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Crypto-Judaism
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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 who maintain some Jewish traditions of their ancestors, often secretly, and while publicly adhering to other faiths, most commonly Catholicism. The term has also been used in (specifically antisemitic) propaganda, accusing people of being crypto-Jews or warning of supposed crypto-Jewish influence.
cially Jews who converted in Spain in the 14th and 15th centuries were known as Cristianos Nuevos (New Christians).
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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 who maintain some Jewish traditions of their ancestors, often secretly, and while publicly adhering to other faiths, most commonly Catholicism. The term has also been used in (specifically antisemitic) propaganda, accusing people of being crypto-Jews or warning of supposed crypto-Jewish influence.
Europe
Officially Jews who converted in Spain in the 14th and 15th centuries were known as Cristianos Nuevos (New Christians). Spain and Portugal passed legislation restricting the rights of conversos, including in their colonies.
In the Balearic Islands, numerous conversos, also called Chuetas, publicly professed Roman Catholicism but privately adhered to Judaism after the Alhambra decree of 1492 and during the Spanish Inquisition. They are among the most widely known crypto-Jews.
The phenomenon of crypto-Judaism, however, has a history to earlier periods when Jews were forced or pressured to convert by sovereign hosts. Other times they may have embraced opportunities for assimilation, but still secretly kept Jewish rites. The father of Maimonides, for example, is purported to have nominally embraced Islam during the Almohad persecutions of Muslim Iberia in 1146.
Some of the Jewish followers of Sabbatai Zevi (known as Sabbateans) and later of Jacob Frank (known as "Frankists") formally converted to Islam and Catholicism, respectively, but maintained aspects of their versions of Messianic Judaism.
Crypto-Jews persisted in Russia and Eastern European countries influenced by the Soviet Union after the rise of Communism with the Russian Revolution of 1917. This was a different manifestation, since the Soviets had declared the end of all religion, not forced the conversion of Jews to Christianity. Since the end of Communism, many descendants of Jews in former Soviet states have publicly taken up their Jewish faith again. Similarly, other people in Russia and eastern Europe have taken up the open practice again of Christianity, most frequently as Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholics.
There are, or have been, several classes of Crypto-Jews in Muslim lands. 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). Near Khorassan there are a number of former Jews known as the "Jedid al-Islam", who were converted to Islam half a century ago ("Il Vessillo Israelitico", April, 1884). In central Iran's village of Sebe, local Muslims practice many Jewish customs, such as women lighting a candle 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 whose people made forced mass conversion to Islam.
Large communities of crypto-Jews still exist, still maintaining their hidden traditions, in Spain and Portugal, especially at Covilhă, and in northeastern Brazil.
The "Belmonte Jews" of Portugal maintained strong secret traditions for centuries. A whole community survived in secrecy for hundreds of years by maintaining a tradition of intermarriage and hiding all the external signs of their faith. The Jewish community in Belmonte goes back to the 12th century. They and their practices were only discovered in the 20th century. Their rich Sephardic tradition of Crypto-Judaism is unique. Only recently did they contact other Jews. Some now profess Orthodox Judaism, although many still retain their centuries-old traditions.
Xuetes
The Xueta are a minority on the Balearic island of Majorca (Mallorca) who are descended almost entirely from crypto-Jews, forced to convert in 1391 C.E. The term "xueta" 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 Roman Catholicism for centuries but have only recently seen a lessening in ethnic tensions with ethnic Majorcans. According to some Orthodox rabbis, the majority of Xuetes are probably Jewish under Jewish law (by descent from Jewish mothers) due to the low rate of intermarriage with outside groups. Only recently have intermarriages between the two groups been more prevalent or noticeable.
During World War II, Nazi Germany was known to have pressured Majorcan religious authorities into surrendering the Xuetes, targeted because of their Jewish ancestry. Reportedly the religious authorities refused the Nazi request.
Several Xuetes are reported to have "reconverted" to Judaism. Some have become rabbis.
Neofiti
The Neofiti were a group of crypto-Jews living in the Kingdom of Sicily from the 13th to the 16th centuries.
North America
There are three distinct historical components to colonial roots of crypto-Judaism, largely restricted to Spanish-held territories in Mexico, each with distinct geographical and temporal aspects: early colonial roots, the frontier province of Nuevo Leon, and the later northern frontier provinces. The crypto-Jewish traditions have complex histories and are typically embedded in an amalgam of syncretic Roman Catholic and Judaic traditions. In many ways resurgent Judaic practices mirrored indigenous peoples' maintaining their traditions practiced loosely under Roman Catholic veil. In addition Catholicism was syncretic, absorbing other traditions and creating a new creole religion.
