Resource: Crypto-Jewish Links

Are you searching for your Crypto-Jewish/Sephardic/Converso ancestry or are just interested in this fascinating story? Here's a good source of links.

Poet M. Miriam Herrera has compiled a good list of Crypto-Jewish resource links on her website.

Crypto-Jews of the Southwest & New World

History & Definitions - includes explanations and definitions of such words as "marrano," "converso," "new Christian," history, usage and origins. Sources include the Jewish Virtual Library, Shulamit Halevy, Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies, Bloom Southwest Jewish Archives, Arthur Benveniste, PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, David Goldblatt, JewishGen, Georgetown University scholar Estelle Irizarry, George Washington University Professer Howard M. Sachar, Nan Rubin, Beit Hatfutsot, Jewish Journal, JUF News and more.

The Spanish & Mexican Inquisitions - includes the 1492 Edict of Expulsion, Books, Papers, Inquisition rosters, Robert J. Ferry, Stanley Hordes, Richard C. Greenleaf, Mary Elizabeth Perry, Anne J. Cruz, Clara Steinberg-Spitz, Dennis P. Geller, Gracia Mendes, Dr. Yitzchok Levine (Jewish Press), Luis de Carvajal, Mexico, Dr. Samuel Nunes and more.

Tools for Researching Crypto-Jewish Heritage - includes Michael Freund's Shavei Israel, Kulanu, Richard C. Greenleaf (tools, DNA, guidelines, etc.), SephardicGen.com, Ezra l'Anusim (several languages), Be'echol Lashon, Rabbi Juan Mejia's Kol Tuv Sepharad (English/Spanish), Colorado's Secret Jews (article).

Writers & Artists - Gabriela Bohm's "The Longing," Gannit Ankori's "Hidden Frida," Menachem Wecker's "Unchosen Artist," New Mexican artist Diana Bryer, author Kathleen Alcala, Cary Herz's photographs/books, photographer Peter Svarzbein's Crypto-Jews Project, Stephanie Rachum's articles on Camille Pissarro, scholar Abraham Haim's work on Miguel de Cervantes, New Mexico singer Consuelo Luz,

Personal Stories - Carlos Salas Diaz (Congregacion Hebrea de Baja California), musician Vanessa Paloma (Ladino music and her family's story), Rabbi Juan Mejia (personal story, plans for a Southwest US yeshiva for anusim, Latin American oral traditions and more), Rabbi Nissan Ben Avraham (a Chueta of Mallorca), Californian Enrique A. Navarro-Pinto's story, California Rabbi Daniel Mehlman (Mexicali group), Rabbi Daniel Ginerman and Shulamith Havi (why Crypto-Jewish families do not come out openly), New York Rabbi Marcelo Bronstein (Amazon conversion), Barcelona's Nuria Guasch Vidal, Chicano Crypto-Jews in Whittier California, Andree Aelion Brooks (hurdles faced by bnai anusim), and Gloria Trujillo.

Culture & Folklore - Rosemary Levy Zumwalt's book on Sephardim and evil eye, Renee Levine Melammed's "Question of Identity," 15th century cancioneros, Anne deSola Cardoza on Jewish food and traditions, Charles M. Robinson's culinary traditions of Rio Grande Valley, Rachel Laudan on pan de semita," history of capirotada bread pudding, gravestone photos, Shylamith HaLevy articles, editor/publisher Ana Pacheco's La Herencia magazine, Mair Jose Benardete's collection of Judeo-Spanish ballads and the Rio Grande Valley's Jewish customs.

Book Reviews - Gloria Golden's "Remnants of Crypto-Jews among Hispanic Americans," Stanley M. Hordes" "To The End of the Earth," Tamar Alexander-Frizer's "The Heart is a Mirror."

Although I didn't see it - and I'm sure Miriam will be updating her lists - Sephardim.com's valuable name search engine is also excellent, as it indexes many books, while Sephardim.org has a list of and links for Sephardic congregations around the world, information on Sephardic music, and Jamaican Sephardic history, which provide links to families of similar names.

