Cushman Cunningham "The Secret Empire"

[Bela]

This is an author I've not heard of before - quote is from following page:

Sephardim
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/sephard.htm
These quotes taken from The Secret Empire by Cushman Cunningham illustrate how the Sephardim have intermarried with the Canaanites, Philistines and Perizzites. This book provides a thorough, easy to read overview of the hidden hand behind the major events of the past two thousand years.

"Through their monopoly of metallurgic techniques (Toledo and Damascus steel . . . the finest hardened steel in the world) . . . The Jewish dominance in steel technology in the 14-16th centuries must originally come from the Sea People side of the family (i.e. the non-Semitic Philistines and Canaanites) , whose monopoly in metal working had been symbolized millenniums earlier in the crippled god of Blacksmiths: called Haephastus in Greece, Ptah in Egypt and Daedalus in Crete" (Cushman Cunningham, The Secret Empire, p. 442-443).

Called is identified with Tubal-Cain, Cush and Nimrod and was known to the Romans as Vulcanos.

"How the Sephardic Jews came to be in Spain in the first place is more complicated and obscure. The Moorish records tell that many Jews accompanied the Moorish invasion of Spain in 711 A.D. as army officers, armorors and provisioners. But Spanish legends say that Tariq Ibn Zahid, the Governor of Morocco, and conqueror of Visigothic Spain was invited to invade Spain by the Jews of Spain. There is strong evidence suggesting that Jews resided in Spain long before 711 A.D. In the period of Nebuchadnezzar II's conquest of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity that followed, there are references to the Jewish exiles which are in 'Sephard' (re: Obadiah 11). ('Sephard' was the ancient Hebrew name for Spain). There was also Jonah's abortive attempt to sail to Tarshish a few decades earlier. (Tarshish was on the site of present day Seville, in southern Spain). So the Jews of Jonah's day knew where Tarshish was, and Jonah must have known that there were some of his countrymen there who spoke his language and would shelter and protect him, when he made his decision to sail to Tarshish.

Obadiah's lament over the Jewish exiles 'from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad' is intriguing. The period was soon after the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon's temple by Nebuchadnezzar II, which followed after the Assyrian conquest and captivity. Also earlier, during the Assyrian captivity (around 700 B.C.), the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 23) predicts the fall of Tyre and Sidon, and dwells at great length on the distress this will cause the city of Tarshish ('Merchants of Sidon, pass ye over to Tarshish'; 'Howl, ye ships of Tarshish'; 'Pass . . . oh daughter of Tarshish . . .' etc.).

Later after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and dispersion of the Jews, the Targum of Jonathon refers to the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem who had sailed away to Sepharad.

Where would aristocrats in Jerusalem have gone for refuge when they heard of the mighty, irresistible armies of Babylon (or Ninevah) approaching?

Nearby Tyre was a strongly fortified island, supplied and defended by fleets which were unsurpassed on the seas of the world. Hiram of Tyre had been a close friend of Solomon... had supplied him the great cedar and cypress logs with which Solomon had supported the roof of his Temple . . . he had sent shipwrights to build Solomon's fleet at Ezion-Ghezer, and then sent him the navigators and seamen to man that fleet . . . Hiram had visited Jerusalem and corresponded regularly with Solomon, even playing games with him by correspondence. And this friendship between Solomon and Hiram of Tyre had existed earlier between their fathers and forefathers for many generations.

So it would seem likely that aristocrats in Jerusalem would naturally think of taking refuge in Tyre when vast, hostile hosts approached from the east.

Nebuchadnezzar II overran Syria and Judea and Egypt, destroying Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple and carrying off the Israelites to Babylon, where they remained as slaves until freed by Cyrus the Great and his conquering Persian armies. For over 70 years Judea and Samaria remained an unpopulated wasteland, across which periodically outlaw bands and Babylonian armies raided more prosperous neighbors. But Nebuchadnezzar II never took Tyre. He laid siege to Tyre for 17 years, during which time he organized fleets to try to cut Tyre off from seaborne supplies and food. Probably he was able to maintain effective blockades only intermittently, but never long enough to starve Tyre into submission, nor was his fleet strong enough to mount a seaborne invasion. One Egyptian historian, Megasthenes, said that Nebuchadnezzar's fleet at some point during the siege attacked Cyrene (in North Africa) and Sepharad (Spain), presumably to punish or destroy bases from which besieged Tyre was being supplied. So it seems possible that the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem who had taken refuge in Tyre might have sailed to Cyrene, Carthage or Sephard during the siege on the returning supply ships leaving Tyre outbound. Tyre must have seemed to be a precarious (and hungry) place during Nebuchadnezzar's long blockade. Carthage or Sepharad would have been much safer and more pleasant. The Tyrians could have even encouraged them to go, to diminish the number of mouths which needed to be fed.

