Journey To Portugal - Full Journey

this Tower class is brought to you by torahanytime.com okay good morning everyone assalamu alaikum first we want to welcome our steam guide Diogo okay who's the expert on all Portuguese history thank you for joining us and a lot of Portuguese Jews was slightly better than of it it's counter card in Spain the position of Jews were was favorable practically until The Bitter End so for example in 1391 when there were forcible baptism forcible conversions in Spain and 200 000 Jews were forcibly baptized in Portugal the Kings protected the Jews so they were not subject to forcible uh baptizing now there is a prestigious family called the Yahya family and in succession they served the king one after another generation after generation the barbanell's family was protected here in Portugal and even though there was mounting feelings of anti-Semitism in general the kings of Portugal Protected Their Jewish constituents so at first Alfonso V he brings in the abar benella as his finance minister after Alfonso he's he succeeded by II or uh did you are the second order in English John and John continues to uh use that bar vanilla as his Finance Minister however in 1483 that bar benell was accused of conspiracy against Jewell and abarinel gets the message that the king wants to have private word with him now that barbarinal had heard that the king had just assassinated all of his father's advisors and that when the King was asking them for a private meeting it was to be able to put the abrarvenel in something called relaxation relaxation means he was going to kill him so that barbarinal flees Portugal and just makes it into Spain just as his pursuers were about to catch him by the way that barbarell writes that when he came to Spain he was unknown nobody even knew who he was he had more time to study he had more time to learn actually wrote his commentary to the Tanakh while he was in Portugal so uh now after John's death the throne is ascended by Emmanuel now Manuel for the following is the following um match he wanted to marry Isabella the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella however Isabella said that if Manuel is going to marry our daughter it's on condition that Manuel brings the Inquisition and the explosion to Portugal so against manuals uh he had no choice so he brought the explosion into Portugal he was a little bit more kind than fernan and Isabella so he gave the Jewish people a 10-month race period however he did not make good on his word so in April 19 1497 Manuel made a rule made a law that every single Jewish child below the age of 14 would be forcibly kidnapped and baptized so if you were a child in Portugal a Jewish child below the age of 14. you no longer were to you were taken away from your parents the parents never saw you again actually rub you have rum Saba anybody know which safer from Saba Road very good Mr Rabbi Rossman nailed it on the head gives it give the man a cigar hamar and his two children forcibly kidnapped and baptized he never saw them again many of the children were taken off to uh islands off Portugal to St Thomas off the west coast of Africa so this was a very this was actually a more cool aspect of the Portuguese expulsion than the Spanish explosion now on the first day of pesach without any warning all of a sudden Emmanuel comes in with an entire Army he rounds up all the children and they're baptized what was the reaction of the Jewish people in Portugal different than in Spain many Jewish people killed themselves that was the reaction in Portugal in Spain they allowed conversion in Portugal they committed suicide they killed themselves they killed their wives they killed their children and we're going to speak about the the letter of Rabbi Abra of Ravi avram zakuto is the inventor of the Astro lab he was King Julius personal astronomer and my father relayed a very important story that's actually recorded in an introduction of ravia Ramsay puto's that when Christopher Columbus came to the new world he was captured by cannibal Indians and they put him in a pot by the way it's always best to avoid being caught by cannibal Indians because let's say you won't be joining us for the next stop right so we're going now what's our first stop tuman and then we're going to Porto so if you're captured by cannibal Indians you'll be with us for two man you will not be with us for a Porto because you will be someone's dinner and the Indians caught Christopher Columbus and uh his end was coming there and he had on him the astronomical tables of Christopher Columbus that that did a lunar eclipse okay and that predicted a lunar eclipse so Christopher Columbus says if you don't release me I'm gonna pray to my God and blood out the light of the Moon and a short while later all of a sudden it became dark and the light of the moon was blotted out and they deemed Christopher Columbus a God and they heaped on him great praise and actually you could go to the museum in Lisbon today where you will see the astronomical tables with the hagoys with the footnotes of Christopher Columbus in any event was the personal astronomer of King wow and in the safer he discusses the halachik issue is a Jew allowed to kill himself to avoid torture or conversion we know that according to Jewish law the worst sin is taking one's own life we believe that if somebody takes their own life they lose their share in the afterlife the most valuable commodity that we have is our life we are not the owners of our life we are not even the owners of our body you know you you walk around a lot of the European countries and people are covered from head to toe in tattoos according to Jewish law our bodies do not belong to us it's a gift from Heaven they're sacred our lives are sacred so the question is is it permitted to take one's life to avoid torture or being baptized the gamara that you just had in the zafaya where the gemara says that a ship was taking boys and girls to Rome and they were going to be violated in