This is my contribution to Jonathan Edelstein's blogburst commemorating the 350th anniversary of the landing of the first American Jews in New Amsterdam, in 1654.
But before I begin on the future, I'd like to dwell on the prologue to the arrival. In the 14th century, 20% of the Portuguese were Jewish, and this marked the beginning of the "Golden Age" of Jewish life on the Iberian peninsula, in which Jews contributed to and benefited from cultural development, exploration, and religious tolerance. By 1654, there had been expulsions, forced conversions, separation of children from their parents, massacres, and auto-da-fes. The last auto-da-fe in Portugal was in 1765, and the Portuguese Inquisition wasn't disbanded until 1821. Half of Portugal's remaining known Jews emigrated in 1974. If Arrival Day marks the beginning of a Golden Age for Jews in one country, it also marks the end of a Golden Age in another.
Here's what I'm thinking about the future:
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