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McDuntoginsun
PAGE TWO
a I RON ICLE
name—showed me old books with
Hebrew inscriptions and fragments
letters, pamphlets and pictures, and
spoke of the social injustices suffered
By DAVID W. SIMONS
by his family. His uncle was a priest
in the island, loved and honored by
In view of the numerous reflections of the present
all for his extreme goodness and
worldly pictures, on one end we observe the unusual
evangelistic beatitude, but could not
attain the high post of Bishop on ac-
achievements and signs of Jewish activities. Among them
count of the strong antags s i Fm
the recent dedication of the Jewish National University in
against his race. He was later pro.
Jerusalem that attracted the attention and presence of the
tected by the Pope who named him
high representatives of the entire world, who paid homage
Bishop in some other province where
his origin was ignored or where they
and respect. On the other end we are constantly reminded.
did not have any such repugnance
and at times shocked, with news of increased oppression
for the coreligionists of Christ.
and persecution fanned by anti-Semitic propaganda.
"Cueta," in Mallorca, is the substi.
Historically, the Jew has outlived similar injustice by
tution for the word "Marano." There,
faith and hope and must continue. The old saying that
they were called simply Jews. Ma.
every cloud has a silver lining is evident, while attempts
rano is spelled in Spanish with two
is and means both a pig and a crypt°.
are made by various factions to demoralize and destroy the
Jew. But most of the Spanish Jews
unity of the people and to nullify the protection and safety
had dropped one r in order to differ-
so zealously provided and promulgated by the great Amer-
entiate it from the other meaning.
The etymology is from the Hebrew
icans.
expression used by Saint l'aul whin
We note with satisfaction the awakening of the edu-
he cursed the infidels; Maran Ata, or
cators to foster the American tradition of toleration and
"Anathema upon you."
justice. Again faith and hope will eventually convince
All over the Iberian Peninsula,
our enemies of their wrongs.
whether in Spain or. Portugal, the
We, the American Jews, have much to be thankful for
Maranos have mixed freely with the
rest of the population. Mallorca was
being a part and privileged to participate in its blessings,
the place where the hatred was
its safety and prosperity, and have every reason to believe
strongest and where they boasted of
that the approaching New Year will be year of peace,
"Limpieza de Sangre" (Purity of
health and prosperity for all people.
blood), a ridiculous presumption in
a country where at least 60 per cent
We must be mindful of our duties and obligations and
of the inhabitants have semitic blood.
fulfill them to the best of our ability, and thus merit all
There is a popular anecdote refer.
the blessings of the New Year that may be bestowed upon
ring to Joao I. of Portugal who one
day ordered his secretary, the Mar.
US.
P_1
ques de Pombat, to have all the "new
Christians" of his realm wear yellow
hats in order to distinguish them f rum
the "old Christians." A few days
later, the Marquis came to the king,
F.-
. -
- -
carrying three of those yellow hats
under his arm, whereupon Ilk Maj-
esty inquired: "What does this
mean?" "I wish to fulfill His Maj-
By JOSE M. ESTRUGO
esty's order to the letter," he replied,
and here I bring three hats, one for
-='I On a beautiful autumn morning, I a few of the most tenacious among His Majesty, one for the Inquisitor
"=
disembarked in Palma, the capital of them bad faithfully preserved certain General and one for myself, for 1 do
- the evergreen Mallorca, the most fas- Mosaic observances, which are now not know in the Peninsula, a single
-ffs cinating of the Balearic Islands. It completely forgotten and abandoned. noble family that has no Jewish
is, too, one of the most enchanting Among themselves they are not in. blood."
- spots of the world, where a few Eng- clined to be very religious, but when
Indeed, the Maranos who were rich
lish and German retired millionaires, in contact with the "butifarras" they in money and in learning freely in-
as connoisseurs make their permanent show fervent adhesion to the faith termarried not only with the common
abode, on the high hills upon the sea. that had persecuted them so cruelly. people, but also with the impoverish-
_I It was like spring then, and I dream- Their only characteristic of Jewish- ed nobility, going even into the royal
ily strolled about the streets, quiet, ness are found in their generally good family. There were few of the no-
▪
narrow, medieval streets, with rows of morals, cleanliness, and conservatism. bility who were not closely or re-
They are also very good business men. motely connected with the Jews, and
F=.
7 I clean, white, red-roofed houses.
It was a great dream; I soon forgot
That beautiful morning of spring- they were not ashamed of it at all,
07.
that I was there to trace back my like autumn, I went into one of the until the inquisition established the
•
=I mother's ancestry, and to look for Ey- shops in the "Calle de la Plateria" fact as a dishonor. Read the "Tizon
=ing
, monuments of our history, differ- and introduced myself to an old man de la Nobleza" written centuries ago,
ent from those of stone I had seen who had a Mosaic face. I told him and you will have the long list of
ME in the old synagogues and tombs of the object of my visit, and expressed names of which I mention but a few,
•= 1, Barcelona, Sevilla, Cordova, Madrid my desire of meeting his fellow-coon. such as the Lmnas, The Mendozas,
"
and particularly Toledo, the Jerusa- trymen. At first he seemed very the Villahermosas, the Arias Davila,
lem of Sefarad! I felt as it I were diffident and showed caution in his Counts of Punonrosto, and the lien-
in a fairyland, something like a won- conversation, but when he knew who riquez, from which Juana Ilenriquez,
derful garden in the midst of blue I was he became more friendly and the mother of Ferdinand the Catholic
waves! Small sailing boats, white took me to the room in the back of was descendant.