Rome for indecent behavior and the girls asked if they jump overboard and they kill themselves will they have a share in the world to come will they have resurrection of the dead and it was astounded the positive that I will even rescue you from the depths of the sea you see another thing you should avoid doing is taking a submarine with parts that were purchased in Walmart down to the bottom of the sea that's also these are two important pieces of information number one avoid being captured by cannibal Indians and number two avoid taking submarines down to shipwrecks you learn very important things on this trip and you see these the people who went down to the bottom of the sea to rescue to see the Titanic they will not have resurrection of the dead so maybe the Marines will find molecules but those molecules are never coming back but if a Jew thank you I like that if a Jew takes their life to avoid conversion even if they go to the Bottom of the Sea and their molecules decompose I call this vertical will reconstitute their molecules in the resurrection of the dead so says from here we see one is allowed to take their life to avoid even indecent Behavior certainly conversion furthermore Robert ramsakuto sides the gemara and subas they come around the end of stupid says that anyone who attended the funeral of rebe rebby was the redactor of the mishnah will automatically go to the world to come so there was a man who missed the funeral he said I can't believe I missed the funeral how did I miss such a momentum he jumped off the roof and he killed himself and the Heavenly voice said he'll also go to the world to come and then The Wanderer said I also missed the funeral so the Wonder jumped off the roof and the Heavenly voice said she'll also have a share in the world to come so we see that if in great religious agony one is permitted to take their life and therefore says rev Ram zakuto there were many righteous Jews who took their life to avoid torture and conversion for example in 1391 the grandson of the rush killed himself Al-Qaeda Hashem not only he his mother-in-law the wife of the Torah killed herself the torah's wife torah's wife killed herself so from here we see that for the sake of saving oneself from conversion one is allowed to take their life now the Inquisition was preserved and upheld with great cruelty in Portugal sometimes even worse than in Spain so tens of thousands despaired converted became Portuguese conversos but once you become a converso your problems just begin because they there was Inquisition in 1504 there were programs in 1506 there were pogroms situation in Lisbon became so unstable that there was a rebellion against King Manuel so King Manuel allowed the Jews the Jewish converts those to leave and when they left thousands of conversals returned openly to Jewish practice by the way in Portugal the Inquisition continued until 1821. in Spain until 1834. so this is some of the history of the country we're going to we're going to speak about a number of the Godzilla most notably Abram Saba who lived a very tragic personal life because of the forcible conversions here in Portugal and I want to share with you um an original idea that I'm that's in development that I'd like to speak about further on tishabab and that is you know it always bothered me why on Tish above we don't commemorate the Spanish Inquisition after all the uh the expulsion was set for Tish above August 2nd 1492. so in the past we've brought out the idea that the explosion from Spain in the scheme of Jewish history is not really a tragedy because after all we're being forced to leave the Gullah so Jew never cries when they leave the Dulles but there's an another very important reason why we don't mourn the explosion in 1492 and that is the expulsion in 1492 was the best of the lots of what could have happened to a Jew in the 15th century the explosion was after a hundred years of forced conversion and once you're forcibly converted and you wanted to practice Judaism secretly then there was Inquisition where there were spies everywhere if you made one wrong turn you made one wrong move if you said one wrong word they would take you they would take your family your wife your children and they would burn the person alive that was the that was the fate of someone who was called practicing Judaism in secret the expulsion was a reprieve now they had freedom to leave the country and actually in the scheme of things the forcible conversions were much worse than any faith the Jewish people ever suffered in fact the rise it rights that while many Jewish tragedies were just a repeat of suffering of the formulas the forcible conversions were a faith that we never suffered before in our history and have no parallel and have no precedent and therefore to commemorate the explosion of 1492 would be downplaying all the disasters that happened for the hundred years before that made the explosion pale in comparison so it would almost be incongruous and distasteful and a lack of respect for what was happening for the previous Century to to commemorate the explosion of 1492. so here is are some introductory remarks and we're going to hear more from the yoga as we get to the place so this is the oldest show in the Iberian Peninsula but it's also dedicated to commemorate one of the most notable personalities of that Baron Peninsula Rabbi avram zakuto so that's an important name to remember he wrote a very important safer called safer which traces the generations of world history from Bria Salam until the year 1500 he was born in 1452 till 1515. he invented the Astro lab which is spoken about in the ashra lab was used by Vasco de Gama and by Christopher Columbus in all of their expeditions now we spoke about many times a tragedy of 1492 so I want to share with you a very important idea and that idea is in order to translate a Jewish State into a secular date what do you do you add 12 40. so the Spanish Inquisition took place in the erish nun base 4 52 so you add 12 40. um what 