If You Are Hispanic Living In America, You Just Might Be A Jew

Hispanics Uncovering Roots as Inquisition's Hidden Jews

When she was growing up in a small town in southern Colorado, an area where her ancestors settled centuries ago when it was on the fringes of the northern frontier of New Spain, Bernadette Gonzalez always thought some of the stories about her family were unusual, if not bizarre.

Her grandmother, for instance, refused to travel on Saturday and would use a specific porcelain basin to drain blood out of meat before she cooked it.

Ms. Gonzalez started researching her family history and concluded that her ancestors were Marranos, or Sephardic Jews, who had fled the Inquisition in Spain and in Mexico more than four centuries ago. Though raised in the Roman Catholic faith, Ms. Gonzalez felt a need to reconnect to her Jewish roots, so she converted to Judaism three years ago.

Article Here

Sanford, Fla. - Wendy Martinez Canelones grew up Catholic and Seventh-day Adventist. But she always felt drawn to Judaism. She once had a vivid dream of herself embracing a blue volume of the Torah. She tears up recalling the dream.

Eventually, she found out why. While studying her family history, she found that she is a descendant of Jews who were killed during the Spanish Inquisition.

"It's been in my heart so many years that for me, it was not a surprise," says Ms. Canelones, who converted to Judaism and now worships at Beth Israel Messianic Synagogue, a congregation for Hispanic Jews in suburban Orlando.

So-called hidden or crypto-Jews, whose family histories have been shrouded in secrecy for centuries, can trace their ancestry back to the Sephardic Jews of Spain. Many of them are here in the former Spanish colonies of Florida, as well as the US Southwest, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

During the Spanish Inquisition, Jews were forced to convert to Catholicism. Some did so disingenuously, some were killed, and some fled. When Christopher Columbus sailed for the New World in 1492, some Sephardic Jews joined him, perhaps believing they finally would be free of Spanish persecution.
Article Here

In case people may not know, I am American, of Mexican descent.
Though I haven't been able to trace my roots beyond a few generations, for some reason, I somehow feel like I can relate to some of these stories.

Why?
Not just because I've always been kind of drawn to Juadaism, but also because I seem to recall that my Grandmother also had a very special knife that she would bring out from time to time. (see first article)

My older Brother told me that he remembers my Gramma slaughtering a goat once when he was very young, but the details of that conversation are extremely vague since it occured almost 40 years ago, when he was arriving from a trip/vacation.

I myself never saw her slaughter a goat or anything like that but I do know she always kept that knife in a very special place.
Back then I never thought anything of it, but I never understood why this knife wasn't stored with all the other cutlery,
After reading these reports of Hispanics uncovering their long lost Jewish heritage, makes me wonder if I myself may also have some Jewish ancestry.

Modern science may now be shedding new light on the history of the crypto-Jews after molecular anthropologists recently developed a DNA test of the male or Y chromosome that can indicate an ancestral connection to the Cohanim, a priestly class of Jews that traces its origin back more than 3,000 years to Aaron, the older brother of Moses.

Family Tree DNA, a Houston company that offers a Cohanim test to its male clients, gets about one inquiry a day from Hispanics interested in exploring the possibility of Jewish ancestry, said Bennett Greenspan, its founder and chief executive. Mr. Greenspan said about one in 10 of the Hispanic men tested by his company showed Semitic ancestry strongly suggesting a Jewish background.

I've known about this company in Houston for a few years, they can actually check a person's DNA for traces of this Jewish gene.
I've wanted to take this DNA test ever since I heard it was available, but I am extremely hesitant because if I end up testing positive, I can then see my name and blood type being entered to some National Genetic Bloodline database, somewhere.

I've always suspected the TPTB use polls and statistics as metrics to decide how to implement their next step of their Global agenda, and for all we know this company may be doing nothing more than sniffing out and trapping the very people/bloodline they wish to destroy.
Maybe once this list grows to a considerable size will they then have to act in some way, or to keep the list from growing perhaps.

...but what if they already have the figures they want?

...maybe they know what is to happen next?


Now we keep hearing from the Media about the Swine Flu originated in Mexico, some are even calling this The NAFTA Flu for obvious reasons and also because it follows the NAFTA trade route


What's going on here?


Will there will soon be another Holocaust?

Will FEMA Prison camps soon be used as concentration camps to house and exterminate one of the Twelve Tribes, ...the bloodline that escaped from Spain in the 15th Century?

On top of all this, how does this tie in with 2012?
Will the year 2012 mean the end of existence for those who also happen to have Mayan roots?


Btw, regarding that guy from my avatar, aka "the Most Interesting Man In The World" of Dos Equis fame.

Whether he actually really is Hispanic, I don't really know for sure, but his name is......
Jonathan Goldsmith.

Will there will soon be another Holocaust?

