MAPPING THE ANOUSIM DIASPORA: Six Centuries of Pushing

MAPPING THE ANOUSIM DIASPORA:
Six Centuries of Pushing Borders
23-24 March 2015
Netanya Academic College
SUMMARIES
OF
CONFERENCE
PRESENTATIONS
OPENING PRESENTATION
Prof. Haviva Pedaya, J.R. Elyacher Center, Dept. of Jewish History, Ben Gurion
University of the Negev
TOWARDS A PHENOMENOLOGY OF CONVERSOS: FROM THE SIXTEENTH
CENTURY TO CONTEMPORARY CONVERSOS [HEBREW]
Summary:
This presentation depicts a portrait of a people driven by conflicting interests:
Jews who were forced to assume another identity.
Jews living in exile were constantly exposed to traumatic situations, as they lived
side-by-side with hostile people in a hostile culture.
For the New Christians, those Jews who stayed in Spain and Portugal by converting
(voluntarily or by force), the trauma of exile underwent a metamorphosis caused
by the addition of other acute anxieties. This metamorphosis resulted in three
basic types of reactions:

A complete divestment of all signs of Jewishness. This puts an end to
further humiliations, but in essence it is also a form of trauma. Although
they dispensed with their former identity and forced themselves to adapt to
the surrounding culture, memory of the past always survives; it is captured
in the subconscious and is never erased. However, the memory of the
divestment of the violently rejected identity can resurface in the family even
hundreds of years later. This resurrection seems to neutralize the trauma
by replacing it with a state of intense happiness. The submerged identity,
latent in the subconscious, resurrects and manifests itself in their lives.

An obsessional return to their original identity, culminating in the
restoration of the previous (Jewish) faith and practice through a foreign
messianic ideology.

Living their double identities simultaneously. The normal trauma of exile is
exchanged with the traumas associated with a hidden illegal identity. Over
generations the memory of the hidden identity, even when intangible, is still
latent and can erupt in certain circumstances.
Trauma remains in the unconscious realm throughout generations. This memory is
stirring in the descendants of the Conversos today.
Dr. Pedaya holds a PhD from Hebrew University and is a graduate of the School of
Visual Arts in Jerusalem. She is a full professor at Ben Gurion University of the Negev,
where she teaches Judaism and Culture in the Department of Jewish History.
2
IBERIAN TRAJECTORIES
Prof. José Manuel Laureiro Sol, Universidad Complutense, Madrid
STUDY AND CLASSIFICATION OF CRYPTO-JEWISH EPIGRAPHY NEAR THE SPAINPORTUGAL BORDER [SPANISH]
Summary
This presentation consists of a visual exhibition of inscriptions and epigraphic
remnants found in Spain and Portugal during the past five years, accompanied by
an explanation of their meaning and, more importantly, their significance to the
daily life of the "Marrano" (crypto-Jew) community. They will be classified
according to subject, purpose, and location.
The similarity of epigraphic features observed in different locations, a result of
sharing the same Jewish Converso culture, will be verified. In many cases, the
Jewish Conversos who created the epigraphy cases shared the familiar groups and
were obliged to hide behind the same "confused" symbology, with double, and
sometimes triple, intentions:

To preserve "signs of identity" by involvement in the group and sharing in
its uniqueness;

To "express feelings" suppressed for many centuries through this small
avenue to see light after the imposed darkness;

And sometimes, as a "form of rebelliousness," perhaps linked to the
previous feelings, that somehow expresses a form of "revenge" against the
injustice inflicted on them.
Prof. Laureiro Sol holds a degree in geography and history from Universidad
Complutense, Madrid. He has participated in many conferences on the topic and has
written numerous articles with his wife, Anun Barriuso.
3
Dr. Ignacio Ruiz Rodríguez, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid
FALSE CONVERSOS IN THE HISPANIC UNIVERSITIES IN THE 16TH AND 17TH
CENTURIES [ENGLISH]
Summary:
The presence of people of Jewish religion in the land of Spain may well go back to
Roman times, when an important Diaspora developed after the destruction of the
Second Temple of Solomon. However, the first incontestable document that proves
the existence of Jewish communities in Hispania is found in certain canons of the
Council of Elvira in the early fourth century. Those canons demonstrate that not
only did Jewish communities exist in Hispania, they were thriving and actively
proselytizing to the Christians. Textual evidence of the existence of and dynamism
of the Jewish community are found in the Visigoth and medieval worlds as well.
But historical texts also testify to the persecutions that were increasing throughout
the medieval world. For example, in the early eighth century the Jews were
accused of delivering Spain over to the Muslims (a charge still being leveled during
the Crusader era), besides the traditional accusation of the Jews delivering Jesus
Christ to the Romans to be taken to the cross.
The result of this persecution was that sometimes bloody assaults on Jewish
communities and conversions (often more forced than voluntary) constituted
everyday reality. Thus, in the transition from the medieval to the modern world,
there were few examples of Christians who were formerly Jews, but some did
come to occupy important positions in the monarchy of Ferdinand of Aragon and
Isabel of Castile.
In 1449, following the tragic events concerning Don Alvaro de Luna, the first
limpieza de sangre (purity of blood) legislation was enacted, whose ultimate goal
was to veto the presence of Jews or converts in almost all the institutions of the
monarchy, including, obviously, its universities. In effect, no New Christian could
be incorporated into Hispanic universities, in either Spain or its colonies.
However, it was not unusual to buy false proof of Old Christian heritage, or even
join the Society of Jesus, whose members were exempt from the limpieza de sangre
law, to avoid having to supply it. Or, to reach American soil, and once there join the
increasingly extensive list of universities founded in those lands.
Dr. Ruiz Rodríguez holds a BA and PhD in law from the University of Alcalá de Henares,
Madrid. He is chairman of the History of Law and Institutions department at Rey Juan
Carlos University, Madrid, and Director of the Cátedra Universitaria España-Israel
(University Chair Spain-Israel).
4
Inês Nogueiro, University of Oporto, Portugal
THE GENETIC LEGACY OF CRYPTO-JEWS OF NORTHEASTERN PORTUGAL
[ENGLISH]
Summary:
The phenomenon of crypto-Judaism arose in Portugal in the late 1400s, after the
Expulsion Decree and the establishment of the Inquisition in Spain. The
Portuguese Inquisition was abolished in 1821, yet after more than 400 years of
systematic persecutions, there was a resurgence of Judaism in Portugal. It was with
surprise that the scientific world acknowledged the persistence of the
phenomenon at the beginning of the twentieth century in some small communities
in the central and northeastern regions, namely in Bragança and Belmonte.