252 so you add 12 40 14 92. so the one of the greatness that lived during the time of the Spanish Inquisition not to be confused Within is an acronym it stands for yetan by the way he writes that about various reasons why the Spanish Inquisition happened by the way we are from sabbah says the reason why it happened is because Jews built big homes luxurious homes they were attractive to the eye and it caught the attention of the Gentiles and it created jealousy not that this has anything to do with American Jewelry but I thought I might point that out I just want to share with you one very moving paragraph and passage in the safer and we spoke about hell in Spain in 1391 there were 200 000 forcible conversions in Portugal in 1496 Emmanuel gave the Jews 10 months to decide whether they're going to leave or convert but he did not keep his word so the first day of pesach he forcibly converted Jews he brought them to Center squares he surrounded them he said convert they didn't want to convert so he had priests sprinkle them with water okay now they're converted he also forcibly kidnapped and baptized every last child in Portugal under the age of 14. so if you were a parent and you had a child you never saw the child again now how many exceptions were there was this 80 90 95 percent it was 100 percent no one was exempt there were no exemptions from this decree says was one of the few Jews who was able to leave Portugal in 1496. so he writes in the safe in the Iration on base 252 1492. in the year race 1496 after the explosion from Portugal we didn't know where to go we couldn't go to France we couldn't go to Spain I was an old man I was with my son shmuel [Music] Hashem I did not endure forcible conversion La Africa went to Africa which country he came to Tunis IA he was capped captured two times May the Almighty pay me back that the end of my family we should be Servants of God is Hashem please place the sheer of the destiny of my family with the righteous begane then so here we are 500 years later in the rabbi of ramzakuto Museum he was one of the few people who withstood the temptation of conversion and he's praying to the almighty that the destiny of his family should be among the righteous and he hopes for the three big keys that every Jew should hope for Gane then a Maine okay good afternoon everyone we're headed to the city of Puerto according to this forum the city is called aporto and in this context I want to tell you about the life of one of the greatest common that lived in Portugal Rabbi avraham Sabah River avram Saba was born in Spain in 1440 he passes away in 1508. by the way 1508 is the year of the passing of that bar but now so immediately you see that he lived through the time of the Spanish explosion and in fact the tragic story of Rabia from Sabah is really the illustration of immune inhumanity that could be perpetrated in the name of religion is born in Castile was a student of rabies de Leon who instructed him in Kabbalah by the time of the Inquisition Ravi avram saddle was already 52 years old ravia from Saba flee Spain he comes to Portugal and he comes to aparto the city we're about to go to was the city where Rabia ramsabha came he was looking for a safe haven but it was not meant to be now in his first peaceful years in Portugal in aparto rebia from completed his momentous commentary on the Flemish what is it called hamar and his commentary on the McGillis which is called Escuela and also a commentary on of perkiavos as we mentioned in 1496 the Jews are exposed from Portugal but King Emmanuel had a terrible surprise in store for the Jews of Portugal as we mentioned on the first day of pesach and according to the account of rabbi zacharya fandel all Jewish children below the age of 18. were kidnapped and baptized had his two sons taken away from before his eyes kidnapped baptized and he never saw them again but that was not all rabi Abram had a very extensive library of manuscripts of hand-written ancient documents and storms they were confiscated and burnt publicly in Lisbon together with thousands of others forums so he's bereft of his children distraught about his life's collection he flees to Lisbon with a secret treasure the secret treasure is his personal manuscripts of the hamar and the eshko hakai fair one day it will be Abram's family tells him his secret has been revealed if he will not destroy his manuscripts he's jeopardizing his life so with the broken heart he digs a grave he buried this and all of his when we go to Lisbon we're going to be looking for the kadushim of Ravi avram Sabah he buried it under an olive tree is going to be showing us all the olive trees in Lisbon we're going to be looking for the kadushim of saba suse ever rewrite his condition yes so what happened was he buries the khedu shimander an olive tree he writes in the introduction to the Escalade Fair on magillas Esther that he was then subsequently imprisoned with other Tami the kakamem one of these sages he was imprisoned with was forced to convert the sage would not convert and he died and after six terrifying months in prison ravia ramsaba manages to escape he escapes from Portugal and with his last remaining son Yitzhak where does he go to Fez where he rewrote Surah hamar from memory however he says because of his age and his memory and that Soros he did not restore all of his hidushim he rewrote on Hamish on Miguel assessor and miguelas Rose I want to share with you one amazing writes he says I'm telling you now something I'm gonna reveal it to you he writes this in person this is something I never saw I never heard it is Galilee what was revealed to me meaning he's saying he had divine inspiration why is the holiday called Hanukkah is it because they rested on the 25th day it should be then wonderful person is very busy very preoccupied it doesn't have any time to learn what should a person do if they're so preoccupied they don't have time to learn well what does it tell us I feel like even if you just say Shema in the evening and the