Section 13. Jews as a Nation
Who are the Crypto-Jews (also known as "marranos")?
© (c) 1993-1997 Daniel P. Faigin <faigin@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
At the time of the Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion from Spain in
1492,
Jews were offered conversion or expulsion. Many chose to leave Spain
(quite
a few found safety in the Muslim Ottoman Empire), but others stayed
behind.
"Marranos" actually started appearing with the first riots in the Juderias
of Spain. Many were forced to convert to save their lives. These were
naturally not faithful Catholics. The laws in 14th and 15th century Spain
became increasingly oppressive towards practicing Jews, while providing an
easy escape by conversion. Large numbers of middle class Jews outwardly
took
on Christianity to avoid the laws, while secretly practicing Judaism.
Most of the remaining Marranic practice in Spain and ****tugal today is
from
those religious Jews who escaped from Spain to ****tugal in 1492, only to
be
trapped there later when the expulsion was instituted there as well. The
most active Marranism in the Iberian peninsula is in the mountainous
border
areas between Spain and ****tugal, in towns such as Belmonte'. Jewish
outreach in these areas is achieving success in bringing them forward and
restoring full Judaic practice, but many still fear burning or other
persecution if they go public.
Some faithful Catholic converts were won by the efforts of famous
apostates
like Pablo de Santa Maria who went around disputing the rabbis and
ordinary
Jews, winning some converts. In the most famous disputation, with
Nachmanides, he was soundly defeated, but the Franciscans published false
re****ts of the disputation to win more converts. Nachmanides, who had been
protected from heresy laws during the disputations, was forced to publish
his refutations in public. He was forced into exile rather than be burned
as
a heretic. In any case, the faithfulness of these converts is doubtful,
since the Order of Expulsion was primarily due to the recidivism of
Conversos once they had to live next door to practicing Jews again. It was
felt that expelling all open Jews was the only way to keep the Conversos
Christian.
Among those who stayed behind were Jews who pretended to convert to Roman
Catholicism, but who secretly maintained a practice of Judaism. The term
"Marrano" was at one time used to describe them, as the term refers to the
swine which they'd publicly eat to demonstrate their outward conversion.
It
isn't clear if the "Old Christians" or the practicing Jews called them
"marrano".
In Majorca the community was converted in the 1430's and are called
Chuetas,
from "****k lard" since they regularly keep ****k lard boiling in cauldrons
on
their ****ches. They themselves still call themselves Israelitas in
private,
and ask forgiveness from el Grande Dio for wor****pping in front of statues
of a man. They typically sacrified (in a figurative, not literal, sense)
their first born sons to the Catholic priesthood as a means of getting
protection from Church persecution, so, ironically, many of the priests
across the Baleiric Islands are from Marrano families.
Crypto-Jew is the correct term, as it also refers to Jews forced to adopt
other religions and political philosophies while maintaining Jewish
practices. Crypto-Judaism pre-dates the Inquisition, as Jews were forced
by
the Al-Mohavid invasions of Spain to become Muslims, creating Crypto-Jews
who gradually fled to Christian districts for protection from the Muslims
(see Roth's History of the Jews). In modern times outwardly Muslim
Crypto-Jews are known to be in Meshed, Iran, and in Turkey.
A number of Crypto-Jewish communities survive today, especially in former
Spanish-influenced regions, such as the southwestern U.S.A. They still
maintain extensive secrecy after centuries. Other communities were lost to
assimilation, but maintained residual Jewish practices such as lighting
candles Friday night. Based on information in Cohen's The Marranos and
Prinz's The Secret Jews, the following are some examples of these
communities:
a.. The Antiquen~as of Colombia.
b.. Much of Northern Mexico's middle and upper cl***** (Nuevo Leon is
the
"New Lion of Judah").
c.. The Naucalpan and Vallejo districts of Mexico City. (Technically,
Naucalpan is not in the Distrito Federal, but in the greater metropolitan
area).
d.. The Chuetas of Majorca. A look at Chueta last names shows many
surnames which have became quite famous in the Hispanic world. They
include
Mir, Miro, and Marti. Of course Joan Miro was Mallorcan. Any marranism in
Fidel Castro's family would be through his mother, as his father's family
was Gallego, and very few Jews ever lived in Galicia (of course plenty
lived
in the Austrian Galicia, I'm refering to northwestern Spain). Interesting
about the mountains on the Spanish-****tuguese border being a hotbed of
marranism, particularly those on the Extremadura-Andalucia border. This
area
is directly inland from some of the areas which contained the earliest
Jewish communities on the Iberian peninsula - for example Huelva and
Gibraltar. Malaga and Almunecar - which also had early communities - are
also in Andalucia. According to Timothy Mitchell's book Flamenco: Deep
Song
and other sources, the inquisition in western Andalucia was slightly more
lenient than elsewhere because of the need for labour related for the new
world trade and mining. The connections are quite interesting.
Famous Hispanics who have acknowledged Marrano ancestry include Rita
Moreno
and Fidel Castro. Jews have played an im****tant role in the history of
Monterrey, Mexico. The Garza family, one of Mexico's richest, of
Cerveceria
Moctezuma fame, are Jews. Frida Kahlo's father, Guillermo Kahlo, a
somewhat
reknowned photographer in his own right, was a Hungarian Jew. Diego Rivera
admitted having marrano ancestry as well.
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