The Crypto-Jews: The Story of a Slow Awakening

Meet four people of Latin descent in four different stages of their discovery of their Jewish roots and the remarkable story of the end point of the 500 year journey of a hidden community.

[@dynamicwalk]

This is a wonderful topic that needs more coverage. The guests stories are very similar to my own. It’s time for all of us to come home.

[@maegardnermills4292]

I am having bone pains and scheduled to see a specialist tomorrow. When you said, DRY BONES it touched me so deeply because I am finding Jews in Brazil, Amsterdam in my 10th and 11th generations. I always connect my physical with my spirit. Dry Bones has helped me connect to my spirit. The darkness is hitting the light and it can't be hidden again. Much love to everyone.

[@maegardnermills4292]

Thank you all.

[@TheRanaro]

I have read "My 15 Grandmothers" twice. LOVE. IT. Bought the cook book too.

[@happyd1479]

Listening to this while I cleaned my kitchen and of course i swept everything to the center of the room 😂

[@Bosniak803]

[@Amypond1234]

Dominican Jew. That’s how my mother and grandmother taught me to do it.

[@adriaticseaeyes]

All of this 'new Jewish lineage' discovery makes me laugh. So many hispanics are running around like chickens with this 'discovery' ....My maternal family names are Rodriguez, Rivera, Campos, Martino, Vega, Velez, Sanchez & Gomez . As a little girl I was drawn to my jewish classmates yet I was raised christian by adoptive parents. At my confirmation in the Church I felt empty and nothing, yet as I studied my reflection in the mirror a voice in my mind said "You're Jewish". It wasn't until I was a young adult and met my mother and biolgogical family in the early 1990's when I told my uncle that I had planned to marry my jewish boyfriend but needed to convert, first- he laughed and told me "You don't need to convert we ARE Jewish" ..and explained the Sephardic ancestry of our family in Puerto Rico via Spain and Northern Africa, and the1492 Expulsion of Spain. He reminded me that my grandfather was nicknamed the Jew by the townsfolk of Ponce and Utuad where he was raised outside of the Catholic Church. In the late 1940's he and my grandmother settled in Miami --a decade before the mass immigration of Cubans. My grandmother would light candles in the closet and my uncles would hastily extinguish them just before a disaster occurred...always asking her why she kept doing it when it was a fire hazard! Our family inherited Semitic features, and the genetic memory of our past which I unknowingly carried for 18 years as Soul Memory. BTW, I was researching Harry Stein Sephardim.com when the internet was just burgeoning as a resource for genealogy.

[@Chyna65]

..Thank you for sharing your story very interesting..🙂

[@7.2]

There's so much to be unearthed. Beautiful!

[@annafrankmusicofficial]

Thank you I'm very pleased

[@arroyonpr]

Thank you all for sharing this! It ignited hope in my neshama. Dr. Maldonado, we have several factors of our story in common. I would like to speak to you. Let me know please. Shabbat shalom to all.

[@hakeemahmadjamal7403]

Shalom

[@davido.rodriguez3148]

Amazing I found out the that I am Portuguese and I come from the from the tribe of Judah how can I meet this lady so I can talk to her I want to share my experience with her she's not going to believe what I've gone through is something like her experience

[@user-mr9yc7qh3v]

Puerto Rico is home of the crypto Jewish since 14s century , I’m one and proud

[@davido.rodriguez3148]

It's true what you're saying brother that yes we are being called back I've been being called back the last eight years ago and I'm doing miss us and and study Torah ADONAI he's calling us back

[@phillipapodaca7407]

How can I contact her?

[@Machobuck1317]

I found out I'm his 9th cousin when I was looking for my jewish roots. It was a shocking discovery.

[@mariajacobson2804]

I've found that I have some Jewish roots! Frankly I guess I wasn't surprised! I felt it in my bones! My roots come from Northern New Mexico. Are there others out there from this region? I live in Idaho.

[@BBWahoo]

Let me guess, Greek Jew?

[@Machobuck1317]

What is the best way to search?? I have surenames of cortes n negron n velez which are all jewish surenames. My dad is full puerto rican n his hole family is from San Juan puerto rico. Cortes means house of israel.

[@8thApostle]

🐐💨

[@SisterIsadora]

LOL!!!!

[@ssize2427]

🐂💩

[@marydullinger4248]

Baruch Ha'shem

[@u.y.3643]

Anybody telling these good intentional persons that becoming a Jew is only through a conversion by Halacha (Jewish Law)?. Some think they are Jewish, when they are not.

[@jrm5593]

By in large, the bnei anusim are not "becoming Jews". They are "returning Jews". Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik wrote on the 1 Nisan 5754, "...the people in the Americas who claim to be descendants of the marranos of Spain and Portugal. They must be treated like full Jews in every way (counted for a minyan, given aliyot, etc.)." For the full letter see: www.cs.tau.ac.il/~nachum/sch/sch/solo.gif My return was via an Agudath Israel Beit Din on the Israeli Rabbinate's list of approved Beit Dins for Orthodox Conversions. Hatafat dam brit by Rabbi Pesach Krohn. It was done as a conversion not because I was deemed a ger but rather because too many in the Jewish community have no clue on halachic returns and would not know what to do with a return certificate. Consequently, the Skverer Rebbe who ruled on my case recommended to my Rabbi that it would be easier for me if I received conversion papers so as to avoid questioning from communities who are not familiar with the halacha of returns. You may also find interesting the letter from former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu on returnees found here: www.cs.tau.ac.il/~nachum/sch/sch/eliahu.jpg Anusim seeking to return face multiple challenges from their own families and friends. They are often rebuffed as if they were goyim seeking to become Jewish rather than as Rabbi Solomon ben Simeon ben Duran wrote, "drawn with kindness." Because of this and other challenges, anusim seeking to return, return via multiple routes and at various levels of observances and traditions. May Hashem draw all of us to Himself with the kindness with which we draw ourselves to those who for centuries have been lost and are now returning to Am Israel by Hashem's בְּיָ֣ד חֲ֭זָקָה וּבִזְר֣וֹעַ נְטוּיָ֑ה (mighty hand and outstretched arm).

[@u.y.3643]

@@jrm5593 ; thank you so much for the information. I was talking about those who undergo Reform or similar so called “conversions” Welcome back home.! Shabbat Shalom

[@jrm5593]

@@u.y.3643 Thank you Uri. As an Orthodox Jew, I fully understand the Orthodox position on this matter. However, as I read Rabbi Soloveichik's ruling, I don't see him saying "if they return as Orthodox Jews" or "only if they keep the mitzvot in the manner of the Chassidim, Lubavitchers, Spanish & Portuguese/Western Sephardim, etc". Instead, he states, "they must be treated like FULL Jews in EVERY way". This comes from the Rabbi considered to be the "20th Century's leading rabbinical scholar" and who also happens to be the grandson of the Brisker Rebbe. You and I have chosen a path and level of observance for a variety of reasons. A Pew research study showed that 22 percent of Jews 65 and older who were raised Orthodox are still Orthodox. This low attrition rate speaks to the challenges faced by those who are frum from birth. Just think how much more difficult it is for anusim going down the Orthodox route. BTW should we consider that the 78% who are no longer Orthodox are no longer Jewish? These are difficult issues. Let us be as kind as possible to those who are drawn to returning to Am Israel. Shabbat shalom!

[@markbr5898]

@@jrm5593 Did you mean to write "high attrition rate"?

[@jrm5593]

@@markbr5898 Yes I did Mark. Thank you.

[@happyd1479]

Name olmo =elmtree