morning your yard say because krishma is basically the cliff node version of kalatarakula by the way this is not the time but there are many proofs that the Mitzvah of is a mitzvah talmatira the midst of saying Shema that's why before we say we say we make breakfast even there are many many uh proofs to this notion that the midst of them they didn't have time to learn so how did they serve Hashem they were Valiant with the 25 letters of the creation Hashem athletic facts desire I publish rights and he doesn't quote this there are 24 letters desire says when we complete the 24 letters of Baruch same and we reach the madriga of 25 to 25 letters of Shema we reached the antipathanika at the end of ram sabha's life he was on a ship and it was headed to Italy and there was a terrible storm and it threatened to capsize the boat and the brings down the story in the Shema xylem was asked by the crew on the ship they saw he was a holy man please dive in for the welfare of the ship that we should be saved will be from Saba was old he was weak and he said I may not survive back to shore I will pray for the safely turn of the ship if you promised me that you will bring me to Cabaret Israel they promised him he prayed the storm stopped it's Europe passed away on Arabian Kipper and will be around Sabo was brought to Kevin Israel in Italy in Valencia so this is the tragic story rubber Von saba and at the same time the inspiring story of how he rewrote all his condition from Emory but I do want to share with you that I believe the story has somewhat of a happy ending and that is this girl went on to marry Maran bet Yosef the base Yosef Caro so Robert from Saba became the grandfather-in-law of Rubio said Caro so at least through that he's he's the foundation of the Israel he is we're going to the city of aparto where radar ran away and wrote his so we're here in the streets of aporto Portugal the city where the tsura hamar came when he ran away from Spain where he wrote his commentary swarhamar and eshkal hakai fair and in this city we have a plaque that was put up to commemorate the Jews that were given the choice of either death or forcible conversion but the public says that even though these Jews were consumed in fire their souls were unaffected their souls went up to shemaim asukuta writes many Jews took their own life and committed suicide to avoid the terrible fate of forced conversion Barak foreign okay good evening everyone uh just want to begin by offering my sincere thanks thank you very much everyone for your very kind words it means a lot to me and we look forward to seeing all of you together not only on future trips but all of your families I want to begin by saying you know you didn't hear from the best speaker in the room uh Avi Marie you know uh many of the personalities that I spoke about over the trip really my father sparked my interest in brother Yakov sasportas akuto and if my father had the opportunity to share with you from his vast knowledge on these subjects you would have been treated to a very great Delight but this is Hashem it's a great it's a great success an honor and privilege to be together with my father and the first time together with my mother on one of these trips and there's the closest from all of their children and grandchildren at biasco so in 1655 they gain audience of Oliver Cromwell and manage Venezuela very passionately pleads with Oliver Cromwell he says you know we Jews we don't hate Christians we honor you we respect you please allow us back into England we've we were chased out already hundreds of years earlier and Oliver Cromwell says to Menasha and Israel why do you think that we think that you hate us we know you don't hate us we know you respect us you know we know you honor us but I have one question for you Menasha and Oliver Cromwell asked Menasha and Israel a stunning question he says what is it with you Jews that you love to go back to countries that they hate you why do you want to come back to England you were banished from England why do you want to come back here it's like Jews love to go on vacation where are you going on vacation well first I'm going to Auschwitz and then I'm going to Dachau and then I'm going to go to Treblinka you know just as a grand finale Jews love go to places to go to places where they torture us so the question we have to ask ourselves is why did we come here in the first place why did we come to Spain Spain expelled Us in 1492 they never rescinded it until the 19th century so Menasha and Israel had to think about this question and Israel being a big believer in the Zara he shared with Oliver Cromwell desire asks what's the difference between and the gulo hasida and Isaiah says was only from Israel the gulo hasida will be from the entire world Alvar kramo says Rabbi please uh please share with me your Insight on the zihar an Israel said as follows he said when Hashem redeemed cloudy Israel from Israel so the mysterium saw it so they believed in it but but the Gentiles the nations of the world all over the world they didn't necessarily experience it they didn't necessarily see it and they didn't necessarily believe in it so the goal of history is that the Jewish people need to be exiled all over the world so that when the day will come that Hashem will redeem the Jewish people the nations of the world will say oh now that Hashem is redeeming you from the far-flung countries of the world now we believe retroactively in the Redemption from Egypt so it's very important for us to go back to these countries the national and Israel said we need to come back to England so that when mashiach comes the English will believe and yet and Oliver crama was stunned he said I thought you Jews were down and out I thought you just have low morale now I realize that you have a soaring spirit and you're living with the purpose that you want to bring the belief of your Redemption throughout the world so it's very important for us to come back to these countries what's left in Spain today it's