The Jewish community of Bragança was founded in 1927, as a result of the work of
Captain Barros Basto's "Movement of Redemption" in the 1920s and 30s, which
aimed to bring the crypto-Jews who lived in northeastern Portugal to normative
Judaism. A year later the new synagogue "Shaare Pideon" was built, but shortly
thereafter the community disintegrated and most of its families were dispersed in
the region, though a strong sense of a Jewish identity among their descendants is
still alive and well today.
This presentation will focus on genetic research on the fate of the fifteenth century
Iberian Jewish communities, which suddenly were forced to either convert or
leave. We examined genetic markers typed in extant populations to infer the
demographic history of the communities that stayed in Iberia (the crypto-Jews)
and of those that migrated to Northern Europe and the New World. As a proxy for
these Diaspora Iberian communities, we started to characterize the genetic profiles
of the Portuguese crypto-Jewish descendants. Our first results on paternal lineages
(Y chromosome) as well as on the maternal side (mitochondrial DNA) concur to
show that the communities scattered over the Bragança district did maintain a
high level of genetic diversity and a genetic profile distinct from the host
Portuguese population, with a clear root in the Near East. These findings are
extremely surprising, as they show exactly the opposite of what is expected in
isolated, small sized populations, namely a deep genetic diversity loss.
Ms. Nogeiro is earning a PhD in Jewish population genetics at IPATIMUP, University of
Porto, Portugal, and holds an M.S. in human evolution from the University of Coimbra,
Portugal.
5
Chagit Amrani, Bar Ilan University
DESCENDANTS OF ANOUSIM AND MEGORASHIM (EXILED) IN THE
PORTUGUESE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF TUNIS [HEBREW]
Summary:
Until the seventeenth century, the Jewish community in Tunis consisted mostly of
those who had been there centuries, with a minority of descendants of refugees of
the Jewish expulsions from Iberia. Although there was a single leadership, the
former Spanish Jews had a separate synagogue. During the seventeenth century,
however, Jews began arriving from Livorno, and maintained their personal,
political, and economic links to that city. This community, termed the "Grana"
(plural of Leghorn/Legorno, the traditional name of Livorno), were descendants of
both Spanish Jews dating back to the Expulsion and the Anousim, who had escaped
from Spain and Portugal and returned to Judaism. Affluent merchants in their own
culture, they joined the community of Spanish descendants in Tunis, where they
filled leadership positions and left their mark on the city's Jewish community.
Relations between the "Grana" and the local "Twansa," were tense. The Grana's
social and religious customs greatly diverged from those of the local community.
Escalating friction caused a split between them in 1741, after which the Grana
maintained independent community institutions. Even the legal status of the Grana
differed; while the Twansa were subject to dhimmi laws, the Grana were protected
by the Italian consulate. Friction between them intensified with the coming of the
French Protectorate in Tunisia in 1881.
This presentation, which centers on the Portuguese Jewish community in Tunis in
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, will be based on the community's address
book in the library of the Ben-Tzvi Institute in Jerusalem. I will present the cultural
aspects as well as the social and economic history of the Portuguese diaspora in
Tunis, and track changes in the life of the community and its people as they are
reflected in the mirror of the list. These are used as a source, as a test case, and tool
for research on community and its ethnic components. Assuming that what is
written is accurate, detailed, and legally binding, one can learn about a variety of
subjects: the history of the community and their status, relations of families from
different classes, origin, marriage customs, marital status, dowry customs,
currency funds, divorces and deaths, relations with the local Twansa community,
the nature of the relationship with the mother community of Livorno, and more.
I will focus not only socio-historical investigation of the community expelled from
Spain and crypto-Jews, but also investigate the characteristics of the different
parameters of the social sciences that examine patterns of behavior, the same
class, social psychology, and more.
Dr. Amrani holds a PhD in Jewish history from Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv, and teaches
in the Basic Jewish Studies Unit at Bar Ilan University.
6
Moti Benmelech, Herzog Academic College, Israel
REGENSBURG: FROM UNDERGROUND IDENTITY TO HYBRID IDENTITY
[HEBREW]
Summary:
Solomon Molcho (1501-1532) a child of Portuguese Anousim who founded a
messianic movement in the 1630s, was among the first of the Anousim to return to
Judaism openly and leave the Iberian Peninsula. Molcho was born to parents who
had converted in the forced conversion of 1497 in Portugal, and returned to
Judaism in 1524, following a meeting with David HaReuveni, who had arrived in
Portugal shortly before. Molcho, therefore, belongs to the first generation of
Anousim from Portugal before the establishment of the Portuguese Inquisition in
1536.
A study of Molcho's personality reveals the complexity and the hybrid identity of
crypto-Jews already in those years. Within a short time after his open return to
Judaism, he was able to leave a strong impression on prominent figures in Jewish
society, thanks to his widespread knowledge in many areas of Jewish creativity.
Conversely, he also had an academic degree and held several key positions in the
Portuguese legal system, including as a member of the Supreme Court of Appeal
that was affiliated with the Royal court.
A similar duality emerges after he became known as a messianic messenger. On
the one hand, his messianic teachings include predictions of the destruction of the
Christian world and of Rome, but the other, Molcho enjoyed the personal
patronage of the Pope, cardinals, and princes in Italy. In addition, his theoretical
messianic teachings incorporated well-known Christian fundamentals!
Considering his extensive Jewish education, this cannot be explained as a kind of
"‫( "גירסא דינקותא‬girsa de'yanquta).
In this lecture, I wish to call attention to the central role of the Judeo-Christian
hybrid identity in Molcho's personality and his actions, and its contribution to his
theoretical messianic teachings, as well as his practical messianic activities.
Dr. Benmelech holds a PhD in Jewish history from Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is a postdoctoral student at Haifa University. He is currently a lecturer in the history department
at Herzog Academic College, Israel.
7
Myriam Silvera, Università Tor Vergata, Rome
BETWEEN HAMBURG AND AMSTERDAM: NEW STUDIES AND DISCOVERIES
ABOUT URIEL DA COSTA [ENGLISH]
Summary:
The communication will examine the so-called 1640 “autobiography,” Exemplar
Humanae Vitae (Example of a Human Life) of the heretic Uriel Da Costa, the son of
Portuguese New Christians, who returned to Judaism in Amsterdam. It will analyze
elements of the work that seem inauthentic.
In past discussion, much attention was given to the 39 lashes he received in the
synagogue of Amsterdam as part of his rehabilitation from the herem he was
under. This ceremony (malqot) was thought inauthentic and a forgery inspired by
anti-Semitic feelings. However, a contemporary of Da Costa, Isaac Attias, in his
Tesoro de Preceptos (1649), suggests that this kind of ceremony could have been in
use then as a symbolic ceremony, not a physical punishment.
