Portugal’s Citizenship for Sephardic Jewry: A Golden Fountainhead
Author(s)
Publication Name
Publication Date
26 April 2021
Abstract
In 2015, Portugal offered citizenship to Sephardic Jews of Portuguese origin. Recommendations for Israeli applicants were made via the tiny Jewish community of Lisbon, while Porto was to decide on Jewry from the diaspora. Porto made the process stringent, dealing with Sephardim and the ultra-religious only. Lisbon thus became the address for everyone else, including Ashkenazim and Catholic Hispanic descendants of Jews. This article examines the ways in which Portugal followed the path taken by Spain concerning citizenship for Sephardim. As Spain ended its offer of citizenship in 2018–2019, Portugal, via Israeli lawyers and shopping-centre salesmen, became an easy path to a European passport for tens of thousands of Israelis of Sephardic origin. This mass interest created a rich source of income for the two Jewish communities, but also led to the emergence of unexpected categories of applicants for Portuguese citizenship. Based on ethnographic research and dozens of interviews, this article analyzes the factors and motivations that help to explain the desire for Portuguese citizenship.
Topics
Citizenship Main Topic: Other Sephardi Jews Ethnography Interviews Jewish Community Jewish Organisations Finance
Genre
Geographic Coverage
Original Language
DOI
Link
Link to article including link to pdf, Portugal’s Citizenship for Sephardic Jewry: A Golden Fountainhead
Bibliographic Information
Portugal’s Citizenship for Sephardic Jewry: A Golden Fountainhead. 26 April 2021: https://archive.jpr.org.uk/10.1007/s12397-021-09364-4