a mid-barsh mama it's nothing I think we got out every initials of kadusha last time around I don't there's nothing there but yet when we got on that plane and they're gawking at us like we would be aliens from another planet you know it's important for us to make ourselves known to them so that when the great day comes they know what it's all about they know who's being redeemed they know who the rebanishum is this is a very important mission that we taking our Felice and our Torah and studying our history and traveling these countries so that when that great day comes we're going to connect with it they're going to understand it so I want to thank for putting his heart and soul for many many months in organizing uh a tremendous program and this is Hashem like we said many times we went to the rimagash how long did it take for us to learn a sticker on the remagast already Shabbos were learning the remagast you're going to see all of these this portas um in Israel they're going to be coming to you they're going to be visiting you throughout the year every week you're going to say oh I can't believe it I was just there I just heard about him I just spoke about him it's uncanny [Music] thank you very much good morning everyone we're headed to the city of Lisbon we were we were in uh aparto we're headed to Lisbon but I would like to revisit a subject uh that's relevant to our visit to Spain and our visit to Portugal as well and that is is it permitted for a Jew today to visit Spain and to visit Portugal because there seems to be some kind of unspoken practice or acceptance or perhaps even a harem not to visit Spain and maybe even not to visit Portugal now for many hundreds of years this was not an issue because we weren't allowed to visit Spain we weren't allowed to visit Portugal but 1968 the Franco government gave permission to repair an ancient synagogue in Madrid and it brought to the Forefront this halachic issue whether it's permitted to visit Spain today so uh revuchi asked me to discuss this topic and here we go also was invited to inaugurate a Yeshiva in in Spain and Madrid and the question is is this permitted so in the an issue appeared written by rabihuda gershuni as well as by the author of The hamar and that is the author suggests that there was a Hiram that it was a unspoken acceptance of the Jewish people that for 400 years we were Bound by a harem that we're not allowed to visit the country of Spain and after the 400 year left in 1892 the Jewish people willingly accepted upon themselves never again to return to these cursed countries and the question is is there any halachic basis for this was there in fact did the Jewish people accept not to return to these countries so it was a bit of a mystery cook writes in his letters there is no halachic source that there was ever a harem that there ever there was ever a ban not to return to Spain likewise Herzog the first Chief Rabbi of Israel also right there is no halachic basis not to be able to return to these countries he says even if there was it would be permitted for later rabbis to revoke that harem after studying the subject and in fact acknowledging that there is no authentic basis for such he says that is only enough to downgrade the status of such a Prohibition to a suffix when you're endowed as regarding biblical law one has to be strict what about Hiram well the rajbar writes in achuva the rajba with benaderas of Barcelona the Raj variety so in that case review the gershuni concludes it would be prohibited for a Jew to return at least to Spain today my personal opinion is that one should avoid going to Spain because it's too hot but that's that's my own personal opinion now there were um revaldenberg after discussing the issue and concluding that we have no Source in the halach to return to Spain he applies the following rule Israel the Jewish people if we are not prophets we are the descendants of prophets and somehow if it's in our national conscience not to return to Spain it must be rooted in authentic Torah perspective and therefore the tits Alias are also uh suggests that perhaps it's better not to visit Spain in light of this Jewish practice there were a number of uh halachic authorities however who did permit return to Spain the mooncatcher Shapiro and a response until talpios he says it is permitted for a Jew to reside in Spain provided that the Jewish Nationals of the country are given religious freedom um now Rabbi Warman Rabbi Warman quotes a very interesting source he quotes the safer to ruusstein who says that this Prohibition in fact while there is some basis we mentioned you know the name colidano the etymology is Toledo no they took a vow they would never return to Toledo but nevertheless he says that the ban never extended to all of Israel only to those families who were expelled and in that case it never attains the halachic status of something which is binding upon all of the Jewish people and therefore he rules it is permitted for a Jew to return to Spain today likewise the moon culture allowed return to Spain however I want to share with you that it is clear that throughout Jewish history residents in Spain was this countenanced rabbi tovia prashell wrote an article in the Israeli newspaper in the hamodya in 5714 and later he it appeared in hadoa then in the archives of Hamburg it contains a document indicating that in 1658 the community adopted a regulation that provided whoever visits Spain or Portugal may not be called up to the Torah or honored with any other mitzvah for two years when you return now from your trip if you're all insulted you know how come I don't get an Aliyah my shul why doesn't anybody value me no no no you're done you can't get an Aliyah for two years not only for visiting Spain visiting Portugal also there was whether it was not a halaka grueling there was a in the National conscience of the Jewish people it was discountedenced sister Ross in Jewish life 5717 Rabbi black sites that their religious sanctions opposed upon any visitor