The great historian I. S. Révah analyzed other problematic aspects, for instance the
total omission in this text of Uriel's stay with the Sephardic community of
Hamburg. He also dismisses the book's reference to the “conversion” to Judaism of
Da Costa after a close reading of Scripture. After examining the inquisitorial
processes of members of Da Costa’s family, Révah concluded that he had a familial
tradition of marranism, and that Judaism was not for him a personal “discovery.”
More recently, researchers have focused attention on the external history of the
“autobiography,” specifically on the fact that it was included in De Veritate
Religionis Christianae (On the Truth of the Christian Religion) by the remonstrant
Philip Van Limborch, and that the writing style in De Veritate is reflected in Uriel’s
“autobiography.” The fact that it also contains a recrimination of the Jews for the
murder of Jesus is seemingly out of place from Uriel’s perspective, as known from
his other authentic works.
This and other evidence casts doubt on whether Uriel Da Costa's "autobiography"
was truly a product of his hand.
In this “skeptical” panorama, an important text by Uriel, the Exame das tradições
phariseas, should be examined, as it gives us much information about Uriel’s
thought.
Dr. Silvera holds a PhD in religious history from Katholieke Universiteit in Nijmegen, and
a PhD in religious history from the University of Rome, La Sapienza.
8
Judith Cohen, York University, Canada
MUSIC IN THE LIVES OF PORTUGUESE CRYPTO-JEWS: FROM BARROS BASTO
TO THE INTERNET [ENGLISH]
Summary:
The frequent romanticizing of Sephardic music often extends to music among
crypto-Jews. Since 1994, I have conducted both in situ fieldwork and historicalethnographic research about music in crypto-Jewish life. This paper focuses on
Portugal, in three main periods: the Barros Basto years (early 20th century); the
resurgence of crypto-Jewish life after the Estado Novo (late 20th century), and
current developments.
Information about what early Conversos sang is mostly from Inquisition
testimonies, and largely limited to the knowledge that at least some did sing,
though there is no record of the melodies they used. By the early 20th century,
most prayers were being recited rather than sung.
Captain Artur de Barros Basto (1887-1961), “The Apostle of the Anousim,” sang
wherever he went – including secular Portuguese songs. Archives from the
yeshiva he founded in Oporto include notes about liturgical singing taught there.
Samuel Schwartz (1878-1953) included one musical transcription in his book of
Belmonte crypto-Jewish prayers and customs; from his romantic, non-musician’s
perspective, he mistakenly characterized this simple tune as “Oriental” and
“ancient.”
Late in the 20th century, Jews from “outside” who visited Belmonte often left
recordings of Jewish music, including Ashkenazi cantorial singing. Today, with the
internet, young Judeus choose their own melodies, using everything from local
tunes to Israeli popular melodies – Sephardic songs are not given any special
attention. An online radio station has been established by Judeus of Belmonte.
I see the musical life of the crypto-Jews in terms of both active and passive
repertoire: (1) musical material they identify as “ours,” (2) Jewish musical material
from outside, and (3) non-Jewish musical material shared with neighbors. The
recently-established Rede de Judiarias, a counterpart to, though in several ways
different from, the Spanish Red de Juderías, is part of a new tourism: together with
the internet, it is rapidly changing the way Judeus hear, think about and use many
kinds of music.
Dr. Cohen is a performer and ethnomusicologist. She holds a PhD in ethnomusicology
and an MA in medieval sciences from the University of Montréal. She is currently
contract faculty in the York University (Canada) Music Department.
9
ITALIAN TRAJECTORIES
Nadia Zeldes, Ben Gurion University
CONVERTS OF SICILY
FROM 1492 TO 1530 [HEBREW]
Summary:
We do not know the precise number of converts who remained in Sicily after the
Expulsion (Sicily was ruled by Spain). However, the Spanish Inquisition was active
in Sicily from 1500, and based on these records, there were at least 5,000 at that
time (about twenty percent of the island's Jews). This group included Jews who
convert until the last Jews left in January 1493, and those who returned to Sicily
from southern Italy from 1495-1500. This was a special case, unlike anything in
Spain or Portugal – the organization of a large group of converts who received
legal recognition as Universitas Neofitorum, "convert community."
It is easier to identify a New Christian in the Sicilian Inquisitional documents
because it was customary to identify them as a New Christian – the term Neofito or
Neofita was appended to their names. Converts usually retained relationships with
other converts, and the majority married among themselves. The New Christians
continued to live in port city of Shiacca, formerly a Jewish neighborhood, and in
similar Jewish neighborhoods. Inquisition lists and other sources allow us to map
quite accurately the geographical spread of communities of converts, the largest of
which containing over a hundred people.
Unlike in the Iberian Peninsula, Sicilian Christians opposed the establishment of
the Inquisition, and demonstrated many times against its methods used against
apostates, at times even preventing their arrest. Another significant difference is
that with a few exceptions, converted Sicilians did not assume high positions in
government or have power, nor did they enter the priesthood. Also unlike Spain
and Portugal, we have very little information about their personal lives, or about
attempts to preserve Jewish traditions or relationships with Jews and converts
outside Sicily. Probably a large part of them fled between 1516 and 1540,
presumably joining Sicilian communities around the Mediterranean. As for those
who remained in Sicily, we do not know much about their keeping Jewish
traditions over the generations.
Dr. Zeldes holds a PhD in Jewish History from Tel Aviv University. She is currently senior
researcher at the Center for the Study of Conversion and Inter-Religious Encounters,
Ben Gurion University.
01
Károly Dániel Dobos, Pázmány Péter Catholic University of Hungary
THE IMPACT OF THE CONVERSOS ON JEWISH POLEMICAL ACTIVITY IN
BAROQUE ITALY: WAS YEHUDA ARYEH ME-MODENA'S MAGEN WA-HEREB
DESTINED FOR A CONVERSO AUDIENCE? [ENGLISH]
Summary:
Despite the fact that the number of the Conversos who settled in Italy was far less
then has been assumed, the Converso Diaspora of the Italian Peninsula left a real
impression on Italian culture. As Robert Bonfil, one of the best experts of Italian
Jewish history, put it, "both the Conversos who returned to Judaism and those who
behaved publicly as Christians, made a first and extremely important contribution
to the construction of a conceptual and social bridge between Jews and Christians
which, without exaggeration, could be considered as the first stage on the way to
the Jews' emancipation."
The presence of the Conversos in Italian society, living a borderline existence
between the two faith communities, restructured in a natural way the perception
of the religious other among the Jewish polemicists, as well. In my lecture I will
make an attempt to map one segment of this contribution by focusing on the vast
corpus of Anti-Christian Jewish polemical literature produced in Baroque Italy
(17th–18th centuries).
