Puerto Rican Jews?

Who says there's no Boricua Israelites

[MultiLisa]

Loved this show they were all so silly with the corniest jokes but would loved to have been in that crowd!

[samuelbenitez]

i'm also a puerto rican jew, and i love it!

[cielarko]

In New York there are a lot of children with a Puerto Rican father and an Ashkenazi mother.

And what's also interesting is the high number of "secret Jews" from the mountains. I wish that there were groups that would be interested in making a connection with them.

Apparently Geraldo Rivera, Rita Moreno from West Side Story, Sonia Sotomayor, Ricky Martin and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are all at least partially Sephardic.

[PrincessTinkerbells]

There are a lot of Puerto Rican Jews. The volume used to surprise my mother at the summer camp she worked at

[heidisierra]

I'm a German Jewish woman who married a Puerto Rican man (who looks somewhat like Juan lol)--our families were 🤔🤔🤔--but he is the love of my life!!! ♥️♥️♥️

[EdKaye]

Juan Luis Pedro Felipe de Huevos Epstein- One of the best '70s tv shows ever..hands down.

[rkgaustin]

@0:28 the Puerto Rican Jewish shocker.

[hectornegron]

Geraldo Rivera and Freddie Prinze are some notable Puerto Rican-Jews in show business. As far as non-Jewish Puerto Ricans, there's never been any issues between Jews and Puerto Ricans practicing each other's religion even though the vast majority of islanders are Catholic. Unlike in the USA, especially these days, everybody's welcome to freely practice their faith.
The Jewish immigration to Puerto Rico began in the 15th century with the arrival of the anusim (variously called conversos, Crypto-Jews, Secret Jews or marranos) who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage. An open Jewish community did not flourish in the colony because Judaism was prohibited by the Spanish Inquisition. However, many migrated to mountainous parts of the island, far from the central power of San Juan, and continued to self-identify as Jews and practice Crypto-Judaism.
It would be hundreds of years before an open Jewish community was established on the island. Very few American Jews settled in Puerto Rico after it was ceded by Spain to the United States under the terms of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish–American War.
The first large group of Jews to settle in Puerto Rico were refugees fleeing German–occupied Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. The second influx came in the 1950s, when thousands of Cuban Jews (most of Eastern-European descent) fled after Fidel Castro came to power. The majority immigrated to Miami, Florida, but a sizable portion chose to establish and integrate themselves on the neighboring island because of Puerto Rico's cultural, linguistic, racial, and historic similarities to Cuba.
Puerto Rican Jews have made many contributions in multiple fields, including business, commerce, education, and entertainment. Puerto Rico has the largest Jewish community in the Caribbean, with over 3, 000 Jewish inhabitants. It is also the only Caribbean island in which all three major Jewish denominations—Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform—are represented.

[tiffanycurtis]

I GREW UP WATCHING THIS ROBERT IS A CUTIE PIE ✊🏾

[mhbbej]

I went out with a Puerto Rican Jew. Best Girlfriend I ever had.

[AP-eqfv]

can't believe that's Jon Bon Jovi's cousin.

[markanthonymarla]

YES! ITS TRUE ROBERT WAS COUSINS WITH BON JOVI~ He was the cousin of rock singer Jon Bon Jovi and opera singer Mario Lanza.[8]

[FR-tyvn]

Was just explaining Puertorriqueño Jews to my Bolivian wife 😅 and remembered Epstein 😂

[ibnyahud]

a sizable number of Sefardic Jews found refuge in the oldest extant colony in the world, Puerto Rico
it's a minority lineage, but still prevalent ...
the biggest indicator is colonial family history plus J-1 - etc haplogroup

[Inkan]

Now we have Casey from "Moon Girl".

[kevynshmuel]

Hahaha...i love this...I'm puertorican Jewish and thats it. ❤❤❤

[maryesthersheryll]

Was that John Travolt in the beginning

[markanthonymarla]

JUST A HEADS UP ~ FROM ROBERTS BIO ~ Robert Hegyes was an American actor best known for his portrayal of high school student Juan Epstein on the 1970s American sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter and as detective Manny Esposito on the 1980s American crime drama Cagney & Lacey 1. He was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, to a Hungarian-American father, Stephen, and an Italian-American mother, Marie Dominica Cocozza
1. Although he portrayed a Puerto Rican character on Welcome Back, Kotter, he was #NOT# Puerto Rican in real life 1.

[Skinnyd]

I always liked that Epstein had this lineage - not only was it different from what you saw on TV back then, but dude was very, very proud of who he was.
It was always really cool in my book.

[skins]

Is his name really John Louis Phillip Eggs Epstein?