Crypto-Judaism

Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; people who practice crypto-Judaism are referred to as "crypto-Jews". The term crypto-Jew is also used to describe descendants of Jews who still (generally secretly) maintain some Jewish traditions, often while adhering to other faiths, most commonly Catholicism.

Europe

The many Marranos (in the Balearic Islands, Chuetas), who publicly professed Catholicism but privately adhered to Judaism during the Spanish Inquisition, and particularly after the Alhambra decree of 1492, are the most widely known crypto-Jews. Officially they were known as "New Christians," and there was considerable legislation directed against them in both Spain and Portugal and in their colonies, the chief activity of the Inquisition being directed against them.

The phenomenon of crypto-Judaism, however, dates back to earlier times as Jews forced or pressured to convert by their sovereign hosts secretly kept Jewish rites. The father of Maimonides, for example, is purported to have nominally embraced Islam during the Almohad persecutions of Muslim Spain in 1146.

Some of the Jewish followers of Sabbatai Zevi (known as Donmeh) and later of Jacob Frank (known as "Frankists") formally converted to Islam and Catholicism respectively, but maintained aspects of their versions of Messianic Judaism.

It also appears that there are, or have been, several classes of Crypto-Jews in Muslim lands; thus the ancestors of the Daggatuns probably kept up their Jewish practises a long time after their nominal adoption of Islam. This was also done by the Maimins of Salonica (Grätz, in "Monatsschrift," Feb., 1884), and near Khorassan there still remain a number of Jews known as the "Jedid al-Islam," who were converted to Islam half a century ago ("Il Vessillo Israelitico," April, 1884). In central Iran, there is a village called Sebe, where the local Muslims practice many Jewish customs, such as women lighting a candles on Friday night (the eve of the Jewish Sabbath). Prior to sundown on Friday, they prepare a small fire which they leave on throughout Saturday, so as not to ignite the fire on Sabbath. It is believed Sebe is one of several Persian Jewish communities who underwent forced mass conversion to Islam.

Small communities of crypto-Jews are still said to exist, allegedly still maintaining their hidden traditions, in the Balearic Islands, in Portugal especially at Covilhã, northeastern Brazil, and throughout Spain.

One interesting example is the "Belmonte Jews" in Portugal. A whole community survived in secrecy for hundreds of years by maintaining a tradition of intermarriage and by hiding all the external signs of their faith. The Jewish community in Belmonte goes back to the 12th Century and they were only discovered in the 20th Century. Their rich Sephardic tradition of Crypto-Judaism is unique. Only recently did they contact other Jews and part of them now profess Orthodox Judaism, although many still retain their centuries-old traditions. ^*

Chuetas

The Chuetas are a minority on the Balearic island of Majorca (Mallorca) that are descended almost entirely from crypto-Jews, forced to convert in 1391 C.E. The term "chueta" literally translates to "pig" in Catalan, similar to the old Spanish (Castilian) term of the same meaning.

Today, they comprise a population of 20,000-25,000 on an island of 750,000; they have professed Catholicism for centuries but have only recently seen a lessening in ethnic tensions with ethnic Majorcans. According to some Orthodox Rabbis, the majority of Chuetas are probably Jewish under Jewish law due to the low rate of intermarriage. Only recently have intermarriages between the two groups been more prevalent or noticeable.

During World War II, Nazi Germany is known to have pressured Majorcan religious authorities into surrendering the Chuetas, targeted because of their Jewish ancestry; religious authorities are reported to have ignored/declined the demand/request.

Several Chuetas are reported to have "reconverted" to Judaism, and some are known to work as Rabbis.

North America

In the once Spanish-held Southwestern United States, many Hispanic Catholics have stated a belief that they are descended from crypto-Jews and have started practicing Judaism. They often cite as evidence memories of older relatives practicing Jewish traditions. Skeptics of the authenticity of the Jewish ancestry of Latinos of the Southwest argue that these remembered traditions could be those of Ashkenazi, not Sephardi, Jews and may possibly be constructed memories due to suggestion by proponents. It is also argued that the Jewish traditions practiced by older relatives were introduced by groups of Evangelical Protestant Christians who purposely acquired and employed Jewish traditions as part of their Christian practice.

Recent genetic research, however, has shown that many Latinos of the American Southwest are indeed descended from Anusim (Sephardic Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism). Michael Hammer, a research professor at the University of Arizona and an expert on Jewish genetics, said that fewer than 1% of non-Jews possessed the male-specific "Cohanim marker" (which in itself is not necessarily endemic to all Jews, but is prevalent among Jewish hereditary priests), and 30 of 78 Latinos tested in New Mexico were found to be carriers. DNA testing of Hispanic populations also revealed between 10% and 15% of men living in New Mexico, south Texas and northern Mexico have a Y chromosome that traces back to the Middle East. ^*

In northern Mexico, Monterrey, the capital city of the State of Nuevo León, that shares a border with Texas, is said to contain descendants of Crypto-Jews. Monterrey was founded by Luis Carvajal y de la Cueva who although had converted to Catholicism, in 1590 was accused by the Spanish Inquisition of heresy. It was officially found that members of his extended family had reverted to Judaism and he was exiled from the territory then know as New Spain. In 1596 a large portion of his extended family, 121 people who were most of the original settlers of Monterrey, were executed in Mexico City.

The State of Jalisco also has several cities with large numbers of Anusim, mainly Guadalajara, Ciudad Guzman, and Puerto Vallarta, although a steady influx of Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe during the late 1800's and early to mid-1900's into Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Veracruz is also widely known.

Today, there are between 150,000 and 180,000 Mexican Jews, both Ashkenazi and Sephardi. Researchers and historians say that number would rise considerably if Anusim (or Crypto-Jews) were included into those estimates.

Central, South America and Caribbean

As in the American Southwest, in the department of Antioquia, Colombia, many families also hold traditions, handed down memories and oral accounts of Jewish descent. In this population, Y chromosome genetic analysis has shown an origin of founders predominantly from "southern Spain but also suggest that a fraction came from northern Iberia and that some possibly had a Sephardic origin". ^*

In addition to these communities, other now Catholic-professing communities descendants of Crypto-Jews are also said to exist in Cuba, Puerto Rico ^*, and amidst the populations of various other Spanish-speaking countries of South America (Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and Ecuador). From these communities comes the proverb, "Catholic by faith, Jewish by blood".

All the above localities were former territories of either the Spanish or Portuguese Empires, where the Inquisition eventually followed and continued persecuting the Jews who had settled there, and where it endured for longer than it had in Spain herself.^*

Famous Crypto-Jews

The nature of the search tends to deny certainty, but historians and geneologists have proposed many candidates:

Miguel Cervantes has long been suspected of being a very "nuevo cristiano" ^*.

Rita Moreno and Fidel Castro, among others, "have acknowledged Marrano ancestry" ^*.

Spinoza was the son of Iberian conversos, but grew up in the Jewish community in Amsterdam and was well versed in the teachings of Judaism.

Jorge Luis Borges has "both acknowledged and 'regretfully denied'" crypto-Jewish roots ^*.

Christopher Columbus

External links

Shavei

History of Spain | Jewish Christian topics | Jewish Spanish history | Judaism

Krypto-Judentum | Criptojudeu

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