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July 9, 2008 | 11:45 am
The Orlando Sentinel published a story today about Aliyah Sefarad International (no Web site
), an organization reaching out to Latinos who may have had Jewish ancestry. The goal of the program, run by Rabbi Gary Fernandez, is to get descendants of Maranos to reconnect with their ancestral Jewishness and make aliyah to Israel.
“God promised the Negev [southern Israel] to the people of Sepharad [believed to be the name given to the Iberian Peninsula],“ said Fernandez, citing a prophecy from the biblical book of Obadiah. “We are working toward making that a reality.“
Fernandez said he went to Israel to discuss his plans with a manager there who told the rabbi he was the first person to ever approach him about relocating Hispanic Jews.
But Fernandez, a native of Puerto Rico who grew up Christian, will first have to overcome a few hurdles. Under the law of return, the Israeli government assists with housing and other needs for those wanting to go back to the land of their ancestors. But to be allowed in, the law requires evidence that at least one grandparent was a practicing Jew. Descending from Jews alone is not enough, Katz said.
The alternative is to convert to Judaism, as many in Fernandez’s group have done. But because they also believe in Jesus, this could complicate matters.
Wow. That final bit is the understatement of the last 2,000 years.
Posted by Brad A. Greenberg in Who is a Jew? | 2 Comments — Leave your comment
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Who is Katz? This article isn’t complete…
If you follow the link in the story, it is “Nathan Katz, professor of religious studies with Florida International University in Miami.“ He was commenting on the worldwide phenomenon of secret Jews, coerced jews, scattered and exiled Jews etc. lifting their heads and rying to reconnect with their people. As predicted (muahahahah) the core remnant of the most identifiable and committed Jews led the way back to their land, and the next layers of refugees of history are waking up from the dead, to coin a phrase. Some feel it is all part of that ‘end of days’ phenomenon, and from where we sit it is not possible to say it isn’t.
By the way, crypto- and ex-crypto-jews do not use the term Marrano which means “damned,“ “accursed,“ “banned” and also “hog”. They call themslves ‘conversos’ or converted Jews. The Jews themselves call them ‘Anusim’ which is a charitable way to see them as victims of circumstances. This was a common phenomenon in history although not on the abrupt and massive scale of the Inquisition period. It is cold comfort to some of us to observe that the expulsion of Jews is the beginning of permanent decline of the societies that do it.
It’s not always possible or required to kill yourself to avoid conversion, although sometimes it is. Maimonides received inquiries and responded with his famous letter from the Jews of Yemen who requested his halachic opinion on their coerced conversion to Islam, i.e. what kind of minimum gesture could they make to remain Jewish and how to recover from their situation properly when conditions permitted. Maimonides was an expert on fanatical Islam having been persecuted and forced to flee numerous times in his life from them.
This whole converso thing is a worldwide growing phenomenon that has plenty of associated websites. It is the same phenomenon as in the Danite (they don’t like the name Falasha either for similar reasons) Jews of Ethiopia, where some clung to their faith and community, and many converted to Christianity but would now that Ethiopia has become a complete hell-hole would like to be considered Jewish. Interestingly, it is the Ethiopian Jews more than anyone that resist accepting them, as they immediately start nagging and missionizing the others about Christianity in Israel.