There are hints that there may have been Jews in Spain even much earlier than the time of Nebuchadnezzar II. During the Sea People invasion of Egypt (some of whom came from Sardinia and others possibly from Spain) in the times of the Pharaoh Rameses III (about 1200 B.C.), there were many hints of participation by the Jews already enslaved in Egypt by Rameses I after his great victory over the Hittites at Kadesh. Some may have accompanied the Sea People ships returning to Sepharad from Egypt. It even appears that the earlier Hyksos conquerors of Egypt probably departed from Avaris into Gaza and Judea, and may have been the ancestors of the Jews. Even earlier when Abraham sent Hagar and their son, Ishmael, into the desert in Beersheba, they were near the Philistine city of Gaza and Abraham was a guest of the Philistine King Abimelech. Hagar was from Egypt and found Ishmael an Egyptian wife. Later the Philistine city of Avaris (on the eastern mouth of the Nile delta) claimed to be 'the City of Ishmael'. So Abraham had Philistine friends and family who kept in contact (like Hiram of Tyre and Solomon) down through the centuries. Thus the Philistine-Phoenician contacts with Sephard (Iberia) would have been shared with the Jews very early. The later Philistine occupants of Gaza and the Levant coast were a branch of the Sea People society, which also included the Phoenician Semitic seafarers out of Tyre, Byblos and Ugarit. The Sea People culture evidently was assimilative and coexistive, not yet racially nor religiously exclusive. The early history of the Jews constantly hints at close ties to early Sea People. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai (Djebel Musa) with the Ten Commandments he found his people (led by members of his own family) worshiping the Golden Calf. In the caves at the foot of Djebel Musa modern archaeologists have found wall pictures of spreading cattle horns, the same symbol found at Knossos and other Minoan sites on Crete, and in the islands of the lower Cyclades, representing a symbol of the Minoan religion. ('The Horns of Consecration', was the name given it by Arthur Evans). All through the Old Testament the Jews repeatedly had the problem of their people defecting to worship the 'Golden Calf' (Exodus 32:24; Deuteronomy 9:16; I Kings 12:28-30; Nehemiah 9:18; Psalms 106:19; Hosea 8:5-6; etc. to name only a few) . . . which must have indicated an ongoing close contact with the Sea People (Philistines, Phoenicians, etc.) which would also have given them an ongoing contact with Sepharad (Spain). Both the 'horns of consecration' and 'the golden calf' represented the same Sea People religion . . . which was shown in the bull-vaulting frescos at Knossos, and later in bull-fighting in Spain and France. To this day Judaism (as also Christianity) goes through periodic schisms and divergences in belief, leaving winnows of discarded Targums behind. In the biblical period from Moses to David we see frequent intermixings and intermarriages (Samson at Gaza, David seeking refuge from Saul with the Philistines, etc.), which seem to suggest a degree of common language and culture. The phonetic alphabet invented by northwest-Semitic-speaking peoples (linear A at Knossos of Arthur Evans) was carried westward to be used in writing Greek, Etruscan, Tartassian (Tarshish-ian) and Old Norse, indicating a communicative society based on social cultural, and commercial give-and-take, tolerant and co-existive. It would be surprising if such a close relationship as existed between Solomon (and his court) and Hiram of Troy (and his court) was not based on family connections, which was the basis of trust in those days. Building of trust was cemented by marrying sons and daughters to each other's family. This was also true with trade and commerce. A merchant shipping goods to a distant port needed to have someone trustworthy at that destination to be sure he would be paid for his goods. A relative was usually considered to be the most trustworthy, even a son-in-law. So undoubtedly there were many marriages between the Jews of Judea and the Phoenicians of Tyre . . . and also between the Phoenician-Jews of Tyre and their trading partners in Carthage, Tarshish, Cyrene, and elsewhere. This would not have been a one-sided deal. The Jews in Judea, with their great stronghold of Jerusalem, controlled the caravan routes between Mesopotamia (and Anatolia) and Egypt. And so they also must have had relatives to handle their business in Egypt, Babylon, Ninevah and Hattusus. Under these circumstances there must have been a constant competition and compromise in matters of religion, culture, language and customs. The polytheism characteristic of the Middle East and the Mediterranean at that time offered the advantages of compromise: room could always be made on the family altar for the family god of a new son-in-law. What preserved the Jewish faith from the dilution and mixing with other faiths was the uncompromising nature of their one God, Yahweh, enforced by their religious leaders in Jerusalem. But the Jews who had intermarried overseas may have been another matter, being far from the eyes and guidance of the high priests in Jerusalem. Later . . . during the Golden Age of Judaism in Spain (850-1150 A.D. roughly) we know that the rabbis in Spain referred questions of Talmudic law to Talmudic authorities in Baghdad. But in earlier times it is probable that there was considerable religious compromise, concession and confusion between the Jews in the West and their Sea People friends and associates of Tarshish and Iberia. It may have been difficult at times to be sure who was a Jew and who was a follower of the Sea People religions. But from the recurring references in Jewish writings over the centuries, it is clear that there had been an ancient Jewish presence in Spain. One or two references could be questioned, but not so many. If there were Jews in Tarshish, there may also have been Jews in the Balearics and in Cartagena and Almeria. When Roman rule came to Spain after the Second Punic war (the war with Hannibal) the Romans found southwestern Spain populated by a people they called the Turdetanos, whom the Romans soon decided were useless and hopeless. They were (or pretended to be?) stupid and uncomprehending, lazy and completely undependable. Perhaps an early example of 'passive resistance'? Rome never established much of a military presence there, possibly because of the frustration of dealing with such hopeless people.

