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Frequently Asked Questions and Answers on Soc.Culture.Jewish
Section 13. Jews as a Nation
Who are the Crypto-Jews (also known as "marranos")?
At
the time of the Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion from Spain in
1492, Jews were offered conversion or expulsion. Many chose to leave
Spain (quite a few found safety in the Muslim Ottoman Empire), but
others stayed behind.
"Marranos" actually started appearing with the first riots in the
Juderias of Spain. Many were forced to convert to save their lives.
These were naturally not faithful Catholics. The laws in 14th and 15th
century Spain became increasingly oppressive towards practicing Jews,
while providing an easy escape by conversion. Large numbers of middle
class Jews outwardly took on Christianity to avoid the laws, while
secretly practicing Judaism.
Most of the remaining Marranic practice in Spain and Portugal today
is from those religious Jews who escaped from Spain to Portugal in 1492,
only to be trapped there later when the expulsion was instituted there
as well. The most active Marranism in the Iberian peninsula is in the
mountainous border areas between Spain and Portugal, in towns such as
Belmonte'. Jewish outreach in these areas is achieving success in
bringing them forward and restoring full Judaic practice, but many still
fear burning or other persecution if they go public.
Some faithful Catholic converts were won by the efforts of famous
apostates like Pablo de Santa Maria who went around disputing the rabbis
and ordinary Jews, winning some converts. In the most famous
disputation, with Nachmanides, he was soundly defeated, but the
Franciscans published false reports of the disputation to win more
converts. Nachmanides, who had been protected from heresy laws during
the disputations, was forced to publish his refutations in public. He
was forced into exile rather than be burned as a heretic. In any case,
the faithfulness of these converts is doubtful, since the Order of
Expulsion was primarily due to the recidivism of Conversos once they had
to live next door to practicing Jews again. It was felt that expelling
all open Jews was the only way to keep the Conversos Christian.
Among those who stayed behind were Jews who pretended to convert to
Roman Catholicism, but who secretly maintained a practice of Judaism.
The term "Marrano" was at one time used to describe them, as the term
refers to the swine which they'd publicly eat to demonstrate their
outward conversion. It isn't clear if the "Old Christians" or the
practicing Jews called them "marrano".
In Majorca the community was converted in the 1430's and are called
Chuetas, from "pork lard" since they regularly keep pork lard boiling in
cauldrons on their porches. They themselves still call themselves
Israelitas in private, and ask forgiveness from el Grande Dio for
worshipping in front of statues of a man. They typically sacrified (in a
figurative, not literal, sense) their first born sons to the Catholic
priesthood as a means of getting protection from Church persecution, so,
ironically, many of the priests across the Baleiric Islands are from
Marrano families.
Crypto-Jew is the correct term, as it also refers to Jews forced to
adopt other religions and political philosophies while maintaining
Jewish practices. Crypto-Judaism pre-dates the Inquisition, as Jews were
forced by the Al-Mohavid invasions of Spain to become Muslims, creating
Crypto-Jews who gradually fled to Christian districts for protection
from the Muslims (see Roth's History of the Jews). In
modern times outwardly Muslim Crypto-Jews are known to be in Meshed,
Iran, and in Turkey.
A number of Crypto-Jewish communities survive today, especially in
former Spanish-influenced regions, such as the southwestern U.S.A. They
still maintain extensive secrecy after centuries. Other communities were
lost to assimilation, but maintained residual Jewish practices such as
lighting candles Friday night. Based on information in Cohen's The
Marranos and Prinz's The Secret Jews, the following
are some examples of these communities:
- The Antiquen~as of Colombia.
- Much of Northern Mexico's middle and upper classes (Nuevo Leon is
the "New Lion of Judah").
- The Naucalpan and Vallejo districts of Mexico City. (Technically,
Naucalpan is not in the Distrito Federal, but in the greater
metropolitan area).
- The Chuetas of Majorca. A look at Chueta last names shows many
surnames which have became quite famous in the Hispanic world. They
include Mir, Miro, and Marti. Of course Joan Miro was Mallorcan. Any
marranism in Fidel Castro's family would be through his mother, as his
father's family was Gallego, and very few Jews ever lived in Galicia
(of course plenty lived in the Austrian Galicia, I'm refering to
northwestern Spain). Interesting about the mountains on the
Spanish-Portuguese border being a hotbed of marranism, particularly
those on the Extremadura-Andalucia border. This area is directly
inland from some of the areas which contained the earliest Jewish
communities on the Iberian peninsula - for example Huelva and
Gibraltar. Malaga and Almunecar - which also had early communities -
are also in Andalucia. According to Timothy Mitchell's book
Flamenco: Deep Song and other sources, the inquisition in
western Andalucia was slightly more lenient than elsewhere because of
the need for labour related for the new world trade and mining. The
connections are quite interesting.
Famous Hispanics who have acknowledged Marrano ancestry include Rita
Moreno and Fidel Castro. Jews have played an important role in the
history of Monterrey, Mexico. The Garza family, one of Mexico's richest,
of Cerveceria Moctezuma fame, are Jews. Frida Kahlo's father, Guillermo
Kahlo, a somewhat reknowned photographer in his own right, was a
Hungarian Jew. Diego Rivera admitted having marrano ancestry as well.
© (c) 1993-1997 Daniel P. Faigin mailto:faigin@shamash.org