Society For Crypto Judaic Studies
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SOCIETY MEMBER GLADSTONE RAISES FUNDS FOR BELMONTE
By Yaakov Gladstone
The tragic events which befell the Jews of Spain and Portugal 500 years ago were commemorated in March in Deerfield Park, Florida, using poetry, ladino songs and conversations with scholars. I organized the event, feeling there should be a day to recall these tragic events for Jews who know almost nothing about this period of Jewish history. My interest in the so-called crypto Jews was sparked years earlier as a student at the Canadian Jewish Teachers' Seminary by the famous Jewish anthropologist, Dr. Cham Shoskess, lecturing at the Jewish Public Library in Montreal (which still flourishes today) I also was moved and inspired by the Yiddish song, "Zog Marran" (Tell Me Marrano) by poet Avram Reisen. The last verse of the song asks "Tell me Marrano, what will happen when your seder songs are heard by your oppressors?" The reply is "If the enemy will capture me I will die singing." My first contact with Jews other than American and European was in a camp in Marseille where Jews from North Africa were waiting for passage to Israel. My friend Mischa Cheifetz and I had volunteered to work with the Youth. Being Montrealers we were able to communicate with our newly found brothers and sisters in French. We soon learned of the historic connection between North African Jews and those who fled Spain. The day I was longing for finally arrived. The Negbah, a small Israeli ship, was ready to bring the North African immigrants to Israel. Mischa and I were in charge of a large group of Youth from Morocco. It was an emotional, exciting experience for us. We celebrated Purim on the ship, acting out the Purim story in costume, sang Israeli songs and did some dancing. A spiritual bond developed between us and the youth during the ten-day voyage. When we arrived in Haifa, a representative from Kibbuz Naan took our children from us. We were no longer needed. I was heart broken. A year later, I visited Jewish communities in Morocco. It was there in a Hebrew school that I heard Ladino for the first time. Very young boys were seated in a circle on the floor of a small room, chanting Hebrew passages and translating them to Ladino, just as young boys in the European cheder (one room school) and students in the Yiddish schools in Montreal translated the Hebrew passages to Yiddish. This was my background as a Hebrew-Yiddish teacher in Montreal and New York and a youth leader and educational therapist in Israel. I was introduced to the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies in the early l990's by my friend, Bill Fern, who is a supporter of the Society and the American Sephardi Federation. He speaks Ladino, Portuguese and Spanish. The two of us visited Braganca and Belmonte in northern Portugal to meet the crypto Jews. It was not easy. In Belmonte we met Elias Nunes, who was the community leader and after much coaxing he took us to his uncle's home. We also visited a small Jewish museum with a few artifacts. The wife of the care-taker proudly showed us the silver Magen David necklace she wore and, in strong voice, announced to us in Portuguese "We are no longer afraid." We were surprised how many in the community came forward to participate. As the event moved along, we counted a crowd of 180. In my opening remarks, I told the assembled community members we were observing the sad events of the past but also using the event to announce the start of a campaign, The Belmonte Project, to support the Jews of Northern Portugal, the anusim who were returning to the open practice of Judaism. Dr. Abe Gittelson, former Director of the Board of Jewish Education in Broward County, set the tone, tracing the history of the Crypto Jews. Shula Robin read a poem she composed for the occasion, “My Lost Brothers and Sisters," while Sylvia Stipelman recited a poem by Shulamith Halevy, an Israeli poet. Cantor Brian Shamash and Sharon Chasan of Congregation Bnai Torah in Boca Raton, sang Ladino songs. Storyteller Roslyn Perry related the tragic story of the Portuguese Jewish children forcibly converted to Christianity and sent to São Tomé, an island off the coast of Africa. Dr. Abe Lavender, Professor of Sociology at Florida International University and an active member of SCJS, related the latest findings of DNA research as they apply to Jewish ethnicity. In a lighter vein, I invited the audience to take home their copies of HaLapid which contained Kitty Teltsch’s story on the Belmont anusim (Winter 2003). Volunteers passed around two giant salad bowls. I asked them to fill them up with greens--and I didn’t mean lettuce. This was the kick-off of the Belmonte Project. Since renamed Saudade Sefarad, the project supports the anusim of Portugal as they learn about their ancestors and no longer have to observe their faith in secret. The American Sephardi Federation has agreed to be Saudade’s umbrella agency, accepting contributions which enable Americans to make tax exempt gifts to the Federation, noting that they are for the Belmont Project. YAACOV GLADSTONE is a retired teacher of Hebrew and Yiddish, who also directed a special eduction program for a pre-school developmentally disabled children in Harlem, New York City. For more information on Saudade Sefarad, write him at yanklegladstone@aol.com. ~~~~~~~~~ |