Tai Baribo

On a recent layover in Lisbon, we learned a fascinating tidbit: if you are a descendant of Portuguese Sephardic Jews, you can apply for Portuguese citizenship! (See what happens when you spend centuries kicking Jews out? You end up begging them to come back!)

Why would one want Portuguese citizenship? Well, perhaps you do not like the direction your country is going (ahem). Or you want to minimize wait time in European airports (Portugal is a member of the EU, natch). Or, if you're a soccer player, that European passport will open more doors! (Take Israeli Tai Baribo, currently one of the top scorers in MLS, and a holder of a Portuguese passport due to his Sephardic roots. He has already played in Austria and will have carte blanche to go to fancier European leagues when he is eventually done in America.) Or... you can send your child to a university in Portugal, for a cost of about 1000 euros per year!

Yeah, let that last one sink in.

Unfortunately, we're all Ashkenazi here...