Will FEMA Prison camps soon be used as concentration camps to house and exterminate one of the Twelve Tribes, ...the bloodline that escaped from Spain in the 15th Century?

On top of all this, how does this tie in with 2012?
Will the year 2012 mean the end of existence for those who also happen to have Mayan roots?

I'm sorry if I'm being slow, but what does that have to do with either of the articles you posted?

I can then see my name and blood type being entered to some National Genetic Bloodline database, somewhere.

Why do you think this? Do you know of any such place?

[edit on 9-5-2009 by rapinbatsisaltherage]

DNA test of the male or Y chromosome that can indicate an ancestral connection to the Cohanim, a priestly class of Jews that traces its origin back more than 3,000 years to Aaron, the older brother of Moses

They can trace lineage all the way back to the brother of Moses?

Err... The infamous BIBLE Moses? As soon as I got to that part, I just couldn't take it seriously anymore.


But, good luck finding out about your ancestry, OP.

I read a similar thing to this a few weeks ago about how many Jews escaped death at the Mexican auto de fe by converting, which kind of reduced your status from 'heretic' to 'blasphemer in recovery'. This meant rather than being burned at the stake, you had to wear a sanbenitos for years afterwards.

Like a lot of things that masquerades are 'religion', apparently a lot of this was political and economic rather than about belief. It seems a lot of Jews were investing in and doing business in and around the Mexican silver mines during the 1600s/early 1700s. There was a lot of money changing hands that the Catholic Church and the King of Spain would have rather had in their hands.

[edit on 9-5-2009 by Merriman Weir]

Mr. Greenspan said about one in 10 of the Hispanic men tested by his company showed Semitic ancestry strongly suggesting a Jewish background.

Any semitic genetic makeup is NOT an indication of Jewish ancestry, merely that at some time in the dim and distant past, a persons ancestors lived in a particular region. Most of the Arab population in and around the region today are a damn sight more semitic than many of the Jewish immigrants, who have little or no ancestral connection to the area.
So, semitic traits are NOT exclusive to Jews only and are certainly not proof of a Jewish ancestry, no matter how much some people might spin it to be.

I've actually known this for a very long time. I was born in Costa Rica, my parents both in Cuba, whom in turn are the children of Spaniards. The lineage of my family has always been pretty obvious for me.

My Jewish heritage is interesting to me. But after a certain point the trail is lost.



[edit on 9-5-2009 by projectvxn]

Then, Hispanics also have Arab blood, going back to the Moors' occupation of Spain. Oh wow, and also Visigoth blood!

reply to post by haika


And there are such things as Spanish Celts. And Black Irish.

Yep, it's a mixing bowl out in those parts...What can I say, we are lovers.

[edit on 9-5-2009 by projectvxn]

I knew an Argentinian anthropologist when I live in South America.

I'm not sure where he has been published academically, but his off the cuff summary in converstion was something like this:

It is no coincidence the Spanish Inquisition was at it's height in 1492. Cristoforo Colon (Columbus) was a Jew and sought a new world of refuge for increasingly beseiged Jewish communities in the Mediterranean region.

The Marranos, Jews who converted to Catholicism in Spain and Portugal, in modern times make up a large share of those countries's intellectual, business, and even aristocratic class.

He claimed Franco, who ran the country for so many decades, was a closet Jew.

We know the earliest major Jewish wave of immigrants to the Americas were actually Sephardic, or North African. They were the first Jews to take root and thrive in New York City. The next waves were from what is now Germany, and the later wave for Eastern Europe.

Ironic all this, because despite it's hidden roots, Spain is now one of the most openly anti-Semitic countries in Europe, with the population more critical of Israel than any other member of the EU.


Mike

Originally posted by mmiichael


I knew an Argentinian anthropologist when I live in South America.

I'm not sure where he has been published academically, but his off the cuff summary in converstion was something like this:

It is no coincidence the Spanish Inquisition was at it's height in 1492. Cristoforo Colon (Columbus) was a Jew and sought a new world of refuge for increasingly beseiged Jewish communities in the Mediterranean region.

The Marranos, Jews who converted to Catholicism in Spain and Portugal, in modern times make up a large share of those countries's intellectual, business, and even aristocratic class.

He claimed Franco, who ran the country for so many decades, was a closet Jew.

We know the earliest major Jewish wave of immigrants to the Americas were actually Sephardic, or North African. They were the first Jews to take root and thrive in New York City. The next waves were from what is now Germany, and the later wave for Eastern Europe.

Ironic all this, because despite it's hidden roots, Spain is now one of the most openly anti-Semitic countries in Europe, with the population more critical of Israel than any other member of the EU.


Mike

wasnt christopher columbus italian??? i would think he were roman-catholic but then again alot of jews occupied italy and venice at that time period....

