Secret Jews: The Complex Identity of Crypto-Jews and Crypto-Judaism
- ISBN-10
- 1539620875
- ISBN-13
- 9781539620877
- Category
- Crypto-Jews
- Pages
- 286
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2016-10-18
- Author
- Juan Marcos Bejarano Gutierrez
Description
This book reviews types of Iberian Conversos (i.e. primarily forced but also voluntary Jewish converts to Christianity) from the late 14th to the 17th centuries and surveys the Christian and Jewish attitudes towards them. The book begins with a brief history of Jewish life in the Iberian Peninsula noting critical events such as the forced conversions of Jews under the Visigoths and the Almohades. The direct events leading to mass conversions of Jews in the late 14th century and the aftermath in the 15th century are reviewed. This study examines texts and decrees that reveal that many Christians doubted the sincerity of these Jewish conversions to Christianity, and how they still regarded and treated Conversos as Jews. Different types of Conversos are then discussed. The challenges and situations each Converso faced were unique and produced different outlooks towards Jewish identity and faith in general. Various Jewish sources, including rabbinic responsa, sermons, and other documents are also analyzed. These sources reveal the positive attitudes of Jews towards Conversos and the Jewish community's desire for them to return to Judaism openly. Other studies suggest that as a whole, Conversos either fully retained their Jewish identity or sincerely embraced Christianity. This study argues that the Jewish identity of Conversos was complicated and existed along a broad spectrum ranging from complete abandonment to ardent Judaizing. The book concludes by exploring the stories of descendants of Conversos in the United States, Latin America, and in Spain and Portugal, who are searching and often embracing a Jewish identity once thought lost.
Get the book
Similar books
-
Hidden Star
By Corinne Joy BrownTo law enforcement professional Sheriff Pete Palmer, Chaffee County Sheriff in Salida, Colorado; to David Kice, FBI Special Agent in Santa Fe, and to longtime mountain rescue volunteer Bill Barwick, Alpine Rescue Team, Evergreen, ...
-
Secrecy and Deceit: The Religion of the Crypto-Jews
By David Martin GitlitzLevine notes that a responsum of Rabbi Solomon ben Abraham Adret ( 1235-1310 ) criticizes the superstitious custom of hanging a cock and garlic at the door of a woman who has just given birth to ward off evil spirits ( Levine 1982 ...
-
Scandal in Amsterdam
By Avner GoldScandal in Amsterdam
-
Camisa limpia 2° edición
By Guillermo BlancoY así, al no moverse el tiempo, qué extraño modo de “quedar en su casa”, de habituarse. La pluma anota: ...se valían... de golpes de piedra, señalando un golpe la a, dos la b, y ansí por las demás letras, y quando llegaba la letra de ...
-
The Jewish Nation of the Caribbean: The Spanish-Portuguese Jewish Settlements in the Caribbean and the Guianas
By Mordehay ArbellAn ideal resource and captivating read for those traveling to the region or people with an interest in Jewish history, this is an exceptional book that brings the Jewish communities of the Caribbean to life, with intensity, and with a ...
-
Spinoza and Other Heretics: The Adventures of Immanence
By Yirmiyahu YovelBook 1 (p. 1-229), "Ha-anus shel ha-tevunah" ("The Marrano of Reason") appeared in English as "Spinoza and Other Heretics; Vol. 1: The Marrano of Reason" (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989).
-
The Marranos of Spain: From the Late 14th to the Early 16th Century, According to Contemporary Hebrew Sources
By Benzion NetanyahuAnalyzes the degree of assimilation of the Spanish Conversos based on Jewish perceptions as reflected in responsa and in polemical and exegetical Jewish literature of the time (1391-1481).