Nobody expects the…Portuguese…Inquisition.
The Portuguese Cabinet has approved rules under which descendants of Jews expelled from Portugal more than 500 years ago can claim citizenship.
Many Sephardic Jews were killed, forced to convert to Christianity or leave at the end of the 15th Century.
Parliament paved the way for a change in citizenship laws two years ago, but the move needed Cabinet approval.
From now on, descendants of Sephardic Jews who can prove a strong link to Portugal can apply for a passport.
Proof can be brought, the government says, through a combination of surname, language spoken in the family or evidence of direct descent.
Ancient Presence
Thousands of Sephardic Jews were forced off the Iberian peninsula, first from Spain and then from Portugal.
Some of those who fled to other parts of Europe or to America continued to speak a form of Portuguese in their new communities.
The Portuguese government acknowledges that Jews lived in the region long before the Portuguese kingdom was founded in the 12th Century.
"There is no possibility to amend what was done," says Portuguese Justice Minister Paula Teixera da Cruz, adding that the law change was "an attribution of a right".
Portugal's Jewish community which once numbered in the tens of thousands has shrunk to just 1,000 - most of them Ashkenazim with roots in Eastern Europe.
Neighbouring Spain is still debating a similar law to address its treatment of Jews in the past.
Very interesting article from the BBC about how the Portuguese cabinet just recently approved a law passed a couple years back by the parliament regarding the resettlement of the descendants of the Sephardic Jews who were expelled forcefully from Portugal in the 1490s. Back then, the Portuguese followed suit after Spain began its infamous Inquisition, and established its own Inquisition in the 1500s. Now, it seems like the Portuguese government is trying to make amends for this and right the wrongs of the past.
What do you think about this action? Is it the right thing to do? Does it make sense? Why do you think this came up at all? Will it ultimately be ineffectual/ignored?
Personally, I support this right-of-return policy, but I have my doubts that it will actually lead to much of an influx of descendants of the Portuguese Sephardim. My guess is the real reason Portugal did this was for a good image and maybe to assuage some collective guilt. The descendants of the Portuguese Sephardic Jews have long been resettled and integrated into other countries and communities, notably Israel (of course) and France and the USA. Not to mention, I'm sure it won't be particularly easy to prove lineage since it's been 500 years and it's hard to document.
That said, though, there are now over two million Sephardic Jews, and the identity has really developed and continued on its own set of laws and practices. So I suppose that some would be interested in returning to their ancestral homeland if possible, and reestablishing a community there in the spirit of their ancestors, just like with Israel in the 1900s. But since Israel has already kinda monopolized the Jewish right-of-return idea, I can hardly imagine seeing any similar kind of immigration influx. It's probably just for extended justice and a good image.
