These papers originally appeared in HaLapid, the publication of the SCJS. More articles will be added to this page with each new issue of HaLapid.
23rd Annual Conference of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies
Conference 20123 – University of Colorado Colorado Springs – Gallery of Contemporary Arts (GOCA) Colorado Springs, CO Please join us for the 23rd annual conference of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies that will be held Sunday, July 28, through Tuesday, July 30, 2013, at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. The conference will help launch SCJS’s [...]
The Islamic Concept of Taqqiya and Its Influence on Spanish Jewry
Juan Marcos Bejarano Gutierrez For years, rabbis and scholars have speculated as to why so many Spanish Jews converted to Christianity beginning in the year 1391 when faced with violence or coercion in contrast to the tendency of the Jews in Germany to opt for death or even suicide when faced with similar circumstances. The [...]
The Tale of Belmonte’s Crypto Jews
Long after their Spanish neighbors, Portuguese municipalities have finally recognized the potential of Jewish tourism. This probably has to do with a surge of interest among the Portuguese to unveil their crypto-Jewish roots, concomitantly with a new momentum among young and not-so-young historians who engage in the research of Portugal’s Jewish past. Revisiting villages, where [...]
Book Review: By Fire, By Water
Mitchell James Kaplan, By Fire, By Water (New York: Other Press, 2010) pp.320, Reviewed by Deborah Wohl Isard If ever a book should be judged by its cover, it’s By Fire, By Water by Mitchell James Kaplan. The book’s cover immediately sets the tone for this well-crafted and engaging work of historical fiction that takes [...]
La Granada
The Society for Crypto Judaic Studies is proud to announce inauguration of La Granada, its on line newsletter. La Granada will present up-to-date news, articles, announcements and much more about our society and about the field of Crypto Judaic studies. La Granada will be emailed to all SCJS members PLUS anyone who subscribes by requesting [...]
Samuel Usque and The Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel
The Bavli Talmud (i.e. Babylonian Talmud) in Tractate Makkot relates story of Rabban Gamaliel, Rabbi Eleazar Ben Azariah, Rabbi Joshua, and Rabbi Akiva and their journey to Jerusalem. Upon arriving at the Temple Mount and seeing it in ruins, all the sages rent their clothes in sorrow. As they reached the place where the Temple [...]
The Militant crypto-Jewish Carlos Esparza
During the twentieth century, numerous civil rights leaders surfaced in South Texas. Leaders such as Aniceto Pizana, Luis de la Rosa, and Jose Cantu and others, whose sensibility, confidence and industriousness made them legendary. They all loathed aristocratic snobbery and pretensions and hated class divisions. Everyday these leaders, along with other Texas Latinos, faced the [...]
Call for Papers – SCJS Annual Conference, July 28-30, 2013, Colorado Springs
23rd Annual Conference Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies Colorado Springs, CO July 28-30, 2013 The Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies will be holding its 23rd Annual Conference Sunday, July 28, through Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We invite papers on crypto-Judaism from any discipline (e.g., anthropology, history, sociology, philosophy, literature, music, etc.) and from [...]
Genealogy Workshop at Conference 2012
“Our Roots: Exploring Hispano Family History,” a special genealogy workshop, will be offered just before the conference opens, on July 22, from 12 to 4:30 p.m. at the Hotel Albuquerque. Speakers include Robert Martinez and Henrietta Martinez Christmas, members of the Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico, and Mona Hernandez, SCJS member, each with [...]
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