The polemical piece by Yehuda Aryeh me-Modena (1571–1648), entitled Magen
wa-Hereb (Shield and Sword), is an excellent starting point for our analysis. The
work, written 1643, was considered by Talya Fishman to be a kind of sourcebook
destined for a theological re-orientation of the Italian Converso population. Was
Yehuda Aryeh me-Modena's Magen wa-Hereb really intended for a Converso
audience? I think, even if we give a negative answer to this particular question, the
impact of remarkable Converso population on the structure as well as on the line
of argumentation of this work is undeniable. In my lecture an attempt will be made
to demonstrate that the presence of the Conversos in Italy started a paradigm shift
even in this segment of Jewish literary activity.
Dr. Dobos holds a PhD from the Department of Semitic Studies, Eötvös Loránd
University, Budapest. He currently is Associate Professor in Jewish Studies, Pázmány
Péter Catholic University of Hungary.
00
Yochanan Melech (Giovanni Melchionda), psychologist
OVERVIEW OF THE ANOUSIM IN ITALY [ENGLISH]
Summary:
This presentation begins with some historical outlines, including the expulsion of
the Anousim from Southern Italy, as well as their persecution during the
Inquisition.
We then focus on crucial questions regarding the definition and the subject of the
Anousim. Firstly, it is not a question of how we today define the identity of the
Anousim of that time, but rather how they themselves defined their own identity,
and how we can investigate this identity. The question remains the same today:
How do those claiming to be Anousim define their own identity?
We next focus the question of the identity of the Anousim or the Secret Jews with
the aim of finding a pattern of faith between two religions, rather like a border-line
identity. The Anousim were not only a people fleeing from persecution and
violence, but also a people in search of something new: a new world and a new
identity; a new freedom which allowed space for modern ideas, whilst not
forgetting the ancient wisdom founded on the Torah.
We also examine the Anousim in relation to the phenomenon of social
marginalization. The Marrano was the prototype of the free spirit who will not
succumb to religious violence or power. He is careful to avoid affiliation and
violence but will not give up his inner freedom. The Jew sees him as a one who has
renounced his Jewish identity, while the Catholic considers him a falsely converted
opportunist. In reality, the Marrano is inwardly “resistant,” wanting only to be
answerable to the Lord regarding his faith. This independence resulted in
emigration to the Mediterranean and to the American continent
The presentation concludes with a description of how communities in Southern
Italy today are seeing a revival of Judaism and are also expressing their attachment
to the land of Israel.
Dr. Melchionda holds a PhD in psychology and psychotherapy from the University of
Rome, Italy, and a Master in Juridical Studies, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Holland.
He is a practicing psychologist in Ancona, Italy.
02
Latin American Trajectories
Schulamith Halevy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
THE CONTEMPORARY DIASPORA OF MEXICAN ANOUSIM [HEBREW]
Summary:
This presentation considers Mexico's borders, both historical and modern. In both
cases, the Anousim broke through the borders of the place itself and gone further.
Mexican Anousim had links with Europe, from where they imported grooms for
their daughters, and rabbis, usually from Italy, especially Ferrara. Anousim also
imported cotton from other Anousim in Rouen, France, for making shrouds, and
other things that we are now discovering.
More than one researcher has claimed that if the Inquisition had been abolished,
the Anousim also would have disappeared. And in one case, an important scholar
told Israel Cavazos Garza, a researcher in Monterrey in northern Mexico, that he
denied the phenomenon entirely. When I met the researcher himself, he said to me
that in that region only there were no longer any Anousim. As it turns out, in the
late 1920s and early 1930s there was an unprecedented attack on the Anousim in
Monterrey, and this is how the denial originated. I have documented this in detail
elsewhere.
People who take pride in being Catholic "Sefarditas" would say that anyone that
had a shred of Judaism in him "went north," meaning to the United States. Indeed,
in addition to the many Anousim guarding the ways of Judaism in northern Mexico,
many more went north. Among them are groups with their own cemeteries, etc.
Communities such as these exist in several big cities in the United States. The new
boundaries also include Israel, for those who are able to go there. There is a strong
movement of the Anousim on the internet, moving from one Anousim network to
another.
I know of a few crypto-Jews who simply and quietly joined a Jewish community.
But for the rest, the way remains difficult and lonely.
The gates are not open. The current chief rabbi refers to the Anousim as Gentiles.
The world is full of them, but the world is still not their place.
Dr. Halevy holds a PhD from the Department of the History of the Jewish People,
Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
03
Dr. Dell Sanchez, Aliyah Sephardic Center, San Antonio, Texas, USA
THE LEGACY OF SECRECY AMONG SEPHARDIC CRYPTO JEWS IN THE USA
[ENGLISH]
Summary:
Until recently, international opinion has been that American Anousim have been
annihilated by Inquisitions and persecutions, or forever assimilated into the
“American Dream.” The fact is that a small minority of them kept the knowledge of
their ancestral identity a living secret. Conversely, the majority of American
Anousim is barely awakening to the realization of their true ancestral roots.
Contrary to popular opinion, they did not assimilate: they acculturated into
American society in order to assure self-preservation and enhancement of life.
A number of events drove today's American Anousim across the U.S.-Mexican
border in a state of perpetual secrecy, fear, and flight. After their expulsion from
Spain in 1492 and forced to leave penniless, they sailed across the Atlantic Ocean
with explorers such as Christopher Columbus and then with Anousim
Conquistadors from Iberia. They were labeled La Gente Prohibida because New
Christians were prohibited from crossing the Atlantic Ocean. If they were caught,
they would be dragged back to Spain and executed—likely by burning at the stake.
Just three decades after arriving in Mexico, the Spanish Crown sent a dozen
Franciscan Catholic priests in 1524 to establish the Inquisition in Mexico. Three
years later, they sent a dozen Dominican priests to accelerate the process. The
story of the Carvajal family and their persecutions and deaths is well known. These
travesties drove Anousim deeper into secrecy and hiding farther north. The
Inquisition existed in Mexico for three centuries, ending only with Mexican
independence from Spain in 1821.
However, persecution of the Anousim was not over. In the 1800s a host of Spanish
Catholic Missions had been planted all across the greater Southwest of the U.S.,
where many of the Anousim fled.
To this day, we can find vestiges that served to keep American Anousim in hiding.
Many Christian groups force them to deny their own cultural roots; many Christian
pulpits have sermonized against “the curse of the Law” (Torah). The stress on
"Replacement Theology,” which replaces the literal state of Israel with “spiritual
Zion,” namely, the Church, is a sophisticated form of theological anti-Semitism.
