Are You Jewish or Are You Hispanic? A Look at Hybrid Identity - Ana Gómez-Bravo

What is identity? This talk presents identity as an evolving, "unfixable" concept that moves fluidly between countries, cultures, languages, religions, and gender expectations. The medievalist Ana Gómez-Bravo explains how the fifteenth-century Spanish Jews known as conversos, or converts to Christianity, provided a peer group for her own shifting self-perception.
Ana Gómez-Bravo is Associate Professor in the Division of Spanish and Portuguese Studies at the University of Washington, where she is also faculty for the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies. Her research interests include medieval Spain, gender studies, and the intersections among food, culture, and texts. Prof. Gómez-Bravo received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Her new book is Textual Agency: Writing Culture and Social Networks in Fifteenth-Century Spain (University of Toronto Press, 2013).
Comment Policy:
The Stroum Center for Jewish Studies believes that comments are a valuable source of dialogue and wants to include your thoughts as part of the conversation. To create a welcoming space for all, we won't publish comments that are profane, irrelevant, self-promotional or that make personal attacks.

[@margaritakleinman5701]

Can you be Jewish and Spanish, yes of course! More and more Hispanic people are learning they have some Jewish (Sephardic) roots or ancestry.

[@Eliav-246]

If your Jewish heritage was lost over the centuries then it is now necessary for you to convert 🔯. Ethnicity and heritage are two different things .. There are many people with a percentage of Jewish ethnicity nowadays but to identity as fully Jewish requires conversion... Reintegration into Jewish religion , culture , and heritage is now necessary. 🔯

[@Jorge17275]

@@Eliav-246 I'm Sephardic. I know that Sephardic Jews are descendants of the millennial Hebrews who went to Sepharad (Spain) after leaving the holly land. Obadiah : 1:20 goes to the point. The EUROPEAN Jews are from Eastern Europe. I have plenty of books about Judaism .

[@raven86]

@Heraldo Medrano You should take a dna test

[@tyrannosaurus62]

I’m Spanish but I don’t have Sephardic Jew in me but instead I have ashkenazi instead , along with 9% North African , which could be either (Egypt, Morocco , Algeria , Libya ) btw it was the Roman’s who introduce Catholicism . I’m the midevil times of Spain. Ex ( convert or get out ) taking over the land and excluding the Jewish people.

[@pcarebear1]

@@tyrannosaurus62 That is normal for Sephardic Jews to have a big mix of Middle East, North African, Spain/Portugal (which could have French, Basque, etc). It's hard to find the markers unique to Ashkenazi vs. Sephardic. I never understood why random people would swear I was Sephardic, Lebanese, Greek, etc. when I'm 1/2 Central American and 1/2 Anglo American until I saw my DNA😂It's mindblowing to see so many ethnicities thanks to my Central American side. It's normal to wear a Star of David vs. a Cross (or both) in our countries, I didn't realize this wasn't a "normal" thing with other non-Hispanic Catholics.

[@gizmo8304]

interesting how much of our culture was lost due to these difficult times our ancestors faced. thanks

[@joelmarks2257]

I am both Jewish and Hispanic. Usually it’s Hispanic people saying they found out about Jewish background but I’m Jewish who just found out about having Hispanic background.

[@JasonCWaite]

Just now realized I'm probably of Sephardic background on both sides of the family. Crazy. Never even knew nor thought of this. Mothers side from New Mexico, was always just "Spanish", by dad's ancestry immigrated to East Coast United States and called his side of family "Black Dutch."

[@jackieortegadesigns326]

There are many Hispanic and Latino Jews. In fact it is also confirmed that many Spaniards and Latinos have Jewish DNA.

[@mrot2621]

Many of them was sent in Philippines, for 300 yrs Philippines was a colony of Spain until in 1898 when Philippines was Sold to the USA and I was one of the sons of this Spanish who settled in Philippines …

[@angeloacosta9411]

I grew up in Chicago's lower west side neighborhood of (Pilsen). I knew a number of Mexican Jews when I was a kid. I also knew some Puerto Rican Jews... with the internet you can find a lot of cool stuff !

