Review Commission - Jewish Community of Oporto

I
Whereas, after the Edict of Expulsion of the Jews from Portugal (1496), the overwhelming majority of
Jewish families were prevented from leaving the country and generally, in the following centuries, joined
the Christian population by marriage.
Whereas, in the eighteenth century, in the time of the Marquis of Pombal, only eleven Portuguese families
could claim that they had no Jewish blood, and that at present it is virtually impossible to have a single
Portuguese that is not a descendant of converted Jews, given the astonishing breadth of individual
genealogy of each person over five centuries.
Whereas in Portugal and around the world, there are inevitably many matrilineal descendants of Jews who
are unaware of this fact, and are ignorant of their status as Jews, and only their genealogy (and not
proselytizing organizations) can shed light on this.

II
Whereas, the fact that Portuguese citizens are descendants of Jews (and descendants of many other people)
does not confer on them the status of Marranos (Bnei Anoussim, Crypto-Jews), since these are the
descendants of Jewish converts who secretly continued to pray to Adonai and keep the Jewish spirit and
Jewish family matrilineality in marriages, as happened with the Marranos of Belmonte in Portugal.
Whereas the first Jewish custom to be kept from generation to generation was the wedding of cryptoJewish men with crypto-Jewish women. Otherwise, the children would have lost the status of "Jews", even
if they adhered in secret to Jewish practices and customs.
Whereas, since the beginning of time any Jew (Marrano or not) knows that his children are only Jews
(Marranos or not) if his wife is Jewish (Marrana or not), otherwise their descendants are non-Jews
(Marranos or not), which is an objective fact and not a matter of opinion.

III
Whereas, in Brazil and other countries of the world, there are still real Marranos and serious organisations
to help Marranos, who try to make them return to Klal Israel after an impartial investigation into ancestral
family Jewish practices and genealogical documentation (which should highlight at least presumably the
evidentiary basis of the Jewish matrilineality) and after checking the veracity of the information collected,
as well as personal interviews and demonstrated knowledge before a qualified Beit Din.
Whereas, Portugal is a country 95 times smaller in size than Brazil and all of it crossed by roads, which
helps explain why the last Portuguese Marranos were those of Belmonte, a small village hidden by the
highest mountain in the country, of difficult access for centuries, with almost no contact with the outside
world.
Whereas, the Marranos of Belmonte maintained reverence for Adonai, the Jewish spirit and Jewish family
matrilinearity by marriages from generation to generation, only between the Marrano families.

IV

Whereas, Captain Barros Basto (the "Portuguese Dreyfus") was not a Marrano, but a descendant of
Marranos (by paternal lineage) who made his formal conversion to Judaism and who throughout his life
served Judaism and Marranos in a logic of truth and with non-material interests.

Review Commission - Jewish Community of Oporto

Whereas, Captain Barros Basto considered the Work of Redemption as failed in the 40s and in 1948 (66
years ago) there was no longer a single Marrano registered as a member in the Records of the Jewish
Community of Oporto.

Whereas, Captain Barros Basto died in 1961, at a time when, with the exception of the Belmonte
community which kept the ritual traditions and the family spirit through marriages, the majority of Marrano
families from other regions witnessed the weakening of religious ties, assimilation and intermarriage with
non-Jews, circumstances that were irreversibly aggravated during the following decades with the arrival of
the open society.

Whereas, the children of Marranos that Captain Barros Basto met (many of which are registered in the
records of the Jewish Community of Oporto) married non-Jewish and non-Marrano women (like most of
their parents had already done) and are completely detached from religion, just rarely visiting the
synagogue, for touristic purposes, it follows that they cannot be considered Marranos: there is no evidence
that they are children of a Jewish mother (Marrana or not) and never practiced Jewish rituals in the secret of
their homes.

V
Whereas, there were expulsions from the Jewish Community of Oporto (in the 20s and 30s of the twentieth
century) of people who had entered the community bearing the false status of Marranos, who later
committed offenses and were unmasked and expelled.
Whereas, a documented resolution of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Community of Oporto (dated
1935) mandated that, in the future, only people (Marrano or not) that "absolutely prove their Jewish
descent" through the matrilineal line could be accepted into the community.
Whereas, in the case of Marranos, that "absolute proof" had to be produced through primarily
circumstantial evidence, after an investigation into Jewish weddings and family practice, since, in Portugal,
it is very difficult to remake the genealogy of an individual for five centuries. Almost always it can only be
done indirectly, because a Portuguese Law of 1768 ordered the destruction of almost all records of
converted Jews, creating a serious problem for posterity for the identification of the matrilineal descendants
of those converts.
Whereas, despite the Resolution of the Board of Directors of 1935, many decades later, false Marranos, led
by proselytizing Jewish organizations, became part of the congregation of the Jewish Community of
Oporto, and were ultimately unmasked and expelled by the oldest Jewish community members and the
Religious Committee of the synagogue.
Whereas, in the past 10 years in Portugal, the status of Marrano has been falsely claimed by people intent
solely on simplifying the process of conversion to Judaism (thus obtaining unwarranted grace from the Beit
Din, and thereby making their conversions almost automatic, without halachic credibility) and by people
who want to call themselves Jews, refusing to provide any kind of evidence, claiming a supposed ancestral
right.