But we know from other sources elsewhere that during the early Roman period ships were still sailing out of southwest Iberia, probably at night, to ports around the Atlantic unknown to the Romans and beyond Roman control . . . carrying on the commerce of the Sea People. A secret seafaring society.

We also know that early in the Christian era in Aragon (northeast of Spain and the Balearic Islands) there were many Jews who enjoyed prominent positions in Aragonese society. Fernando of Aragon (husband of Isabella the Catholic, the 'Catholic Kings') had a number of converted Jews in the highest positions in his court. In Granada (actually at their court outside of Granada at Santa Fe de la Vega) Fernando had a number of high officials who were 'convertidos' (converted Jews) who were instrumental in helping Columbus (Cristobal Colon . . . 'colon' was a common Jewish name in Genoa) get royal support for his exploration west to the Indies. It is interesting that it was the men of Aragon with ancient Sea People ties who were most encouraging towards Columbus's Atlantic project. The Jewish colony in Aragon and Majorca (and in Ibiza) may have had very ancient roots.

Here we are going back to the earliest periods of history. But precisely in Spain is where the people of the earliest recorded history (in the Mediterranean) met and overlapped the pre-history of the Sea Peoples in the Atlantic. From carbon 14 analysis of organic material found just under the megaliths (and from other newer dating techniques) we know that many of the megaliths were built 5-7 thousand years ago . . . and built by people with highly sophisticated scientific methods: astronomy, engineering, metal working, seamanship and celestial navigation. This makes them contemporary with the very beginnings of civilization in Egypt and Mesopotamia . . . or even earlier.

The early Jewish writings frequently boast of the great antiquity of the Jewish people. Flavius Josephus, the Romanised Jewish historian who wrote detailed accounts of the Jewish Wars, also wrote the most complete history of the Jewish people we have. He claimed great antiquity for the Jewish people. He claimed the nation of the Jews to be 5,000 years old . . . at the time he wrote (which was at the beginning of the Christian era -- so that would now be about 7,000 years). Early historians often used considerable license in estimating dates in earlier antiquity. But Josephus was a stickler for exact dates, usually quoting several sources to justify his choice of a certain date (or period of time). He quoted intervals of time down not only to the exact year, but also to the month and day when dealing with events as far back as the time of Moses. Many of his dates and time intervals were tied to the building of Solomon's Temple. But before Moses his timing becomes more vague (which is understandable). He does not quote supporting references for dates before Moses, but simply follows the accepted Talmud account. So we have no way of confirming or denying his estimate of 5,000 years. Inasmuch as the time of Abraham was about four thousand years ago, leaving Josephus's estimate about three thousand years short, is it possible that the early historical sources used by Josephus became confused with references from the even earlier Sea Peoples? (Through Ishmael and his descendants?) It could have been that those poor landless nomadic sheepherders of Abraham's time were proud to claim as their own some share of the heritage of the cultured, powerful, and aristocratic kings of the sea which we know today as the 'Sea People'.