[@anniescorfano]

IM ALSO FROM CHICAGO. Many of my friends are Mexican Arabs and they dont even know it.

[@xidegel4494]

I'm Tejano/Texan 🤠 . But I'm also of Ladino ancestry . Throughout the centuries, my Judeo/Catholic ancestors only married among Judeo/Catholics. In the case of my parents, my great grandfather(my father's grandfather) M.Perez questioned my mother. Great grandfather Perez determined that my mother was as well Ladina, Jewish Catholic. My Dad's youngest brother had to marry their cousin, they couldn't find a Judeo/Catholic woman for him to marry. So my great grandparents match him up with a cousin. Although most of my Family is Catholic or some form of Christian, We have not forgotten our Jewish ancestral heritage. A few years ago, I chose to follow the faith of my ancestors, which is Judaism. With the help of some local Austin Rabbis, I was able to reconnect with my ancestral Faith. I've not yet converted back, but I did learn a lot. Both my parents are still Christian, but both have fully accepted their Jewish heritage. We are all Ami-El , People of G-d. Cheers from Austin Texas 😀

[@zmezgar2387]

so do you believe you are descendent from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? or is your conversion back to the ashkenazi religion judism? please elaborate because if your don't know either or I think there is some studying you would need to do. Please know and understand that Rabbinic Jews of any sort practice a religion called Judism, and a true Hebrew descendent of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob coming back to his truth practice their faith, The Totah and The Tanahk, Bible and Laws. There is a difference. There German Jews have their own religion that had infiltrated sefardim and they not knowing any better took it upon thinking that was the way to go.

[@geraldogonzaga2509]

@@zmezgar2387 here in the Philippines,a lot of us here bear a Spanish surnames,later I discovered that Gonzaga is Lombardy, Italy in origin. I thought my ancestors migrated to Spain because intermarriage.but how my surnames reaches Spanish colonies ,I began to suspect that Gonzaga's,are also trying to escape Spanish inquisition, because they are instincts in Europe and are fleeing to colonies,I had few proof of my suspicion

[@tilesetter1953]

You can be both, a Jew living in Spain like the thousands who were forced to convert, they were Hispanic AND jewish!

[@marcorodriguez381]

Mexicans are descendents from native American, Jews, moorish,French,german,Spanish, Arabs irish,african,korean,chinese. But mostly we are half native american, Spanish and moorish

[@Jorge17275]

www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/12/dna-reveals-the-hidden-jewish-ancestry-of-latin-americans/578509/

[@mdmflor4574]

You forgot Italian! Spain was heavily ruled by the Romans/Italians during their rule and they left their DNA too in Spain

[@aniuxka2457]

Please, I recommend everyone to start making your genealogy. I always know we were jews but nothing special about except love God and pray for gerusalem. I did the dna test and am working in my genealogical tree, and I am fascinated by everyone I have discovered so far.

[@annafrankmusicofficial]

Good presentation sister thank you

[@vivianmcalexander9999]

My mom is of Converso blood. ❤✡✝️🕎

[@albertmontes11]

My ancestry test indicated I have Jewish traces in my 🧬 I'm and I also have southern European Spanish and native indigenous. I'm proud of trace of Jewishness. Baruch hashem shalom.......yerushalaim for ever

[@aniuxka2457]

Baruch Hashem 🙌

[@SHAUL-YIRAH-MAAMIN.]

תודה רבה.

[@cristobalvalladares973]

No Jewish blood here. I can best be described as afro Latino. I got to know the Sephardi community in Midwood Brooklyn. I was amazed at the similarities to Latino culture. They were, some, of Turkish and Moroccan background. A fascinating and lively people. Grew to love and admire them. Wow, what a people!

