassador to Lisbon, Oren Rozenblat, reminded everyone that Israel does not let, nor will it let, any Jew fall anywhere in the world, and that justice will always be served against those who attack them.

^{A cousin of Yonathan Netanyahu was received at the headquarters of B’nai B’rith Portugal for a tribute. Credit: B’nai B’rith Portugal}

B’nai B’rith Portugal warned in the international press about the global deterioration of the human rights of Jews, a situation so often forgotten over the centuries and to this day. Gabriela Cantergi recalled that “we live in an age when basic human rights — such as the rights to life, dignity, freedom, fair and equitable treatment, and security — have been denied to Jews in various countries. The myth of Jewish privileges is used to justify persecution, and religious freedom itself has been denied, with communities invaded and spied on, against all laws, and criminal prosecution of moilim and shochetim, while opinion leaders rationalize these practices and make Israel a kind of ‘Jew among nations,’ despised, misrepresented, and isolated.”

In this context, B’nai B’rith Portugal, the Holocaust Museum, the Hispanic Jewish Foundation, and ACOM (Action and Communication on the Middle East) have directly requested the Israeli Minister of Justice to proceed immediately with a proposal to the Knesset to criminalize antisemitism by action and omission, with extraterritorial application, so that it captures within its scope both the lowest perpetrators and well-prepared elites. The proposal has been taken seriously, understood as necessary, and is under review for implementation. The defense of the people and the state of Israel requires great and exceptional measures. Things cannot remain as they are.