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, [...]
A History of the Original HaLapid
“Todo se ilumina para aquêle que busca a luz, BEN-ROSH” These words appear on the cover of this publication. They were taken from the original publication that gave us the title: HaLapid. In the Summer 2010 issue I wrote a short history of this publication. I have been asked to expand on the history of [...]
Doña Gracia Nasi Translated from Ladino
(This fragment of a previously untranslated document in Ladino from Salonika eighty years ago reflects the continued focus on Doña Gracia by the descendents of the people she rescued. It is from the Ladino publication, Folyeton del Pueblo (Salonika, 1929/5690) and discusses the role of Doña Gracia in protecting the anusim in the sixteenth century [...]
Doña Gracia Nasi
Doña (Lady) Gracia Mendes will not be forgotten since her contributions to humanity and to the Jewish community are so large. Gracia’s struggle against the world dominated by men enabled her to set a precedent for other Jewish women to follow (i.e. Esperanza Malchi). Always expecting the impossible she overcame strife in order to salvage [...]
The “Discovery” of Doña Gracia
Rising from the Footnotes of His-story to Recognition on her 500th birthday In 1996, I decided that the book I was to write about the Sephardic Jews of Spain and Portugal would utilize biography. I reasoned that readers would get more out of a work of history about a distant place and age if they [...]
Doña Gracia Nasi A Legend in her Lifetime
Gracia — her Hebrew name was Hannah — was born in 1510 in Lisbon , Portugal , to the wealthy and aristocratic Nasi family of Marrano Jews originating from Spain . Marrano was the term commonly used for the newly converted Jews or Conversos as they were called. They were officially al lowed to enter [...]
connect with us