07 / The Torture of Crypto-Jews in Portugal

In 1497, just five years after Spain expelled its Jews, Portugal forced its entire Jewish population to convert to Christianity. While the Spanish Inquisition gets a lot of attention, very few know of the persecution of Portuguese Jews around the same time. King Manuel I initially promised protection to Jews fleeing Spain, recognizing their economic and intellectual contributions. It is not that he cared about their fate, but his focus was on how they could better his country.

Fortunes can turn on a dime 

Under pressure to marry into the Spanish royal family, he reversed course. Rather than expelling them outright, he ordered their forced baptism. Jewish children were taken from their parents and baptized. Synagogues were shut down. Within months, Portugal officially had no Jews—only “New Christians.”

Yet, conversion did not end suspicion.

Many of these forcibly converted Jews—known as conversos or later crypto-Jews—continued to practice Jewish rituals secretly. Just like in Spain, most of the Jews did not convert from conviction, but coercion. They lit Sabbath candles in hidden rooms, avoided pork, whispered Hebrew prayers, and observed fast days as best they could without being detected. For them, Judaism was not simply a religion; it was a covenantal identity passed through generations. But there were spies and informants who made something as benign as lighting candles on Shabbat deadly. 

In 1536, the Portuguese Inquisition was formally established with papal approval. Its stated purpose was to root out “heresy,” but in practice it overwhelmingly targeted the “New Christians” suspected of “Judaizing.” Heresy would be doing anything Jewish. Keep in mind that all of the disciples continued to identify as Jews after the resurrection. Luke tells us that tens of thousands were zealous for the Torah (Acts 21:20). Paul refers to Passover (1 Cor. 5:7) and the Yom Kippur fast (Acts 27:9). But, in Portugal, the Church was clamping down on Jewishness. 

Unlike Spain’s initial expulsion policy—forcing Jews to leave—Portugal’s system trapped Jewish converts within Christian society and then criminalized their suspected disloyalty. Accusations often began with rumors. A neighbor might report that a woman changed her linens on Friday afternoon, or that a family abstained from certain foods. Business rivalries, personal grudges, or the lure of confiscated property frequently motivated denunciations. Once accused, individuals were arrested without warning—no presumption of innocence—and held in secret prisons.

The Inquisition’s procedures were designed to break the will of the Jewish population

Prisoners were kept in isolation, sometimes for months, without knowing the charges against them. They were pressured to confess to secret Judaism and to name others. Torture was regulated (to extract confession but not cause death) and widely practiced. One method, the strappado, involved tying the victim’s hands behind their back and suspending them by a rope, sometimes with weights attached to their feet, causing excruciating joint dislocation. Another, the water torture (a precursor to later waterboarding techniques), forced large amounts of water into the prisoner’s mouth and throat, creating the sensation of drowning. And limbs were stretched on the rack. The aim was not always execution but confession—confession validated the system. And of course, they confessed. They’d do what was needed to stop the torture.

Even after confession, mercy was uncertain. Those who admitted guilt might face public penance, imprisonment, or forced labor. Others were sentenced to death.

The auto-da-fé—“act of faith”—was the public ceremony where sentences were announced and carried out. Prisoners dressed in special garments called sanbenitos were paraded before crowds. Some were reconciled to the Church; others were handed over to secular authorities to be burned at the stake. These events were both religious ritual and public spectacle, reinforcing fear within the broader community.

Between the 16^th and 18^th centuries, thousands were tried in Portugal and its overseas territories, including Brazil. A significant percentage of those prosecuted were accused of Judaizing. Property confiscations were an easy way to enrich the Crown and Inquisition officials, creating economic incentives that deepened injustice. All this did was promote corruption.

The psychological toll was immense

Families lived under constant fear of denunciation. Children were warned never to speak of household customs. This brought the erosion of trust within communities. Anyone could be an informer. Even devout Catholics of Jewish ancestry remained suspect for generations because “Jewish blood” was increasingly treated as a permanent stain—a precursor to German journalist Wilhelm Marr’s creation of antisemitism in the 1800s. In this way, Portuguese persecution foreshadowed later racialized antisemitism. Conversion did not remove suspicion; ancestry itself became incriminating.

Some crypto-Jews eventually escaped. Communities of Portuguese Jewish exiles emerged in Amsterdam, London, the Ottoman Empire, and the Americas. In places like Amsterdam, former conversos openly returned to Judaism, rebuilding synagogues and publishing Hebrew texts. Their reemergence stands as testimony to remarkable resilience. 

Of course, I believe in seeking to reach the Jewish people with the good news of Yeshua. But not through coercion or manipulation, not through fear or intimidation. May they be persuaded by the love of Yeshua that they see in believers. 

Conclusion

The Portuguese Inquisition was formally abolished only in 1821. By then, centuries of fear, torture, and forced conformity had permanently altered Iberian Jewish life. Entire traditions were fragmented. Lineages were obliterated. Yet in remote regions of Portugal and Brazil, families quietly preserved vestiges of Jewish identity—lighting candles in secret corners, passing down unusual dietary habits, or whispering ancestral stories without fully knowing their origin. 

One of the places I have ministered to in Brazil is in Belo Horizonte. There, a family of crypto Jews, who found true faith in Messiah, now have a congregation and Bible school.

The Bible speaks of a revival coming to Israel in the End Times. It’s very clear about this (Zech. 12:10, Matt. 23:39, Rom. 11:25-26). Paul teaches that a key will be Gentiles believers provoking Israel to jealousy (Rom. 11:11). This is why we must take our stand against the current wave of anti-Jewish sentiment. Together, let’s contend for the salvation of the Jewish people.