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B"H
Visiting Cartagena
Members of the shul recently traveled to Cartagena, Colombia where we had an experience reminiscent of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Though for our movie, the title will be Raiders of the Found Ark.) Our shul refurbished an old Torah to give to the Sephardic Israelite Center in Cartagena. On this adventure/torah dedication, Miriam and I were joined by Ximena and Elie Levy and their daughter Rebecca, Elie’s parents, Ellis Gottesfeld, and his daughter Eva. My ambivalence was heightened as we drove through the slum-like neighborhoods before reaching the building that housed a synagogue. But what we found upon arrival was like nothing we could have imagined. The streets were filled with young mothers carrying their babies and men with tzitzit and kipot blowing shofarot. Their joy, excitement, and pride was evident through tears of raw emotion. For the next hour we interrupted traffic, singing and dancing while carrying the Torah to its new permanent home. Although the Jewish community is relatively small, we all left spiritually uplifted after our visit.
Stories were shared in abundance, each more fascinating than the previous. Twenty years ago the rabbi was a practicing Catholic who knew nothing about Judaism. He eventually gave up a career in medicine to start a new Jewish community. Personally, I would be reticent to perform his duties as he is the community’s official shochet and mohel. These are two areas of expertise not included in my resume. Growing up, he recalled strange customs in his parents’ house such as rinsing meat to remove blood, being admonished for mixing dairy and meat and lighting two lights on Fridays. However, no explanation for these odd customs were offered and he considered them ancestral vestiges. Intellectually, he was unable to link his family to a Jewish ancestry as he had never met a Jew nor had any idea of their customs. His parents thought he was insane when he decided to convert as they were unwilling to acknowledge their Jewish roots even if it now seemed obvious to him. His initial conversion was facilitated by a rabbinical court in Miami. However, that Beth Din was unacceptable to some, so he redid his conversion to comply with a more rigid standard.
Another story shared by a young lady we met is something one would read about in a book. She said that when her mother was on her deathbed she gave her an ancient looking box containing a key. Her mother told her this was the key to their ancestral house in Spain and has been passed down from generation to generation for the past five hundred years. Her family were practicing Catholics that had no connection to Judaism and the Jewish community. Yet deep down they were aware they were different. Almost everyone had similar anecdotes but were unable to share their story out of fear of being ostracized, condemned, and ridiculed.
Cartagena is home to the Palace of the Inquisition. Although generally less talked about, the inquisition that started in Spain and Portugal found its way to South America and Mexico. As Cartagena is a port city and gateway to South America, the inquisition leaders had their main court located there. They enforced the law of Tomas de Torquemada, the Inquisitor General of Spain. Those deemed as having heretical views were tortured or murdered in a barbaric manner. These laws remained on the statute for hundreds of years and placed an enormous strain for those who lived as secret or hidden Jews.
Even our hotel was steeped in history. The Hotel Santa Clara is only a quarter of a mile from the Palace of the Inquisition and both were built in the early 1600s. The hotel was originally a beautiful convent, built for nuns to serve God in a serene garden setting. It seemed surreal, as if built with the intent of balancing the brutality surrounding it. The sounds of waves hitting the rocks adjacent to the hotel contrasted the haunting echo of the inquisitor’s crimes against humanity. Moreover, I am perturbed by contradictions and incongruity. How were they able to justify the torture and murder of innocent civilians yet still be totally devoted to God?
I grew up fascinated by the legend of The Ten Lost Tribes. On the surface, these tribes assimilated into the Greek, Babylonian and Roman world, completely disassociated with their Jewish brethren. However, opinions in Aggadic literature maintain that these tribes still exist and reside beyond the river called Sambatyon. Although no factual evidence has ever validated their existence, it has always piqued my interest.
Furthermore, the Talmud quotes Rabbi Eliezer as saying, “Just like a day is followed by darkness, and the light later returns, so too, although it will become ‘dark’ for the ten tribes, G-d will ultimately take them out of their darkness and return them to the Jewish people. Although others disagree, the mere possibility that an entire lost civilization of Jews can be resurrected and reunited has fascinated my imagination. For years that is exactly where it stayed - deep in my imagination. I certainly didn’t think that it was possible or true. It was just another legend that I was unable to disprove but certainly didn’t have confidence in the truth of the legends.
However, all of that changed with my trip to Cartagena. The parallels are too great to dismiss. For hundreds of years I heard stories of the Converso. Stories of Jews persecuted during the Inquisition who openly practiced Catholicism, but secretly continued to abide by Jewish law and believe in Hashem. They managed to outwardly live as Catholics, but secretly continued to embrace their Jewish heritage. The stories seemed a bit contrived and fantastical, too unreal to actually be true. Indeed, most of the Spanish Jews were either murdered, exiled, or converted to Catholicism. Those that managed to escape are the ancestors of many in today’s Sephardic communities.
But it’s the ones that lived the dual lives that occupied my interest. Was it possible that after five hundred years people were still hiding their true identity? I heard stories of individual families who had strange customs, but they were just stories. Some supposedly lit candles in their cellars on Friday night. Others insisted on burying their dead immediately and having the coffin face Jerusalem. Some also refused to eat pork or wouldn’t mix meat and milk. But while the customs prevailed it was practiced through a lens of Catholicism and seemed to be void of any association to Judaism.
Books have been written and stories shared about Converso families who insisted that a family member enter into the priesthood. By having one of their own as a priest, they would go into confession with that priest and continue to maintain their secretive connection Judaism. Some insist that pockets of Marrano families still exist but are too frightened to come out of the shadows and join the Jewish world.
If Rabbi Elazar can believe that after 2500 years the Ten Lost Tribes can return, who is to say that those forced to abandon their heritage due to the inquisition won’t return, as well. And perhaps my visit to Cartagena indicates they have already begun. Although relatively few in number, communities of returnees exist throughout the Spanish and Latino world. Communities established by converts for converts exist in Porto, Portugal and numerous Latin American countries. In Colombia, Converso communities exist in Bogota, Medellin, Barranquilla, Cartagena and Calle. And the numbers of returnees continue to grow.
During the celebration of Purim, we remember that we can and will survive regardless of the odds against us. Although Haman tried to eradicate the Jews, the Jews in Shushan survive and flourish. However, in my perception, what we recently experienced in Cartagena was no less remarkable than the events that led to the celebration of Purim.
Shabbat Shalom and Purim Sameach,
Rabbi Jack Engel
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