Marranos
Marranos refers to the secret Jews of Spain and Portugal who, following the Spanish Inquisition in 1492, were compelled to convert to Catholicism while secretly maintaining their Jewish beliefs and practices. The term is often viewed negatively, and many descendants prefer the label "Crypto Jews" or "Anusim," the latter meaning "forced ones" in Hebrew, as it carries a more positive connotation. During the Inquisition, a significant number remained in hiding, particularly in regions like Brazil and Mexico, where they sought to escape persecution. Many of these secret Jews adopted outward Catholic practices to evade suspicion while preserving certain Jewish customs, although the meanings of these rituals often became obscured over generations.
In the late 20th century, a resurgence of interest among descendants of Crypto Jews led some to return to Judaism, though they often faced familial resistance due to deep-rooted Catholic identities and societal stigma. Acceptance within the broader Jewish community has been complex, as traditional Judaism requires individuals to either have a Jewish mother or undergo an Orthodox conversion to be recognized as Jewish. While some in the Sephardic community are more familiar with Crypto Jewish histories, the path to acceptance remains challenging. This historical narrative of Marranos illustrates the interplay of faith, identity, and culture amidst societal pressures and persecution.
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Marranos
As a result of the Spanish Inquisition, by 1492 all the Jews in Spain had either converted to Catholicism (about 100,000), had been murdered (about 30,000), or had been forced into exile (about 200,000). Expulsion or conversion was enforced in Portugal in 1497. As a result, Jews remaining in these nations subverted their religious beliefs but remained “secret Jews.” Marranos were the secret Jews of Spain and Portugal. The word marrano generally is believed to be a derisive Spanish word meaning “swine” and is rejected by most descendants of secret Jews. In the 1990s, the term “Crypto Jews” was furthered by the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies, which based its research primarily in the southwestern United States. Anusim, Hebrew for “forced one,” also is a positive term that is often used. Conversos historically has referred to either sincere or insincere Jewish converts to Christianity, and “New Christians” has differentiated Jewish converts to Catholicism from Old Christians (Spanish Catholics).
Brazil had the largest number of secret Jews in the Americas, and a few overt and secret Jews escaped the Inquisition there to begin the first Jewish settlement in the United States in 1654 in New Amsterdam (later New York City). The Dutch governor of New Amsterdam applied restrictions that were rapidly removed because of pressure from the Jewish community in Holland.
Small numbers of descendants of secret Jews who settled in Protestant areas in the eastern United States usually were openly Jewish and relatively accepted. However, most secret Jews in North America were in Mexico, where the Inquisition also existed. They mostly moved into isolated parts of present-day New Mexico and other Mexican territories in order to minimize threats from the Inquisition’s headquarters in Mexico City. Frequently they remained secretly Jewish but openly practiced Catholicism because of fears of the Inquisition, Spanish Catholicism’s generally negative attitude toward Jews, and the pervasiveness of Catholicism. Over several centuries, most became Catholics in belief as well as practice; however, specific Jewish rituals sometimes remained. Some practitioners knew that the customs were Jewish, and others continued these practices but over time lost knowledge of their Jewish meaning. In the southwestern United States, beginning in the 1980’s, a noticeable number of descendants of Crypto Jews began returning to Judaism. In many cases, they were strongly criticized by members of their families because of strong Catholic family identities, family fears of stigmatization, or anti-Semitism.
Traditional (Orthodox) Judaism has rigid rules requiring that a person’s mother be Jewish or that an Orthodox conversion take place before an individual is considered Jewish. Therefore, descendants of the Crypto Jews are not accepted as Jewish unless they undergo an Orthodox conversion. Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism have some religious flexibility, but most North American Jews have backgrounds in Eastern Europe (Ashkenazim) and know little about Crypto Jewish history and survival. This lack of knowledge, a tendency to define Jewishness (customs, foods, language, and so on) in Eastern European terms, and some traditional religious objections have hindered understanding of and acceptance of descendants of Crypto Jews who have returned openly to Judaism. Sephardim (Jews descended from the Jews of Spain and Portugal) are more knowledgeable about Crypto Jewish history and practices, but traditional religious beliefs have prevented full acceptance of Crypto Jews. A few rabbis in the southwestern United States accept Crypto Jewish descendants as Jews without conversions, viewing them as returning Jews.
Bibliography
Bejarano, Margalit. "The Sephardic Communities of Latin America." Contemporary Sephardic Identity in the Americas: An Interdisciplinary Approach (2012): 3–30. Print.
Kamen, Henry. "The Other Within: The Marranos, Split Identity, and Emerging Modernity." Common Knowledge 19.1 (2013): 146–47. Print.
Kaplan, Debra. "Jews in Early Modern Europe: The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries." History Compass 10.2 (2012): 191–206. Print.
Kunin, Seth Daniel. Juggling Identities: Identity and Authenticity Among the Crypto-Jews. New York: Columbia UP, 2009. Print.
Wexler, Paul. The Non-Jewish Origins of the Sephardic Jews. Albany: SUNY P, 2012. Print.