Despite this prolonged state of oppression, there is hope, because American
Anousim have begun to arise as in the Prophet Ezekiel’s vision and are becoming a
“great and mighty army.”
Del Sanchez holds a PhD in social services and community mental health from the
Union Institute in Cincinnati, OH, and is the author of five books on Sephardic cryptoJews in the U.S.
04
Alexander Hernández Delgado, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid
ANOUSIM DESCENDANTS IN CUBA: THEIR POSITION UNTIL THE 1959
REVOLUTION [ENGLISH]
Summary:
Jews have been in Cuba intermittently for centuries, but it was only in 1906 when
they could finally settle and become what was one of the most prosperous
communities on the island. In Havana alone there were five synagogues and
several schools. All this changed when Fidel Castro came to power in 1959.
Although the communist regime was not anti-Semitic, nationalization eventually
resulted in most of the community to fleeing to the United States or elsewhere.
In 1959 there were 15,000 Jews in Cuba, but until recently there remained only a
small community that refused to give up, despite a ban on their faith and
subsequent decline of their social activities and education. By the late 1980s, it
seemed Judaism would become extinct in Cuba. Now, however, the community is
slowly rebuilding. Help came from both outside and inside Cuba, and organizations
were established to welcome those who wanted to find out about their roots.
Today, there are about 1,500 Jews in Cuba. More synagogues have opened along
the island, serving a community which now is literally waking up after a long sleep.
Communal life is thriving; in Havana, the center of the activity, there are three
active temples, complete with an ORT technological center, choirs, and Sunday
schools. Cuban Jews have been allowed to travel to Israel with the government’s
approval.
Even the regime has softened its stance; members of the community can legally
join the Communist Party, and Fidel, as well as Raul Castro, have lighted Hanukkah
candles at Havana´s main synagogue, publicly making statements about their
respect and consideration for the community.
With the recent thaw in the relationship between Havana and Washington, we can
expect an improvement in the well-being of the community as well as a more
intense cooperation between Jews on both side of the water.
Dr. Hernández Delgado is a professor of Law History and Institutions at Rey Juan Carlos
University, Madrid, and a member of its Cátedra Universitaria España-Israel (University
Chair Spain-Israel).
05
Atlantic Island Trajectories
Jacqueline Tobiass, Institute of Cultural Relations Baleares-Israel
BALEARIC CHUETAS : MAKING THEIR WAY BACK TO THEIR ROOTS [SPANISH]
Summary:
There has been a Jewish presence in Majorca was for ten centuries. It was a prosperous,
solid, and important community until they were forced to baptize in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries. After the last forced conversions in the mid-15th century, the Jewish
presence was interrupted and the Conversos who did not assimilate and continued with
Jewish practices were pursued by the Inquisition of the Catholic Kings.
A small group of 15 families kept their Jewish practices and chose to live out of any
community framework. These "Chuetas" (pork-eaters) as they were derogatorily
referred to, were discriminated against by Mallorcan society until up to recently. This
phenomenon is only known in Majorca. Many Chuetas returned to their roots.
My presentation focuses on the history of the Chuetas in Mallorca, and the personal
stories of six Chuetas today who have returned to their Jewish roots. Altogether, 14
people have returned to their Jewish roots in the past two years. At present there are
three more who are studying, who have recently come to the group. Of these 14 people,
7 are native Mallorcans, of whom 6 are Chuetas. If we consider that there are 20,000
people with Chueta surnames, the percentage is very low. Nevertheless, for our
community, that 0.03% is of great spiritual value
The way of all has been long and often difficult and traumatic. They have had to show
great perseverance and tenacity, and fighting the windmills like Don Quixote. A book is
being planned that includes the testimonies of converts of different backgrounds, in
addition to the historical data about the Jews, converts, and Chuetas in Mallorca, as well
as my personal anecdotes about what has occurred in these 27 years I've been heading
the Institute.
Jacqueline Tobiass founded the Institute of Cultural Relations Baleares-Israel in 1987
with Mallorcan Chuetas. She was awarded the Toledano Prize by the Samuel Toledano
Commission in Israel in 2013 for her thirty years in the service of Spanish-Israeli
relations.
06
Silvia Schoffer Kraut, Universidad de La Laguna de Tenerife, and Juan Manuel
Valladares, Journalist
ANOUSIM: THEIR INFLUENCE IN THE CANARIES AND THEIR ASSIMILATION
[SPANISH]
Summary:
The presence of the Anousim in the Canary Islands is unknown, in spite of their large
role in the conquest of the islands by the Crown of Castille between 1402 and 1496, and
their influence on the economic, social and military development of the islands.
Anousim are found in all seven islands of the archipelago: Gran Canaria, Tenerife,
Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro. They arrived as
Conversos, and therefore did not create Jewish quarters and Jewish communities.
By the end of the seventeenth century, no Conversos were to be found on the islands, as
they sought to escape the Santo Officio by fleeing to other destinations (mainly the New
World) or by assimilating into Christian society. Much of the local aristocracy was
composed of these assimilated Anousim.
Juan Manuel Valladares (who could not attend the conference) is a researcher of the
history of the Conversos in the Canary Islands and a founder of Tarbut Sefarad in
Tenerife.
Silvia Schoffer Kraut is a psychologist who has studied the history of religions at Laguna
University of Tenerife and Hispanic philology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
07
Farther Flung Trajectories
Yitzchak Kerem, researcher, Greek Ottoman and Sephardic Jewry, Hebrew
University of Jerusalem
MAPPING THE DEUNME [ENGLISH]
Summary:
This presentation describes the the Kapanci, Yaakovi, and Karakash Deunme in
Turkey, as well as Western and Central Europe and the Balkans.
The Muslim crypto-Jewish Anousim group, derogatorily coined the Deunme
(switchers or turncoats), or as Ma’aminim (Believers), Sabbateans, or Salonikans,
are the quintessential Sephardic Anousim. Originally Anousim from Spain and
Portugal, they emerged as Sephardic Jews in major cities like Salonika or Izmir, and
finally converted to Islam in ca. 1683 as followers of the exiled false-messiah
Shabetai Zvi; all the while secretly retaining Judaism and their Judeo-Spanish
speaking identity in covert conditions. From that time period until their forced
transfer as Muslims to Turkey in 1922/3, they were most distinctively identified in
Ottoman Salonika and divided communally and geographically by three separate
sects: Yaakovis (disciples of Sabbatean disciple Yaakov Kerido/Philosof); Karakash
(Izmirlis and followers of Baruchia Russo); and Kapanci, who broke off from the
Karakash in the 1720s.
The three Deunme sects lived primarily in Istanbul and Salonika. Marc Baer cited
Deunme migration in Western and central Europe in London, Brussels, Paris,
Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Geneva, and Rome.
