Conversos: The Story of Latin America's Crypto Jews | Unpacked

- On this week's explainer, we’re unpacking the story of the Crypto Jews, or Conversos, and explaining why a surprising number of Latin Americans and people of Latin American descent have Jewish ancestry.

To understand why, we’re going back in time. All the way back to 1492.

That’s the year in which two huge historical events took place; events that shook up the Jewish community of Spain and changed the trajectory of their history forever.

This week’s explainer unpacks those events, explains why some Latin American families have traditions that are markedly different to those of their neighbors, and looks at why the numbers of people taking up an offer of citizenship from the Spanish government has been bigger than anyone could have imagined.

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:54 The Spanish Inquisition and forced conversion to Christianity
01:49 Marranos/Conversos/Crypto-Jews/Anusim
02:22 Spanish colonization of the Americas
02:45 Jewish escape to the Americas
03:00 Preserving Jewish traditions in secret
03:24 DNA tests and the discovery of Jewish ancestry
03:50 Conversion back to Judaism
03:58 Conversos and the Israeli Law of Return
04:11 Discovering our shared ancestry
04:51 Outro

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Let’s connect:

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About Explainers: From ancient Jewish traditions to the modern State of Israel, we explain it all. Diving into anything and everything related to Jewish culture, history, and even religion.

Understand Jewish holidays, Israeli politics, Jewish diasporic communities, and more. Learn about Judaism in pop culture, debunking myths about Jews, and explore obscure Israeli landmarks. We’re asking questions as basic as “What is the Talmud?”, and as obscure as “How did hip-hop boost Kosher wine sales?”, and everything in between.

About Unpacked: We provide nuanced insights by unpacking all things Jewish. People are complex and complicated — yet we’re constantly being pushed to oversimplify our world. At Unpacked we know that being complex makes us more interesting. Because of this, we break the world down with nuance and insight to drive your curiosity and challenge your thinking.

#Jewish #Judaism #Explainers

[josejoseph]

Producing a video about Jews in Latin America without once mentioning the word Portugal is, in itself, a colossal achievement..

[mauricerose]

"I was somewhat surprised to see that the museum didn’t tell the whole story of Jewish history in Jamaica. The role of Jews in plantation slavery is not documented at all. This silence is troubling, especially since so many students visit the museum each year. They end up getting a rather distorted account of Jamaican, not just Jewish, history."

[hroman]

Hello, I'm a Crypto Jew and I've known this for most of my life, but only recently have returned to the original faith of my ancestors. I'm learning Hebrew, going to Synagogue on Sabbaths and making new friendships amongst my Jewish community. I have been embraced by the Jewish Community as a lost family member and probably for the first time in my life, I'm at ease with who I am: a survivor. Most of my Jewish peers are White Ashkenazie, whereas I'm definitely tanned. When I'm asked what my ethnicity is, I tell them my family has a persistent, 5, 000 year old desert tan. This always elicits a chuckle and many times, a hug from the older ladies. Almost as if I'm a living connection to an almost forgotten past.

[tankguy]

I'm one of these Hispanics with Jewish ancenstry. I did my DNA testing in 2012 and slowly made the discoveries on my own. My male haplogroup is J-1 (J-PF4799) on the tree. A known Jewish branch, my closest cousins on Family tree DNA are all Jewish as well, it was an odd but amazing discovery and I was happy to teach my family the history and our ancenstry.

[Vignesh-hlbd]

The Sephardic Jews also migrated to South India, specifically in Kerala

[adrioosthuizen]

My heart is so sore for the Jews who was persecuted from the beginning, just because the believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... Blessed are those who bless the Jews.

[tylerrhudy]

I teach about Judaism in my World Religions class and this is a perfect capstone for Jewish world history - opening the gate to a vast wealth of Jewish experiences.

[egyptianminor]

In North East Brasil, in the state of Paraíba, there exist significant numbers of B'nai Anusim, many of whom still practice Catholicism full of Jewish customs inserted into their practices - like the video mentions.

[chichijima]

I’m Boricua…we are Taino, Spanish and African. That’s what make us Boricuas and proud of it.

[torainobeckford]

They relocated from Spain to all over the Spanish empire, Europe and Africa during the infamous Spanish Inquisition. However, this exodus has never been properly tracked because traces of them can be found in Britain, particularly Scotland. The Strasbourg Cathedral might be one of the evidence but it's technically inconclusive.

[solomoney]

Great video. I know more and more Latin Americans who have discovered their Jewish ancestry are making trips to Israel. When I was in Jerusalem, I was surprised to hear so much Spanish being spoken.

[kitrichardson]

I’m a Spanish Jew and all of this is quite interesting. The term Marano was indeed used in my household and it was always followed by the word “indecent”

[anthonyalvarez]

I see this and cant help but crying its now clear to me why my grandfather did not eat pork and why my family had weird, as it seemed at the time, traditions. I knew it before it was confirmed. I am part Jewish from my mothers side, something she did not even know, and Arab Moorish from my fathers side and his mom Indian native Boricua, What a mess. I am proud of it all .

[JesusLopez-piyt]

yeah one of mi papas decided that he didn't want to see us burnt at the stake, so he converted. shalom my brothers and sisters around the world

[KizTheCat]

I’m so upset that I didn’t get to take advantage of Spain’s offer of citizenship. My family are Jewish conversos, my father even knows the surnames of the Jewish men who migrated to Puerto Rico and became part of our family.

[rafaelmunguia]

I found out I had jewish ancestry through a DNA test and was very surprised by it finding that I am over a quarter Sephardic.

[goheine]

Christopher Columbus wasn’t Italian but he was Sephardic Jew.

[brianmurphy]

My mother's family changed their surname from Juarez to Jacobs when migrating to French Canada. They (mom family) always said we had native heritage, turns out that was more politically and socially acceptable than being a Jew in New France. Took a DNA (AncestryDNA) test to check this out and BAM 9% Sephardic Jewish. I have a lot of questions.

[davidcalderon]

Growing up I always felt something was different about my dad's side (the Farhi) of the family compared to my mother's side (the Calderons) and well the rest of Peru. When I was 11 I was told about our Jewish ancestry and how we must never speak about it. I didn't understand it then but I could sense the fear and seriousness of the secrecy when my father spoke about it, I imagine my grandfather had a similar talk with him when he was a child. I feel lucky I live in the contemporary world where it's safer and I can talk about it. I can't even imagine the hardships my ancestors had to go through hiding their identity.

[PC-luzf]

Hence why so many Latin Americans especially Mexicans match me genetically I am Jewish.