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.
Crypto-Jews From Tras-os-montes, Portugal-A History Told By The Y Chromosome
Introduction The universal history of Jewish people is full of constant oppressions and persecutions. Portugal as no exception to this rule. It was in Tras-os-Montes, a rugged and isolated province of Portugal , on the North East border with Spain , that many Jews settled and were able to secretly maintain their ancestral culture and [...]
Some Communication Codes Between Crypto-Jews in the Secret Prisons of the Inquisition in New Spain
Groups of judaizers arrived at the coast of New Spain in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, and in the hopes of escaping the persecution and repression promoted in the Peninsula, thought the new continent would offer them a better life and greater freedom to practice their religion and keep their language and Hispanic [...]
Judy Frankel
In 1962 Judy Frankel attended a Theodore Bikel concert in Cambridge , Mass. Bikel sang a song in Spanish, but, as Judy recalls, “It didn’t sound like Spanish.” After the concert she asked Bikel about the song. He told her that it was in Ladino. The song was “Los Bilbilikos” (The Nightingales). This was her [...]
Abraham Ben Samuel Zacuto
What happened to a celebrated scholar who refused to convert? And what happened to his descendants who became Crypto-Jews I was probably nine or ten and sitting in the synagogue when my father called my attention to an elderly gentleman located a few rows in front of us. “Do you see that man over there?” [...]
The Story of Dönmes-Second Conversos: A Hundred Years of Conspiracies
(Also see A Messianic Epiphany. The Conversion of the Dönme Sabbateans by Lillooet McDonnell ) Introduction In the following pages, I would like to discuss the history of conspiracy theories about a crypto-Jewish group Dönmes in Turkey. I will start the discussion by describing the group’s story and then compare it with the conspiratorial accounts [...]
A Messianic Epiphany: The Conversion of the Dönme Sabbateans
In 1683 approximately three hundred Jewish families voluntarily converted to Islam. This voluntary mass conversion took place in the Ottoman city of Salonika and was the largest conversion of its kind. There are several explanations as to why this conversion took place. The main reason stems from the fact that this group of Jews was [...]
UNM Institute Supports Project to Document Crypto Judaism in Spanish Caribbean Islands
The Latin American and Iberian Institute at the University of New Mexico has initiated a project to document the history and ethnography of crypto-Judaism on the Spanish Caribbean Islands of Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and pre-English Jamaica. The project involves the collaboration of historian Stanley M. Hordes, Adjunct Research Professor, and anthropologist Seth D. [...]
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