to Spain and Portugal what did that include that in the society for towering the brides if you wanted to give money to a Hassan no no no no you can't go to Spain or Portugal and furthermore in 16 um in 1785 in the haskamas in London that there were sanctions placed against anyone who visited Spain here is probably the most realistic perspective on the issue a professor avraham shalom published the chuva and palpeace who gave the following approach he said the law of the land of Spain as long as the Inquisition wasn't was in effect is that no Jew could return to Spain and practice Judaism openly any Jew who returns to Spain after the date of the expulsion would be obligated to convert to Christianity or suffer death that is what was stated by the inquisitions in the Inquisition well into the 19th century in that case if a Jew wanted to return to Spain his only option was to cloak himself to dress up to pretend to be a Christian now is it permitted for a Jew for financial reason or to save their life to pretend to be a Christian no it's prohibited one has to give up their life not to pretend to be a Christian therefore says excuse me rev Shalom Yehuda there was never a harem not to return to Spain the Inquisition halachically forbid a Jew from returning to Spain because in order to return to Spain you had a disguise as a Christian and that is prohibited so not that there was actually a hawaka not to return to Spain but rather inherent in the Inquisition was it was forbidden for a Jew to return to Spain I would like to conclude with the halache conclusion was invited to inaugurate Yeshiva in Madrid not necessary that is permitted to live in Spain but it's permitted to visit Spain why first of all it's not always hot no I'm just joking that's not the reason number one because it is not clear that there was ever a hero not to return to Spain number two it's therefore a suffix and even if there was maybe they only decreed it upon themselves and not not on their descendants and even if there was a decree on their descendants Maybe they only decree that one is not allowed to live there but visiting is permitted therefore says I visited the capital I inaugurated the Yeshiva and I was invited by King Juan Carlos of Spain to his Palace and Roberta writes he very much respected Juan Carlos as a very wise and sagacious ruler and he made two blessings on Juan Carlos he made the blessing that God gives power to flesh and blood and he made the blessing that God gives wisdom to flesh and blood and King Juan Carlos gave rabavadya a Bible that was published in Amsterdam as well as another gift and therefore rabbadio aposkins one is allowed to visit Spain and Portugal and we could add that's what we did in tuftshin pagimo and uh we should see the continued rebuilding of the Jewish communities here on the Iberian Peninsula until the great day of our return to Zion okay we're here in downtown Lisbon we're opposite a church we're one of the greatest drums that ever happened in Lisbon occurred right here on a particular instance where during mass there was a claim like Diego said that the image of yeshu was glowing it was just the sun's reflection but for a converso to say that he was sort of giving up his identity and he was uh mutilated over here opposite the core tribunal of the Inquisition here in Lisbon and Portugal there was a terrible pogrom over here it began the first programs were in 1504 but the worst program of all was in 1506 at this location are very um eminent guide Diego is going to translate for us the first thing you notice is there's a possumi which means the Earth don't cover up our blood which the ground is soaked with this is a place of our outcry so the memorial of 1506. Diego is going to translate 1506 2006 in memory of the thousands of Jews victims of intolerance and religious fanatism assassinated in the massacre initiated on the 19th of April at 1506 in this Square you know and sometimes he thinks is there ever a divine retribution for what happened so we have to mention that on November 1st 1755 there was an earthquake here in Lisbon which is said to be 9.2 on the Richter scale one of the worst if not the very worst earthquake in the history of Europe it leveled 85 of the entire city at the time when did it happen November 1st All Saints Day which is the primary Christian holiday what time did it happen 9 30 a.m when 200 000 Christians were in Mass and at the time hundreds of thousands were killed here in Lisbon and throughout the country now like Diego mentioned at the time because of the earthquake the Christians were lighting candles as part of their service wildfires spread they ran that they ran down to the riverbank first of all they saw it became revealed Treasures from ships that had sunk they went to take the shallow and then all of a sudden first a wave came nine meters high washed them away followed by two tsunamis so tens of thousands of additional Christians died in the tsunamis and in the fire after the earthquake what was destroyed most of the churches of the city were destroyed some of them have never been rebuilt the library was destroyed the court tribunal of the Inquisition was destroyed they recognized that it was divine retribution the reaction of some of the priests was that this was happening I mean you could see the open hand of God and everyone interprets it how they want to interpret it it was interpreted it's because they did not eradicate enough conversos so they found one more converso and they burnt him but you you should know that the divine retribution was very clear because through the wildfires people were literally burnt alive in the same places where there was autograph so enjoy your own conclusions who are we to investigate the ways of God draw your own conclusions it's always wonder why only in Portugal do we see divine retribution why not in Spain well some say there were many more forced conversions in Portugal than they were in Spain but perhaps Spain has its own retribution and that is the greatest