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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 531

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Rabbi Gilberto Ventura leads the Jewish community of Catania in a recent service. (David I. Klein/JTA)
June 20, 2023, 6:57 am
With 1st rabbi in 500 years, Sicily’s Jews fight for mainstream Jewish acceptance
Despite decades of grassroots work, a community descended from Jews forced into hiding during the Spanish Inquisition fights an uphill battle against local religious bureaucracy
By David I. Klein
Rabbi Barbara Aiello reads prayers in her 'Ner Tamid del Sud' (The Eternal Light of the South) synagogue in Serrastretta, southern Italy, July 8, 2022 (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
July 20, 2022, 12:11 pm
US rabbi revives Italian hamlet by restoring Jewish roots, bringing Ukraine refugees
Rabbi Barbara Aiello reconnects ancestral community with Jewish history, links that were nearly severed 5 centuries ago when the Inquisition forced Jews to convert to Christianity
By Frances D'Emilio
Toni Pinya enters the synagogue of Palma de Mallorca, Spain, February 11, 2019. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
September 21, 2021, 11:49 am
For Mallorca’s Jews, first ‘public’ sukkah is triumph over Spanish Inquisition
This weeklong holiday of Sukkot, which began Monday evening, marks the first time in centuries that the community has received municipal space and funding for the traditional booth
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Benedito Araujo de Souza, right, arriving at Yeshiva Camp in Aquiraz, Brazil on January 2, 2020. (Synagoga Sem Froteiras)
January 12, 2020, 8:20 am
79-year-old Brazilian man attends Jewish summer camp
Benedito Araujo de Souza converted to Judaism in 2016 and seized the opportunity to celebrate his identity, regardless of age
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Roque Pugliese and Ivana Pezzoli getting married at the Bova Marina Synagogue in Calabria, Italy on June 4, 2019. (Courtesy of Shavei Israel via JTA)
June 7, 2019, 7:46 pm
Former Italian synagogue sees first Jewish wedding in centuries
Couple whose ancestors were forced to hide their faith marry atop the ruins of an ancient shul in Calabria
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Toni Pinya enters the synagogue of Palma de Mallorca, Spain, February 11, 2019. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
April 3, 2019, 3:45 am
In Mallorca, descendants of persecuted crypto-Jews now run the community
The Spanish island’s chueta, whose ancestors were forced to convert during the Inquisition, were spurned by locals despite practicing Catholicism. Now they’re returning to Judaism
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Illustrative: Members of the modern-day Jewish community of Mallorca, Spain, celebrate Tu b'Shvat, February 10, 2019. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
March 21, 2019, 7:37 am
In Mallorca, Purim was once the most important day for its persecuted Jewry
The forcibly converted community of a small Spanish island used to exploit Purim’s relative obscurity to mourn their situation and sustain their faith and culture
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Blanca Carrasco on a visit to a Sephardi synagogue in Fez, Morocco. (Courtesy)
February 17, 2019, 4:42 am
US crypto-Jews race to reclaim heritage before Spanish citizenship offer ends
A record number of Americans whose Jewish ancestors fled the Inquisition are applying for citizenship as an ‘insurance policy’ against a perceived rise in US anti-Semitism
By Ben Zehavi
Many in Brazil have converted to Judaism under the supervision of Gilberto Venturas, an Orthodox rabbi, shown here with his wife, Jacqueline. (Courtesy of Sinagoga sem Froteiras/via JTA)
December 29, 2018, 9:38 am
Sephardic converts give northern Brazil’s dwindling Jewish communities new life
Though emigration is at a high for Ashkenazi Jews, Recife is not in decline — partly thanks to the embrace of Judaism by hundreds of locals with ancestors who fled the Inquisition
By Cnaan Liphshiz
File: An Orthodox Jewish Colombian family shown in 2012. (Paul Smith/For the Washington Post/via JTA)
December 27, 2018, 11:04 pm
Study finds widespread traces of Sephardic genes in Latin America
Geneticists study genomes of 6,589 people from 5 countries; about one-quarter show what may be remnants of Jewish converso ancestry
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Rabbi Elisha Salas, right, instructing a baker in Belmonte, Portugal, in the preparation of kosher challah, April 2012. (Courtesy of Shavei Israel/via JTA)
December 28, 2017, 6:26 am
Food makers in Portugal are going kosher — and not why you think
With about 20% of Iberians thought to possess Jewish ancestry, factory owners seek to get closer to Judaism through the products they make
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Barbara Aiello
September 21, 2017, 4:02 pm
Barbara Aiello
The midnight shofar
Italy’s B’nei Anusim — Jews forced into Christianity — hide in plain sight
Portuguese presidential candidate Maria de Belem speaks in an October 17, 2015 interview. (screen shot: YouTube)
November 5, 2015, 5:19 pm
Presidential hopeful takes up cause of ‘Portuguese Dreyfus’
Maria de Belem supports initiative to posthumously reinstate Captain Arthur Carlos de Barros Basto, who was persecuted for promoting Judaism
By JTA
Ahuvah (Amanda) Gipson, left, and other members of the Bet Januka congregation located at Naval Station Rot in southern Spain, July 30, 2014.(Cnaan Liphshiz/JTA)
December 13, 2014, 5:46 am
Argentine immigrants fuel Jewish revival in Spain
Arriving before the new Sephardic vogue, Spain’s Argentine Jewish community has opened doors to passionate Liberal Judaism
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Saint Esther icon (courtesy)
March 16, 2014, 9:16 am
Queen Esther: Patron saint of crypto-Jews
Faced with threat of execution for Jewish observance, Sephardi conversos created the festival of Santa Esterica to replace Purim
By Ronit Treatman
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