The Belmonte Jews are a community that survived in secrecy for hundreds of years by maintaining a tradition of intermarriage and by hiding all the external signs of their faith. The Jewish community in Belmonte, Portugal, goes back to the 12th century and they were only discovered in the 20th century by an Ashkenazi captain of the Portuguese army. Their rich Sephardic tradition of Crypto-Judaism is unique. Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a social group. ... For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ... Location - Country Portugal - Region Centro - Subregion Cova da Beira - District or A.R. Castelo Branco Mayor Amândio Melo - Party PS Area 118. ... Languages Yiddish Religions Judaism Related ethnic groups Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, and other Jewish ethnic divisions Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim (Standard Hebrew: sing. ... Sephardim (ספר××, Standard Hebrew SÉfardi, Tiberian Hebrew ardî; plural Sephardim: ספר×××, Standard Hebrew Sfaradim, Tiberian Hebrew ) are a subgroup of Jews, generally defined in contrast to Ashkenazim and/or . ... Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; people who practice crypto-Judaism are referred to as crypto-Jews. The term crypto-Jew is also used to describe descendants of Jews who still (generally secretly) maintain some Jewish traditions, often while adhering...
Only recently did they contact other Jews and they now claim to profess Orthodox Judaism, although they still retain their centuries-old traditions. Orthodox Judaism is the formulation of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict interpretation and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmudic texts (The Oral Law) and as subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim. ...
In the strictest sense, SephardicJews, also called Sephardim (ספרדים), are Jews who are descendants of Jews who were expelled from Spain and Portugal and who settled in southern France, Italy, North Africa, Turkey, Asia Minor, the Netherlands, England, North and South America, Germany, Denmark, Austria, and Hungary.
This Decree was symbolically revoked in 1996 by the Portuguese Parliament.
Although the Sephardim lived on peaceful terms with other Jews, they rarely intermarried with them; neither did they unite with them in forming congregations, but adhered to their own ritual, which differed widely from the Ashkenazic.