In recent years, anonymous Deunme graves, with unusual inscriptions of mounds,
the Kabbalistic sefirot, and serpents, were found in Jewish cemeteries in Sarajevo,
Bosnia, and Nis, Serbia. Also detected in Montenegro is a mosque containing crypts
of Deunme, including an alleged crypt of Shabetai Zvi. By oral accounts, Deunme
settled in Macedonia and throughout the former Yugoslavia, as well as in Bulgaria
and in Serres, Greece. The main disciple of Sabbetai Zvi, Nathan Ashkenazi (Nathan
of Gaza) was buried in Skopje
During the mass migration of Turkish Jews to Israel in 1949, some Deunme
masked as Jews settled in Yahud and other cities in the area, such as Ramla and
Lod.
The three separate Deunme sects had a diverse and full dual Muslim/Jewish
Sephardic culture and lifecycle for some 240 years in Salonika, and a more
secluded and watered-down secret society, masked in secularism, in Turkey for
almost the past hundred years. The sects have dwindled, but they continue to exist
and many of their individual members have made significant marks on modern
Turkish society.
Dr. Kerem holds a PhD from Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece. He is founder
and chairman of the Foundation for Jewish Diversity, Los Angeles, and Heritage House
for Sephardic and Eastern Jewish Communities.
08
Tudor Parfitt, Florida International University, USA
THE LITTLE-KNOWN COMMUNITIES OF ANOUSIM IN AFRICA AND INDIA
[ENGLISH]
Summary:
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Jews and Anousim took refuge in many
different parts of the world. This paper looks at the settlement of Jews in West
Africa and describes their absorption into West African society. Is there any
connection between these communities and emerging communities today?
The staging point for many Jews exiled from Portugal or fleeing Portugal were a
number of islands of the west coast of Africa. Santiago Island in the Cape Verde
archipelago which had been discovered ca. 1460-1462 was the springboard both
for legal and illegal trade with the coast, over which the Portuguese had some
control, and with the rivers, where technically they did not. Other Anousim came
from São Tomé, an island about 150 miles off the north-western coast of Gabon some of the first to arrive there were Spanish Jewish children who were enslaved
and sent out to work in this new colony. Subsequently Anousim were working as
trade factors along the coast, and even in the interior among the Wolof and other
African communities. They traded for slaves, wax, gum, ivory and gold, and some
took advantage of the relative remoteness from Portugal to return to their
ancestral faith. In some cases New Christians left Portugal for Amsterdam, where
they converted to Judaism. Not finding Amsterdam particularly hospitable or
failing to find work there, they left for Africa hoping to make a living.
From the beginning of the seventeenth century, these Jews and others further
south, some of mixed Portuguese-African descent by now, some with African wives
and servants, were often engaged in the illegal import of swords, which had
become a relatively big business. These Sephardim had close relationships with
Africans living near their trading posts and they took African wives and
concubines. Eventually a mixed population was created which would not
necessarily have been considered Jewish by rabbinic authorities elsewhere. Not
only did Anousim take local women, they also adopted local dress. In 1619 there
was a case where inquisitorial authority was brought to bear on a man born in
Malacca for dressing like a local black man. Over the next two hundred years there
were scattered references to African Jewish groups down the coast who may have
been descendants of the original fugitives, and who may have some connection
with the contemporary Judaising movements on the west coast of Africa.
Dr. Parfitt holds a DPhil from Oxford University, England. He is currently professor of
Sephardi and Mizrahi Studies at Florida International University (FIU) and director of its
Center of Global Jewish Communities. He is Emeritus Professor of Modern Jewish
Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
09
Genealogical Trajectories
Yael Cohen, Institute for Sefardi and Anousim Studies
GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH UNIT AT THE INSTITUTE: PRESENTATION [ENGLISH]
Summary:
My own challenging path to uncovering my Jewish ancestors' flight from Iberia to
the Canary Islands and ultimately to Puerto Rico has given me a very wide range of
experiences and a personal connection to the process of return. Over the course of
my research, I have found recurring constellations of surnames, and have created a
database of many thousands of names in extensive genealogies of Converso
families to be used as a resource along with the archives, civil and church records,
and other primary and secondary sources used in genealogical research.
I am very pleased to be the staff genealogist of the ISAS. We have developed our
vision for the Genealogical Research Unit with the following goals in mind:

To be a welcoming presence for people seeking guidance and assistance in
researching their potentially Jewish ancestry;

To provide a platform on our Institute website that allows someone to
easily send us their initial family history, and for a modest fee be provided
with a report that includes sources and a suggested plan for future
investigation;

To build a network of researchers and academics who can be consulted for
more specific information about various geographical regions;

To assist in the networking of people with common genealogical
backgrounds;
 To contribute to the current body of historical research by maintaining and
growing a genealogical database that can potentially lead to future research,
including finding common ancestries between people who apply to us, and
using genealogy to map the migration of Converso families into the New
World.
Finding an unbroken maternal line with primary source documentation (for a
halachic "return" to Judaism) is an unrealistic goal in most cases. However, the
search itself is an integral part of the return process. Finding at least some
indication of Jewish ancestry is enough to empower people to further their studies
and research.
I look forward to contributing to our collective understanding of the varied paths
our people chose, and helping to facilitate the process of discovery for those who
contact us with the desire to reclaim their heritage.
Yael Cohen received a doctorate in Veterinary Medicine (DVM from Kansas State
University College of Veterinary Medicine. She has been genealogical researcher for 10
years, and has focused on Bnei Anousim genealogies for the past 8 years. She is the
head genealogist of the ISAS.
21
Fernando González del Campo Román, Sefardi Genealogist
BUILDING CRYPTO-JEWISH LINEAGES – THE IBERIAN ARCHIVES
RECONSTRUCTION OF SEPHARDI TRANSNATIONAL GENEALOGIES IN THE
WESTERN EUROPE OF THE 17TH CENTURY [ENGLISH]
Summary:
The crypto-Jewish merchants who remained in the Iberian Peninsula in the
seventeenth century faced many difficulties keeping their Jewish identities and
avoiding arrest by the Inquisition.
These merchants usually belonged to families whose members were dispersed
throughout Portugal and Spain, other European countries (mainly France, Italy and
the Low Countries), North Africa, the Near East, and even Latin America. So, in
addition to weaving a trade network, a family member residing in Spain had a
greater chance of fleeing from one country to another. Family members who lived
in the Netherlands, and some towns of Italy and North Africa, were fortunate in
that they lived freely as Jews, whereas their relatives in Spain and France had to
feign being Christian.
