'Secret Jews' of the Spanish Inquisition

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Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 09:04:28 GMT
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Subject: 'Secret Jews' of the Spanish Inquisition
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Posted on Sat, Aug. 06, 2005


JUDAISM
'Secret Jews' of the Spanish Inquisition
Known as anusim, a Hebrew word for Jews who forcibly converted, many Latin
American 'crypto-Jews' have rediscovered the faith of their ancestors in
recent years.
BY ALEXANDRA ALTER
aal...@herald.com


Stranded on a busy commercial strip of Southwest Eighth Street in Little
Havana, Temple Beth Tov-Ahavat Shalom faced a grim future.
Many of its congregants were aging, moving away or dying. Even a merger
between two synagogues, Orthodox and Conservative, did little to boost
congregation size, which hovers around 150 families, down from 200 in 1998.
But recently, new families have arrived on the synagogue's doorstep. Most
come from Latin America and possess only a vague knowledge of Jewish beliefs
and practices. But many bring with them a suspicion or even proof that
they're descendants of conversos -- Spanish Jews who converted to
Catholicism during the Inquisition.
''Some of the families could trace their Jewish origins all the way back to
Spain,'' said Rabbi Manuel Armon. ``They lived for generations as non-Jews,
but they kept Judaism alive in their families, either by telling their
children or keeping Jewish customs.''
Known as anusim, a Hebrew word for Jews who forcibly converted, many Latin
American ''crypto-Jews'' have rediscovered the faith of their ancestors in
recent years. Some, aided by DNA testing and Internet sites that post
genealogical records, have uncovered evidence of Jewish ancestry, while
others cite Jewish customs passed down through generations.
Armon, an Argentine who became Beth Tov's rabbi in 1998, said 20 Latin
American families have joined the synagogue in the last three years. Most
are anusim who were attracted by the Conservative temple's ongoing
conversion classes, he said.
'Many people came to us and said, `Now, we want to practice Judaism in a
traditional way,' '' he said. ``They are returning to Judaism after
generations of being alienated by persecution, by intolerance.''
Scholars say South Florida, with its large Hispanic population, will prove
fertile ground for rabbis seeking to recover scattered remnants of the
anusim.
''There are bound to be thousands of people who are descended from the
secret Jews of Spain and Portugal,'' said Abraham Lavender, a sociology
professor at Florida International University and president of the Society
for Crypto Judaic Studies, which will hold its annual conference Sunday
through Tuesday in Miami Beach.
INTO EXILE
The origins of crypto-Judaism extend more than five centuries. Thousands of
Jews fled Spain in 1492, when the monarchy ordered the country's 200,000
Jews to convert or leave. Many settled in Spanish colonies in Latin America,
only to face renewed persecution when Spanish colonialists extended the
Inquisition to Mexico, Peru and Colombia in the 1570s, said David Gitlitz,
author of Secrecy and Deceit: The Religion of the Crypto-Jews. The
Inquisition persisted in the new world for 130 years, he said.
Crypto-Jewish families often kept Jewish traditions such as lighting candles
on Friday night, shunning pork and cleaning out the house before Passover.
Others went into deep hiding, changing their names, joining Catholic
churches and concealing their heritage even from family members.
''Secrecy was a key factor in the survival of the converts who chose to
remain as Jews,'' Gitlitz said.
KEEPING A SECRET
What puzzles scholars most is how that secrecy, mandated by 500 years of
persecution, persists centuries after the Inquisition. Jewish communities in
areas of Portugal and Brazil continue to practice in secret today, Gitlitz
said.
But in the last 30 years, growing numbers of Hispanics have started tracing
their Jewish ancestry, Lavender said. The movement took off in the 1970s
when Stanley Hordes, a New Mexico historian, encountered Catholic Latinos
who maintained Jewish practices. Many were able to establish genealogical
links to Spanish converts.
Bennett Greenspan of Family Tree DNA said he has seen a growing interest in
Jewish ancestry among Latino clients in recent years. The Houston-based
company gets one to three calls a day from Hispanics seeking genetic
evidence of Jewish origins, he said.
''Most wonder if they might have a Jewish background because their mother or
grandmother had habits that were not Spanish Catholic,'' he said.
``Somewhere between 6 and 9 percent of people who are of Spanish Catholic
background end up having Jewish ancestry.''
Three years ago, the company started a DNA heritage project for anusim,
Greenspan said. The project aims to fill a hole in Jewish genetic studies,
which have focused mostly on Ashkenazi Jews, or Jews who have Eastern
