Converso Awakening!
I believe that a revolution is brewing in the Hispanic world and, so far, the world hasn’t noticed. The revolution involves millions of Hispanic people reclaiming their Jewish ancestry. This doesn’t mean that they will all convert back to Judaism, but it does mean that there will be a wide range of responses to a historical phenomenon – a miracle – that is quietly taking place before our eyes. What am I talking about? I’m talking about the “conversos”. Just over 500 years ago, half the Jewish population of Spain, some 100,000 people, were forcibly converted to Christianity. These people were called “conversos” i.e., the converts. Later, they were called “new Christians”. Some, insultingly, called them “marranos” i.e., pig eaters. The “old Christians” mocked the fact that the former Jews were now forced to eat pork. But you can’t destroy a people’s identity overnight. You can’t turn a Jew into a Christian, if he really doesn’t want to convert.
There is an anecdote that is told about those times; during the Inquisition, a village priest in Spain came to a “new Christian” family for Friday night dinner. He was upset when the main course turned out to be chicken. After all, in those days, good Catholics ate fish on Friday night, while Jews ate chicken. “How dare you serve me chicken?” the priest indignantly asked the converso. “No, no you are mistaken Father,” said the converso, “remember how you sprinkled water on me and said three times: ‘you are a Christian! You are a Christian! You are a Christian!’ Before I served you the chicken, I sprinkled water on it and said ‘You are a fish! You are a fish! You are a fish!’”
And so it was with the conversos. For over 500 years they have retained – to a greater or lesser extent – their Hebraic memories. Father to son, mother to daughter, certain rituals have been passed on. These may involve lighting candles on Friday night or refusing to eat pork inside the home or, maybe, preserving certain family heirlooms. Whatever it is, the memory lingers like an ember. Then something happens which fans the ember into a flame. It’s hard to tell what that “something” is, but something is happening. Spain is reclaiming its “Sephardi” i.e., Jewish culture; Sephardic Jews i.e., Jews of Spanish origin, are reconnecting with Spain; and conversos e.g., people with converso names such as Torres, Pereira, and Medina, are coming out of the Jewish closet.
In the short term, what this means is that Jewish sites such as the synagogues of Toledo will be renovated and opened for tourism. It also means that Jews of Spanish origin will take the Spanish government up on its offer and apply for Spanish citizenship. More subtly, it means that people like Doreen Carvajal who writes for the New York Times, and grew up as a Catholic in California, will go on personal journeys to reclaim their family roots. Carvajal’s odyssey resulted in the book “The Forgetting River”. But, I predict, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of conversos – maybe even millions of people – from Spain to Portugal to Brazil will soon make their Jewish past part of our future.
For the latest on the Spanish Jewish Renaissance see: http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-Features/On-the-road-to-recovering-Spains-Jewish-roots-316999
For my film on the conversos see: http://www.apltd.ca/store/8
