Bnei Anousim Profile: Meet Rabbi Eldad Villegas
Eldad Villegas grew up in the city of Bello, Colombia. But when he came to Israel in 1998 for the first time as a tourist, “something that was asleep inside of me awakened,” he says. “It was a deep love for Israel; its music, its traditions, its food. It was as if I was somehow from this place.”
Villegas was surprised – and confused – by these feelings. He did his best to ignore them for the next six years until he returned to Israel in 2004. “This next visit was purely for study,” he explains. But once again, he felt drawn to the country and to the Jewish people, “so I began a process of converting to Judaism.”
Did Villegas have a secret Bnei Anousim past? There is certainly precedent in Colombia. The Bnei Anousim are the descendants of Jews who were compelled to convert to Catholicism 500 years ago at the time of the Inquisition. “The region of the country where we live has been inhabited by Jews who arrived hundreds of years ago, at the time of the conquest and colonization from Spain,” Villegas says.
“It left a strong mark on our cultural traits: a strong connection to family, marrying within our communities, employment in the trades,” Villegas continues. And, although he can’t point to any particularly strong “hidden” Jewish messages or customs from his childhood, there is one thing that caught his attention. “I was circumcised at a young age without any apparent connection to health.”
After his second trip to Israel, Villegas remained in Jerusalem, where he converted to Judaism. Now fully Jewish, he continued his studies at the Mount Zion yeshiva in the Old City, eventually taking one more remarkable step: he was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi.
Ironically, that meant it was time to leave. But Israel’s loss is Colombia’s gain: Rabbi Villegas is now the rabbi for the small but growing Bnei Anousim community in his hometown of Bello.
Rabbi Villegas will certainly be back (and soon, he hopes, for his dream is to settle in the Holy Land). That’s because the Bello community is fervently Zionist; indeed, four families have already made aliyah with the help of Shavei Israel. “I feel that I am a bridge for others to meet their goal of living in Israel,” he says. “And I know, in due course, my family and I will live there too.”
His family includes his wife and two children, a seven-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl. His father is a retired lawyer. His sister works as a bacteriologist. Everyone lives nearby and has converted to Judaism too. “We keep all the laws,” he says.
Shavei Israel has supported Rabbi Villegas in many of his endeavors in Colombia. The community is building a mikveh (a ritual bath) using an architect recommended by Shavei Israel, he says. Shavei Israel’s emissary to Colombia, Rabbi Shimon Yehoshua, pays regular visits to Bello and serves as the community’s spiritual and Jewish Law advisor. A chevrah kadisha (Jewish burial society) is being set up with Shavei Israel’s help. All kinds of Jewish books and educational materials have been provided and there is access for community members to Shavei Israel’s online virtual classes in Spanish.
Rabbi Villegas and the Bello community have attracted the attention of Colombian national television, as well. Here’s a short clip in Spanish, with English subtitles. It gives a good introduction to the community, with interviews of Rabbi Villegas and Bogota Chief Rabbi Alfredo Goldschmidt, as well as footage of the community members praying with tallit and Tefillin, and talking about their own discoveries of their Jewish roots.