Jewish Musings, Sunday 5/5

[lee058]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.



Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:

Frieda (hopefully)?

Holly

Lee

Louise

Lynne

Peachy



And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE! Please pray for Israel.

Today's topic: Cinco de Mayo/Mexican Jews

Since today is Cinco de Mayo, which has become a big day for celebrating Mexican topics, I thought we could look at Mexican Jews. I checked out myjewishlearning and wikipedia, and was astounded at how much I didn't know!! I thought I had a pretty good idea, but it turned out I knew practically nothing. IF you are interested, the two websites I mentioned have a lot of information, and I recommend them. I don't want to just quote them, but will go into a few subtopics.

For one thing, did you know that many of the people of Spanish origin who moved to Mexico were of Jewish backgrounds? Many were "conversos" --- people who had converted to Catholicism to escape the Inquisition. A surprising number were "hidden Jews" who pretended to follow Catholicism but kept Jewish customs and rituals secretly. There are still many people who do this, even after hundreds of years. Some moved to areas that are now in the USA (Arizona, New Mexico, Southern California). Two families that are well known are the Goldwater family (political) and the Ronstadts (Linda, the singer and actress).

Mexico itself used to be hostile towards Jews, but after various wars and legal changes, opened up towards families and individuals. Freedom of religion is now the law. I don't know how much it is practiced; there have always been incidents.

In the late 1880's, when there were terrible pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe, there was a movement to try and get Jews to settle in Mexico, as there were so many limitations on where Jews were allowed to move. The Mexican President, also American and French philanthropists, all tried to get Jews there.

Jews from around the world did settle in Mexico over time. Jewish cuisine adapted to the spices and habits of Mexico, with fish and goat taking the place of pork in many dishes.

Today, most of the Mexican Jews live in Mexico City and a few larger cities. It's estimated that there are about 75,000 Jews, but no one really knows because of the history of keeping their religion hidden.

There is so much more that I didn't know what to include!! I had no idea there was such a rich history of Jews in Mexico. I hope this inspires our group to look into it and to add anything you might know (Southern California people, anything to say?).

This week I'll be talking about assorted topics, so you'll be surprised every day.

Have a peaceful day, Lee

[louise]

Lookng forward to the surprises. I had no idea about Jews in Mexico. Very interesting. I was aware that after the Holocaust some went to South America. I will segue from there to Yom HaShoah which starts this evening. My synagogue is having a program this afternoon. The father of one of our congregants who survived along with his family in Yugoslavia (he was six) will be speaking and the choir will be singing a few songs.

My goal for today is to get my Passover stuff, which is still piled up in the dining room, packed up and back down to the basement.

[peachymom1]

Good morning and shavua tov! Great topic, Lee! Cinco de Mayo is a big deal here in Los Angeles; there are celebrations all over the place.

I did know the stuff you mentioned, Lee -- I learned most of it in college, some of it in my conversion classes. I majored in Spanish, and I had to take History & Civilization of Latin America, among other things. That one class was just a prep for the major class, but it was packed full of interesting information, and I used to study with my (Jewish) friend Jason. The books for that class were excellent too.

When my kids were in nursery school and Hebrew school at my synagogue, we met a number of Jewish families from Mexico City. They always had pinatas at their kids' birthday parties, and DH and I stole that idea a couple of times for our own kids' parties. If you want to belly-laugh until you fall over, just watch a bunch of 4-year-olds swinging a plastic bat at a hanging pinata and laughing their heads off, whether they hit it or miss it! They miss at least half the time, and they don't care, because they're having a great time! When they finally break the pinata open, they're ecstatic to find candy inside. It was just as entertaining for the parents as it was for the kids. Good times!

[hollygail]

It's actually Monday morning, a bit before 6am. I check for Jewish Musings early in the morning, and too often don't get a chance to check later in the day. That happened yesterday, so here's my response for the Sunday thread.

As Peachy said, Cinco de Mayo is big here in San Diego as well as in Los Angeles. I personally don't know many Mexican Jews (a few, yes, but not close friends or anything), although I do know one particular woman from Mexico City (who married the first rabbi of my own congregation) and each time we bump into one another, she greets me like I'm her long-lost sister. I have a very clear memory of the very first time I saw her. She walked into HHD services a little late (services had already started) and as she walked down the aisle looking for a seat, I couldn't help noticing such a tall, slim, GORGEOUS woman wearing a teal/green dress with a little purple in it and long purple dangle earrings with a little teal/green in them. She was a knock-out! After they married and had twin girls, they moved to the Los Angeles area and once, when DH and I were visiting our L.A. families, we went to his congregation on a Friday night and he came right over to us with big hugs and spent a good deal of time after services (during the oneg) catching up. (Later, they moved to Atlanta for him to serve another congregation, and after he retired, they returned to live in San Diego where I don't run into either of them much at all.)

I guess I went a little off-topic...

There's a terrific little-known book titled something about the mezzuzah in the foot of the virgin. The picture on the front resembles a statue of the Virgin Mary and sure enough, carved into one of her toes is something that is a mezzuzah... After the Inquisition in Spain, there followed (some year later, maybe 50ish?) another Inquisition in Latin America, forcing many conversos to go further "underground." I had a friend (both of whose parents were raised Catholic in Mexico) who did some investigating into her ancestry and found Jewish grandparents (or great-grandparents; I don't remember) on both sides! She was in the process of converting to Judaism at the time. By the time I met her, her conversion was almost complete. She and I became pretty good friends; unfortunately, after she returned to college as an adult, I received a call that she was in the hospital, probably dying. I went to the hospital immediately after morning minyan where her mother got up and ran to me, hugging me while crying. She told me about finding her daughter on the floor of her childhood bedroom with one leg still on the bed, not breathing. The medics arrived within minutes and got her to the hospital in no time flat. By the time I'd arrived, she was plugged into all sorts of tubes and hadn't regained consciousness. I became the "in lieu" clergy (with a free parking sticker for my car) for the next few days. Finally, on day three, the mother (not much older than I am) told me she was ready to let her daughter go. We waited for the father (who'd been living in am Alzheimer's care facility) to arrive. All her closest friends were there in the hospital room with us. I was the only living Jew in the room and her mother asked me to say the prayer she'd heard so many times but didn't know its name; yes, I said kaddish in the absence of a quorum of 10 Jews for my friend right there and then. A year later, I officiated at the unveiling of her headstone. (The rabbi who "oversaw" my friend's conversion officiated at the funeral.) It's difficult for me to contact the mother; she has no cell phone, or at least didn't back then, and her home phone number isn't in my phone's directory... I regret my inability to reach the mother...