The Secret Society: Descendants of Crypto-Jews in the San Antonio ...

Catholic, but he didn’t even know anything about the Catholic religion. He didn’t go to
Church.” It was while sitting on his great-grandfather’s knee as a young boy that Garcia
found out he was Jewish. In Garcia’s own words, “[My grandfather] would say ‘always
buy double before the Sabbath and light the candles and do these things […] don’t eat
any shellfish and all the Jewish laws, but “shh shh shh” don’t tell anybody you’re Jewish.
[…] just say you’re anything, but if you say you are Jewish then they will beat you up.’”
Garcia’s great-grandfather and great-grandmother kept many of the mutated
Jewish traditions that were passed down through the generations. Garcia said, “[My
great-grandfather] would put the mezuzah up at night, put it up take it down, put it up
take it down.” In the way of traditions related to Shabbat they would also buy double
before Friday night, don their best clothes, and have a Shabbat meal. Garcia also
recalled, “My great-grandmother would light the candles and then put them out right
away. They were like little sticks that she would roll up […] one time it didn’t go out
and my great-grandfather said ‘see you are supposed to not put it out’ […] Once in a
while she would be brave and put it next to the window and then quickly bring it back
inside to the house.” As for other traditions, the Garcias practiced some funerary
traditions such as placing coins on the eyes of the dead. The Garcia family even went as
far as to profit on their Sephardic tradition. The Garcia family killed their food in the
Kosher way, which supposedly made the meat sweeter. They started the famous Garcia
Food Products as a kosher Sephardic food; however it is no longer kosher since they sell
pork products.
The crypto-Jewish traditions seemed to have stopped with Garcia’s grandfather.
At the present time Garcia and the immediate part of his family are obviously more open
with their Jewish identity and do not keep it hidden. He leads services at his Messianic
Jewish synagogue and makes a point to encourage other conversos to accept their Jewish
roots. Messianic Judaism has become a half way point for those who are descended from
conversos; many have grown up with the Christian traditions and still hold their beliefs of
Jesus being the Messiah, yet they want to explore their Jewish ancestry. According to
Rabbi Garcia, “[Descendants of crypto-Jews] come to Messianic Judaism because they
want their Jewish roots, yet they have had a deep spiritual connection with the Messiah
[…] the converso Jews are very strong with the Messianic Judaism.”
Ezra (Eduardo) Villarreal 36
Ezra Villarreal is a Messianic Jew at Baruch HaShem Messianic Jewish
Synagogue. His family came to the New World shortly after Cortez and first settled in
Tampico, Mexico and then moved to Saltillo, Mexico. They lived in an area that was
high in the mountains so they could easy hide from the inquisitors.
Villarreal found out he was Jewish in the second grade. He remembered, “I heard
my parents speaking in a very hush hush conversation, but you know how little ears are,
and I heard them say that we were Jewish.” This was somewhat shocking to Villarreal
who always thought of the family as Catholic. While looking back on another incident
when he was younger Villarreal recalls, “I was riding my bike and some kids started
throwing rocks at me and calling me a dirty Jew, I said ‘wait, why are you calling me a
dirty Jew, I’m Catholic.’ That really made an impression on me.” As he grew up, the
more he realized his family was different. Villarreal stated, “There were a lot of things
36 Ezra Villarreal, Interviewed by author, San Antonio, Texas, 26 May 2006.
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