In any case it seems clear that in ancient times there was a continuing contact between the Jews of Judea and those of Sepharad. There was an ongoing Jewish presence in Spain long before Jonah and Obadiah. And undoubtedly this contact was maintained by ships on the sea down through the centuries.

But what was it that made the Jews of Spain a recognized aristocracy, while the Jews back in Judea were hardly able to survive the string of catastrophes that continuously befell them? ( . . . the captivity in Egypt, the Assyrian conquest and captivity, the Babylonian captivity, the conquest and oppression by Alexander and the descendants of his Hellenic generals after him, the Roman conquest and dispersal [diaspora] by the Romans, the Islamic conquest . . . etc., etc. down to this century).

It is not too difficult to deduce what may have made the Sephardic Jews the aristocracy they emerged to be in the 15th and 16th centuries.

First, they probably started as aristocrats. It was the aristocrats and royal family who fled to find refuge before the approach of powerful armies. They were the ones the conquerors would have put to death or carried off as hostages for the good behavior of their people. The early conquerors just slaughtered the common people. And we know that other early ventures on the sea and colonizations overseas in the Mediterranean were led by members of royal families with their court of aristocrats. . . such as the founding of Carthage by the sister of the King of Tyre . . . the founding of Greek colonies in Etruria (at Rome?) under the leadership of Tyrrhenus, the son of the King of Lydia (in Asia Minor the Corinthian colony at Syracuse, and many other early colonizations, always westward.

Also the life around them in Spain must have been stimulating for their mental and intellectual development. The world of the Sea People in Spain opened new and exciting vistas they had never dreamed of back in Judea. The Sea People navigation all around the shores of the Atlantic brought back fantastic tales of exotic lands and new peoples. The Sea People science of engineering, astronomy, navigation, metallurgy and mining must have challenged their minds and stimulated their thinking. The Sea People way of dealing with foreigners must have won their admiration and set their imaginations racing. Rather than always waging war, the 8ea People artfully won the respect of invading barbarians and accommodated them (the Celts of Tartassos [Tarshish] and, later, the Vandals and Visigoths) and co-existed with them while harnessing them for their own purposes. For fugitive Jews from the Middle East, where vast barbarian armies constantly slaughtered one another, this must have been food for thought.

But most of all, what made the Sephardic Jews so powerful was their network of other Sephardic Jews spread out across the western world. And this was the direct result of their expulsion from Spain by the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabella. They could communicate with friends and relatives from Spain whom they trusted all across the world. This was similar to the earlier network of dispersed Jews created by the Roman diaspora, but the contacts were fresher by more than a dozen centuries.

And what is absolutely certain is that the contact between the Jews in Judea and the Jews in Sepharad was continuous down through the centuries. It was not only because of the periodic flight from some occasional disaster which overwhelmed Jerusalem from time to time. Over the years the merchant ships plied east and west continuously in the Mediterranean, carrying Jewish cargoes, Jewish passengers and Jewish messages. The prosperity generated by their commerce made them indispensable to each new conqueror.

Without the luxuries and spices they carried from distant lands, daily lives of the kings would have lacked zest and distinction. Without the latest superior metals for weapons of warfare, the conqueror might have ended up instead being conquered.

The legendary 'Ships of Tarshish' mentioned so frequently the old Testament (often with just a hint of jealousy) apparently wet, immense. There are hints suggesting that they were often used as ore ships, or transports for metal ingots (tin from Cornwall and copper from Corsica and Sardinia). The high sides and bow, combined with a quantity of heavy metal ballast: have made them very seaworthy in heavy seas. Mining and smelting early industries in the Guadalquiver basin of southern Spain (in the Sierra Morena).

There is a striking resemblance between drawings and description the ancients 'ships of Tarshish' the giant Sea Gaul ships which a destroyed Caesar's fleet of war galleys off the mouth of the Loire the summer of 55 B.C.

Caesar not only describes the battle in the third book of his 'De Bello Gallico', but he also spends many pages describing the ships he captured and personally inspected after the battle. He was clearly very much impressed by those ships. He tells how captains captured with their ships told him that they were accustomed to sailing for weeks out of sight of land across the broad Atlantic on those great ships without concern for storms or heavy seas. The Roman sea captains, like all Mediterranean seafarers of those days, were accustomed to put in to land every night, and never sailed in bad weather. None of them understood how the Phoenicians (and their ancient forefathers, the Pelasgians [in Greek], Peleset [in Egyptian] and Perizzite [in Semitic]) had been able to sail through all kinds of weather on the high seas and arrive exactly at their proposed destination, as they were reputed to be able to do.

