Song From a Withered Limb: Las Posadas and the Converso Crisis of the 16th Century

The following article was originally presented  at the national conference of the Society for Crypto Jewish Studies in Dallas, Texas … More

The Maharal of Prague and Conversos

While I have focused on developing CryptoJudaism.com, readers continue to find this site and so I will continue to post … More

A 300 Year Old Siddur in England

The discovery  of a 300 year old siddur (Jewish prayerbook) has sparked curiousity among researchers in England. The siddur is … More

A Portuguese Town Tries to Amend the Past

The Portuguese town of Monsaraz is looking to make  amends for one aspect of its history by opening a Jewish cultural … More

Music of the London Spanish-Jewish Community

B”H The following two sites are dedicated to the melodies of the Spanish-Portuguese tradition in London. The Spanish-Portuguese Jewish community … More

Struggles of Faith: The Conversos of Amsterdam and Modern Jewry

It would be logical to believe that the Conversos of the 17th century who were able to escape or journey … More

Crypto-Jewish Sabbateans: The Donmeh

The story of Crypto-Judaism usually revolves around Spanish and Portuguese Jews who converted to Catholicisim between the 14th and 16th … More

The Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue in Curaçao

A few weeks ago I posted about my visit to the Touro Synagogue, the oldest synagogue building in the United … More

Samuel Usque’s Approach to Wavering Conversos

Once Conversos fled Spain and Portugal, returning to Judaism openly was not always an attractive option. Many Conversos wavered in … More

The Concept of Taqiyya and its Impact on Iberian Jewry

The Islam conquest of Spain began in 711 CE and would extend over parts of the Iberian Peninsula through the … More