Sunday 24 November 2013

A reminder to all my ancestors who were persecuted or killed by the spanish inquisiton


Pedro Nunez and his wife Isabel Lopez who was burned by the inquisition of Seville.

Francisco Nunez and Francisca Marquez Espinosa forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Alonso Gonzalez Bermejo y Mencia Sanchez forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Alonso Pacheco Solis or Abenxuxen son of Isaac Abenxuxen and Esther Cahal forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim " and his wife Teresa de Herrera daughter of Juan de Herrera y Francisca Nunez who were also forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Pedro de Vergara his father were condemned by the tribunal of the inquisition of Seville.

Isabel Benavides  forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Gonzalo de Cordoba and his wife Teresa Marquez forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Juan Mendez and his wife Ana Herrera sister in law of Alonso Pacheco Solis forced to convert to Christianity "Anusim".

Juana Rodriguez de Acevedo forced to convert to Christianity "Anusim". 

Francisco Ximenez and his wife  Maria Ximenez forced to convert to Christianity "Anusim". 

Alonso de Cordoba forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Diego de Orta and his wife Magdalena Gomez forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Juan Camejo  forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Marcial farina forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Tristan Baez and his wife Catalina Nunes forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Rodrigo Pestano and his wife Violante Teixeira forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Juan Ramallo forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Lucia Francisca de Figueiredo forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Anton Gonzalez Benveniste forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Juan Romero forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Simon de Castro forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Juan Hernandez Crespo and his wife Maria Hernandez forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Juan de Badajoz forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Lorenzo Rodriguez Baez and his wife Lucina Rodriguez forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Rodrigo de Barrios e Isabel de los Olivos forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

Hernan Yanes and Beatriz Pereira forced to convert to Christianity " Anusim ".

And many other Anusim and Bnei Anusim.

In memory of all of them and all those who struggled to keep their faith.












 





Saturday 23 November 2013

Buenavista a villa with a Jewish origin.


The origin of the town of Buenavista is due to the person of the conqueror of Tenerife Juan  Mendez, who was the first to reside in this area of ​​the island. Juan Mendez moved to La Laguna on February 20, 1513 to ask the government of the island about the establishment of the town of Buenavista.

The Jewish origin of the family Mendez is highly tested. The villa of Buenavista was founded by 12 families all this of Jewish origin. The first priest of this town of crypto- Jews was Bartolome Delgado Yanes. He wrote the first book of the Church of Buenavista. This book was written in ancient Portuguese, differs little from Ladino.

The church was very peculiar, the baptismal font was found in the priest's house to feed his animals with this . Part of altar of the church was also in the home of the priest and the sculptures and carvings were most of the time covered with sheets.
The town of Buenavista.

When  Bartolome Delgado Yanes left his post temporarily placed in this church was his substitute Asencio Martin Cardoso another priest of  high clarity Jewish origin . Asencio Martin Cardoso didn't score anything in the books of the church during the time that he was in charge of this.

This Villa was difficult to reach a perfect retreat for a small Jewish community. Finally, this situation changed with the arrival of other families with different origin to Buenavista and the conviction of Bartolome Yanes by the Spanish inquisition. But many of these families had many descendants who still keep some of their Jewish customs.

Tuesday 19 November 2013

Bnei Anusim and North American Jewish History.

This is part of an interesting article that talks about the connection between Bnei anusim and history of America. Without the Bnei anusim the history of many countries in the world and the Jews in general not be the same.

Most Jewish visitors [ to the Gomez Mill House] are surprised That the story is not about the Jewish religion or acerca being Jewish , but about the story of Jewish pioneering success in American and Jewish contribution to the founding of America , " says Ruth Abrahams - executive director of the Gomez Foundation for Mill House, a group of historic- minded Citizens and descendants of the Families That have owned the property , in an exclusive Interview with JNS.orgthat serves as the first public announcement of the house 's tercentenary celebrations .