Caesar had brought up a large fleet of Roman war galleys from the Mediterranean to crush the Sea Gauls and drive their ships away from the coasts of northern and western France, where they had been landing and stirring up local revolts against Rome for years. Caesar positioned his fleet to meet the approaching Sea Gaul fleet, then he himself went ashore onto a small island from which he watched the sea battle. . .

Several centuries later the Jewish banking system secretly financed (and helped to organize several major events which changed the direction of world history). They organized and financed the Moorish invasion of Spain in AD 711, which destroyed the Visigothic Empire, and this reshuffled the power alignments of all of western Europe. It also made the Mediterranean for a time an Islamic lake, and ignited forces which led to the Renaissance and the supremacy of Lombard bankers in northern Italy. The Sephardic Jewish bankers also financed (and thus made possible) the invasion of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror.

And in the 14th through the 16th centuries they were the essential element behind the expansion of the Ottoman Turks into the Middle East, Asia Minor; the Mediterranean, the Balkans and. eastern Europe. They assembled Jews from all over Europe for the Turks to re-populate conquered Constantinople, and they provided the administration, coordination and financing for the Turkish conquests in the Balkans an the Turkish invasions of Eastern Europe.

Of course those anonymous Jewish bankers profited mightily from the conquests they financed.

But how (when and where) did the Jewish bankers become so powerful?

Ironically it seem to have been the diasporas themselves (which are so bewailed by the Jews) which first created the Jewish banking network." (Cushman Cunningham, The Secret Empire, p447-465). sephard.htm

[VoltaXebec]

Here's a couple of interviews with the guy.

Thursday, May 06, 2010 Interview with Cushman Cunningham, author of The Secret Empire.
http://mp3.oraclebroadcasting.com/Truth ... 06_16k.mp3

Friday, May 21, 2010 Another interview with Cushman Cunningham, author of The Secret Empire.
http://mp3.oraclebroadcasting.com/Truth ... 21_16k.mp3

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

I remember seeing this on Anusim and Visigothic Spain. The Jewish alliance with the invading Moors likely had a revenge motive associated with it from previous expulsions during Visigothic Spain after the fall of the Roman Empire.
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ANUSIM

ANUSIM (Heb. אֲנוּסִים; "forced ones"), persons compelled by overwhelming pressure, whether by physical threats, psychological stress, or economic sanctions, to abjure Judaism and adopt a different faith (in contradistinction to meshummadim, or voluntary apostates – see *Apostasy). Here attention will be directed only to instances of group compulsion. An edict or systematic attempt to force Jews to convert to another faith is termed in Hebrew gezerat shemad ("edict of apostasy"). In Jewish sources, the term anusim is applied not only to the forced converts themselves, but also to their descendants who clandestinely cherished their Jewish faith, attempting to observe at least vestiges of the *halakhah, and loyalty to their Jewish identity. Both the elements of compulsion and free will enter the psychological motivation of the forced convert. The concept denoted by the term anusim, therefore, is fluid, bordering on that applying to apostates and even to *Marranos; it has been the subject of much discussion.
Early Middle Ages

The vituperation heaped on Jews by Christian ecclesiastics, and the violent methods employed by the church in the fourth century (see Jewish *History, Middle Ages), led to many forced conversions. There is clear evidence that anusim existed in the Frankish kingdoms of the sixth century, for the typical pattern of mass violence combined with threat of expulsion is already present in the mass conversion of many Jews to Christianity in *Clermont-Ferrand in 576. The almost inevitable result of the creation of a Jewish "underground" within the Christian society is also clearly visible. The events in Clermont were set in motion after a Jew, who had voluntarily adopted Christianity, was molested by other Jews during a religious procession. The participants in the procession then made an attack "which destroyed [the synagogue] completely, razing it to the grounds." Subsequently, Bishop *Avitus directed a letter to the Jews in which he disclaimed the use of compulsion to make them adopt Christianity, but announced at the end of the missive: "Therefore if ye be ready to believe as I do, be one flock with us, and I shall be your pastor; but if ye be not ready, depart from this place." The community hesitated for three days before making a decision. Finally the majority, some 500, accepted Christianity. The Christians in Clermont greeted the event with rejoicing: "Candles were lit, the lamps shone, the whole city radiated with the light of the snow-white flock" (i.e., the forced converts). The Jews who preferred exile left for *Marseilles (Gregory of Tours, Histories, 5:11) The poet Venantius Fortunatus composed a poem to commemorate the occasion. In 582 the Frankish king Chilperic compelled numerous Jews to adopt Christianity. Again the anusim were not wholehearted in their conversion, for "some of them, cleansed in body but not in heart, denied God, and returned to their ancient perfidy, so that they were seen keeping the Sabbath, as well as Sunday" (ibid., 6:17).

