JOURNALfor the STUDYof ANTISEMITISM

132 JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF ANTISEMITISM [ VOL. 3:129
ble strands; male-only genetic heritage examines only one of these lineages.
Interest in crypto-Judaism has also been sparked by advances in the availability
of genealogical resources, making it easier to trace ancestry to specific
persons of known Jewish heritage. There has also been research
suggesting some possible converso-descendant communities have a higher
incidence of genetic defects often associated with Jewish communities,
such as the autoimmune Pemphigus vulgaris and the breast cancer gene
mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2.
Another issue sparking much debate is what may be termed the canon
of evidence of practices said to reflect Jewish ancestry in such populations.
These include reports about lighting candles on Friday nights, avoidance of
pork (in some cases only on special occasions), prayer meetings on Saturdays,
objects or symbols thought to be Jewish, or even the transmission of
family traditions that “we are Jews.” In most cases, it is possible to explain
these traditions in various ways—even the transmission of Jewish family
identification. Nevertheless, these practices, symbols, and transmissions
occur in a well-defined population, which has been demonstrated to have at
least some crypto-Jewish ancestry.
A third component—to this author the most important—is a sense of
increased identification with a Jewish heritage among Hispano populations.
Until the first generation born after World War II came of age, there was
little interest in claiming this heritage. On the contrary, more frequently the
foundation story was that Jews and Muslims were intruders who were
active in Spain for eight centuries, and, thankfully, expelled or converted
without a trace. In Jewish circles, also, it was usually assumed that the
descendants of conversos who had not managed to escape to places such as
Amsterdam, Salonica, or New York had lost any traces of the memory of a
Jewish past. The publication and broadcast of accounts of crypto-Judaism
starting in the 1970s, increasing substantially in the 1980s, changed this
assumption both among Jews and Hispanos. Jews were fascinated by stories
of Jewish persistence in the face of antisemitism, assimilation, and
prejudice. Individuals of Spanish ancestry, having more contact with Jews,
a more positive attitude toward them, and becoming part of a society that
valued multiculturalism, also were drawn to consider the possibility that
their heritage was more complex than they might have thought.
Some converso descendants have chosen to practice Judaism openly.
In some populations, rabbinic authorities have decided to the communities
were sufficiently endogamous to allow those wishing to live as Jews to be
accepted as such without worrying about conversion or ceremonies of
return; such a decision has been rendered about the Chuetas of Majorca,
according to news reported as this article is being written. In other cases,
converso descendants have chosen to formally convert to Judaism, or to