I once knew a Dominican Jew....alot of jews immigrated to Dominican Republic during WWII...that being because 1.the nazis and 2. Rafael Trujillo opened immigration to them so he could whiten the country.....

I know my grand-god-father was a little racie..

So much store about blood, ironic in the most extreme, but alas not to those with half a soul or half a brain.

Alas only a very very few will understamd.

Originally posted by Britguy

Mr. Greenspan said about one in 10 of the Hispanic men tested by his company showed Semitic ancestry strongly suggesting a Jewish background.

Any semitic genetic makeup is NOT an indication of Jewish ancestry, merely that at some time in the dim and distant past, a persons ancestors lived in a particular region. Most of the Arab population in and around the region today are a damn sight more semitic than many of the Jewish immigrants, who have little or no ancestral connection to the area.
So, semitic traits are NOT exclusive to Jews only and are certainly not proof of a Jewish ancestry, no matter how much some people might spin it to be.

This is kind of what I was going to say. "If you are Hispanic living in America, you just might be a (name a religion)."

Why is it so difficult for people to understand that being a Jew is a religious choice? I always assume they are actually talking about people of Hebrew heritage, but there are people out there who are of Hebrew heritage that are not Jews.

I'll put it this way. I work with a guy who is of Scandanavian descent. His family only really moved out of the isolated Northern fishing villages a few generations ago. No mixing with any other nationalities, just Norwegian for as far back as they could trace. He met and married a practising Jew whose background was mostly Scottish (her parents had converted when she was young) and converted.

Say they had kids. Their kids had kids and so on. 5 generations down the line, the new generation IS NOT going to be Jewish unless they practice Judaism. See what I mean?

[edit on 5/9/09 by Magnivea]

i find it amusing.
today, all the hispanic are like oh my god!

but tomorrow they'll be all like oh my torah torah torah!

reply to post by spearhead


As the duly appointed representative of Above Hispanics LLC I must inform you that this joke hurt to read. Please make sure that you have Jews writing for you in the future. We made Mencia do it.



[edit on 9-5-2009 by projectvxn]

reply to post by projectvxn


i'm not sure i need jews doing anything for me.
it was just a joke. directed at the topic, not the people involved.
apologies provided.

I'm not being curt or condescending when I say this, however I'm having a difficult time wrapping my hands around the point of this

I mean theology is such a woven and twisted study to begin with, nevermind throwing something like this into the mix.

If you think about it, any devout Christian could equally trace all their roots back to Judaism as well if they take the Bible at face value (meaning not with inherent symbolics) and have a strong belief that we all have our roots from 2 people, Adam and Eve. That being the case too (were it to be true) we'd also ALL be inbred.

See my point? It's a lose/lose discussion.

Couple this, with the fact that you're only a "Jew" if you profess yourself as such...if you say you are Christian, then you are, by way of definition, and no one can challenge that right, same with Judaism.

This is why I can't imagine why this should be important as a topic to anyone, let alone specifically any of Latin descent.


But I'm willing to hear why



AB1

Originally posted by MR.FELIZ

wasnt christopher columbus italian??? i would think he were roman-catholic but then again alot of jews occupied italy and venice at that time period....

I once knew a Dominican Jew....alot of jews immigrated to Dominican Republic during WWII...that being because 1.the nazis and 2. Rafael Trujillo opened immigration to them so he could whiten the country.....

I know my grand-god-father was a little racie..


Catholics and Jews. A millenium long love-hate history. The Polish Pope who died a few years ago had a Jewish mother. They found her birth certificate.

The best story of importing Jews was what's called the Fugu Plan. The Japanese of the 30s were vaguely aware Jews were good for stimulating business activity. But they were warned, that Jews were like the puffer fish delicacy, Fugu, which when not properly prepared can be poisonous.

Anyway, they went ahead and welcomed in as immigrants a community of Jews from Eastern Europe. A poor selection, as they were ultra-orthodox and not the astute entrepreneurial types they were hoping for. When they Japan teamed up with the Nazis, the project was ixnayed.


Mike

[edit on 9-5-2009 by mmiichael]

reply to post by spearhead


No apologies needed. I was joking too.

reply to post by LostNemesis


Ampongst Jews there are people called Cohens who claim they decended from the Jewish Priests of biblical times. According to the Bible, the Cohens were decended from Aaron.

A study that appeared in Nature, which is arguably the most respected scientific journal, reported that several Cohens had markers on their Y chromosomes which would suggest a common male ancestor. (Whether you believe that male ancestor is Aaron or some farmer is your choice.)

This claim does not seem so outlandish. We do know there were a class of priests that lived in Biblical Israel called Cohens. People were born into this class, and could not work or earn their way into the class. Just as it would not be outlandish to think that members of a royal family actually decended from a king in the past, it is not outlandish to to think that a group like the Cohens could have decended from a common male ancestor.

Allright!! hell yeah! I am half Jew!! wooot!!!