Persistent attempts to enforce conversion were made in the seventh century by the Visigoths in Spain after they had adopted the Roman Catholic faith. Comparatively mild legal measures were followed by the harsh edict issued by King Sisibut in 616, ordering the compulsory baptism of all Jews. After conversion, however, the anusim evidently maintained their Jewish cohesion and religious life. It was undoubtedly this problem that continued to occupy Spanish sovereigns at the successive Councils of Toledo representing both the ecclesiastical and secular authorities; it is difficult to conceive that the term Judaei, employed in the texts of the canons subsequently promulgated by the councils, actually refers to professing Jews; the restrictive measures adopted against the Judaei only make sense if directed at the devoted underground. Thus, steps were taken to secure that the children of converts had a Christian religious education as well as to prevent the older generation from continuing to observe the Jewish rites or from failing to observe the Catholic ones. A system of strict supervision by the clergy over the way of life and movements of the anusim was imposed. The attitude of the victims is seen in a letter addressed to the Visigothic king Recceswinth in 654, in which they promised to live as faithful Christians but pleaded not to be compelled to eat pork against which they felt physical revulsion.
Later Middle Ages

Attempts from the beginning of the eighth century to compel Jews in the *Byzantine Empire to accept Christianity similarly resulted in the creation of anusim leading a crypto-Jewish existence. According to the chronicler Theophanes, when in 722 the Emperor *Leo III "compelled the Jews and the Montanists to undergo baptism, the Jews, although unwilling, accepted baptism and then washed it off" (Chronographia, ed. by De Boor, 1 (1963), 401). At the end of the ninth century and in the first half of the tenth, attempts were made to convert Jews to Christianity in the Byzantine Empire by physical threats, missionary *disputations, and the offer of rewards to the converts. *Basil I is particularly notorious in Jewish chronicles for these attempts.

Compulsory conversions took place in the Rhineland in the tenth century, and during the Crusades amid the anti-Jewish attacks after 1096 (see also *Kiddush ha-Shem). The action of Emperor *Henry IV, who later permitted the victims to return to their former faith, was violently resented by the Pope and the Christian populace, hence Henry's successors did not always follow this policy. In Spain and North Africa in the 12th century, the Muslim *Almohads forced both their Jewish and their Christian subjects to convert to Islam, apparently by terrorization rather than legislative measures. The converts from Judaism and their descendants remained isolated from their environment and humiliated by society. All the evidence points to them having led a crypto-Jewish existence.

At the close of the 13th century the Jews in southern Italy were given the choice of baptism or death, and there followed a wave of forced conversions under which the Jewish population in *Apulia completely disappeared. Many were driven to simulate Christianity to save their lives. The neofiti (neophytes), or mercanti as they were called because of their commercial activities, remained a recognizable and unpopular group suspected of retaining their fidelity to their ancestral faith for over two centuries. In 1453 Pope *Nicholas V wrote of them: "their forefathers were Jews who adopted Christianity 150 years ago, rather from compulsion than of their own free will."

[Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson]
THE IBERIAN PENINSULA

Forcible conversion of Jews occurred in many lands throughout the ages, but nowhere was this phenomenon more consequential and widespread than in the Iberian Peninsula, in the Kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, and Portugal. Crypto-Judaism in Sepharad began in 1391 as a result of the massacres that broke out in Seville and spread throughout the peninsula in the summer of that year. The attack against the Jews was perpetrated following a venomous anti-Jewish campaign that was initiated by Ferran Martinez, the archdeacon of Ecija. During the massacres thousands of Jews were killed, thousands fled, and thousands were forcibly converted. Following the massacres, a very strong anti-Jewish campaign was conducted by churchmen. Particularly effective was the campaign led by Vicent Ferrer at the beginning of the 15th century. Many Jews converted to Christianity and joined the ranks of the *New Christians or conversos. The Tortosa Disputation in the years 1413–14 initiated by Jerónimo de Santa Fé, Joshua Halorqui before his baptism, proved disastrous to the Jews of the Kingdom of Aragon. Numerous Jews were baptized following in the footsteps of their leaders who had been held like hostages, away from their communities, during long months of the disputation.

