Iberian New Christians and Their Descendants Edited by Abraham Gross, Adina Moryosef, and Jack Cohen This ground-breaking volume explores the relatively new academic field of Bnei Anousim studies (also referred to as descendants of New Christians, Conversos, or Marranos), whose Jewish ancestors in Iberia were forcibly converted to Catholicism from 1391 through the fifteenth century. Chronologically, this book focuses on the eighteenth century, a later period of Inquisition activity marked by the Portuguese Inquisition’s relentless attacks against the Jewish “heresy” and the resultant mass exodus of New Christians from Portugal to Brazil. Several chapters concern the contemporary phenomenon of descendants of these New Christians seeking their Jewish roots. Yet, among a population that has retained almost no memory of their origins, how authentic are their Jewish roots? After the passage of hundreds of years, how much of what they perceive as “Jewish” is truly a lost Sefardi heritage? This volume addresses these questions from the perspectives of history, demography, genealogy, anthropology, and genetics. Most of the articles are based on presentations at the international conference, Reconnecting 2016: Reinvigorating Shared Latino-Jewish Roots held in Miami in September 2016, organized by the Institute for Sefardi and Anousim Studies. “As a result of his book we shall need to rethink our knowledge and understanding of the intricate history of the conversos/crypto-Jews and the multifaceted identities of their descendants” — Moisés Orfali, Bar-Ilan University, Corresponding Academic Member of the Spanish Royal Academy of History and of the Spanish Royal Academy “… top-notch scholarship that touches on all the major issues in Crypto-Jewish studies today… This book is a phenomenally important contribution to the study of cryptoJudaism” — Seth Ward, Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Wyoming ISBN 978-1-5275-3506-0 Hardback 191 pp $99.95 US £58.99 UK 20% Discount available Order online at www.cambridgescholars.com Discount Code: Iberian20 FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT [email protected] IBERIAN NEW CHRISTIANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: Iberian Conversos, Crypto-Jews, and Descendants: History and Contemporary Identities Abraham Gross Section One: Roots and Reality: General Perspectives of Contemporary Descendants Chapter One Iberian-Jewish Common Roots—The DNA Perspective Max Blankfeld Chapter Two Latino Jewish Demography: The Real and the Virtual Sergio DellaPergola Chapter Three The Origin of the Bnei Anousim in Brazil Anita Novinsky Chapter Four The Genetic Heritage of the Jewish Descendants in Portugal and the Diaspora Communities in Brazil Inês Nogueiro, António Amorim, Leonor Gusmão, Luis Alvarez Chapter Five Emic and Etic Considerations in the Understanding of Authenticity and the Construction of Crypto-Jewish Identity Seth Kunin Chapter Six How Holy is the Holy Seed? The Attitude of Orthodox Judaism toward the Maternal Non-Jew—A Legal and Historical Discussion Moshe Pinchuk Section Two: New Christians and the Bnei Anousim: From Documental Historiography to Field Research Chapter Seven Inquisition Documents: A Genealogical Tool, A Window on a World David Gitlitz Chapter Eight New Christians and Bnei Anousim in Brazil: Status and Desiderata Lina Gorenstein Chapter Nine The Dimming of the Diamond´s Twinkle: The Fall of the “Eldorado” Myth in Brazil Daniela Levy Chapter Ten Bento Texeira, the First Poet of Brazil, and the “School of Satan” Eneida Beraldi Ribeiro Chapter Eleven On the Spiritual Routes of the Portuguese Marranos—The Apostates, the Banished, and the Secret Ones Elvira Azevedo Mea Chapter Twelve The Fate of Anousim Along the West Coast of Africa Tudor Parfitt Chapter Thirteen Reflections on the Current State of Latino-Jewish Heritage Research Schulamith C. Halevy Chapter Fourteen A Marrano Memory in Peru? Nathan Wachtel Contributors Glossary Index
