Literally a breath of fresh air as we took a day tour from hot and humid Rio to the lush and cool mountains 800 meters above sea level to visit Petropolis, the only European capital of an empire outside of Europe, the summertime home and capital of Portuguese emperor Dom Pedro II who reigned form 1831 to 1889. While visiting his former palace, now the Imperial Museum, we saw his calligraphy in various languages including Hebrew. On his world travels, he loved to visit synagogues, just like we do (see below at the Sinagoga Israelita Brasileira 1949) to have an aliya and read Torah. According to the San Francisco Chronicle April 29, 1876, Dom Pedro read selections from Genesis perfectly to the congregation on his American visit in 1876. He was truly an example of a righteous gentile and inspiration for me to continue to welcome both Jews and non Jews into our Synagogue at Sea, Judaic excursions in Latin America with Turismo Judaico, and my well attended Jewish Geography series lectures. Truly we need magnanimous leaders in this challenging times today!
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