Silvio Santos, icon of Brazilian television, died at the age of 93 last Saturday (17). After the confirmation of the presenter’s death, the Abravanel family told the press the the communicator’s desire to have a Jewish ceremony when he died. Understand below what it means to be a Sephardic Jew like the businessman.
Presenter’s relationship with religion
Silvio Santos, who has Senor Abravanel as his birth name, was the son of immigrant couple Rebeca Caro and Alberto Abravanel. The communicator’s parents were Sephardic Jews. But what does this mean?
Being a Sephardic Jew concerns the descendants of Jews originating from countries such as Spain and Portugal. On a program of the presenter, in the 80s, he explained the origin of his name: “My name is Senor Abravanel. It’s Senor because the man who gave me origin fixed Portugal’s finances. Later, he was called by the Catholic kings Isabel and Fernando, it was Dom Isac Abravanel, he fixed Spain’s finances,” he detailed.
“Then, when the Inquisition came, the Catholic kings said: ‘You stay and the Jewish people go.’ And he said: “No, the Jewish people go and I go with them”. And he went to Greece, from there then, my father and grandfather had the title of Senor Dom Abravanel, and here in Brazil there is no Dom. The title that my ancestors earned, in the year 1490 and something, Dom Isaac Abravanel, was one of those that gave money for Columbus to come and discover America”, reported the businessman.
Silvio Santos also said, on the same program, that his father chose to call him Senor, after saying that “Dom” would be fresh in Brazil. “So, in Brazil, they said to my father: “Gift is freshness”, so he put Senor Abravanel. Senor means Dom Abravanel,” he concluded.
Watch the video of Silvio Santos’ explanation of the origin of his name
The presenter’s burial was marked by a Jewish
ceremony Last Saturday (17), the Abravanel family published a statement about Silvio Santos’ desire not to have a wake. “Auditorium colleagues, colleagues of a lifetime, what to say to you at this moment? I believe that many of you are sharing the same longing that we are feeling today. We want to tell you that many times, throughout his life, as our father got older, he expressed a wish of his regarding his departure: he asked that as soon as he left, that we take him straight to the cemetery and have a Jewish ceremony,” the message reads.
In Jewish tradition, the body is buried without ornaments and flowers. According to the Congregação Israelita Paulista, an entity that represents the Jewish community, the objective is to “emphasize the equality of all human beings in their final home”.
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