retribution Ferdinand and Isabella their plot was to eradicate any Jewish influence in the world but they were the ones who paid for Christopher Columbus's Expedition and he discovered America which was the greatest Haven of the Jewish people in the history of the world so in a certain sense that's also retribution they were trying to eradicate Jewish influence little did they know they would build up the greatest Haven for the Jewish people in the history of the world so sometimes we have to keep our eyes open and we see how Hashem keeps the score and the uh those who act wickedly but those Gentiles who were righteous Gentiles Hashem rewards them as well as we know King Charles the king of Spain or the king of England he comes from a dynasty of a queen who saved Jews during the Holocaust and in that Merit she had many generations of rulers so all of our actions in this world are we're accountable for all of our thoughts were accountable for all of our Deeds were accountable for and whether In Our Lifetime or in our future God keeps the score there's an eye in Roya there's an eye that sees everything is video not everything goes on tour anytime but everything is videoed and everything is remembered and everything is accounted for so this is something we see here in the streets of Lisbon hey good afternoon everyone of all the presentations that we've learned so far this is going to be by far the most colorful and I was saving this for Portugal this is one of the most unusual exciting colorful situations that ever unfolded in Jewish history let's just paint the background so here it is Portugal 1496. explosion from Portugal in 1504 pegrams erupted 1506 is a year of dreadful plague in Portugal thousands of conversos were slain in a continuing series of pogroms the worst occurring here in Lisbon it became so bad that Emmanuel actually because there was so much instability he allowed conversos to leave the country that changed later on but I'm just telling you what the backdrop of the story is so on to the scene of this woeful unstable situation steps one of the most mysterious characters in Jewish history charlatan madman genius scholar believer Defender opportunist hero villain among other wonderful qualities he's all one and the same and his effect on spartic jury and the world was apical uh Apollo yeah a pack of up there thank you so he's a a swarthy Jew he's dressed like an Arab he appears in 1523 in Egypt he identifies himself as a member of the tribe of ruvane exiled by King santerev he comes from the other side of the sambadian river river he claims to have letters and credentials to be from the Jewish King of the assaultim and he has come to meet with the Pope for a secret venture what's the secret Venture he's going to join forces as the king of the Assassin he's going to join forces with the Pope to free the Land of Israel where the land of Israel would become a Jewish state so the pope what's in it for the pope what's in it for the pope was the pope would get control of all Christian holy places and the trade routes and in exchange for that Israel would become a Jewish state so that the conversos have a safe haven he did not make any Messianic claims but to claim that you're the king of the Assassin you're going to free the holy land that cannot be separated from a Messianic claim so in 1524 he comes to Jerusalem he claims to have performed great miracles on the Temple mount that he extracted a rock from under the kader shakadashim he then comes to Venice and he asks audience to meet with the Pope he arrives there dressed as an Arabian Sheik he's riding a white horse carrying a banner that he's the king of the asserts Fatima and we've had some interesting meetings so far you know meets King Juan Carlos Menasha Ben Israel meets Oliver Cromwell but this is by far the most unlikely audience in history Pope Clement VII meets David haruveni and he approves of the plan to free Jerusalem and Israel from the Muslim infidels but on one condition he said this is only going to work the only way we could access the Christian Army is we have to settle the long-standing feud between the German Army the excuse me between the German Emperor and the French King and the only one who could broker that deal is the king of Portugal so in 1525 David ruffini with a letter from the Pope gains the audience with the king of Portugal who agrees to broker a deal between the Emperor of Germany and the French King now David harovani is officially the ambassador of the king of Portugal so now David ruffini as the Ambassador king of Portugal he's very confident in his position so he feels he can openly flaunt his jewishness he starts teaching Torah to The conversos Who come out of the woodwork he takes a Muslim maidservant he publicly converts her to Judaism and now he makes it known to the abarbanel's family who's hiding in Lisbon as conversals to come out and to Proclaim their allegiance to Torah Judaism the drama reaches its climax when another mysterious person enters the picture his name is Dr Diego Perez he's a concern a descendant of a conversal family child prodigy and he's 20 years he's a poet a writer or to a linguist scholar very spiritual and he doesn't find any soles in his soul and with Christianity so he starts to search for his Jewish roots he learned Hebrew he taught himself talmud and Kabbalah he comes to David hurovani and he tells him about his visions and his dreams David cautions him about any rash acts Diego publicly circumcises himself literally with his own hands he changed his name his name is now malko and he begins to teach Tyra the Inquisition comes to the king he's a king you can't what 15 15 46. the Inquisition demanded the king take action against and David and the King ordered dovet to either convert or leave David harovani leaves to Italy follows him there now is having all kinds of visions of the eminent the imminent Messianic Deliverance now in some of the slo-mo's dreams was the Messiah and some of his dreams David was a messiah