Indentured Immigrants
Flypaper Press, Ignacio, CA, soft cover, $19.95 reviewed by Gloria Trujillo Philip has self-published his book which has nine fact filled chapters of his Jewish family’s odyssey from Madeira, which is about 400 miles east of Casablanca Morocco, to the Sandwich Islands in 1885 aboard the Stirlingshire, a three-masted sailing ship. In the first three [...]
Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation
Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1997. For those interested in the life of the conversos who moved to Amsterdam in the 16th and 17th centuries, the book written by Miriam Bodian provides an excellent insight on the conversos. The author analyzes the reasons why they left Portugal and Spain after they had converted to Christianity and [...]
Hamadrich
Hamadrich Hamadrich by Jacques Cukierkorn is the first non-orthodox guide to Judaism in Spanish and also the ONLY practical step guide with step-by-step direction for Jewish practice. It can be ordered by email directly from Rabbi Cukierkorn at rabbi94@hotmail.com. The price is $22. See Rabbi Cukierkorn’s website
The Cross by Day, Mezuzah by Night
Jewish Publication Society; Hardcover, $14.95 reviewed by Arthur Benveniste Set in Seville in 1492, this novel for young adults, is a first person narrative, the story of Isabel Caruso de Carvallo, a Catholic girl of wealth and privilege. Expecting a special thirteenth birthday celebration of gifts and family feasting and a special present from her [...]
CARMI HOUSE
The Carmi House has a number of interesting books dealing with the history of Sephardic Jews. Among them are: The Conquistadores and Crypto-Jews of Monterrey The Alhambra Decree The Cavalier of Malaga The Expulsion 1492 Chronicles Please visit the Carmi website at: http://www.carmihouse.com/
Another Desert:Jewish Poetry of New Mexico
reviewed by Gloria Trujillo Another Desert: Jewish Poetry of New Mexico edited by Joan Logghe and Miriam Sagan. (Sherman Asher Publishing, P0 Box 2853, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-2853. 174 pages, $15, 00, paperback.) Once I picked up “Another Desert” to read, I could not put it down. The book is an intriguing and moving [...]
The Portrayal of Crypto-Jews of the American Southwest
Review of Literature For almost three decades, the story of the descendants of Jewish conversos or crypto-Jews of the American Southwest has been big news in the popular press. Everyone from the New York Times to Hadassah Magazine to the Forward has had a go at it on more than one occasion. Over the years, [...]
The Sephardic Jews of Spain and Portugal: Survival of an Imperiled Culture in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Reviewed by Ron Duncan-Hart Although the title and subject matter of The Sephardic Jew of Spain and Portugal make it sound like a traditional history book, in fact this book shows Dolly Sloan’s skill as a story teller. More than half of the book narrates the personal lives of four [...]
Ornament of the World How Moslems, Jews, and Christians Created the Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain
Reviewed by Arthur Benveniste Almost every day headlines announce another story of sectarian violence somewhere in the world. And in most cases radical Moslems are involved. Their advisories are Jews in Israel, Hindus in Kashmir, Christians in the former Yugoslavia and Christians and Animists in Sudan. Travel the world and you will find churches converted [...]
Abuelita’s Secret Matzahs
Reviewed by Arthur Benveniste The pages of HaLapid have presented reviews of many books dealing with the history and culture of crypto Jews, some of them quite scholarly, others written in a more popular style, some fiction and some histories. But, until now, the books have been directed towards an adult readership. What a pleasure [...]
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