Ancient Paths

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The Glory of Spain: A Tragic History

My family has an interesting connection to Spain. Its not one that is recent. In fact its around 500 years old or so.

You see my father and mother are descendants of Anusim (Hebrew for Forced Ones). Anusim are also known as Conversos or Marranos. The former is a generally neutral term referring to the conversion of their ancestors to Catholicism from Judaism. The latter term is a pejorative term of dubious origins.

What is interesting is that despite the fact that Spanish Jews and later Portuguese Jews were given the choice of conversion or expulsion, both Anusim those who stayed and those who left maintain a very strong sense of connection and attraction for the “old country.”

Its hard to imagine why. The forced conversions of thousands of Spanish Jews only led to the institution of the Inquisition which was targeted at a Converso that might be “relapsing” into Judaism. For the Spanish Jewish emigres that left in 1492, the loss of their homeland and fortune was certainly not a pleasant experience either.

Why Spain retains such a pull for even my father for example is perplexing. He has never been. Neither have I. I have visited Poland and visited the old Jewish quarter in Krakow, but not Spain.

I pray in Hebrew and occasionally sing a few songs in Ladino/Judezmo the medieval Spanish-Hebrew-Arabic survives in Spanish Jewish communities to this day. Yet I must admit, I begin to feel some of that pull to Spain as well. Its is perplexing indeed.

Well I decided to leave this first post on a positive note. I recaptured part of my ancient Jewish identity by learning Hebrew. I used Pimsleur Hebrew.