Why Did Spanish Jews Convert to Christianity?: How Iberian Jews Responded to Persecution

rambam442013

Hundreds of thousands of Spanish Jews converted to Christianity at various points in history. The first conversions occurred under the Visigoths. The second under Islamic rule. The last stemming over a period of more than one hundred years occurred under the Kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and later the Kingdom of Portugal.

Why did so many Spanish Jews convert to Christianity when faced with persecution? Were they different from German Jews?

Were they weaker or less committed to Judaism? Or were there other factors that caused them to react differently?

Find out the theological and cultural differences that shaped the responses of what was once the largest Jewish communities in Europe.

Check out Why Did Spanish Jews Convert to Christianity? for Free November 9th and November 10th.

Published by rambam442013

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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