The migration of Crypto-Jews from Spain and Portugal to France, England, Germany, and the overseas Spanish and Portuguese empires has been well documented. Numerous studies have discussed the communities that were established by former Conversos.
To my knowledge, little mention however, has been made of Conversos finding safety in Ireland. The following article by Carl Hoffman from Esra Magazine discusses this very issue.
Rabbi Juan Marcos Bejarano-Gutierrez is a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas where he earned a bachelor of science in electrical engineering. He studied at the Siegal College of Judaic Studies in Cleveland and received a Master of Arts Degree with Distinction in Judaic Studies.
He completed his doctoral studies at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Learning and Leadership in Chicago in 2015. His doctoral dissertation is titled “Complex Identities: Christian and Jewish Attitudes Towards Conversos” and was accepted in September 2015.
He also studied at the American Seminary for Contemporary Judaism and received rabbinic ordination in 2011 from Yeshivat Mesilat Yesharim.
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2 Comments
Our family, the Leeman of Armagh, Ireland, who farm around Emain Macha at farms named Rosebrook, Creeveroe and the Navan, were (maybe still are) crypto Jews from Alsace. The first ones in Ireland were two brothers who arrived during the 17th century 30 Years War. However, a recent comprehensive DNA test (181 markers) revealed the paternal ancestry was overwhelmingly Siberian (Tungus/Evenk). An American Jewish commentator, who has similar DNA, suggests a converted Khazar ancestry. Since one of our family markers is from Yemeni/Ethiopia., this suggestion may be true.
Hello, do you know of any such communities (or even just families) in the area of Cork or Tipperary? My mother’s ancestors are from there, and a recent DNA test showed that she had Portuguese DNA that can be traced to at least 9 generations ago (in other words the last Portuguese ancestor was at least that far back). The test also found two distant cousins whose parents are both Portuguese.
I would love to read the article you linked, but the link no longer works.
Our family, the Leeman of Armagh, Ireland, who farm around Emain Macha at farms named Rosebrook, Creeveroe and the Navan, were (maybe still are) crypto Jews from Alsace. The first ones in Ireland were two brothers who arrived during the 17th century 30 Years War. However, a recent comprehensive DNA test (181 markers) revealed the paternal ancestry was overwhelmingly Siberian (Tungus/Evenk). An American Jewish commentator, who has similar DNA, suggests a converted Khazar ancestry. Since one of our family markers is from Yemeni/Ethiopia., this suggestion may be true.
Hello, do you know of any such communities (or even just families) in the area of Cork or Tipperary? My mother’s ancestors are from there, and a recent DNA test showed that she had Portuguese DNA that can be traced to at least 9 generations ago (in other words the last Portuguese ancestor was at least that far back). The test also found two distant cousins whose parents are both Portuguese.
I would love to read the article you linked, but the link no longer works.