Pictures from seminar for Marranos in Sicily
Here are pictures from the Shavei Israel-sponsored seminar for Marranos held recently in the Italian city of Syracuse in Sicily. [nggallery id=90]...
Bnei Anousim
First of its kind seminar for Marranos in Siciliy
[caption id="attachment_7038" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Seminar in Syracuse, Italy"][/caption] In the late 14th century, there were more than 37,000 Jews spread across the Italian region of Sicily, living in some 52 different Jewish communities. But by the end of 1492, following the Edict of Expulsion, there were...
Chuetas from Spanish Island of Majorca Recognized as Jewish
Rabbi Nissim Karelitz, the head of the Beit Din Tzedek Rabbinical Court in Bnei Brak has ruled that the Chueta community of the Spanish island of Palma de Majorca are Jewish....
Conference on Medical EthicsConferencia sobre halajá y medicina
The Spanish association Rambam, which brings together Jewish physicians across Spain organized a conference on the issue of euthanasia and invited Rabbi Avraham Ben Nissán to talk about the Jewish law perspective on it. [nggallery id=80] La asociación española Rambam, la cual agrupa a médicos judíos de...
‘Lost tribe’ of Mallorca Jews welcomed back to the faith 600 years later
Chuetas recognized by rabbi after centuries of persecution dating back to before the Spanish Inquisition Almost six centuries after most of them converted to Christianity, a rabbinical court has declared that descendants of a "lost tribe" from the Spanish island of Mallorca can once more be...
Six centuries after their forcible conversion, a leading Israeli rabbi rules that the Chuetas of Mallorca are Jews
[caption id="attachment_6739" align="alignright" width="150"] Rabi Nissan Ben Abraham[/caption] PALMA DE MAJORCA (EJP)---A leading Israeli rabbinical authority has officially recognized as Jewish the small Chueta community on Spain's island of Majorca, six centuries after their ancestors were forced to convert to Roman Catholicism. The Chuetas are the descendants...
Press conference in Palma de MallorcaConferencia de prensa en Palma de Mallorca
On July 12, Michael Freund, Chairman of Shavei Israel and Rabbi Eliyahu Birnbaum, Head Rabbi of the organization, held a press conference in Palma de Mallorca to announce the historic opinion of Rabbi Nissim Karelitz, head of the Rabbinical Court of Bnei Brak, decreeing that...
Chuetas of Majorca recognized as Jewish
Descendants of secret Jews are "from our brethren the children of Israel," Rabbi Nissim Karlewitz rules. A leading rabbi and halachic authority in Israel has recognized the Chuetas of Palma de Majorca as Jewish, the Shavei Israel organization announced on Monday. The Chuetas...
Majorcan Descendants of Spanish Jews Who Converted Are Recognized as Jews
PARIS — Centuries after the Spanish Inquisition led to the forced conversion of Jews to Catholicism, an ultra-orthodox rabbinical court in Israel has issued a religious ruling that recognizes descendants from the insular island of Majorca as Jews. ...
Fundamentally Freund:The death of an Italian marrano
Fundamentally Freund: The passing of Avraham Zecchillo, a proud descendant of Bnei Anusim, who for years cared for his city’s local synagogue which dates back over 750 years, is a tragic blow to Italy’s Jewish community. Tucked away in a southern corner of Italy, an ancient synagogue with an unusual past is in danger of falling silent with the passing of its one and only stalwart member.
Avraham Zecchillo was a proud descendant of Italian Bnei Anusim (to whom historians refer by the derogatory term “marranos”). He resided in the beautiful port city of Trani along the Adriatic coast where, he liked to say, his Jewish ancestors had lived “forever, for thousands of years.”