Step into the hidden world of Sephardic resilience and rediscovery! If you’re a Jewish history enthusiast—or planning a meaningful journey to Portugal—this virtual lecture is your gateway to a rich, little-known chapter of Jewish heritage.
Join renowned scholar Irene Shaland for her newest presentation in the “Saga of Sefarad” series: “Porto and the North: Resilience and Defiance.” From the majestic synagogue and museums of Porto to the mysterious villages “Behind the Mountains,” where Crypto-Jews secretly practiced their faith, this immersive experience will transport you through centuries of courage, ingenuity, and spiritual defiance.
Whether you’re tracing ancestral roots or mapping your next travel adventure, this lecture promises revelations you won’t find in guidebooks. Registration is open—don’t miss your chance to uncover the untold stories of Sephardic Portugal.
Lecture Title: “Porto and the North: Resilience and Defiance”
Presented by: Jewish Historian and Author Irene Shaland
Hosted by: New City Library, New York
Date and Time: Wednesday, October 8, 2025 at 7:00 PM EST
Place: Zoom virtual event
This virtual event is free, but registration is required to receive the link to attend this lecture.
Link to registration: https://newcity.librarycalendar.com/event/jews-portugal-64161
Lecture Description
We begin our journey in Porto: visits to Portugal would not be complete without your immersion in the history and sites of this great city. No matter why you love to travel and whether you are passionate about the arts, music, architecture, rivers, bridges, or wine, Porto offers everything for everyone!
Specifically, for the Jewish history sleuths, we will explore Porto’s fascinating Jewish narrative by unveiling one site at a time. We will also visit Porto’s beautiful synagogue, the city’s two museums dedicated to Jewish history and the Holocaust, and discuss an amazing story of Porto’s Jewish community development throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
From Porto, we will travel to small towns and villages like Braganza, Chaves, Carcão, and Guimarães, to name just a few in the region called Terras de Trás-os-Montes or “Behind the Mountains.” We will “deep-dive” into the largely unknown outside of Portugal and little-researched Jewish narratives. There, Conversos or forcibly converted to Christianity Jews, risked their lives but secretly followed their ancestral religion by ingeniously modifying it to avoid the neighbors’ suspicion.
In the small ancient city of Bragança, we visit two unique Jewish organizations where the stories of the long-gone, forgotten, and hidden “behind the mountains” Jews are preserved: The Sephardic Culture Interpretation Center and The Sephardic Memorial and Documentation Center.
In Guimarães, we will learn why this fascinating city is widely regarded as “The Birthplace of the Nation.”
But it will be in the village of Carcão, where we will discover something extraordinary: the stories of its people’s astonishing defiance of the Inquisition, and see the village’s coat of arms that has a mezuzah and a menorah!
Our journey of discoveries through the unknown Jewish history in Terras de Trás-os-Montes concludes in Tui, Spanish Galicia, where we see the only preserved collection of Sanbenitos, or the Iberian Inquisition’s clothes of shame.
Learn more about the presenter Irene Shaland
Take a look at Irene Shaland’s latest book “Shaland’s Porto & Northern Portugal: An Illustrated Guide to Jewish History and Sites in Northern Portugal, Its Capital Porto, and Select Sites in Central Portugal” https://amzn.to/45jzRog