The Maranos often found protec-
like doves; churches, castles, and, the house and introduced me to his
above all Semitic faces, everywhere . family with this phrase: "Here I tion and refuge in the palaces of no-
blemen,
and even in the homes of
bring
you
one
of
our
people,
who
at
I was struck by the remarkable beauty
of the women. Some of the priests last has returned from the exodus, good prelates. These, of course, were
▪
suspected
of heresy, According to
I met were perfect pictures of patri- and to whom we may speak frankly
archal "rabbanim," but for their ens- and without fear." They received me Juan Antonio'Llorente, the last sec-
socks and their hats which only need- like a mother and I was soon retary of the Inquisition, of Madrid
ed to be replaced by the "toca" of the disputed by a dozen families in (1791), 32 prelates were punished
-
the neighborhood who wanted to by the Tribunal of the Faith.
sephardic "haham" of Turkey.
No doubt, a good number of Ma-
- = 1 I was told that in Palm de Mallorca take a good look at rne. Senor
--
0. , I would have many more surprises Teronji—that was the old man's ranos were sincerely converted, since
and interesting experiences than I
had had in the other provinces I had
-
: . = visited, in my eight months' pilgrim-
age through the land which my fore-
-
- 0 fathers inhabited long before there
were any Goths or Romans in the
=I Iberian Peninsula. I rented a small
apartment at a private boarding
▪
I house. The landlady, like most of
the "butifarras" (old Christians) of
0.1 the island, was fanatically religious.
0.1As a good simple soul, she mothered
me and took great interest in my
•
life before she knew I was not a
Christian. She had seen to it that
•
the crucifix was well placed above my
▪
bed on the wall. She was dumb-
founded one day when she learned
the truth, and made signs of the
Cross, as if the very devil had cun-
ningly succeeded in getting shelter
in her home. Her son, a very liberal
student of philosophy, to whom I had
already confided my origin, had a
•
-2- hard time to convince her that I was
as good a man as any in the island,
O
and as good a Spaniard as she, even
I if I did not practice Christianity. She
was finally subdued, and next day she
.=."I came to my room to take off the
.:=2I crucifix, whereupon I told her to
sm.., leave it in its place, as it could not
bother me, and I would not hurt it.
▪
"You know, I remarked, the Saviour
too was of our tribe, and how badly
-
==.-! have his teachings been misapplied!"
That same morning I discovered
=- - - - Ithe "Calle de la Plateira," or the
M., streets of the silversmiths, where the
-
"Chuetas" have their elegant stores
=.72.
rs - Iand shops. They specialize very skit-
M- I fully in this trade. Some of them, I
= I was told, have important posts in the
- militia and in the government admin.
Istrations. There was one mayor who
Ea
— was a Chueta, and a certain Aguilo,
a great Mallorquin philologist. Some
▪
= -
-
s , of them are very rich, and most of
the musicians of the island are of
r_mmimmummuniniummouiliiiiiminisiimmilliliniiiiiilionsillonommunimminilinimninommilionumuminwismoilininiliiiiimA') HAVE MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR HERE
ROSH HASHONAH GREETINGS TO THE JEWISH COMMUNITY
Attention--
Apartment
Builders
a
and
IA Visit To the Maranos; the Grand-
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Home
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MR. JACOB H. SCHAKNE
MR. JACOB MARGOLIS
Editor of The Detroit Jewish Chronicle.
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Influenced by the successful operation
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▪
0.
-
•
▪
Chueta, in the Mallorquin dialect
, (from the Moorish "Chohud" and the
Turkish "Chofud") is the equivalent
of Jew (with contempt). There are
40,000 of them in Palma, and they
naturally dislike to be known by that
-
name or to be reminded of their con-
▪
nection with it, especially as it is
generally used as a slurring epithet.
=i Ever since their now centuries old
0 conversion to Christianity they have
•
been segregated, and they refused to
- Intermarry with the "old Christians,'
•
as they were too proud to thrust
themselves upon inhospitable fellow-
0 Christians. They continued to live
=Fa as a separate sect, isolated from a
....,_- society which social discriminations,
somewhat similar to those of the old
▪ I Yankee families who were averse to
mix with later intruders.
-
In the last few decades, the Span-
ish government has done nothing to
differentiate them from the other
▪
Spaniards, but on the contrary, en-
trusted many of them with high
, sitions of honor and responsibility.
▪
We know that Marra, ex-Prime Min-
ister and head of the Conservative
party, is related to Chuetas, if not a
▪
Chueta himself, as is the famous
Weyler.
-==
The conversion of the Chuetas, like
that of the "Maranos," at the start,
▪
was no sincere, of course; they want-
-
ed to live in their beloved mother-
land, and did not wish to take the
road of the exiles. Their banishment
.=-
-
= was moral, however, for they were
excluded, and are even today to some
extent, from every so-called good
"old Christian" society, in spite of
▪
their outwardly exaggerated adhesion
- to Catholicism. For over 300 years,
==-
- they fed thousands of victims to the
▪
Inquisition, as the majority of them
▪
stuck to the religion of their fore-
fath er.
11 1111111111111Hala
Until as recently as 60 years ago
For a Happy and Prosperous New Year. May
hap-
the coming 12 months period bring with it hap-
at-
Detroit 411U
—1
prosperity to the
al Ws of 1JellUIL
piness
the world over.
A Happy New Year to All Our Jewish Friends
and Patrons..
HENRY DACE
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