Many conversos found their way to the financial and administrative top open. Many occupied important positions in the governments of the Hispanic kingdoms, thus arousing the envy and antagonism of many Christians. In any case, among the Old Christians many doubted the sincerity of the conversos and did not accept their conversion under duress as an irrefutable proof of their Christianity. The economic, social and political achievements of some of the New Christians strengthened the already existing opposition to their integration into Christian society. In fact, those who were baptized, whether in 1391 or in later years, did not form a homogeneous group. Some were real anusim or Crypto-Jews who continued to identify themselves as Jewish and observed Judaism secretly as much as possible. This group must have been large since it is reasonable that many thousands of Jews who converted forcibly or out of fear did not change their faith and their identity overnight. Others might have accepted their fate, and in their despair decided they would put an end to their tragic existence by facing reality and try to become part of the majority society. A third group consisted of Jews who had been somewhat alienated from Jewish tradition and practice and might have found it easier to turn from being Jews "without a synagogue" into Christians "without a church." Another group was composed of true Christians whose conversion was an act of faith. Even if their baptism came in times of persecution, it was the result of religious conviction. Such were Pablo de Santa María, formerly Solomon Halevi, or his disciple Joshua Halorqui. Members of the last group proved to be the greatest persecutors of the Jews.

If the boundaries between these groups sometimes disappeared or were blurred, it was primarily due to the Christian refusal to accept the conversos as true Christians and to the prevalent Christian notion that all conversos maintained their Jewish identity.

Many New Christians left behind them in the Jewish camp spouses, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters or other relatives or friends and did not cut off their relations with them. Under Vicent Ferrer's influence, Castile decided in 1412 to compel the Jews to live in different quarters and be separated from Old and New Christians. After the Tortosa Disputation various measures were taken to put pressure on the Jewish communities and prevent Jewish influence on the conversos. Gradually Christian antagonism towards the conversos assumed an ethnic and racial character. The concept of the limpieza de sangre (purity of blood) barred the New Christians' integration within Christian society. More and more violence was perpetrated against the conversos. The armed rebellion of the conversos in Toledo in 1449 was the result of the Old Christians' growing pressure and venomous campaign against them. In 1473 widespread violent attacks were perpetrated against the conversos throughout Castile. The demand by churchmen that tough measures be taken against insincere converts led to the establishment of the *Inquisition in 1480 in the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. The Inquisition was meant to eradicate heresy among the New Christians. From 1481 onwards the Inquisition conducted a systematic war against the conversos. The latter were accused of secretly observing Jewish practices while the Jews were blamed for providing them with the information and material that were necessary to maintain their Jewish identity. The official reason for the Expulsion of 1492 was the influence Jews had on the New Christians. In 1492, the conversos were joined by a large group of Jews who decided to convert rather than leave the country. Many expellees were destined to return and be baptized after they had found no haven.

The records of the Inquisition show that the Expulsion did not put an end to the converso problem and that for generations to come descendants of New Christians would be tried and condemned for Judaizing. The Chuetas from Majorca remained a segregated group and suffered humiliation and persecution beyond the 18th century.

The largest group of Castilian Jews found refuge in Portugal. When the Portuguese king wished to marry the Castilian princess, the Catholic monarchs laid down one condition to their approval: the Expulsion of the Jews from Portugal. Manuel's edict of Expulsion for 1496 remained a dead letter, since Manuel, who did not wish to lose the Jews, decided to convert them all forcibly in 1497. All these converts were forcible converts, many of whom had left Castile to retain their Judaism. Many kept Judaism secretly and were the target of the Inquisition that was created in 1540. The number of converts in Portugal was high compared to the less than one million people who lived in the country around 1500. Only through flight could any of the Portuguese Crypto-Jews leave the Iberian Peninsula and live as Jews or as Christians away from the Inquisition. The result was the Portuguese communities which were established in Western Europe and the New World and those which were founded in the Ottoman Empire.

It is difficult to generalize about all descendants of conversos. Naturally, no "*marrano" Judaism existed in the Peninsula. Various customs and different prayers developed among different groups. In certain areas, however, a very strong "Jewish" identity remained until almost modern times. That is why we have recently witnessed the return of many Crypto-Jews in Belmonte, in northern Portugal, to Judaism and why so many descendants of conversos left Spain and Portugal and joined existing Jewish communities or formed their own after their return to normative Judaism.

