Israel Matzav

Portugal invites its Jews back

Portugal has become the first country in the world other than Israel to adopt a law of return for Jews.

At first, Portugal's powerful Socialist Party was none too thrilled about inviting descendants of Portuguese Jews to return. But the Socialists eventually came around, submitting their own bill to naturalize Sephardic Jews that ultimately was incorporated into Ribeiro e Castro's amendment to the Law on Nationality.

The new legislation says "the government will give nationality ... to Sephardic Jews of Portuguese ancestry who belong to a tradition of a Portuguese-descended Sephardic community, based on objective prerequisites proving a connection to Portugal through names, language and ancestry."

The law names Ladino, the Spanish-based Jewish dialect spoken by some 100,000 people worldwide, as a viable "linguistic connection."

Whatever his motivation, focusing international attention on the Catholic Church's dark history is a bold choice for Ribeiro e Castro, a Catholic himself and former director of the Church-affiliated TVI network. He attributes his decision to an old high school buddy who taught him about Sephardic traditions in Portugal, and to his father, who served as Portugal's colonial governor in Angola in the 1970s.

"My father was an admirer of what he called 'small history,' minor developments with a huge impact," Ribeiro e Castro said. "Naturalizing the Sephardim could be that."

For the law to have any impact, bureaucrats in Lisbon first need to address a host of complications. The Portuguese Bar Association already has warned that the law could compromise the constitutional principle of equality before the law.

And then there are practical issues.

"Differentiating between Jews whose families were exiled [from] Spain and those who fled Portugal is very difficult," said Jose Oulman Carp, president of Lisbon's Jewish community.

"Clearly the Jewish communities [of Portugal] will need to be consulted on the screening process and we can provide some input, but the distinction is nearly impossible in many cases."

But whatever the end result, merely the effort to lure back Portuguese Jews constitutes, in Freund's mind, an ironic twist of history.

"Five centuries ago, the expulsion happened partly because the Iberian rulers wanted the Jews' assets," Freund said. "Now we see efforts to welcome back the Jews partly for the same reason."

As long as this doesn't become an excuse to demand that Jews leave Israel to return to their 'home countries' it's fine. Long before we were exiled from anyplace else in the world, we were exiled from Israel. 

Labels: Law of Return, Portugal

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:07 AM