Awakening to a hidden heritage - New Mexicans have discovered 500-year-old roots in Judaism

[Ian David]

Dec 30, 2000
By NANCY SAN MARTIN
Dallas Morning News

Saturday, December 30, 2000

Santa Fe, N.M. -- Two candles stand in blue and white ceramic holders, their
flames glowing for all who walk into Isabelle Medina Sandoval's living room
to see.

The act of lighting them each Friday night brings her pleasure; it is a
Jewish ritual that she says her ancestors had to practice in secret.

"It's just a beautiful thing," said Medina Sandoval. "It's always a reminder
that I can now light my Shabbat candles without hiding it anymore."

Medina Sandoval was raised in what she thought was a Christian household.
But a decade ago, she joined a growing number of Spanish descendants who
have traced their roots to Judaism.


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[Meshuga]

1. I find the whole crypto-Judaism thing fascinating

These stories in New Mexico and the communities in the northeast of Brazil are really interesting. In the northeast of Brazil there is this little belief/superstition that children tell each other that if you point at a star a wart will grow at the tip of your finger. That was used by concerned parents back in the days of the inquisition to keep their kids from pointing at the first star in the sky which meant the begining of shabbat.