VI
Whereas, in Portugal proselytizing Jewish organizations have established themselves that undermine the
spirit of ordinary Portuguese citizens deprived of spirituality and identity, suggesting to them that they are
Marranos and should be part of the "struggle" (ie, the invasion of the synagogues).
Whereas, these proselytizing Jewish organizations ask for contributions from ingenuous Jews in various
countries, telling them that they are going to save Portuguese Marranos and bring them back to the Jewish
people, when in fact these organizations promote the mass conversion of all kind of Gentiles (not
Marranos), out of the sight and control of genuinely Orthodox Jewish communities.

Review Commission - Jewish Community of Oporto

Whereas, these proselytizing Jewish organizations claim that at present there are still tens of thousands of
Marranos in Portugal, that the Work of Redemption of Captain Barros Basto is not complete, that they
themselves are able to complete the Work of Redemption of the Captain, and that the Kadoorie Mekor
Haim synagogue should be the global headquarters of its proselytizing movements for mass conversions of
false Marranos.
Whereas the discourse of proselytizing organizations, which uses abstract terms like "Jewish roots" and
"return to the religion of their ancestors", is misleading and deceptive, because all the Portuguese have
"Jewish roots" as well as "Christian or Islamic roots", so by this logic if everyone were to convert to
Christianity or to Islam they would also "return" to the religion of their ancestors.
Whereas perhaps 1/4 of mankind also has "Jewish roots" and it would be absurd for 2 billion people
convert to Judaism.

VII
Whereas, the Jewish Community of Oporto was founded in 1923 (by Captain Barros Basto and Jews from
Germany, Lithuania, Russia and Poland) for the practice of Orthodox Judaism and not for any other
pseudo-Marrano religion.

Whereas, the Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue was built between 1929 and 1938 for the practice of
Orthodox Judaism (and not for any other pseudo-Marrano religion) and to serve a mixed community
composed of Jews and true Marranos (eight decades ago).

Whereas, the Jewish Community of Oporto today has Jews from 14 nations among its members, including
Portuguese Jews, and that religious and non-religious members work together and have good relations with
each other.

Whereas, the Jewish Community of Oporto would welcome within the congregation true Marranos if they
still exist today in the Portuguese territory, whose existence has for long been unknown and not credible,
and those interested must prove the contrary.

Now therefore, in view of the considerations set out above:

By virtue of this document, the REVIEW COMMISSION of the Jewish Community of Oporto
(Comunidade Israelita do Porto) is hereby created, which shall function and be governed in accordance
with the following rules:

Article 1
(Composition of the Commission)
The Commission is comprised of the Rabbi, a member of the Religious Committee, a Portuguese Jewish
member and a foreign Jewish member of the Jewish Community of Oporto.

Article 2
(Purpose of the Commission)
In the event that any person or persons declaring themselves to be Marrano and desirous of becoming
part of the Oporto's congregation, the case shall be passed to the Review Commission who will commence
the pertinent investigative proceedings in order to conclude as to the veracity of the allegations made by the
person(s) in question.

Review Commission - Jewish Community of Oporto

Article 3
(Tasks of the Commission)
1. The Review Commission shall perform the following tasks:
a) Assess the ancestral Jewish practices of the family of the alleged Marrano, to which end any living
relatives should be interviewed and their homes and customs examined, together with any other
investigations which may be necessary;
b) Investigate, as exhaustively as possible, the alleged Marranos matrilineal genealogical documentation as
well as those of known marriages;
c) Examine the personal and professional circumstances of the alleged Marrano, verifying his/her true
purpose and desire to become a part of the congregation of the Jewish Community of Oporto.
2. The tasks of the Commission set out in the previous paragraph shall be performed independently of the
procedure for verifying the compliance with the moral prerequisites of the Jewish Community of Oporto
for anyone to be able to enter the Synagogue and of the procedure for possible formal return of any
Marrano to Klal Israel, which is similar to the procedure for conversion to Judaism, and which must be
conducted by an Orthodox Rabbi.

Article 4
(Special Precautions)
Extra care and special precautions must be taken when there is reason to believe that the alleged Marrano is
acting at the behest, instigation or in representation of organizations proselytizing Judaism or, generally, of
individuals who agitate the spirit of ordinary Portuguese citizens who are merely needing spirituality or
seeking an identity, by suggesting that they are Marranos.

Article 5
(Costs of the investigation)
The costs of the investigations referred to in Article 3 must be borne by the alleged Marrano and/or by any
credible international organization that provides assistance to Marranos.

Article 6
(Formal Return)
1. In the event that the Commission finds that the person in question is a true Marrano, the procedure for
his/her return to Judaism shall be accompanied by a credible international organization that provides
assistance to Marranos.
2. The submersion of a Marrano in the Mikv during the formal return shall be solely for the purpose of
removing any minor doubts as to the matrilineal origin of the person and not for the purposes of
converting to Judaism someone who is evidently a gentile.
3. Some evidence of Jewish matrilineality must be shown, in other words, there must be factual elements
which, when analyzed in conjunction with other elements, permit a judgement to be made as to the serious
likelihood of Jewish matrilineal origin of the alleged Marrano.