Following the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, the Catholic Church’s Inquisition followed the Jews to Latin America. To save their lives, Jews reluctantly accepted baptism into the Catholic Church. Many became the conversos or hidden Jews, who would go to church and appear outwardly as fully Christian Catholics while secretly keeping Jewish rituals.
One such hidden ritual was of the matron of the house going to the attic by herself on a Friday evening to light Shabbat candles. If caught by council members of the Inquisition, it meant torture and death. The Spanish Inquisition, established in 1478, was formally abolished in 1834 under the regency of Maria Christina of Bourbon, when the moderate liberal government of Francisco Martínez de la Rosa issued a decree definitively suppressing the Tribunal of the Inquisition. Thus, former Jews, forcibly converted to Catholicism continued their Jewish traditions in secret up until the 19th century. Fear amongst many Jews was not erased despite the legal decree, and they continued to hide their practices.
Gabriel was on his way back to his native Brazil when this reporter met him in Philadelphia. A tall and handsome young man in his twenties, he related to me his fascinating, although not uncommon, story. As a teenager he would see his mother going into the attic. Years later, while in college, he met a rabbi and questioned him about his mom’s habit. What he learned led him to study Judaism and go to Israel where he chose to volunteer with Israel’s Paratroopers Brigade. While in Israel he underwent an Orthodox conversion to Judaism followed by a ritual circumcision
For most of the last two millenniums the Jews were a persecuted minority. Living as “guests” in host countries and being denied access to higher education and to guilds, resulted in limited means while their small numbers, fodder for scapegoating, prevented effective resistance.
Persecution of Jews began in Imperial Rome, where Jews were seen as “different” because they did not work on Shabbat, believed in One God, did not eat unkosher food, and kept their own traditions, while meeting their civic obligations along with other citizens. Roman rulers were tolerant about the many religions and cults dwelling within the empire, however, they demanded all Romans to bow in submission to the emperor, who at times, as in the case of Caligula, thought of themselves as gods. Jews, however, only bowed to God in submission, not to men.
In the aftermath of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, the Roman emperors (Vespasian and Titus) impose Fiscus Judaicus – the Jewish tax. It was intended to destroy Judaism. The tax became even harsher under Emperor Domitian, the younger son of Vespasian. It was imposed on the elderly, men, women, and children. Judaism, hitherto popular among Roman elites, was now abandoned in order to survive. Eventually the tax and anti-Jewish propaganda, helped Christianity supplant Judaism in the Roman Empire.
Once Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire under Emperor Constantine, the Church fathers sought to have Judaism repressed by a variety of humiliating acts: Jews could not serve in government or the army, could not own real estate or join a professional guild, and were branded simultaneously as “exploiters” and “unclean paupers.” Nazi propaganda would build on these brandings in the 1930’s and 1940’s.
Additional acts of humiliation included: The relegation of Jews to moneylending since it was forbidden to Christians by the Church; accusing Jews of being “Christ Killers,” which then led to the Crusaders massacring tens of thousands of European Jews on their way to liberate Jerusalem from Islam; and Blood libels resulting in Jews being murdered and dispossessed for the malicious accusation that they were “killing Christian children to use their blood in Passover matzoth,” as happened in Norwich, England in 1144, and repeated well into the 20th century with the Beilis Trial in 1911 in Kiev, Russian Empire.
In order to bring historical justice to those descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Jews who were forced to become Catholics against their will, it is vital to return those former Jews back to the Jewish fold.
Recent academic and genetic research has demonstrated that there are as many as 200 million people, largely in Latin and North America, as well as Europe, who have “significant Jewish ancestry” dating back to the time of the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal. Imagine if even 50 million of these people claimed their Jewish heritage.
The Jewish state and major Jewish organization must devote energy and monetary resources to educate the people throughout Latin America, Portugal and Spain as to how they became conversos and teach them about Judaism, its history, practices, and vision of the future.
At a Chabad House in Cascais, Portugal, I witnessed Catholic individuals who came to learn about Judaism, and in the process, they discovered their Jewish roots. It also happened in Toledo, Spain, at the Casa de Jacobo, where two young adults who discovered their Judaism after a lifetime of being Spanish Catholics opened a Jewish bookstore that dispenses information to conversos who seek to come back to Judaism. With proper resources and guidance this might become a popular trend that brings millions back to
Judaism ceased to be a missionary religion in the First Century BCE, after the Edomites were converted by Alexander Yanai, the Jewish ruler and a descendant of the Hashmonaim dynasty. The oppressive King Herod was an Edomite converted to Judaism, who in Jewish folklore was the reason why Jews refrained from evangelizing. Times have changed, and in democratic countries where freedom of religion is guaranteed, and the marketplace of ideas is open to all, Judaism makes for an attractive option.
I am certain that if the numbers of Jews worldwide were 50 million, no one with mess with Israel and Jews. The strengthening of the Jewish collective would correct the injustices created by the malevolence of the Spanish Inquisition.
Joseph Puder is a local columnist and the founder and director of the Interfaith Taskforce for America and Israel (ITAI).