Israelis: What do you think of Bnei Anusim?

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[BneiAnousim]

What happens is most of the Anusim just lost the trace of their Judaism. There are A GREAT NUMBER of Jews in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America. But somehow the genealogy got lost at some point for many reasons. I was born in Cuba and after 64 years they still have a dictatorship. There are only two Sinagogs in Havana and one of them is used for the National Symphonic Orchestra rehearsals. The other one I don't know.
This is what I think. You can have 100% Jewish DNA, have in your possession the VERY key of your ancestors' house in Sefara, and a very Jewish last name, and still have to go through conversion! That's in case you want to be religious, that's why you need a conversion. If you want to be a "Cultural Jew", you don't need any of that.
One thing is true, Halakha has kept the Jews as an ethnic group alive! There were so many nations named in the Tanak and most of them are GONE! The Hebrew language is alive, the Yiddish language is alive and the Ladino language is alive.

[g--brel]

Why do Jews reject The patrilineal line ( in hebrew Bible It was patrilineal)

[Lisbonese]

Most Bnei Anusim already see themselves as Jews so to demand a conversion from them is a slap in the face, an insult. It wasn't their fault that their ancestors were forced to abandon Judaism. No Jew is 100% Jewish. I think Bnei Anusim should be welcomed into the Jewish nation as all Jews are Jews.

[ForeverRepublic]

They are not Jewish by Halakha, but we should not forsake their Hebrew roots. Jews are one nation and much of our history and identity has been defined by persecution. With that being said, it is up to the Bnei Anuism community themselves if they want to revert to Judaism. We cannot force that on them. But I would encourage anyone with Jewish roots to get in touch with them.

[elconscienteny]

It's not just Spain but the whole Iberian Peninsula which includes Portugal. Lots of Latinos are finding out they have Jewish roots from ancestry DNA tests. Myself included. Looks like our melting pot of ethnicities (Latin America) is richer than we thought. :)

[kalex]

The lovely older gentleman at 1:45 is so wise.

[-vf]

I mean God did promise the descendants of Abraham Isaac and Jacob would be as numerous as the stars of the sky and sand of the beach... so they must be jews...

[benlassu]

I am according to my dna, Jewish from both parents. All my family keeps certain laws though my ancestors converted to Christianity, I believe my grandma knew 'cause she often spoke about the Spanish inquisition and actually was paranoid about people knocking on the door bringing some sort of gospel

[robinsage]

Chances are they're ethnically Jewish, so if they keep Jewish traditions too - then they're Jewish. A secular Jew is still considered Jewish because of ethnicity.

[PedroAOlavarria]

I really appreciate the honesty in these videos. You see the good, bad, ugly and beautiful of different Israeli opinions. It's real, not fluff.

[georgeramos]

The gentleman n 0:37 is wrong that the Torah teaches that ur a Jew through your mother’s bloodline falsely started by an Askenaxi rabbi over 1, 000 years ago.. It’s actually through your father’s bloodline.

[tomislavv]

They are Jewish, if their ancestors are Jewish and if they feel belonging to Jewish nation.

[chayabat-tzvi]

My ancestors were Jews who converted to Christianity during the 18th and 19th centuries in Denmark. There was a time when the Danish crown allowed for Jews to enter but made everyone undergo a Lutheran baptism. Today there are also many Danes who are really Jews.

[scarswar]

Israelis are generally very smart people from Corey's videos I've seen

[orilumbrosa]

The funny side is that Ashkenazis are descendants of jewish men but don't want to talk about that.

[manurodrigo]

Well, in Spain many people have jewish ascendance, many of them lose the jewish customs because were forced by the Inquisition, many of them were watched, others simply had the very bad luck of losing the parents (or the cryptojew one), being orphan no one could teach anything to that people, anyway the process for searching your family roots and conversion is really really expensive and slowly.

[Maddoxx]

Some of Bnei Anusim do not know that their great grand parents were jewish. They are already melted with Spanish society.

[nandoalvares]

Hello everyone, I'm one bnei anussim living in Brazil, yet. Do you thought about it? Imagine your children were forced to stop practicing Judaism and forcibly converted to other religions? It is very sad to be despised by your brothers. It reminds me of Yossef...

[marksimons]

My first thoughts were that there's no way you can trace your mother's line for 500+ years. Second thoughts are that we are talking about a set household customs, any one of which could have risen independently, but coming together indicate just one thing: a Jewish inheritance.

These are household customs, and traditionally the home has been the domain of women. Would a woman pick up unexplained domestic customs of her husbands family? It's indicative of an unbroken female line.

My understanding is that the Torah went with inheriting religion from the father, but the Talmud went for inheritance through the mother's line. Why did this change? The Talmud wasn't completed until 6th century, and it was becoming obvious that, without the temple, prayers might take place in a synagogue dominated by men, but religion observance was preserved in the home.

When survivors of the inquisition were found in remote villages in Portugal early in 20th century, studies showed it was the women who kept the traditions going.

Over the course of 500 years the anusim had not remembered their Jewish origin and it's impossible to know, so for the tiny minority that wish to rejoin the Jewish people it's probably safest to go through a conversion process. Why? Because customs performed by tradition are no more than that. The conversion process tells you why your family does these things and revives rituals that were lost. There is conversion process and it is designed to test the sincerity of converts. Merely declaring your belief in the Jewish faith has never been sufficient. Once you have gone through the conversion process, whatever your roots, you are seen as a full member of the faith.

[gerardog]

There are many traces of jewish genes in iberia and ibero-america, but, very few people whose mother is or was jewish. A lot of people from latinamerica are trying to get (or already have gotten it) spanish or portuguese nationality, because that opens more possibilities for their future (belonging to the eurepean union, etc.), but most of those people (including my brother and a few more people I know) only have a small % of jewish genes, inherited from 400 years ago or more. I think in most cases it's more a desire to migrate to more prosperous countries, than wanting to go back to a religious origin. In my case, I'm from northeastern Mexico.