Pedro Bacelar de Vasconcelos is widely recognized as a highly distinct and prominent constitutional scholar and politician in Portugal. A profound connoisseur of politics and the indecent games of power, Vasconcelos should have assumed governmental functions at the highest level to lead the Portuguese nation, which is self-destructing every day. The scientific empire of the time of the Jews no longer exists.

Vascelos was appointed as Portugal's National Coordinator of the European Strategy to Promote Jewish Life and Combat Antisemitism in April 2023. He understood from the start that little or nothing can be done in Portugal to foster Jewish life and combat antisemitism until there is a spirit of true communion between a representative of the Republic and the only Community with a full Jewish life in the city that is home to the living synagogues, the museums, cinemas with films about the history of the Jews in Portugal, an art gallery, the male choir, and so on. Even the Chabad Center of Cascais, the second largest Jewish force in the country, mainly owes its existence to the Porto Jewish Community.

The Community is widely considered a leader in promoting Jewish culture because no other single local Jewish association in the world operates its own full-scale film production company alongside a massive network of cultural institutions. While many global Jewish organizations run prominent museums or libraries, Porto’s unique combination of self-funded cinematic production, massive educational outreach, and complete lack of government reliance makes it entirely unique.

Paradoxically, always so critical of power, which it accuses of having engineered a kind of Soviet persecution against Jews and Israelis, the Community always praises Bacelar Vasconcelos for his respectful, transparent, and objective approach to fostering Jewish life in Portugal during a politically turbulent period.

As national coordinator, he was recognized for bridging Portugal state-community relations, actively supporting cultural initiatives, and implementing the EU Strategy to combat antisemitism. Prof. Vasconcelos’s first contact with the Community took place under terrible circumstances, at an event of the European Jewish Association in Oporto, that brought together 150 leaders of Jewish communities from Portugal to Ukraine. Yet, he said he wished to become more closely acquainted with the Jewish Community of Oporto, its members, families, institutions, the projects underway and everything in which the Portuguese Republic might be able to help. He thought, he reflected, he assessed. He had an obvious interest in the details, in the books he handled in the library, in the pray

He was introduced to the most important people at the institution. He met several times with its leaders. He spent time with members of the Community and even partook of a glass of kosher Port wine at the Community’s cellar, with Dr. Marilyn Flitterman, known as the “Boss” by the congregation, a nonagenarian lady who is impressive for her vitality and elegance. He gave a speech at the Holocaust Museum, and another at the inauguration of the Memorial to the Victims of the Inquisition in the Jewish Museum of Oporto.

He was interviewed by Israeli television channels. He always wished to experience Judaism from close up. For hours, he took part in a crowd of 700 Jewish believers at the Yom Kippur ceremony at Kadoorie Synagogue, an overwhelming environment of religious fervor. He knew it was a closed culture of more than three millennia.

Everything he could do to help and be a partner with the Community, he did. He became almost a meritorious member of a community entirely unique, a single, local religious association of just 1,500 members that owns, finances, and runs so distinct cultural arms simultaneously, an unusually potent force for global cultural preservation.

The community operates both the Jewish Museum of Oporto and the Holocaust Museum of Oporto—the only Holocaust museum on the Iberian Peninsula.Massive Education: Their facilities receive over 50,000 students annually, educating roughly 5% of Portugal's youth population each year to fight antisemitism. It is home to the largest Jewish library on the Iberian Peninsula, an in-house painting gallery, and the Mekor Haim Choir. It acts as a movie studio, producing internationally awarded, high-budget feature films like 1618 and Sefarad to educate the world on the Portuguese Inquisition and Jewish history.

While world-class Jewish cultural associations exist across the globe, they are structured differently. A museum, a library, and a film foundation in those cities are almost always separate, independently run entities.