Luis Moses Gomez came to the Hudson Valley wilderness from Manhattan with two of his sons to expand his trading and commodities business . I built a trading post and a mill next to each other on a fast - flowing creek . Today , visitors can marvel at the original blockhouse trading post 's two - foot-thick stone walls and huge fireplaces at each end . While the original That structure has been built up many times with oak floors , massive roof beams, a second story , and an attic , it's not so much the building itself as what went on there THROUGHOUT the generations That captivates visitor and historian alike .

Gomez , born circa 1654, is Believed to Have Been the grandson of Gomez de Salazar, Comptroller of the Treasury for Spain 's King Philip IV . His father , Isaac , Also a royal adviser , was forced by the Inquisition to leave Spain and moved to France , where religious liberty was guaranteed through The Edict of Nantes . Gomez married in France and moved to London with his father and other members of the extended family . After his first wife died , I moved to Jamaica, where many Sephardic Jews had Settled , and married his second wife .
Five of his six sons Eventually married women of the West Indies and lived in America .
That Records show Gomez -trader , merchant , and possibly ship owner -became quite wealthy , and by 1703 I paid taxes in New York City. Papers of " denizenship " Granted from England 's Queen Anne in 1705 provided special privileges for him as a non - Christian resident of the colony , treats including That of owning land without an oath of allegiance to the Crown sworn in the name of the Church of England . In 1714 , I Purchased 2,400 acres of land and built a fieldstone blockhouse into the side of a hill along a stream That Became Known as "Jews Creek. "

 Gomez chose to be near Delaware Algonquian Indians , as well as the local residents and travel travelers heading north , so That He Could trade with Those groups. But it was timber and lime That drove the industry That He and his son Daniel Conducted for more than 30 years .
Before the Revolutionary War, the Gomez Mill House was Purchased by Wolfert Acker, a Dutch American who added a second story , as well as an attic with bricks made ​​from the local clay . Acker served as a lieutenant in the New Marlborough Company of Minute Men , chairman of the Committee of Safety and Observation , and Newburgh Town Supervisor while General George Washington was in the Newburgh area and his army was camped nearby at the Fishkill Depot. After the war , Acker established a landing on the Hudson , with a ferry to cross the river to the town of Wappinger and a packet line to carry freight .

In the 19th century , William Henry Armstrong made ​​the Gomez Mill House his family's home for four decades, adding a kitchen wing , porch , and stone walls. The property 's best -known owner in the 20th century was Dard Hunter, a craftsman and paper historian who built a paper mill on Jews Creek That resembled an Inglés country cottage with a thatched roof .

 I have made ​​paper by hand , cut and cast type, and hand -printed his own books.
Abrahams , the Gomez Foundation for Mill House executive director JNS.org That tells Jewish visitors to the historic site are " impressed with the presentation of connecting stories" of the house 's five owners over the course of three centuries .
The house has " as many visitors as motivated inspires our complex history , " she says . Annually , roughly half of Those visitors eat from synagogues , JCCs , Jewish other community groups , and Jewish Individuals and families .
"About 1,500 school children per year visit us , treats including 900-1,200 from the Newburgh School System 3rd grade , who eats to Fulfill the New York State requirement for a local history experience , " Abrahams says . "This Latter program will be in its 17th year in 2014 . The other 1,000 or so visitors come for the American history , Hudson Valley visits , paper or enthusiasts are interested in the Dard Hunter Mill and library exhibit . Our Sundayprograms bring in acerca 500 additional visitors . "
For its 300th anniversary celebration , the house is planning special events and a fundraising campaign.
"Programs will include guest lectures by Jewish scholars Such as [New York University professor ] Hasia Diner and [ award- winning journalist and author] Aelion Andree Brooks, " she says . "Other special events include a ' Celebration of Paper Day ' That will bring Dard Hunter III to the site to make paper using the 100 year-old beater in his grandfather 's Paper Mill and Paper Sculpture Garden Exhibit, and printing on an early 20th - Century Press . "
From July 20-22, the first official Gomez family reunion will be held in New York City and at the Gomez Mill House , With more than 200 descendants expected Gomez to Attend from 14 U.S. states and around the world . Abrahams says she is planning at the local and national public relations campaign for the tercentenary , with Special outreach to the country clubs That Luis Moses Gomez trace the family history -Spain, France , England , and Jamaica .
Abrahams says That as head of the house 's foundation , she grapples With The challenge of " finding financial security for the site and its needs through the generosity of private donations and grants , and Renewed leadership on the Board of Trustees , When there is a need to Those who replace who must pass on or leave for other reasons. "
" When All else follows These are in place : site maintenance , restoration , renovation , improved and expanded exhibits and public information and access, more staff, and improved visitor facilities, " she says .
The foundation in 1997 restored the Dard Hunter Mill, in Addition to the site 's dam and bridge . In 2010 , These sites underwent a second major restoration . In 2011 , Hurricane Irene swept through the area, washing away part of the road in front of the house and the site 's Entire public spaces . The current parking lot has been repaved , and other improvements are underway .
After nearly 300 years -all starting with a Jew Whose family , DESPITE being advisers to the King of Spain , was Expelled by the Inquisition -the house Remains American history made ​​manifest .
" Better than any single house and site in the history- laden Hudson River Valley, the Mill House Symbolizes and sums up our regional and national history , " says Harry Stoneback , professor of Inglés at the State University of New York at New Paltz , on the house 's website. "It is a dramatic and absolutely irreplaceable Most incarnation of American history.