This geographic and religious mobility, largely unavoidable, makes it very difficult
to reconstruct the composition of their families and their genealogies. Names
change onto the vernacular for documents in Portuguese, Spanish, and from
Italian, French and Flemish ones. Their need to marry into families of trustworthy
co-religionists with similar occupations will mean that they choose spouses of
their same origin, often from their home town. However, we must take into
account that the Anousim could change their names in order to go undetected,
while in towns such as Leghorn, Italy, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, they were
free to use their Jewish names in public.
In my paper, I trace the families of Lopez Tellez and Rodriguez Pereira to illustrate
the difficulties the genealogist encounters while tracing the family trees of these
Conversos, and the archives used to do so.
Fernando González del Campo Román holds a degree in history from University of
Barcelona. He is a professional genealogist, and teaches genealogy, onomastics, noble
lineages and heraldry, and paleography at HISPAGEN , the Association of Hispanic
Genealogy. He is the founder and researcher of his genealogy website, Apellidos y
Genealogía.
20
Abraham Gross, Institute for Sefardi and Anousim Studies
CREATING A LOGO FOR THE INSTITUTE: HISTORY AND ART [HEBREW]
Summary:
The Phoenix, which has been recently chosen as the logo of the Institute for Sefardi
and Anousim Studies, has an interesting history. The fact that it previously had
been used as a Christian symbol did not deter the Neve Shalom community in
Amsterdam from adopting it as their symbol as early as 1612. In following years it
was used also in elegies in memory of individual martyrs of the Inquisition,
comparing their souls to the indestructibility of the Phoenix.
The logic of the Phoenix as a communal symbol was, of course, in the survival of
Judaism manifested in the return of New Christians to the Jewish fold, rising, so to
speak, from the ashes of the Iberian pyres and recreating Sefardic greatness in
Western Europe. In a wider sense, it symbolized the victory of the eternal, Chosen
People over Christianity. A detailed MA dissertation by Limor Mintz-Manor
(Hebrew University) has been dedicated to this topic.
An interesting usage of the Phoenix is related to Bento Teixiera, more than ten
years earlier. Teixiera, a Brazilian New Christian who was a native of Porto, was a
teacher of Latin and Mathematics in Pernambuco. He was found guilty of Judaizing
by the Portuguese Inquisition in 1595. In 1601, a poem of his entitled Prosopopeia
was published in Lisbon. He dedicated it to Jorge d‘Albuquerque Coelho, the
governor of Pernambuco. The last page features a drawing of a Phoenix and three
chics encircled by "Fortis est ut mors dilectio" ("for love is strong as death"). This
is a quotation from Canticles 8:6. The entire verse reads: "for love is strong as
death, jealousy as hard as hell, the lamps thereof are fire and flames." Given that
Crypto-Jews used cryptic ways of expressing their true identity, Teixiera might
have been giving a hint here, something like: Christianity and the Inquisition will
not be able to destroy Judaism, which will rise from the ashes just like the Phoenix.
Ironically, the censor of the Inquisition read and cleared the poem for publication.
It is not clear to date whether the Jews of Amsterdam saw this book, whether it
reached one the personal libraries of its members, or whether this was the
inspiration for the logo of the Neve Shalom community.
However, this clearly was the thought behind the decision of the ISAS, dedicated to
the study of the modern Phoenix phenomenon of awakening among Bnei Anousim,
to feature a modern design of the Phoenix as the centerpiece of its logo, rising out
of and flying over the pages of an open book.
Prof. Gross holds a PhD from Harvard University. He is a professor in the Department of
History at Ben Gurion University, where he has been researching modern Marranism in
northeastern Brazil for the past few years. He was appointed head of the Institute for
Sefardi and Anousim Studies in 2014.
22
PERSONAL TRAJECTORIES
Doreen Carvajal, Paris-based reporter for the New York Times
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF MEMORY [ENGLISH]
Summary:
This presentation is a practical lesson in how to apply investigative reporting skills
and genealogy research to find deeply buried family history by using my own
search for identity. My personal case study illustrates the challenges faced by
descendants of Jews who converted to Christianity during the Inquisition and
preserved their true religion in secret for generations.
To dig in the archeology of memory, I developed a universal, three-pronged
approach: amass family history, walk in the footsteps of ancestors, and hunt for
genealogical clues. This led to my living in a white pueblo in southern Spain to
search for the past in the symbols of music, food, and art in the city of my
ancestors. But ultimately, the proof of my identity was found in the books of the
fifteenth century inquisitors in Segovia, Spain.
Doreen Carvajal is a Paris-based reporter at The New York Times. Her memoir, The
Forgetting River, is about her search to recover her Catholic family's hidden Sephardic
Jewish roots in Segovia, Spain where she walked in the footsteps of her ancestors who
were investigated by the Inquisition for heresy.
23
Genie Milgrom, Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies, USA:
JOURNEY BACK IN TIME IN SEARCH OF MY CRYPTO-JEWISH OR MARRANO
ANCESTORS [ENGLISH]
Summary:
I was born in Havanna, Cuba into a Roman Catholic family, and moved to Miami,
Florida as a child. I had always felt drawn to Jews and Judaism. I formally
converted to Judaism in my mid-thirties, married a Jewish man, and created an
observant Jewish home.
My strong affinity towards Jews had always seemed odd to me, so when at her
death my maternal grandmother left me some jewelry with a hamsa and a Star of
David, that, along with family customs and knowing that my grandparents were
first cousins from a tiny village in Spain called Fermoselle, led me to suspect that I
might descend from the Jews of pre-Inquisition Spain.
After the many frustrations that the novice genealogist encounters, I was
ultimately successful, and was able to trace my lineage back more than 22
generations. I needed to learn Iberian history, and the customs of the crypto-Jews,
as well as consult the records in the respective towns and the Inquisitional
documents.
I tracked my ancestors as they made their way from Spain to Portugal and back.
Through notarial record and last wills and testaments, it was possible to know who
they really were and what they did for a living. These lineages begin to surface
after 1391, and eventually to Portugal in 1496. From there, I follow the movements
of some family members to Amsterdam and interestingly enough, their
occupations became the major key to unravelling the tight strings. I followed the
lineage despite the constant use of aliases and name changes as well as forged
documents, limpieza de sangre certificates, and more.
I have made it my mission to personally help all the descendants to travel this
difficult road back. Genealogy notwithstanding, it is what is inside your soul that
counts in the end. We are not coming back with our families. We come back to this
place alone.
Ms. Milgrom is president of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies at Colorado State
University, USA, president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Miami, and
president of Tarbut Sefarad-Fermoselle in Spain. She is the author of My 15
Grandmothers and How I Found my 15 Grandmothers: A Step-by-Step Guide.