Connecticut: Recording oral histories and more

The Jewish Ledger of Connecticut covered oral history interviews in conjunction with National Day of Listening (November 27), while focusing on Estelle Kafer, executive director of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford.

The article covers Kafer's suggestions and the society's goal in the collection and preservation of the area community's historical documents, photos and memorabilia. Its archive (open to the public by appointment) holds synagogue and organization collections as well as individual oral histories and memorabilia.

Kafer has organized several projects, from "Remembering the Old Neighborhood," a book project on Hartford's north end, to Hartford, to "Pride, Honor and Courage," a documentary and exhibit on area women during World War II.

Reading through the Q&A from the article may provide ideas for you to think about in relation to your own Jewish genealogical society, your towns and cities, synagogues and school projects.

Kafer says oral history is important as it is a primary source, from the individuals who lived that history. In the old days (pre-computer and television), people talked more and families met more frequently, often sharing stories.

An oral history allows us to have an accounting of a person's life as they recall it, which becomes part of our community history. We have researchers who come in all the time to look through the oral histories and see what was happening at a certain time: where people lived, what they did with their free time, where they went to synagogue and what those places were like. It's a true-to-life accounting of history, because it's a primary source. They lead us to facts about what was going on in the community at the time. It's interesting to hear a true-to-life experience as opposed to reading facts in a book, to hear first-hand what a synagogue was like and what happened there, for example, instead of merely reading statistics in a book.

The Jewish Historical Society also offers workshops on interviewing and brings in professionals to help those interested. Such people have included the director of the University of Connecticut Oral History Office and the president of the New England Association of Oral History.

On May 2, the Family History Day will feature prominent Jewish genealogist Arthur Kurzweil, author of the must-read Jewish genealogy bestseller "From Generation to Generation: How to Trace Your Jewish Genealogy and Family History," and co-founder of the first Jewish Genealogical Society (New York City) in the '70s. It will feature beginner and advanced workshops on genealogy, memoir writing, how to do an oral history and its importance, scrapbooking and preserving photos and documents. Additionally, some videographers will do short 15-20-minute interviews for participants to take home.

The day will provide an opportunity to learn about interviewing parents and grandparents and will likely result in a resource for the community archive as these interviews are shared with the JHS.

For the past few years, the JGS has been conducting an oral history workshop for 7th-grade students and their parents at Beth El Temple religious school.

Says Kafer, the parents usually say how great it is for kids to have the opportunity to ask parents and other family members those questions.

Tracing the Tribe wishes we had had the opportunity to ask our grandparents and older relatives all the questions that we wanted to ask after we become interested in genealogy. By the time we'd learned what questions to ask, there was no one to ask. These projects with young people will enable them to record valuable information while they still can from the people who can provide the answers.

There's also informtion on the book project about the North End, and how students interviewed temple members who grew up there. The students also interviewed women in the synagogue for the WWII project. They transcribe their interviews and give them to the JHS.

What does the JHS archive offer?

Said Kafer, it is an archives by the community for the , and includes collections from synagogues, Jewish educational institutions, Jewish agencies and the JCC, as well as more than 800 oral histories, a large photo collection of all subjects - institutions, synagogues and individuals. There are also files on people and documents concerning those who made community contributions which were covered in the media.

The JHS is always looking for more material.

Says Kafer:

When you go through your parents' home, we ask people to not just throw things into the garbage, but to look through things carefully and contact us if there's something they think we could incorporate into the archives.em>

Some good ideas to think about. Read the complete article at the link above.

Orlando: Genealogy Google Goodies, Nov. 24

Want to make your Thanksgiving feast special? Impress your family with what you've learned at this session just a few days before the holiday!

Learn about many useful Google tools for genealogy with Paul Enchelmayer's talk at the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Orlando (Florida) on Tuesday, November 24.

The program begins at 1pm at the Congregation of Reform Judaism.

A member of the Genealogical Speakers Guild, Enchelmayer is past president and current webmaster of the Central Florida Genealogical Society.

He'll demonstrate the many tools available through Google, including maps, photos, books, patents, old newspapers and other useful tools for family history research.

The meeting is free and open to the public. For more information, send an email.