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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 537

Crypto-Jews

Illustration showing Jews burning during the Inquisition (public domain)
March 6, 2023, 4:48 pm
Inspired by Purim heroine Esther, Inquisition-era crypto-Jews feasted in her honor
Church records tell of a Jewish woman’s 1688 confession to admiring Queen Esther, who also hid her Jewish identity. Her community prepared special foods for ‘St. Esther’s Feast’
By Ronit Treatman
Arthur Carlos de Barros Basto (1887-1961) (public domain, via wikipedia)
February 28, 2023, 2:08 pm
Jewish community blasts state for refusing to reinstate ‘Portuguese Alfred Dreyfus’
Granddaughter of late army captain Arthur Carlos de Barros Basto says he was denied posthumous honor because he can’t make request in person
By Michael Horovitz and JTA
From left to right: Genealogist Genie Milgrom, Reconnectar's Ashley Perry, and ASF Institute of Jewish Experience's Drora Arussy (Avrom Ariev)
September 27, 2022, 8:05 am
Initiatives help descendants of Crypto-Jews reconnect with stolen Sephardic heritage
Certificate of Sephardic Ancestry validates identity, while an online ancestral database of 45,000 Sephardic family names makes searching for roots easier
By Renee Ghert-Zand
The outside of the church that formerly housed Temple Montefiore in Las Vegas, New Mexico. (Courtesy: Las Vegas Jewish Community Inc.)
September 13, 2022, 9:03 am
A tiny New Mexico Jewish community wants its historic synagogue building back
For 65 years, local Jews have had to travel to Santa Fe for regular services. Now, with a crowdfunding effort until the end of September, they hope to repurchase Temple Montefiore
By Jackie Hajdenberg
Angelina Muñiz Huberman is one of a few Jews in the prestigious Mexican Academy of Language. (Courtesy of Huberman/ via JTA)
December 26, 2021, 4:06 am
Lauded Mexican writer’s novels explore her Sephardic history and crypto-Judaism
Told by her mother that the family were secret Jews, Angelina Muñiz-Huberman often writes about hidden identity, Iberian Jewry, and Jewish mysticism
By Alan Grabinsky
Clockwise from top left: 'The Secret Music at Tordesillas' by Marjorie Sandor; the Calle de la Juderia, or Jewish quarter, in Segovia, Spain; author Marjorie Sandor (all photos courtesy of Sandor); Oud instruments in Cairo (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser).
March 7, 2021, 9:45 pm
Echoes of lost music haunt an Inquisition-era love story between two crypto-Jews
National Jewish Book Award winner Marjorie Sandor discusses scouring an ancient history that Spanish monarchs worked hard to erase for her novel ‘The Secret Music at Tordesillas’
By Yaakov Schwartz
Gracia Nasi in Antwerp in a scene from 'The Wandering Jewess,' story by Gianluca Piredda and art by Leo Sgarbi. (Courtesy Piredda)
November 21, 2020, 9:15 am
Life of 16th-century heiress, philanthropist and crypto-Jew hits Italian comics
The true story of Gracia Nasi, whose courage and charity helped countless hidden Jews like herself during the Inquisition, is retold in ‘The Wandering Jewess’
By Giovanni Vigna
Colombians celebrate Dia de las Velitas at the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Bogota, December 7, 2018. (Lokman Ilhan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images/via JTA)
December 24, 2019, 3:03 am
Colombia’s Day of the Little Candles looks an awful lot like Hanukkah
Dia de las Velitas dates back to 1854, when Pope Pius set the immaculate conception as Catholic dogma, but some scholars attribute aspects of the holiday to crypto-Jews
By Alan Grabinsky
Fish and chips, the iconic British dish, has Jewish roots. (Getty Images/via JTA)
November 13, 2019, 4:08 pm
The surprising Jewish history behind fish n’ chips
Traced back to 16th-century crypto-Jews fleeing the Portuguese Inquisition, Britain’s favorite food has even been described by Thomas Jefferson as ‘fish in the Jewish fashion’
By Ronnie Fein
Chuletas, a unique Crypto-Jewish presentation for a French toast creation. This is a sweet dairy recipe that turns bread and milk into a "pork chop." (Courtesy of Genie Milgrom)
September 27, 2019, 8:53 pm
Cache of Crypto-Jewish recipes dating to Inquisition found in Miami kitchen
New cookbook features unique kosher dishes unwittingly prepared by generations of a Catholic Cuban-Spanish family with hidden Sephardic Jewish roots
By Renee Ghert-Zand
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
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
Actors re-enact scenes from the Inquisition period outside Belmonte's Jewish museum, October 14, 2018. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
January 19, 2019, 8:00 am
Portugal’s only rural Jewish community seeks a seat at the table
Synagogues in Lisbon and Porto are stonewalling a 70-strong community in Belmonte, whose crypto-Jewish ancestors secretly retained their faith since the Inquisition
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Portuguese army captain Arthur Carlos de Barros Basto (Rodrigo Santos) presides at the head of the table with his wife Lea and child in a scene from the new historical drama 'Sefarad.' (Courtesy Miami Jewish Film Festival)
January 15, 2019, 1:04 pm
Historical drama depicts untold story of the 1930s ‘Portuguese Dreyfus Affair’
Premiering January 15 in Miami, ‘Sefarad’ is the tale of a real-life Marrano WWI war hero who converts to Judaism, revives Oporto Jewry, and is expelled from the military for it
By Rich Tenorio
Portrait of a man thought to be Christopher Columbus by Sebastiano del Piombo, 1519.(public domain)
October 8, 2018, 9:56 pm
Christopher Columbus — the hidden Jew?
With a murky past, theories abound for the origin story of the intrepid explorer — from pirate to crypto-Jew
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
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