[@anniescorfano]

If you have hairy genetics it could be from Sephardic Jews or moors just saying…

[@Charl20]

The Gitanos also have a lot of similarities with being Jews and lies have been told about them. Their music, sound and dance alone show that. I believe los Gitanos (Romani) lost their identity as well.

[@soomi5087]

I am Jew and Hispanic!

[@cinnamonstar808]

Yes because one is a faith and one is culture. Its not a race of people which is why Israel dont have a DNA swab for citizenship.

[@isalarie5877]

@@cinnamonstar808 its a nation /tribe/ethnoreligion genetic cluster its not just a faith

[@johnzimmerman3021]

From the Argentine side of our extended family (all now American citizens): "The Jews don't like us because we're Latins; the Latins don't like us because we're Jews."

[@Simchah18169]

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱 ✡️🕎 Visited breslev en Espanol Or English to learn Torah.

[@WelcomeToThe92503]

That is pretty cool and really brave! All praises due. 🙌🏻

[@damianperea702]

My dna results said I had 5% Sephardic Jewish ancestry. I’m still considered a shiksa 😆 My parents are from Chihuahua & Durango

[@anthonygonzalez8684]

Muchisimos gracias de los decidientes de Sefardi en los Estados Unidos.

[@delphiniapickett2934]

My mom from NM..I like to get a DNA. I heard link to breast cancer from the Jewish genetic and that's what she died from and it was surprised to her. No one has issues with breast cancer

[@mrot2621]

My mom also died from breast cancer, her Aunt died also of breast cancer, his Father is has Spanish blood I saw one Corcuera’s of Mexico we have similarity in our looks.

[@kashoutlenox]

I have Jewish ancestry and king Alfons was my 28th grandfather lol

[@samuelmonroy_05]

I think I'm a sephardi

[@yosefch6605]

There is an abundance of ignorance regarding the Latino community in this country, it's a shame. Most believe believe that if you are HIspanic, you cannot be anything else and all of them are thrown in the same basket. This could not be more wrong. There are many religions, customs and traditions as well as history and culture among the Latino community. So why are they all seen as being the same? this is also taught in schools.

[@OneOfMany111]

I’m Yemenite Jewish, White Mountain Apache and French Basque

[@siervodedios5952]

That's one heck of a combo!

[@osvaldofabelo6488]

There's a lot more hispanics of heavy arab descent. And they faced the same problems as the Jewish hispanics. You should cover that

[@mjl.9-19]

A real semantics issue ? I don’t know but it seems that some “Jews” at the time of Jesus became the first Christians, leaving or extinguishing their Jewish identity. Also, perhaps “Jewish” as identity became or originated as religious Jews whose messiah is/was not Jesus Christ. That’s how I see it

[@edgaradame6392]

The jews who became jesus followers never left their jewish identity, jesus (yeshua) never came to destroy his fathers torah(instructions) what he did do and taught was against the man made traditions of the pharises

[@bobkrang5007]

Up until the year 350 AD (approx) "everyone" was a Jew, the question was in divinity. Did you believe that Jesus was divine or not. If you believed that Jesus was divine, then you were Christian, but everyone practiced the same Jewish customs and traditions.

[@annecohen8927]

Why, yes!

[@samuelbenitez4200]

I am both

[@danielschulman4909]

Question . . . can you be Ashkenazi and Sephardic?

[@tagbarzeev3571]

Yes you can I am Ashkenazi my wife is sephardic and it's obvious that our children have genes from both sides.

[@theodoreperez2868]

My grandfather use to say that they were rich and goveners

[@timprague2516]

That’s what we are!!! Jewish Spanish we are ISRAEL!!

[@hilariogarcia9861]

Does anybody know about the Berbers of Morocco? Where do they fit in history. I know that they were fighters in the Umayyad Caliphate that conquered the Iberian Peninsula in the year 711 AD. This particular peoples are very light skin and some have blue eyes. I know that in the Diaspora Jews were scattered to the four winds. And some scholars believe that some Jews were scattered before the Diaspora. Is it possible that the Berbers were Jewish, and became Moslems in order to survive? I know that they were ferocious warriors, until some were stopped by Charles Martell in the battle of Tours in October 10, 732 AD. Maybe somebody knows more about this people? Any thing is possible. There’s so much, that history has hidden from us, or things that the victors have hidden from us.