European ancestry. Few DNA databases exist for Sephardic Jews, who come from
Spain and the Middle East, Greenspan said.
Recently, an Israeli scholar started compiling genetic samples from exiled
Spanish Sephardic Jews. The database will make it easier to establish proof
of Spanish Jewish ancestry, Greenspan said.
But scholars say DNA doesn't always hold the answers. gene pools.
''DNA is opening a lot of doors, but it's not opening all of them,'' said
Lavender, who will give a presentation on DNA studies at the Miami Beach
conference. ``There is no specific Jewish DNA other than the Cohen gene.''
That gene -- found among men who are direct genetic descendants of Aaron,
the brother of Moses -- is the only specifically Jewish genetic marker,
Lavender explained.
FAITH REVEALED
Not everyone needs a DNA test. George Albo's faith was revealed to him in
the form of a commandment when he was around 8 years old.
'My mother and father sat us down and said, `Listen, we want you to know
this. We're Jews. We don't want you to forget it, and we certainly don't
want you to repeat it again,' '' he said.
For years Albo's parents, who moved to Miami from Cuba in 1961, kept their
faith secret from their neighbors, perhaps out of fear of being ostracized,
perhaps in keeping with a long-standing family tradition. As descendants of
conversos, they had been conditioned to follow their faith in stealth.
Now Albo, 46, is vice president of Los Caminos de Israel, an outreach
organization that seeks to return Spanish-speaking Jews to their roots. He
has helped launch Spanish radio and television shows directed at Latin
Americans with Jewish backgrounds.
Albo, who embraced Orthodox Judaism in 1997, teamed up with Mariano Moshe
Otero, another anusim, to air the programs about seven years ago.
''Centuries after the Inquisition you have whole families who are Jewish who
practice Judaism in secret for fear of being ostracized,'' Albo said.
``We're trying to make people aware that we're here.''
On a recent Saturday afternoon at Beth Tov, six new members lingered after
the 3 ½-hour Hebrew service for a conversion class in Spanish. The
congregants came from different countries -- Peru, Cuba, Venezuela -- but
shared a common narrative: All believed their Spanish ancestors were
crypto-Jews. They gathered around a table for several hours with Armon,
discussing Jewish history and kosher law.
SHARED STORIES
Some of Beth Tov's returnees shared details of their crypto-Jewish ancestry.
One recalled how relatives in Cuba feigned allergies to pork. Another said
that when his family lived in Havana, his mother would cover the mirrors
with fabric when someone died. He later discovered it was a Jewish practice.
Roberto Gonzalez, the temple's new president, said he hopes to establish the
synagogue as a spiritual home for Miami's lost Jews.
Born in Havana, Gonzalez grew up in a house filled with Catholic saints. His
father told him once that they were Jewish, descendants of Spanish Sephardim
who fled the Canary Islands for Cuba.
After leaving Cuba in 1968, Gonzalez spent many years in the pews of
Pentecostal and Baptist churches. When his father died seven years ago,
Gonzalez's stepmother gave him a Star of David that belonged to him. That
small gesture inspired his return to Judaism.
For several years, Gonzalez practiced as a Messianic Jew, trying to blend
his Christian faith with his Jewish heritage. But he was troubled by the
emphasis on Jesus. ''If you can go directly to the person, why go to the
secretary?'' he joked.
MAKING A CONVERSION
Three years ago, Gonzalez started conversion classes at Temple Beth Tov and
became an observant Jew. Unlike his father and grandfather, Gonzalez prays
openly, keeps Kosher and observes the Sabbath.
''Before, I always felt like I wasn't leading the right life,'' he said.
``Now, I feel happy to be at the end of my search.''
For some, the search can take decades.
Otero, who heads Los Caminos de Israel, was baptized as a Catholic, raised
Southern Baptist and ordained as a minister with the Assemblies of God
before returning to his Jewish roots in 1991.
Back in Cuba, where his grandfather owned a tobacco company, Otero's father
told him the family descended from the kings of Israel.
''He never said we were Jewish,'' Otero said before leading a Wednesday
night conversion class at the Chabad Hollywood Community Synagogue.
''Conversion isn't just intellectual. It has to be part of the heart,'' he
told three young women, two from Venezuela and one from Colombia, during a
recent class.
Not all of his students have Jewish ancestry, Otero concedes. But lately,
he's seeing more crypto-Jews come forward, he said.
''We're starting to get a lot of people that feel they're Jewish; they have
a lot of Jewish traditions that they remember,'' he said. ``The best way to
describe it is as a Spanish Jewish revival. People are starting to wake
up.''


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