FAQ

• Anusim (Hebrew: אֲנוּסִים), plural for anús (אָנוּס), means “forced ones” in Hebrew. In Jewish Law, this is the legal term applied to a Jew who was forced to abandon Judaism, but does whatever is in his or her power to continue practicing Judaism under the forced condition. It derives from the Talmudic term aberá be' ones, meaning “a forced transgression.” The term Anús is used in contradistinction to meshumad (מְשֻׁמָּד), which means a person who has voluntarily abandoned the practice of Jewish Law in whole or part.
• Because of the mass forced conversion of Jews in Portugal and Spain during the 14th and 15th centuries, the term “Anusim” became widely used by Spanish rabbis and their successors for the following 600 years. In non-rabbinic literature, Iberian Anusim are referred to by many terms coined by the Catholic Church: Converso (Convert), Cristão-novo (New Christian), “Crypto-Jews,” or “Marranos.”
• However “Marranos” is the insulting term that Spanish anti-semites gave to the Anusim in the 14th century. All four terms are sociological, whereas Anusim refers to a status in Jewish law.
• Jewish converts to Catholicism in Spain and Portugal during this period may be divided into three categories: (1) Willing converts known as Meshumadim. (2) Public converts who retained various degrees of Judaism while assimilating into Christian society. (3) Temporary converts. The categories overlap to a degree.
• Cristão-novo or New Christian comprised those who appear to have legitimately converted to Christianity, whether for expedience or a sincere belief in the Christian faith. This group truly considered themselves Christians and raised their families as such. These were called “New Christians” or “Conversos.”
• Crypto-Jew consisted of those who held on to the Jewish customs and faith in which they had been reared. These were known as “Judíos Escondidos”—hidden Jews. They secretly preserved the religion of their fathers and, in spite of the high positions which some held, observed Jewish traditions in private. This can also refer to Christians who consciously or unconsciously maintain Jewish laws and traditions.
• Temporary Converso included the largest group of Conversos, comprising those who yielded through stress of circumstances, but seized the first opportunity to return publicly to their faith when it became safe to do so. The degree to which these conversos adhered privately to Jewish law varied. To this group the rabbis often applied the Talmudic passage: “Although he has sinned, he must still be considered a Jew.”

• Ashkenazic Jews are the Jews of France, Germany, and Eastern Europe and their descendants. Sephardic Jews are the Jews of Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the Middle East and their descendants. Sephardic Jews are often subdivided into Sephardim (from Spain and Portugal) and Mizrachim (from Northern Africa and the Middle East), though there is much overlap. When the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, many were absorbed into existing Mizrachi communities in Portugal, Northern Africa and the Middle East.
• The word “Ashkenazic” is derived from the Hebrew word for Germany. The word “Sephardic” is derived from the Hebrew word for Spain. The word “Mizrachi” is derived from the Hebrew word for Eastern.
• The beliefs of Sephardim are basically in accord with those of Ashkenazim, though Sephardic interpretations of halakhah (Jewish Law) are somewhat different. The best-known difference relates to Passover: Sephardic Jews may eat rice, corn, peanuts and beans during this holiday, while Ashkenazic Jews avoid them.
• Historically, Sephardic Jews have been more integrated into the local non-Jewish culture than Ashkenazic Jews. Sephardic Jewish thought and culture was strongly influenced by Arabic and Greek philosophy and science.
• Sephardic Jews have a different pronunciation of a few Hebrew vowels and one Hebrew consonant. Sephardic prayer services are somewhat different from Ashkenazic ones, and they use different melodies, holiday customs and traditional foods.

• During the Middle Ages, Jews were instrumental in the development of Castilian into a prestige language. Erudite Jews translated Arabic and Hebrew works into Castilian. Until recent times, the language was widely spoken throughout the Balkans, Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa, having been brought there by Jewish refugees fleeing the area today known as Spain following the expulsion of the Jews in 1492.
• The contact among Jews of different regions and languages, including Catalan, Leonese and Portuguese, developed a unified dialect differing in some aspects from the Castilian norm. The language was known as Yahudice (Jewish language) in the Ottoman Empire.
• Ladino’s grammatical structure is close to that of Spanish, with the addition of many terms from Hebrew, Portuguese, French, Turkish, Greek, Bulgarian, Bosnian and Serbo-Croatian depending on the geographic origin of the speaker. Like many other Jewish languages, Judaeo-Spanish is in danger of language extinction. Most native speakers are elderly.

Click here for more detailed information about crypto-Jewish indicators. See also FamilySearch: Crypto-Jews—Heritage and History.