Monday 11 November 2013

About Canary-Sephardic songs.

This study is part of Project Sefarad this project arises from the great similarity found between Sephardic melodies and some songs and dances of ancient traditional Canarian music .

During the sixteenth century endechas and romances, Jewish cultural element par excellence, were the dominant means of expression in the Canary Islands. For centuries were the shaped most important artistic expression after the conquest of the Canary Islands.

 All songs in Canary Islands  had a strong influence from sephardi world. The chosen instrumentation includes four sounds:  the inevitable presence of Renaissance guitar and flutes; proximity influences of North African culture, with darbouka bendir and indigenous Berber  with pitos, chacaras .....

In Canary survived Sephardic songs and dances more than anywhere else in the world . Note that many of them have been altered slightly in their lyrics or melodies but even today there are many Sephardic songs in the Canary Islands few examples are:

Textos sefardita y del romancero de Tenerife. Melodía sefardita-
A LA UNA NACÍ YO

Romance de Garafía. La Palma. Melodías sefardita y del romancero popular canario.
CASOME MI MADRE

Romance de Gran Canaria. Melodías del romancero de San Nicolás de Tolentino, Agüimes y Telde-Gran Canaria.
LA INFANTINA

Romance de La Palma. Melodía sefardita y Tajaraste (baile) de la Gomera
OYE, ALMA, LA TRISTEZA

Romance de La Oliva-Fuerteventura. Melodía de Gran Canaria y Canarios.
LAS TRES CAUTIVAS

Romance de La Palma. Melodía sefardita
ENDECHA POR LA MUERTE DE GUILLÉN PERAZA

Romance de Lanzarote. Melodía sefardita.
LA HERMANA CAUTIVA

De G. Sanz y F. Guerau
XÁCARAS Y CHÁCARAS

Textos de Gran Canaria y El Hierro. Melodía popular canaria según D. Pisador
ENDECHAS CANARIAS

Romance de Gran Canaria. Melodía sefardita y Canto de la Meda del Hierro
QUIÉN TUVIERA LA VENTURA

Canciones de cuna sefardita, de Santa Cruz de La Palma y de Tacoronte Tenerife.
NANI, NANI Y ARRORRÓ

Romance de La Palma. Melodía sefardita.
CAMINO DE BELÉN


POR QUE LLORAS BLANCA NINA, MORENA ME LLAMAN and other.

Sunday 10 November 2013

Jews in the conquest of the Canaries 1481-1495


 Original text of a document of date February 7 year 1,484 , signed by kings Fernando and Isabel Kings of Spain.

“Fazele el cargo al dicho Pedro de Arevalo de seiscientos e treynta y cinco mil que dice que rescibio de contadores de cuentas…e que libraron en el tesorero Ruy Lopez ciento cinco mil a Don Abraham Bienveniste, Ciento cincuenta mil en Don Abraham Senior”.

