As the descendent of a Jewish family that was forced to leave Spain in 1492 or convert, I have always been interested in learning more about the Crypto-Jews/ Conversos of New Mexico. It was in the 1980’s when the information about this still hidden group first started to be revealed. It started when a Jewish man named Stanley Hordes because New Mexico’s State Historians, and people started coming to him to tell him their stories. To me it was absolutely amazing that 500 years after the Inquisition in Spain, that descendants were still hiding and still keeping this secret!
I had wanted to attend the Roads Scholar program: “New Mexico’s Conversos and Crypto-Jews in Santa Fe” since 2019. Covid interrupted my plans. But finally we were able to attend. My family were also once impacted by the Inquisition and Spain’s quest to either convert or eliminate all Jews. My family chose to move to Portugal and then to Holland. Our story is written in an earlier blog. (See below.)
Our first speaker was Professor Ron Duncan Hart, who gave us an overview of the history of the Jews journey to New Mexico. He wrote, “Crypto-Jews, The Long Journey.” Jews were in Spain were given a choice, convert or leave. Many stayed, they could not afford to go or they thought it would not last long and they would just hide their Jewishness, some decided they really would become Catholic. But all were doubted because they were not “pure of blood, “meaning they were not just Spanish, they were tainted by either having Jewish or Moslem descent. Those converted in name only and still practiced their religion in secret, known as Crypto-Jews…hidden Jews. Those who were forcibly converted and known as anusim also secretly practiced Judaism.
In fact, so many of the Portuguese who came over to Mexico in the 1600s were of Crypto-Jewish ancestry, that calling someone Portuguese was just another way to say he/she was Jewish. Since my family went from Spain to Portugal, I began to wonder if some of my family made this arduous journey to escape the Inquisition. To be allowed to go to the New World, you had to show that you were purely Spanish, not tainted with Jewish or Muslim blood. Horrifying! People actually had their genealogy redone to eliminate their Jewish past to fit the needed requirement.
The Crypto-Jews of today still live in the mountains in northern New Mexico. They still keep their secret. In fact, one of our speakers, when asked how many crypto Jews there actually was, basically said, “We do not know. They keep hidden. They do not talk about it. They know who the other families in their community are like them. But it is not discussed”
We heard from two women who have reclaimed their Jewish identity. They were each the child in the home who a parent said “Somos Jodios,” “We are Jews.” Maria Apodaca told us how difficult it was to come out of hiding and join a congregation and have a ceremony of return. How family members were not always happy about what they had done. Many feel, with the way the world is now, it is better to stay hidden!
Isabelle Medina Sandoval wrote a novel based on her family’s history: “Guardians of Hidden Traditions.” She can trace her ancestry back to Portugal and was able to claim Portuguese citizenship based on her family history. But she also said that coming out of hiding is a difficult process. A poet, she has written poems about the Crypt-Jewish experience.
From these two women we learned some of the cultural/religious/cuisine that continues from their Jewish ancestry, like lighting candles on Friday night, covering mirrors when someone dies, making a fried treat at the winter holidays, cleaning the house on Friday. It is amazing to me that these traditions continue.
Schelly Talalay Dardashti, spoke about: “The New World: Jewish Ehtnicity, DNA& Genetics.“ Schelly is the founder of Tracing the Tribe – Jewish Genealogy on FB. She explained the difference in the different DNA tests and how some do not look for Sephardic DNA, only Ashkanazi. We were told that between 20-40 percent of people in New Mexico had some Jewish ancestors. That there are genetic links between those living in northern New Mexico and isolated areas in Central/South America. People who were also trying to hide away from the Inquisition. And the final link, a rather sad one, the fact that the BRCA1 mutation that causes brest cancer in Jewish women, is also found in the Hispanic population in Mexico and New Mexico and came from those original converso/crypto Jewish arrivals from Spain in the early 1500s. Wow.
We attended a performance of “Parted Waters,” a play written by Robert F. Benjamin about the Crypto Jewish community. It tells the story of three generations of a crypto Jewish family. The grandfather, a crypto Jew; his son, who knows the background, but identifies with his life as a Catholic and does not want to talk about it; and his son, who has never been told about his ancestry. When the grandson makes a racist comment to a Jewish woman, the truth comes out along with the ramifications. It pulled together all that we had learned over the week.
Our last lecturer, Chris Herbst spoke about Outliers/Ousiders and Religion.” He provided us some history about the area of northern New Mexico and more explanations about the genetic composition of the populations today in Spain and in New Mexico. He said about 1/3 of the population of Spain today has either Jewish or Moorish ancestry.
Throughout all of our talks we were referred back to the book written by Stanley Hordes, who wrote an indepth book about the Crypto Jews called, “To the End of the Earth.” The Spanish/Portuguese Crypto-Jews traveled to the End of the Earth, the mountains of New Mexico above Santa Fe, to escape the Inquisition. It is like reading a college dissertation, but it was fantastic in the depth of the research.
We did not spend all of our time learning, we also had time on our own to visit museums and explore Santa Fe. We went to the main cathedral of Santa Fe, where over the mantal of the front door, is an inscription in Hebrew and a Jewish Star on an internal wall.
As part of our Roads Scholar program we also ate at many different restaurants with the most delicious food, toured historic Santa Fe, with our wonderful leader, Vennetta, and went to Taos and the World Heritage Site of the Taos Pueblo.
This was just a wonderful learning experience, where we were able to learn, experience, make new friends and enjoy the true wonders of Santa Fe, New Mexico. If you have any interest in learning more about the Crypto-Jewsof New Mexico, Mexico and Spain, I highly recommend this Roads Scholar program.
I will write about the other places we visited in future blogs.
zicharonot 