Early colonial period — 1500s
In the early days of the European colonization of Mexico, crypto-Jewish conversos from both Spain and Portugal migrated to the Mexican port of Vera Cruz as well to Mexico City (the revitalized Tenochtitlan). As it was on the far frontier, the Spanish-controlled colony was thought to be more lax in Inquisition-related matters.
Many of the immigrants from Portugal were secondary immigrants from the Jewish Expulsion from Spain in 1492. However, Portugal in 1497 issued a similar decree that effectively converted all remaining Jewish children, making them wards of the state unless the parents also converted. Therefore, many of the early crypto-Jewish migrants to Mexico in the early colonial days were technically first to second generation Portuguese with Spanish roots before that. The number of such Portuguese migrants was significant enough that the label of "Portuguese" became synonymous with "Jewish" throughout the Spanish colonies. Immigration to Mexico offered lucrative trade possibilities in a well-populated colony with nascent Spanish culture counterbalanced by a large non-Christian population. Migrants thought the culture would be more tolerant since the lands were overwhelmingly populated by non-Christian indigenous peoples.
Colonial officials believed that many crypto-Jews were going to Mexico during the 1500s and complained in written documents to Spain that Spanish society in Mexico would become significantly Jewish. Officials found and condemned clandestine synagogues in Mexico City. At this point, colonial administrators instituted the Law of the Pure Blood, which prohibited migration to Mexico for New Christians (Christiano Nuevo), i.e. anyone who could not prove to be Old Christians for at least the last three generations. During this time, the administration initiated the Mexican Inquisition to ensure the Catholic orthodoxy of all migrants into Mexico. The Mexico Inquisition was also deployed in the traditional manner to ensure orthodoxy of converted indigenous peoples. The first victims of burnings or autos de fé of the Mexican Inquisition were indigenous converts convicted of heresy or crypto-Jews convicted of relapsing into their ancestral faith.
Except for the province of Nuevo León, initiation of the Blood Purity Laws reduced the migration of conversos.
Nuevo León — 1590s to early 1600s
The history of the colonization of Mexico can be described as a northward expansion over increasingly hostile geography well-populated by hostile tribes and loose confederations of indigenous peoples. Spain financed the expansion by exploiting mineral wealth, using indigenous peoples as labor in mines, and establishing ranchos for raising livestock. One troublesome region was a large expanse covering the North-Eastern quadrant of the current geography of Mexico. Chichimec, Apache and other tribes were resistant to Christianization and "settling". They were perceived to render the frontier (frontera) a lawless and unsettled region.
Luis Carvajal y de la Cueva was a Portuguese New Christian royal accountant who received a royal charter to settle Nuevo León, a large expanse of land in the hostile frontier. Significantly, Carvajal y de la Cueva received an exemption from the King of Spain to allow New Christians to participate in settling of this region. This exemption allowed an increased number of peoples to come to the hostile region while doing so with immigrants that were legally barred from entering Mexico elsewhere. Carvajal chartered ships from Portugal. Historians believe the passenger lists consisted exclusively of conversos.
With Carvajal as governor, Monterrey was established as the center, currently in the state of Nuevo León. Within a few years, some people reported to Mexico City that Jewish rites were being performed in the Northern Province and efforts to convert heathen indigenous peoples were lax.
The governor, his immediate family members and others of his entourage were called to appear before the Inquisition in Mexico City. They were arrested and jailed. The governor subsequently died in jail, while his family members were rehabilitated. One of these was Anna Carvajal, a niece of the Governor. She and others were later again taken captive and sentenced to burning at the stake for relapsing.
The governor's nephews changed their name to Lumbroso. One of these was Joseph Lumbroso, also known as Luis de Carvajal el Mozo, who is said to have circumcised himself in the desert to conform to Jewish law. His memoirs, letters and inquisition record survive. Two other nephews also changed their names to Lumbroso and migrated to Italy, where they became famous rabbis.
