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.