Journey
Of The Conversos
ir
he first Jews who
migrated to the Neth-
erlands in the early
1500s, then ruled by
Spain, were conversos,
Jews who had bowed to the dic-
tates of Ferdinand and Isabella
and, with varying degrees of
fidelity, adopted Catholicism. The
Christians referred to the conver-
sos by the pejorative term "Mar-
ranos."
When the Netherlands became
free of Spain in the 1600s, conver-
sos began streaming into Amster-
dam. Once there, they returned
openly to Judaism.
But several generations of
Catholic observance had taken its
toll. Christian beliefs intertwined
with dim memories of Jewish
practice. For conversos in Iberia
who clung to Judaism, Jewish
identity was something to be
demonstrated only in private.
For this reason, Dr. Aron
Rodrigue of Stanford University
calls the conversos the first
modern Jews.
"The public/private face, which
is the hallmark of modern
Judaism, was first experienced by
the Marranos."
But the conversos were largely
ignorant of rabbinic Judaism.
The returning Jews were loathe to
take up Orthodox Judaism.
The best-known embodiment of
the returning Jews' ambivalence
to Judaism is the philosopher
Baruch Spinoza. Born to Portu-
guese converso parents who
emigrated to Amsterdam,
Spinoza in 1656 was banned from
the Jewish community for heresy:
He had declared publicly his
belief that God was not a God of
history or of a chosen Jewish peo-
ple, but equal to nature and the
universe.
Unlike earlier apostates,
Spinoza didn't abandon Judaism
for another religion. He abandon-
ed religion altogether, while main-
taining he was still a member of
the Jewish community.
Spinoza's "secular Judaism"
was ahead of its time. A century
later, nationalism and the
cultural enlightenment swept
Western Europe. It was then that
Spinoza's dichotomy — private
beliefs and public allegiance to
secular authority — became a
normal part of society.
New Thinking
s the quincentennial
draws near, scholars
are taking a new
look at many long-
held beliefs about
the expulsion and Sephardim.
Much of what is known about
religious effects of the expulsion
comes from the scholarship of the
late Professor Gershom Scholem,
who conducted the first
systematic study of Jewish
mysticism.
Professor Scholem drew the
connection between the expulsion
and the mystics in Safed, the
connection between the Safed
mystics and the Shabtai Tzvi
movement, and the connection
between Shabtai Tzvi and
Chasidism.
But in a 1988 book, Kabbalah —
New Perspectives, Professor
Scholem's pupil, Hebrew Univer-
sity of Jerusalem Professor Moshe
Idel, argued that the connections
Professor Scholem made are in-
correct. Dr. David Blumenthal,
A
the Jay and Leslie Cohen pro-
fessor of Judaic studies at Emory
University, supports the new
thinking.
"We've distorted the expulsion
as a foreshadowing of the Holo-
caust. The effects of the expulsion
weren't as serious as 20th century
historians have made them out to
be," he says.
"You realize that these events
are just not connected. I suspect
that (Professor Scholem's conclu-
sions) have something to do with
the reaction of a German Jew
(Scholem) to the Holocaust," says
Dr. Blumenthal, a Conservative
rabbi.
Others would not go that far.
"Scholem is being revised, not re-
pudiated," says Professer Gerber
of City University of New York
Graduate Center.
The Sephardi culture that was
preserved intact in exile for 500
years may be seeing its final ge-
neration.
Although there may be as many
as 400,000 Sephardim in the
United States — numbers
augmented by immigration of
Israelis of Sephardi origin — their
once-vibrant culture could be in
danger. Like the Yiddish culture
of Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardi cul-
ture has fallen victim to
America's openness.
Some remain optimistic. Rabbi
M. Mitchell Serels of Yeshiva
University says America's
Sephardi community has been
enhanced by the immigration and
energized by the need to prove its
viability to the more numerous
Ashkenazim.
"There's a sense that we have to
show the Ashkenazim we can
make it," Rabbi Serels says.
"We're a reaction to the Reform
and Conservative movements."
But Ed Alcosser says the
quincentennial may be the last
opportunity to absorb a living
Sephardi culture into world
Judaism. "1992 .is a last-gasp at-
tempt at finding out first-hand
what made it work."
The time may be soon, he fears,
when the echoes of the Big Bang
of 1492 will complete their long
voyage and finally fall silent.
❑
Marking The Quincentennial
elebrations of Sephardi life will
take place around the world
this coming year.
The exhibition "Golden Threads: A
Tapestry of Sephardic Experience" will
open in spring 1992 at the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington, D.C. The In-
ternational Jewish Committee
Sepharad '92, which is organizing the
exhibit, expects the collection will tour
the United States and other countries.
The Quincentennial Foundation,
pon.sored by the New York-based
merican Sephardi Federation, is plan-
" 'etrace the Paths of exile
The tour will begin
mark the -
expulsion on Tisha B'Av. It will continue
by boat to Salonika, Istanbul and
Rhodes, and fly to Israel. Travelers can
choose to begin the tour in Morocco.
For, information, call the American
Sephardi Federation, (212) 308-3455, or
International Costa Tours, (800)
747-6782. The Jewish Community
Centers Association of. North America
has published a Sephardic Program
Resource Guide. It includes lists of con
ferences and events, a speakers bureau,
available films and videos, tours and
teaching materials. For information,
call Sesil Lissberger (212) 532-4949. CD
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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