Sephardic Ancestry Common Among Spaniards, Study Says

[George]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/science/05gene.html?_r=2

[briann]

This shouldn't be shocking. 

Savage  talks about this all the time.  Many Spanish Christians in the 1500's were actually 'Marranos'  who secretly practiced judaism for several decades.... until their culture and religion eventually became lost in the following centuries.

[mord]

but in Spain there are about 50 million only a few thousand maybe Hundred thousand can be Jews

[mord]

I'm not a big fan of Spain anyhow no offense to any Spainards

[briann]

but in Spain there are about 50 million only a few thousand maybe Hundred thousand can be Jews

I think they were a sizable percentage in the 1400's.   (Im sure the population of spain was much smaller then).  Spain was ironically a safehaven for Jews in the early 1400's.

[mord]

but in Spain there are about 50 million only a few thousand maybe Hundred thousand can be Jews

I think they were a sizable percentage in the 1400's.   (Im sure the population of spain was much smaller then).  Spain was ironically a safehaven for Jews in the early 1400's.

I think alot of the hidden Jews migrated to mexico and then to new mexico texas and arizona andfew sheep herders to Idaho,i read that somewhere

[NRAJ]

In the end,does it really matter?Okay,so one-fifth of the Spanish population is part Jewish in some way.My father was a Jew,my mother Italian and I was raised Catholic.Would you consider me a Jew?Do I consider myself a Jew? Of course we don't.Those Spanish with Jewish blood most likely also have ancestors that were inquisitors.

[New Yorker]

I must be a Spainiard then, my parents are both from Morrocco, we're Sefaradic and from what I understand the Jews of Morrocco originally came from Spain. 

[AsheDina]

but in Spain there are about 50 million only a few thousand maybe Hundred thousand can be Jews

I think they were a sizable percentage in the 1400's.   (Im sure the population of spain was much smaller then).  Spain was ironically a safehaven for Jews in the early 1400's.

I think alot of the hidden Jews migrated to mexico and then to new mexico texas and arizona andfew sheep herders to Idaho,i read that somewhere

  Hidden are Crypto/Marrano Jews, many came here to USA, I am one of them. Portuguese Crypto.  My grandfather fled b4 the turn of the century and swore that there would be no religion in our households.  There wasnt- they did Catholicism in cover even here in the states. Forced Indoctrinations went on from the 1400's- even up until 1950's.  It is a SCREWEY way to be, b/c in a crypto atmosphere, there is both Judaism, and Catholicism/Christianity.  These people (myself inc.) are not liked in christian circles b/c of our Jewish roots, not liked in Jewish circles b/c of our Christian roots. This really SUX for me, considering I am really a nice person.    Christians get angry b/c I love Torah and Judaism, Jews get angry b/c I read the N.T.  At LEAST most people have been nice to me here, of which I am grateful for.

[JewishAmericanPatriot]

I'm sort of one of them, too. My mother converted to Orthodox Judaism in the 1940's, from an Italian background. She then met and married my dad (a born Jew), and I was born about 15 years later.

In the 1980's when I got into genealogy, I found out from a distant cousin on her side that their family has Jewish origins via Spain (they had fled to Sicily and Italy after the Inquisition in Spain). Lots of clues, things I never picked up on but should have (such as that my grandmother would burn two candles on Friday night, calling it "an old family custom"; or that my grandmother refused to eat pork or have crucifixes in her home...she said pork was "dirty and full of worms" and that crucifixes were "bad luck".)

I never picked up on all those clues which I now know were converso clues. I just thought they were Italian things (Grandmom also used to tie a red string to things when they were new, like a house doorknob or a car...I later found out that is from the Kabbalah...and Sephardic Jews were/are heavily into Kabbalah.)

[AsheDina]

I'm sort of one of them, too. My mother converted to Orthodox Judaism in the 1940's, from an Italian background. She then met and married my dad (a born Jew), and I was born about 15 years later.

In the 1980's when I got into genealogy, I found out from a distant cousin on her side that their family has Jewish origins via Spain (they had fled to Sicily and Italy after the Inquisition in Spain). Lots of clues, things I never picked up on but should have (such as that my grandmother would burn two candles on Friday night, calling it "an old family custom"; or that my grandmother refused to eat pork or have crucifixes in her home...she said pork was "dirty and full of worms" and that crucifixes were "bad luck".)

I never picked up on all those clues which I now know were converso clues. I just thought they were Italian things (Grandmom also used to tie a red string to things when they were new, like a house doorknob or a car...I later found out that is from the Kabbalah...and Sefardic Jews were/are heavily into Kabbalah.)

  Many links are here for you to read: 

  http://www.sephardicgen.com/crypto_sites.htm
  http://www.cryptojews.com/cryptoJewsinPortugal.htm
 
  http://library.duke.edu/research/subject/guides/jewishstudies/special_subjects/crypto_anusim.html