“There are Hispanic Jews? No way! I’ve never heard of any.”
Wish I could send this article below to every Jew (especially Jewish New Yorkers) who has uttered that statement in my presence! Doesn’t anyone remember what the Spanish Inquisition was about? And don’t they know that “Don Francisco,” host of the beloved “Sabado Gigante” show is a Chilean Jew who was born Mario Luis Kreutzberger Blumenfeld. Yes, really!
Also, wish I’d had a chance to check out I’d gotten a chance to check out The Lincoln Park Jewish Center in Yonkers, NY which has a sizable Hispanic Jewish population. Last Purim, their Purim party theme was “the Caribbean.” The rabbi at LPJ is Rabbi Rigoberto Emmanuel Viñas (“Manny”), a Sephardic Cuban-American Jew. We had the pleasure of meeting at my first Limmud NY conference.
Check out: “Jews from around Latin America find home in NYC” (Wall Street Journal/AP)
Noteworthy Quote:
“Jews from Latin America first began arriving in what is today’s New York City in 1654, when a group of 23 Sephardic Jews escaped from Portuguese rule in the Dutch colony of Recife in Brazil and came to New Amsterdam.”
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Memoirs of a Jewminicana 