Hispanic Catholics rediscover Jewish roots

Growing up in Brazil, Jonatas Da Silva knew there was something different about his family. Deceased relatives were buried within a day, and no one celebrated Christmas or ate pork. But it wasn't until he was living in Florida that the graduate student came to terms with a lost identity.

Like thousands in Latin America, which has long been predominantly Catholic, he and his family are descendants of Jews who converted to Catholicism under the threat of the Inquisition or practiced their faith in secret while pretending to be Christians.

Da Silva, 33, eventually went on to search for his roots, taking Hebrew classes, submitting to a DNA test and visiting various synagogues, before settling into a Miami Chabad. "Slowly the whole family became more culturally Jewish," he said. "It was an awakening."

Da Silva's story is not uncommon. Centuries after the Inquisition forced many Spanish and Portuguese Jews underground, their descendants are once again embracing Judaism, said Abe Lavender, a sociology professor at Florida International University and editor in chief of the Journal of Spanish, Portuguese and Italian Crypto Jews. He has written dozens of books and academic articles, mostly about ethnicity and Sephardic Jews.

The slow but steady return to Judaism is a result of multiple factors, Lavender said. Migration into cities from small towns and villages, where the Catholic Church and the opinion of neighbors held considerable sway, freed inquisitive people to seek explanations about unusual family traditions. The advent of the Internet and DNA testing made the search for historical and ethnic identity easier. And 1976 publication of Alex Haley's "Roots" sparked interest in genealogy among the public in general.

"The 1970s were a turning point," Lavender said. "It wasn't like a switch going on suddenly, but something that built up more gradually."

As descendants of these secret Jews began asking questions about their families, they discovered a convoluted history of persecution and exile, of lives lived in the shadows. Some returned to their ancestors' religion, while others regarded their history as an interesting peculiarity.

No one knows how many have returned to the faith, although Lavender said he believes that "a significant number" have done so, about a couple of hundred thousand around Latin America and the United States.

The Southwest — New Mexico, Texas, Arizona and parts of California — has been a hotbed of religious rediscovery. Scholars believe that some Hispanics who settled in the area hundreds of years ago were fleeing the Inquisition office that had been established by Spain in Mexico City.

Lavender said those numbers could increase as awareness grows and relations with Cuba thaw. Brazil has the largest number of descendants of these secret Jews, but Cuba, a stop on Spain's old maritime trade routes, probably has many thousands, too. "Every ship that came to Havana had hidden Jews," Lavender said.

Da Silva doesn't think he — or his family — would have found the way back to their ancestors' religion in Brazil. But leaving the immediate past behind and being welcomed by the United States' long history of tolerance eased the way.