24
David del Coso Westerman
BACK TO MY JEWISH ROOTS IN TOLEDO [ENGLISH]
Summary:
I was born in Alicante, Spain. My father, Samuel del Coso Roman, is Spanish, and
my mother, Elisabeth Westerman, is Dutch, from a Catholic family. Because my
grandfather, Cornelius Westerman, hid in Holland during the War and because of
his Jewish surname, my family there also suspected Jewish roots. (I did a lot of
research on her side, but here I am focusing on my father's side and my personal
journey).
I have many clues on my father's side. His grandmother's family were known as
the “levitas” and "aleluyas" by their neighbors (and contrary to them, new how to
read and write). She married Jose Maria del Coso Tebar, who comes from a family
in Tomelloso known for being Cristianos Nuevos (and they had an arranged
marriage). We know “del Coso” was the name for the Jewish quarter in Aragón and
Catalonia, and of my grandfather's town, Valdepeñas, which still has a Jewish
quarter and a very old synagogue that is not mentioned in many books
My father was called "the Jew" by other kids. He has a long history of interest in
Jews and Judaism and Israel. On a family trip to Israel in 1988, we found the
antiquities shop of Gracia Roman (a very rare surname in Spain) in the Cardo.
Gracia, a Sephardi woman from Morocco, told us that her family left Spain in 1492,
and were from a little town next to my great-grandmother's town…My father's
uncles were told that they came from an old Jewish family. But in Spain, many
church archives were burned during the Second Spanish Republic. However, in the
Inquisition's files of Toledo and Cuenca we found people with our surnames being
convicted of Judaizing for four centuries.
I took DNA tests, and found that my father's mother's mitochondrial DNA is
haplogroup K (like 45% of Ashkenazi Jews). She has the surnames Meyer, Lewin,
Coenen, Rote, Kuik, and Weijsman in her family. I found several genetic Jewish
cousins (even a Moroccan Cohen from Dimona). Between my findings, research,
and databases, I now have over 3,000 printed papers of material...but no smoking
gun.
My dream was to come to Israel, do the army, and live a normal Jewish life in the
Jewish country. So, in 2012, I came to learn at the yeshiva-based conversion
program at Machon Meir. Then, just before Shavuot 2014, I went to the Beit Din,
trying hard to recite the Shemah while controlling my tears. And in November
2014, I officially became a citizen of the State of Israel.
David del Coso Westerman holds an EMPH (Executive Master in Public Health) in
emergency and disaster management from Tel Aviv University, and a diploma in
nursing from the University of Castilla la Mancha, Toledo.
25
Jay Sanchez, Attorney and Counselor-at-Law
JEWISH PIRATES AND LAWYERS OF THE CARIBBEAN AND THEIR FIGHT AGAINST
THE INQUISITION [ENGLISH]
Summary:
A few years ago I discovered that I am likely descended, on my mother’s side, from
Spanish/Portuguese Jews. My mother’s maiden name is Dorta, which is a very
uncommon surname. Although there are very few today, I found many references
to the Dorta name, many of them notable figures, Many more were arrested by the
Inquisition and even burned at the stake. Each was referred to as either a Jew or a
New Christian, until the 1700’s, by which time they seem to have assimilated.
I felt a connection and a need to do something. Then, I read about Sonya Loya's
idea about a lawsuit on behalf of Bnei Anousim against the Inquisition. Also, I read
Edward Kritzler's Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean, where he outlines several cases
in international law which could apply today. The Anousim "pirates" were very
active in their efforts to define their rights under law, law which had international
implications but were impossible to enforce where the Inquisition held sway.
There are serious barriers. First, there are statute of limitations issues—the
Inquisition ended hundreds of years ago. However, as long as unjust enrichment
continues, the statute of limitations is not in effect. Because the Inquisition kept
very good records, and we may be able to trace some of the exact items and funds
unlawfully taken to where they are today. There are some very old precedents
regarding the rights of Anousim in Holland and England vis-a-vis the Inquisition
and connected governments that I find quite promising.
The problem with international law was enforceability. The unlawful acts
occurred, unimpeded, but the unjust enrichment continues to this date, and today
there are courts with enforcement power over the entities that may unjustly hold
property confiscated in violation of international law existing at the time, which
were protested at the time. So, in many regards, our ancestors have done most of
the work for us.
I believe we should use international precedents to return property confiscated by
the Inquisition, and use this to fund the return of the Bnei Anousim to Israel. I
think there is an element of poetic justice in this, which could, perhaps, give some
purpose to this suffering that happened so long ago, the effects of which continue
to this day. I think it is time for this Dorta to take up that fight once again.
Jay Sanchez holds a law degree from the Harvard Law School. He has practiced law in
San Francisco, Tokyo, and Bolivia, and currently works and lives in New York.
26
CONCLUDING PRESENTATION
Ashley Perry
UNDOING THE INQUISITION:
THE RETURN OF THE BNEI ANUSIM SHOULD BECOME ONE OF THE MOST
PRESSING ISSUES ON THE NEXT GOVERNMENT’S AGENDA AND GIVEN THE
IMPORTANCE THAT IT DESERVES [ENGLISH]
(Adapted from his Opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post, 15 January 2015)
The forced conversion of hundreds of thousands of Jews in the Iberian Peninsula
and the subsequent expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal remain one of the
most traumatic and devastating events in the long and turbulent history of the
Jewish People.
Several new studies, however, demonstrate that there are approximately 100
million people around the world who are of Jewish heritage and are the
descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews who were forcibly converted.
These people are varyingly called Conversos, Anousim or Bnei Anusim.
A growing number of people across Europe and Latin and North America are
curious about their Jewish roots, from simple interest to those who consider
themselves Jews and would like a full return to the formal Jewish fold. This last
group represents between 10-20% of the total number, according to statistically
representative surveys.
Many of these people claim that they kept their Jewish traditions and can trace
their family heritage directly back to the Jewish community. Yet despite the
countless forums and organizations devoted to reaching out to these people, there
are no substantial or meaningful efforts to send a clear and authoritative message
from the Jewish world that we are interested in their return.
Last year, the Spanish and Portuguese governments passed laws that would grant
citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews who were forced into exile 500 years
ago. This legislation was meant to “repair a historical error.” However, if we are to
truly rectify this massive historical crime, it is far preferable to return to the people
from which they were cruelly ripped generations ago.
The Israeli government should lead the way by passing a law that replicates the
Spanish and Portuguese laws and sends a message that welcomes home anyone
who can prove Jewish ancestry, continuity and familial customs. The return of the
Bnei Anusim should become one of the most pressing issues on the next
government’s agenda.
It's time to undo the Inquisition.
Ashley Perry was Adviser to Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs from April 2009 to
January 2015. He is an activist for the rights of Bnei Anousim.
27