HaLapid-Spring Summer 2019

2019 SCJS CONFERENcE • June 30-July 2 • denver
Highlights of select abstracts - a taste of things to come
A Treasure Trove of Poignant
Crypto-Jewish Stories:
Spanish Citizenship Applications
Sara Koplik, PhD
Director of Community Outreach Jewish Federation of New Mexico
Rabbi Jordan Gendra-Molina, PhD.
In 2015, the Spanish government passed a law enabling
individuals to apply for citizenship with proven Sephardic
heritage. After training from immigration attorney Luis
Portero, the Jewish Federation of New Mexico began
to issue certificates of Sephardic heritage. Thousands
of applications poured in from over 50 nations. The
process required a personal statement, important for
those with incomplete genealogical evidence. These
statements contain detailed information and stories
about the ways that Sephardim, crypto-Jews, and converso
families maintained their identity over the centuries
and around the world. Anonymous excerpts from select
applications will be shared while describing larger trends.
The Inquisition: The Jews Who Left
Schelly Talalay Dardashti
During the Inquisition, many Jews were killed, forcibly
converted, or left following the events of 1391 and 1492.
This program will focus on those who left: where they
went, what organizations they created in new places,
how they maintained connections with brethren around
the world, and the significance of those newly-formed
Sephardic communities. We will look at leaders in
those communities, consider the spread of Sephardim
into the New World (including the Caribbean, North/
South America), the reach of the Inquisition, and
Central and Eastern Europe, including Sicily, Italy,
Amsterdam, Hamburg, Vienna, the Ottoman Empire,
North Africa, North America, Central America, South
America, the Caribbean, Romania, Russian Empire, the
Middle East and India. Resources will be provided.
Telling Crypto-Jewish Stories Through
Jewish Historical Societies
Diana Layden
The knowledge of crypto-Jewish stories can be spread
through Jewish historical society publications, films,
and events. This presentation describes the efforts of
the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society to disseminate
crypto-Jewish history in New Mexico and southern
Colorado. NMJHS was founded in 1985 and has published
a newsletter, Legacy, since 1988, distributed widely.
Issues are available online at www.NMJHS.org. Legacy
has published several articles about crypto-Jews,
including the independent film made by past NMJHS
president Paula Amar Schwartz, “Challah Rising in the
Desert: The Jews of New Mexico.” Crypto-Jews have
given presentations at NMJHS annual conferences;
Yvette Cohen Stoor, for example, wrote an article for
Legacy, appeared in Paula’s film, and presented at the
2018 conference. Sample articles will be distributed.
What Cannot Be Thought - Writing a
Jewish Guadalupe in Colonial Mexico
Marie-Theresa Hernandez, PhD
In 1648 a priest named Miguel Sánchez produced the most
important book of the Mexican colonial period. For over
500 years, “Imagen de la Virgen Maria,” was credited for the
identity of the Mexican nation through its treatise on the
apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe. This presentation
concerns a new analysis of the Sánchez book, indicating
a second story that, until the 21st century, was never
considered. As a colleague of Sánchez’s wrote in a postscript
to “Imagen,” the text exemplifies “what could not
be thought.” Critiques of the Sánchez text stressed the
Christian nature of the story, misinterpreting passages as
patriotic missives while the colony was experiencing the
most intense Inquisitorial activity of the century. Previous
readings ignored that Sánchez was writing to secret
Jews living in Mexico City, expressing their terror at an
Inquisition that had incarcerated and executed many from
their community. Why had no one noticed the ubiquitous
presence of the Inquisition? Why was there no interest in
his reference to the psalm telling of children who sang the
praises of the Holy Cross in order to confuse their enemies?
How can a book that has been republished numerous times
in 500 years be so thoroughly misread?
The focus on the cryptic text of “Imagen” tells us “what
cannot be thought” — identifying the existence of a public
secret that if acknowledged, could send nearly everyone to
the jails of the Inquisition.
This and much more at the
conference in Denver!
HaLapid - SPRING / SUMMER 2019 / 5780 27