[@noelramirez1551]

We get the Spanish word moreno from the the moors

[@hiphophoodios4523]

Hip Hop Hoodíos are BOTH, gracías!

[@scripturaltruth7636]

The Ibereans are the Hebrew Abram was an Ibriy where the word orginated

[@aveuch]

But I have green eyes 😳

[@willbergie55]

According to a DNA test that I have taken I am of Iberian, Greek and west Asian ancestry on my mother's side. It is possible that I have Jewish ancestry.

[@zmezgar2387]

west asian is middle eastern.

[@Odo55]

Well is probably safe to say it didn't come from your Bergendahl side 😉

[@jerrysamuels8716]

Anybody can be Jewish because it's a religion. And that is where that story begins and ends.

[@edgaradame6392]

Jew means that you come from the tribe of Judah, being a jew and converting to Judaism is a different thing isnt?

[@yagilitzhak1054]

@@edgaradame6392 Judaism is the ethnoreligion and nationality of the Israelites. As the native American has their religions and tribes and in some tribes, folks can even join, folks might as well join the Jewish community if they adopt the Jewish culture and belief system.

[@justinnunez1892]

It’s an ethno religion

[@siervodedios5952]

Jews are an ethnoreligious group, so both an ethnicity and a religion simultaneously.

[@wep4968]

how about some quotes from the talmud?

[@mareelaree6400]

wep 49 The Talmud is not The Holy Bible.

[@TorahisLifeandLight]

According to a Latin America DNA study done , Hispanics who did a DNA test had 23% Spaniards non Sephardic and out of 23% tested , they had 5% Sephardic ancestry. That means, they only have a 5% recessive Sephardic gene in their DNA blend . In the Bible, these type of Jews ( Sephardic ancestry) were called "gentiles' due to the DNA mixture of their DNA. Paul called it the "wild olive tree". The Samaritans also were mixed with Hebrew ancestry. However, they were not considered to be part of the house of Israel or Judah. See Matthew 10:5,6. I've done quite an extensive biblical and secular research about this topic and I am really glad to see this video explaining few of the things about Sephardim that the world do not know about us.

[@ME-hw1pg]

Well as a Hispanic gentile or whatever… John 4:24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” King James Version

[@mrot2621]

You said Samaritans.? You mean the Samaritans After 500 BC? this were not Hebrew , they came from the other country under the Assyrian empire at that time, the ten tribes was captured, scattered and exiled by the Assyrians, and no one knows of their DNA composition, only Heaven knows who are the descendants of this people.

[@mrot2621]

You cannot say “they are” wild olive or you can’t say a person does not come from the tribe of Jacob, all X - chromosome who came from Jacob are sons of Jacob, and in fact by re-grouping the DNA of a man and a woman our Father can re-create sons from the line of Jacob..and this is happening today …

[@orlandovelastegui1391]

Jewish is not a race. Jewish is a religion. My father mother side went by the Surname Nuñez. (ez)= Son of Nun. They had a Jewish last name. People from the Jewish Faith in the 15 century had to convert into a Catholic or leave. The people that became Catholic were called Converso. Your race is Spanish because anyone that originated from Iberia is Spanish.

[@justinnunez1892]

Spanish and Jewish aren’t races. They’re ethnicities. Being Jewish is an ethno religion

[@PassionateStrawberry]

Interesting topic but she's a terrible public speaker. It's not because of her accent. Listening and watching her made me cringe.

[@joeman425]

Why even make the comment? Just keep it to yourself.

[@romeolachapelle5349]

I am a ignorant so you have to show me on the scale of Darwin...we I am so may be I can figure out where you are...