When Governor Carvajal was in office, the city of Monterrey became a destination for other crypto-Jews feeling the pressure of the Mexican Inquisition in the south of the territory. Thus, the story of Nuevo León and the founding of Monterrey are significant as it attracted a crypto-Jewish migrants from all parts of Mexico. They created one of the earliest Jewish-related communities in Mexico. (The Jewish communities in Mexico which practice their Judaism openly were not established until the considerable immigration from eastern Europe, Turkey and Syria in the late 1800s and 1900s.)
Former Spanish-territories in the southwestern U.S. 1600s–1700s
Due to the activities of the Mexican Inquisition in Nuevo Leon, many crypto-Jewish descendants migrated to other frontier colonies further west to the trade routes passing through the towns of Sierra Madres Occidental and Chihuahua and further north on the trade route to El Paso (Texas) and Santa Fe (New Mexico), and somewhat less in California.
In the former Spanish-held Southwestern United States, some Hispanic Roman 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 religious practices.
Current times
Recent genetic research, however, has shown that many Latinos of the American Southwest are indeed descended from Anusim (Sephardic Jews who converted to Roman 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 Jews claiming descent from 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. 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 1800s and early to mid-1900s into Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Veracruz is also widely known.
Today, there are about 40,000 Mexican Jews, both Ashkenazi and Sephardi. Researchers and historians say that number would rise considerably if Anusim (or Crypto-Jews) were included in those estimates.
Italian Americans
Some scholars believe that many Italian American descendants from Sicily and Calabria have Crypto-Jewish roots.
Central, South America and Caribbean
As in the American Southwest, in the department of Antioquia, Colombia, many families also hold traditions 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".
A safe haven destination for Sephardic Conversos during the Spanish Colony was Santa Cruz, Bolivia. In 1557 many Crypto-Jews joined Ńuflo de Chávez and were among the pioneers who founded the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. During the 16th century several Crypto-Jews that faced persecution from the Inquisition and local authorities in nearby Potosi, La Paz and La Plata also moved to Santa Cruz for it was the most isolated urban settlement and because the Inquisition did not bother the Conversos of Santa Cruz for this frontier town was meant to be a buffer to the Portuguese and Guarani raids that threatened the mines of Peru. Several of them settled in the city of Santa Cruz and its adjacent towns of Vallegrande, Postrervalle, Portachuelo, Terevinto, Pucara, Cotoca and others.
Several of Santa Cruz oldest Catholic families are in fact of Jewish origin; some traces of Judaic practices are still alive among them and have also influence the rest of the community. As recent as the 1920s, several families preserved seven-branched candle sticks and served dishes cooked with reminiscing kosher practices. It is still customary among certain old families to light candles on Friday at sunset and to mourn the deaths of dear relatives on the floor. After almost five centuries, some of the descendants of these families still acknowledge their Jewish origin, but practice Catholicism (in certain cases with some Jewish syncretism).
In addition to these communities, Roman Catholic-professing communities who are descendants of Crypto-Jews are said to exist in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Ricoand in various other Spanish-speaking countries of South America, such as 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 investigating crypto-Jews who had settled there. The Inquisition endured longer in the colonies than it had in Spain itself.
Famous Crypto-Jews
- Luis de Carvajal was the governor of the state of Nuevo León, a northern Mexico province in which the restriction against immigration from conversos was relaxed in order to encourage migration to the peril-fraught frontier. He was responsible for bringing a significant group of crypto-Jewish conversos living in Portugal since the Expulsion of 1492.
- Luis de Carvajal el Mozo, was the nephew of Jose Luis Carvajal y de la Cueva, the only crypto Jew of the Spanish colonial era whose memoirs have been preserved.
- Antonio Fernandez Carvajal was a Portuguese merchant in London; "like other Marranos in London, Carvajal prayed at the Catholic chapel of the Spanish ambassador, while simultaneously playing a leading role in the secret Jewish community, which met at the clandestine synagogue at Creechurch Lane."
- Baruch Spinoza was the son of Iberian conversos but was not himself a crypto-Jew. He grew up as a practicing Jew in the community in Amsterdam and was well versed in the teachings of Judaism.
- Some scholars of Judaic studies believe that Miguel de Cervantes may have been a crypto-Jew or of crypto-Jewish descent.
- Rodrigo Lopez (physician), a marrano who fled from Portugal to England and became physician to Queen Elizabeth, was a "Jewish physician".
See also
External links
- The Jewish History Resource Center, Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Luis de Carvajal, el mozo
- Societry for Crypto Judaic Studies
- Crypto Jews/Anusim Resources
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