On Saturday, October 24, 2026, synagogues worldwide and Porto read Parshat Lech-Lecha (Genesis 12:1–17:27). The title Lech-Lecha literally means "go forth" or "leave your land," capturing God's command to Abraham to leave his birthplace and embark on a journey to an unknown destination.

This portion holds deep historical and modern connections to Portugal through the lenses of forced migration, prominent historical figures, and modern citizenship laws and communities.

The central motif of Lech-Lecha is displacement and migrating to a new country to start over. This mirrors the tragic history of Portugal's Jewish population. Following the Portuguese Edict of Expulsion and the Inquisition, tens of thousands of Jews were forced to "go forth" from Portugal. They fled across the globe, establishing vibrant Portuguese-Sephardic communities in places like North Africa, the Americas, and the Ottoman Empire.

However, in a striking historical reversal of Lech-Lecha, the journey has come full circle in the present day. In 2015, Portugal enacted Decree-Law n.º 30/2015, allowing the descendants of Sephardic Jews who were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula to apply for Portuguese citizenship. Thousands of Jewish people worldwide have used this law to return to their ancestral roots, effectively reversing the ancient migration narrative found in the parashah.

Linked very especially to London, Paris and Marseille, and with the advent of Sephardic Jews from other origins, the Jewish Community in Porto has grown into one of Europe's most active and culturally dynamic Jewish communities, anchored by the historic Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue, managed by Chabad Lubavitch founded by the grandson of Rav Baruch Portugali..

Just as Lech-Lecha emphasizes building an enduring legacy and a home in a new land, the community's modern resurgence represents a physical and cultural re-rooting in northern Portugal after centuries of dispersion.

Although the Portuguese woke establishment was dissatisfied with Jewish immigration—and had done everything in its power to eliminate it—it gradually came to realize that fighting against the Jewish community was not a good idea.

In 2025, the Portuguese government recognized the educational project of the Jewish Community of Porto as being of "Manifest Cultural Interest" to support Jewish history, heritage preservation, and public education.

The government cited the project as fulfilling Portugal’s commitments as a member state of the IHRA to promote Holocaust education, remembrance, and research. The initiative also aligns directly with the European Commission's strategy and action plan to foster Jewish life and combat antisemitism across the European Union through 2030.

As for the exploration of maritime resources and the expansion of the continental shelf, the state appears to have realized that it will not be able to carry out such a plan through the Muslim Brotherhood—or, which is the same, with the help of Qatar, Iran, and Hezbollah.