The document says it is replacing Pedro Arevalo and this paper is performed financial analysis to those who paid the conquest of the Canary Islands as Abraham Benveniste and Abraham Senior .

Another who financed the conquest of the Canaries was Andres de Cabrera marquez of Moya of Jewish ancestry by his mother. Andres de Cabrera was married to Beatriz de Bobadilla great friend of Queen Isabel , will turn aunt of another Beatriz de Bobadilla , who married with Hernán Peraza , becoming the second Beatriz in Lady of the Gomera Island .

Highlight the figure of Gonzalo de Burgos Canary clerk and resident of Gran Canaria since 1480. Gonzalo de Burgos son of Solomon Levi, Chief Rabbi of the community of Burgos, his father also scribe.

Jews lived in Canary Islands even before the conquest , is documented for eg Beltran family who lived in the south of the island of Tenerife. Many Sephardic Jews thought that Canary could be a perfect place to escape of the inquisition and for this reason financed the conquest.

 For a long time Jewish families had political power in the Canaries but these change when came the Inquisition and  the jewish families had to put aside their Jewish practices and close the synagogues and even some of these families leave  Canary Islands and  move to London , Amsterdam , America or other parts of world .

For centuries many of those who could not or refused to leave Canary Islands continued secretly reuniting and playing a card game called " La Baraja" in realities hiding what they were doing , The Brajah .
Some retained many Jewish custom today  they even know their difference and continue lighting candles with the arrival of Shabbat .

Sunday 3 November 2013

Being Jewish , be B'nei anusim .



There are different halachic considerations about B'nei anusim . The only thing that the great part of rabbis are agree is with the treatment  of  B'nei  anusim.  The descendants of Benei Anusim to want  to return to judaism they should be helped. This is considers in himself an important mitzvah.

Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon
In what has to be a Jew is concerned, Jews are considered those who born from a Jewish mother and those who have done the conversion or the children of those women who have made that ​​. In other hand Maimonides and Joseph Caro in his Shulchan Aruch reiterate that who born from belly Jew is always Jew.

Taking all this into account . We can consider as Jews according to Halacha B'nei anusim whose can demonstrate their offspring on the maternal line of Jewish women?

Jew is born Jewish although his mother had been converted to another religion he or she is still a Jew. For this reason and making a close reading of the Halacha those maternal line descendants of Jewish mother should be considered as the rest of the Jews. They have never lost their connection although their ancestors were forced to convert to Christianity 500 years ago.

Saturday 2 November 2013

Another connection more between the Canary Islands and the Sephardic Jewish world . All these and many more Ladino words are still used by people from Canary Islands.


The words are translated from Ladino to Spanish and English.

Ansi: asi / so
Vegueta, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Ansina: asi /so
Aposar: posar / posing
Araparse: afeitarse / Shaving
Arremangarse: remangarse / roll up
Arreventar: reventar / pop
Arrimar: apoyar / support
Arrufiar: salpicar, regar / splashing water
Asender: encender / on
Asentarse: sentarse / sit
Asegun: segun / according
Atamiento: apego /attachment
Aver: haber / have
Ayi: ahi / there
Bendizir: bendecir / bless
Biftek: bistec / steak
Bora: rafaga / blast
Brumozo: con niebla / with fog
Bruma: niebla / fog
Buyir: hervir / boil
Chiflar: enloquecer / crazy
durmir: dormir / sleep
enderechar: subsanar / closing
eskaldar: estofar / braise
Liga: cuerda / rope, string
Linya: cuerdas / strings
Muncho: mucho / much
Peskueso: nuca / neck
Petudo: jorobado / hunchback
Rala: mezcla / mix

And these are some Ladino expressions used in Canary Islands.

azer regalo: regalar / give a present
azer pasar el tiempo: entretener / entertaing
cuando era vivo: cuando vivia / when lived
de komer: comestible / edible
de ande: de donde /  from where
hoy de manyana: esta manana / this morning
tomar savor: dar sabor / flavor
vino colorado: vino tinto / red wine
El baile del vivo.