in other dreams they were both the Messiah all of a sudden their floods Wars earthquakes racking Europe in 1532. if Europe is shaken is stirred by the Messianic fervor David and now traveled to Germany to enlist the Emperor of Germany's Aid to support the war against the Muslims in in Israel the emperor is not impressed he took takes David is arrested and he burns multi at the stake is now held up as the Paragon of someone who diesel in fact if you look in the Magan the angel that came to learn with the basically safe promised him because if they say wanted to die al-qiris Hashem like malkhai and the angel promised the base yoy safe that indeed he would also die al-qirish Hashem like Moko one of the biggest questions on the Magid mesharim is that the basio safe never died like the angel promised him basically Mojo's life was very much romanticized but later on in history he was more considered a false Messiah David haruvani disappears nobody knows what happened to him some say he died in jail in 1535 but the death of mocha and The Disappearance of David haruveni was sort of the beginning of the end of any type of converso community here in Portugal so until then there were communities of conversos there were no longer any communities of conversos so you had some individuals who continue to hold on to Jewish practice but the converso communities as entities disappear in the 16th century that was the end of then the the end of this Messianic fervor really put an end to any type of conversal community here on the Iberian Peninsula but you see why at the time the atmosphere was fertile where the Jews were looking for some type of Salvation some type of Deliverance and unfortunately this put an end to any kind of Community entity of observance here on the Iberian Peninsula so this is the amazing story of David haruveni and shlama mocha the worst programs in the history of Portugal in 1506. okay some final thoughts everybody firstly we want to thank our expert guard Diogo we want to thank you for expertise is a pleasure to listen to he was respectful and courteous so go to trip advisory and give him a five star rating thank you what Portugal Magic I think uh over the last two days we realized uh there's a very big difference between Portugal and Spain not just on a spiritual level but even on a physical level most most of us found that Portugal is quite a beautiful country and is there any way to explain an account for this difference between Portugal and Spain we also spoke about the Harem not to return to Spain whether there's basis for this or not regarding uh returning to Spain there's a very interesting argument of Herzog if Herzog says it can't be worse than mitzrayim than Egypt where the terrorist says you're now at a return to Egypt and the rambam went to Egypt so if Egypt where there's an answer in the Torah and yet the rambam went back it can't be that Spain which had most of the kheram then there must be some reason why it's permitted to go back and in fact says as follows explains that he heard in the name of the arizal himself that at first of course it was forbidden to go to Egypt and the reason for that is told by paroi sifu I don't you're not gonna see my face again and moisha said that's right I'm not gonna see your face and the mccobelum explains that there's a reason for the phenomenon that when the Jewish people are in a Gallows in an exile when it ends it ends overnight they don't give us much warning we don't have that much time to leave and the reason is our mission in the Exile is to gather all the Sparks of caducele the Sparks of Holiness that were scattered here from the time of other Marisha and from the time of Corbin but once we're finished doing with our job we have no further business in the country like RAB Neil said over on Chavez and we're out and on to the next we took out every last spark of kadusha therefore we have no more business in the Triumph we can't go there what's the purpose of going there but he heard from the Ari that once yemiyahu was exiled to metrium so he had he put some more Sparks of kadusha there once he put Sparks of kadusha there so now the rambam was allowed to go back there and now we're allowed to go back there and uh the rest is history I would venture to say humbly it's the same thing with Spain when we left in we took everything with us we took every last ounce of kadusha when the Jewish won 200 000 Jews our barbarino writes three hundred thousand Jews were expelled in 1492. vayanatsu s sepharad there's nothing left in the country there's no caducea in the country there's no rooknis in the country there's no goshmias in the country maybe when they made a basement they are they inaugurated Yeshiva there maybe one Revival Yosef went there he sprinkled in some kadusha so we had we had a few days of uh gathering in whatever was left it seems that Portugal still has a a couple more neat side so therefore it's still a beautiful country and it has good weather and good sunlight in Spain when the sun shines it's not comfortable in Portugal when the sun shines it's a pleasure it warms the heart it warms the heart so the kadusha in us that's right um so it's then writes that in everybody's personal mission and travels in life where they go some people stopped off in the coffee shop some people went to the souvenir shop everyone has Sparks of kadusha that they personally need to gather in so no we don't know why we had a there was an accident here we didn't go to the lookout we had to go to see Manuel's Palace we had to go to see the Limestone there's a reason for that we had to gather in some extra Sparks and a different route so wherever you would go in life whatever travels you make wherever Hashem leads you there's a reason for it there's a purpose for it and we try to elevate every footstep we take it's been a pleasure being together with you I thank everyone for your friendship until the next time thank you very much you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you byctoranytime.com