A Tribute to Cary Herz
By Mona Hernandez
From HaLapid, Winter 2009
Portions of this come from the award presentation speech I gave at the 2007 Albuquerque conference when I presented on behalf of the Society for Crypto Judaic Studies an award to Cary Herz for her many contributions in the field of Crypto Judaism. Cary came up to the podium to accept her award, hugged me and then received a standing ovation from the audience. (See Ha Lapid issue 4, vol. XIV, Fall 2007). Cary was scheduled to give a presentation at the 2008 conference in Phoenix but had to decline due to health reasons.
Losing long-time SCJS members Trudi Alexi, Judy Frankel and Cary Herz, all in the same year is just too much to endure. All three were truly remarkable women whose contributions were numerous to the Society for Crypto Judaic Studies and to the Sephardic and Crypto Jewish communities. I personally knew all three women and was saddened to hear of their passing. But the passing of Cary Herz on September 1 is especially challenging because of my association with her via her book published late last year by the University of New Mexico Press , New Mexico 's Crypto-Jews Image and Memory. I have lost a wonderful friend.
A photographer since the early 1970's, Cary began her career recording the women's liberation movement for Ms. Magazine. She later worked as a staff photographer for the Newark Star-Ledger and covered news features for them in New York . She specialized in corporate and editorial photography and worked with a variety of editorial clients, including TIME, PC World, People, Ms., Garden Design, Hispanic Business, the Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle's Texas Magazine. In New Mexico she was a photo correspondent for the New York Times. She moved to New Mexico in 1984 and became a member of the Society for Crypto Judaic Studies in 1994. For a time she was SCJS's “official” conference photographer and many of her photographs can be seen in earlier issues of Ha Lapid.
Cary became interested in Crypto Judaism in 1985 while working on a photo project at a Las Vegas , New Mexico Jewish cemetery when someone mentioned that there were “other” Jews in New Mexico . Although she was aware of the Spanish Inquisition, she did not know there were descendants living as hidden Jews. After seeing slides taken (by my cousin Emilio Coca and his wife Trudy) of grave markers that appear to contain Jewish symbols, she set out to find these grave sites, traveling over 10,000 miles.
She photographed descendants in New Mexico , Texas , Colorado , Spain and Belmonte ( Portugal ). She spent time getting to know the people whose images she captured on camera, gaining their trust and respect. She believed that the descendants of Crypto Jews themselves comprised the most important part of the photo project. Her photographs were published in two New York Times articles in 1990 and 1992, in a 2000 issue of Hadassah magazine, in a 2003 issue of La Herencia as a photo essay titled Culture and Memory: A Sephardic Photo Journey, in Stanley Hordes' book To the End of the Earth: A History of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico and have been exhibited in San Diego, New York and Mexico.
She was once asked: What would you most like your photos to achieve?
Cary responded “I would like to come out with a photographic book on the subject. I would like to have Converso and Crypto-Jewish descendants knocking on my door, wanting to have their pictures taken without fear, but with joy about their family history. Each of us has a fluid story and this is just one piece of it.”
In December 2007 her dream of a photographic book came true; New Mexico's Crypto-Jews Image and Memory was published by the University of New Mexico Press . In the fall of 2006 I received an email from Cary asking for permission to include in the book, an essay I had written about the statue La Conquistadora and its connection to the history of Crypto Judaism in New Mexico . I was honored and thrilled (as I am certain my ancestors were) and delighted I was asked to contribute my essay to the book. In addition to the essay, my sister Gloria Trujillo and I were photographed by Cary in the Saint Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe ; the La Conquistadora statue can be seen in the background. In the Winter 2008 issue of Ha Lapid, Kathleen Teltsch wrote about Cary 's photographs in an article titled Herz Photos Document Presence of Hidden Jews in New Mexico . Some of the photographs from the book were published with the article. (See Ha Lapid issue 1, vol. XV)
These are Cary 's own words taken from New Mexico 's Crypto-Jews Image and Memory:
“I have created a photographic diary of individuals who have a hidden past that they question, embrace, and treasure. This book is about their discoveries. It is my way to tell their stories, to witness their history. My goal is to put a face on the invisible ones, the Anusim, to open a small window into their world, to show their pride and diversity. The crypto-Jews are catching up with their past, a past that has not been erased but is incomplete. By acknowledging their complex history and speaking out, they become a visible tribute to the ordeals and courage of those ancestors who were forced into secrecy and silence. It is my hope that this book will be supportive to those who are beginning to acknowledge their histories and identities, that it will help them stand up and be seen as those other people who needed to be hidden for so long.”
These words are very poignant. As a descendant of Crypto Jews, I am forever grateful to Cary for her compassion and devotion to a people who were nearly lost to Jewish history. Although I am saddened by Cary 's passing, I am glad that she was able to finish her book and see it published. My hope is that her commitment to the Crypto Jews is appreciated and that her book will inspire others to preserve and carry on her legacy.
Earlier this year Cary was named a winner in the annual National Federation of Press Women communications contest. She received first place for her book New Mexico's Crypto-Jews for best non-fiction book on religion. Her response upon receiving this award was “I am pleased with this award because it acknowledges the descendants of a little known culture, whose people trusted me and allowed me to communicate their stories through photography.” Cary 's photographs and the accompanying essays honor the people whose ancestors, through families' oral histories and genealogical records, know about their heritage.
The Society for Crypto Judaic Studies recognizes Cary Herz for her contributions and her dedication to the subject of Crypto Judaism; I am proud to present this award to her.
See Ha Lapid's Member Closeup for a Conversation with Cary Herz by Randy Baca, issue 4, vol. IX, Fall 2004.
A slightly different version of my essay La Conquistadora: A Crypto Jewish Connection was published in Ha Lapid, issue 3, vol. IX, Summer 2002.
Herz, Cary New Mexico 's Crypto-Jews Image and Memory , photographs by Cary Herz, essays by Ori Z. Soltes and Mona Hernandez, University of New Mexico Press , Albuquerque , 2007.
To view more of Cary 's work, you can visit her website at www.caryherz.com .