[Yom Tov Assis (2nd ed.)]
Crypto-Jewish Women

Not all conversas were Crypto-Jews. Those women who chose to identify with the Jewish people instead of the Catholic Church faced considerable risks. Following the establishment of the Inquisition, Jewish observance by New Christians became dangerous as well as difficult. Even the woman's domain was no longer a safe refuge since every home had servants who were potential informants. Once the Jewish community had been expelled, however, the home became the only remaining institution where observance was possible. Women's roles were magnified in importance as they became teachers as well as practitioners of Judaism. The Inquisition was aware of the centrality of women in maintaining Crypto-Judaism and arrested and tried numerous conversas. The most frequent accusations against women which appear in trial transcripts concern observance of the Sabbath and the dietary laws. These Jewish practices would be easily noticed, especially by anyone working in the household. In addition, many conversas observed the fast of Yom Kippur in the hope of attaining salvation. Fasting on Mondays and Thursdays was revived during the messianic fervor between 1497 and 1503 when Inés, a young woman from Herrera, had visions of redemption. She, along with two other converso prophets, spread messianic expectation among the conversos of Extremadura.

Other holiday observances preserved in secret included Passover, although the traditional seder disappeared from most homes in Spain fairly quickly. Prior to 1492, maẓẓah was obtained from Jews; afterwards, numerous Judaizing women baked it. The most outstanding example of women baking maẓẓah can be found in the community of Belmonte in Portugal where the women dressed in white and recited lengthy prayers as they ceremonially prepared the maẓẓah while the men stood guard outside. Birth and purity rituals were also observed in secret. One unique ritual was the hadas, a celebration including singing on the eighth night after the birth of a male or female child; the infant was dressed in white and a collation was served. In some homes, the de-baptism ritual was another Crypto-Jewish creative addition. On a more traditional note, many women bathed after childbirth and after menstruation, in place of the required visit to the mikveh. Death and burial rituals also played a substantial role in Crypto-Jewish life; while they ranged from the halakhic to the superstitious, all were based on past Jewish practices. These customs reflect some of the Crypto-Jewish women's observances; others may emerge from the tens of thousands of trials, especially in the archives of Portugal, that have not yet been read and analyzed. In addition, there were Judaizing conversas in the New World including women from the *Carvajal family in Mexico.

[Renée Levine Melammed (2nd ed.)]
Modern Times

Later instances of forced conversion occurred in *Persia. From 1622 to 1629 the Jews of *Isfahan were compelled to accept Islam, and in 1656 Abbas II issued a decree ordering all Persian Jewry to convert, despite open protest and petitions. The specific ceremonies attending their acceptance into Islam and the name by which they were known, *Jadid al-Islam (New Muslims), show that a typical anusim existence and society was created there. In 1839 the entire Jewish community of *Meshed was forced to convert in similar circumstances. Outwardly devout Muslims, they meticulously continued to observe the Jewish rites in secret, as did their descendants, who were also known as the Jadid al-Islam.

The lot of European Jews, particularly Jewish children, who outwardly embraced Christianity in order to save their lives during the Nazi persecution between 1939 and 1945 was in many ways similar to that of the anusim of former ages. It has proved impossible to assess the number of conversions among the Jewish people in this period. Research into this question has been further complicated by emotion and anger on the part of Jews against those who tried "to steal souls" during the *Holocaust on the one hand, and on the other, of gratitude to those who had endangered their lives to save the children.

[Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson]
BIBLIOGRAPHY:

C. Roth, A History of the Marranos (1941); Y. Baer, A History of the Jews in Christian Spain (1966), vol. 2; H. Beinart, Conversos on Trial, (1981); idem, Records of the Trials of the Spanish Inquisition in Ciudad Real (1974–1985), 4 vols; B. Netanyahu, The Marranos of Spain, (1966); S. Schwartz, Os Cristãos Novos em Portugal no seculo XX (1925). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.E. Giles (ed.), Women in the Inquisition: Spain and the New World (1999); R.L. Melammed, Heretics or Daughters of Israel? The Crypto-Jewish Women of Castile (1999); idem, "Life Cycle Rituals of Spanish Crypto-Jewish Women," and "Visionary Experiences among Spanish Crypto-Jewish Women" (translations with commentary), in: L. Fine (ed.), Judaism in Practice (2001), 143–54; 348–52.

Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.

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