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...
[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...
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...
Els xuetes són jueus conversos al cristianisme que mantenien vives les seves creences en privat. Ara, un prominent rabí reconeix aquest col·lecitu social -tradicionalment estigmatizat i segregat- com autèntics jueus que a més, formen part del poble d’Israel. IB - Ens Públic de Radiotelevisió de les...
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...
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. ...
The government has decided to draft a resolution to bring India's Bnei Menashe populace home to Israel, after years of lobbying by the Shavei Israel organization. The 2,700-year-old group, which claims its ancestry from the Lost Tribe of Menashe, has maintained many of the laws and...
The Jewish community of Puerto Rico dates back to the days of the Spanish Inquisition when this Caribbean island was discovered during Columbus’ second voyage to the New World in 1493. On board were a number of Anousim (Jews who were forced to convert to...
[caption id="attachment_12726" align="alignleft" width="324"] Jamaican synagogue[/caption] Jews from the Iberian Peninsula, but mainly Portugal, settled in Jamaica beginning about 1530 to avoid the Inquisition. At this time, the island was a Spanish territory. In Jamaica they continued to profess being Catholic, but they were able more...
[caption id="attachment_6637" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Synagogue in Cuba"][/caption] Like many of the Caribbean islands, Cuba also received its first Jews inhabitants when they sailed along with Columbus at the time of the Spanish Inquisition. Ben Frank provides a thorough background in Hadassah magazine. The first Anousim arrived in...
