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Jack Cohen

Also, having last week been at the Conference on Anousim organized by the Inst. for Sefardi and Anousim Studies at Netanya Academic College (NAC) (see IsBlog 25/3/15) I have been discussing these issues with people concerned about them and have gained renewed insight.

Let me start with a statement made by the young woman, Chana Eyal, originally from Porto, Portugal, who in her short speech at the extemporaneous bracha for her recent marriage in Israel said that those who research the issue of Anousim should remember that it is not just a dry subject in history books, but involves real people like her and real issues that can change a person’s life forever.

As far as Bnei Anusim (the descendents of the forcibly converted Jews) are concerned there are at least three  categories: 1.  Those who don’t know they are Bnei Anusim and have no interest in the subject; 2.  Those who know that they are Bnei Anousim but have no interest in establishing their Jewish identity either because they don’t care or don’t see the relevance to their current lives; 3. Those who know they are Bnei Anusim and wish to establish their Jewish identity either genealogically and/or by conversion.   I have been asked what percentage of the Bnei Anusim are in the third category and who might wish to make aliyah to Israel.  The answer is nobody knows, it could be 0.1% or 1%.  But, since the estimates are that there are at least 5 million Bnei Anusim and possibly as many as 20 million in the whole Spanish-Portuguese world, that could be a large number.  According to estimates ca. 25% of the Spanish population of ca. 50 million have some Jewish antecedents and some 40% of the Portuguese population of 10 million also, that’s an estimate of 16.5 million, and of course, in many communities in Central America, S. America and the USA (for example, New Mexico) there are certainly millions more.

Now to the issue of who is a Jew.  The halachic (Jewish religious) definition is simple, one who has a Jewish mother.  This can be proven usually with a religious marriage certificate showing that one’s parents were married in a synagogue, since no rabbi would marry a Jew and a non-Jew (except until recently in some Reform congregations).  So to establish Jewish lineage a Bnei Anous needs to establish the Jewish origins of his/her matrilineal line.  But, there are other definitions, for example the Law of Return under which Jews are automatically granted Israeli citizenship, has a different standard. After WWII and the Holocaust, when under Nazi law anyone who was at least a quarter Jewish (a mischling) was considered Jewish and could be transported and killed, the Jewish State adopted the same criteria.  So in order to be accepted as an Israeli citizen under the Law of Return, one has a lesser constraint, one need only establish the Jewish status of at least one parent, including the father, or one grandparent, including the paternal line.

Then of course, there is the route of conversion.  Conversion to Judaism should not be entered into lightly.  It is a complicated process where the applicant is traditionally rejected three times before being allowed to proceed.  In the case of a convert making aliyah under the Law of Return, conversion outside Israel is accepted by the Ministry of the Interior provided the convert has lived within a recognized Jewish community for at least a year.  Conversion within Israel is dominated by the Chief Rabbinate and is Orthodox.  Those who do not convert to Orthodoxy abroad often have a difficult time when it comes to life-cycle events in Israel, particularly marriage.  Non-Jews can of course come to Israel as tourists or on a working visa, but citizen status is rarely given to non-Jews, although a process does exist.

At this point I want to mention my recent meeting with Joe Maldonado, a physician from upstate NY.  After I wrote a description of the upcoming Anousim Conference at the NAC (IsBlog, 27/2/15) Joe wrote me a long letter expressing his frustration in trying to establish his Jewish origins.  Joe was brought up in NY City, but his parents came from Puerto Rico and he had done genealogical research and had established that his ancestors had come from Spain to Puerto Rico in the 17th century.  He established that in Spain they had been affluent and well-connected, yet they suddenly left and settled in the “wilds” of the mountainous interior of Puerto Rico.  Why?  After considering other possibilities he was forced to the conclusion that they were in fact Anousim.  Joe is knowledgeable about Jews and Jewish customs, having grown up in NYC and having studied medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and is an Asst. Clinical Prof at Touro College.   Yet, he found very little sympathy from the organized Jewish community in NY for his quest.

We exchanged some letters and then Joe decided to come to Israel (for his second visit) to attend the Conference on Anousim at NAC.  I think I can say that the experience of being at this conference and meeting so many people in similar circumstances has been a life-changing experience for Joe.  He has returned to the US with a renewed enthusiasm to continue his genealogical research and try to establish his Jewish origins.  Joe pointed out to me an interesting facet, namely that if a poor Bolivian or Brazilian can establish that he/she is of Jewish origin, they might prefer to apply for citizenship to Spain or Portugal (if from Brazil), because those countries have passed laws to accept former Sefardim/ Anousim, rather than Israel, because of the language and cultural similarities.   On the other hand, those dedicated to their Jewish origins from more affluent countries might prefer to make aliyah to Israel.  Those of us who are involved in the issue of the Anousim and wish to see as many as them as possible return to their Jewish roots should bear these factors in mind.  Joe emphasizes that merely researching the Anousim is not enough, it is necessary for the Jewish community to embrace the Bnei Anousim.

Jack Cohen

Yarmouk Camp

Jack Cohen

The Yarmouk Palestinian “refugee” camp outside Damascus is a horrific place.   Since the Palestinians are Sunni Muslims and the Alawite Assad regime of Syria is pro-Shia, there has been hostility between the regime and the Palestinians who control the camp, mainly Hamas, for a long time.  Since the Civil War erupted in Syria 4 years ago there has been armed conflict in the camp and it has been under siege for the past two years by the Syrian Army and has been targeted by artillery and the Syrian air force using indiscriminate barrel bombs.   Tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians trapped inside have been unable to obtain food, water and fuel and many are starving.  It is truly a humanitarian disaster, unlike Gaza where the IDF fought a brief war with Hamas last summer, where there was no long-term siege of civilians and no humanitarian crisis because Israel allowed food, water and fuel to be supplied under UN auspices.  That is not the case in Yarmouk.

Now things have become worse because Islamic State fighters have attacked the camp and have captured most of it (reportedly 90%) within a short period.  They consider Hamas an enemy and there is vicious fighting.  The IS beheaded the chief of Hamas in the camp and there are reports of massacres and executions, in one incident 23 Palestinian fighters were beheaded.  Nothing like this happened with the IDF, which is a disciplined, civilized army.  It is reported that now 18,000 Palestinian civilians are trapped in the Yarmouk Camp by the fighting (in 2002 the population was ca. 112,000, what happened to the rest?).  The UN Security Council has passed a resolution calling on all sides to allow humanitarian supplies to be sent into the camp and civilians who are trapped there to be allowed to leave.  However, no-one expects any of the adversaries to heed this request, simply put they don’t care about the civilians, as far as they are concerned, and this is a general Islamic attitude, they are enemies and deserve to die.

It is interesting in an academic way to compare the incredible media focus on the Israeli offensive in Gaza to the attacks by the Syrian Army and the IS against the same Hamas Palestinians.  Where is the moral outrage, where are the calls of dis-proportionality (the Palestinians don’t have artillery or barrel bombs) and where are the demonstrations, equivalent to the violent attacks against Jewish sites in Paris and London?  This proves without a shadow of doubt that the main motivation of those attacks were anti-Semitic, if Jews are not involved in the fighting, who cares how many Palestinians are killed or starved to death.  This kind of selective response and double standard are no surprise to us, but it shows starkly what the motivations are, it’s not the lives of the Palestinians that matter it is the hatred of Israel and the Jews that is the motivation.

This situation also serves to expose another false but widely believed canard, that the Arabs and Muslims really care deeply about the Palestinians and that the Arab-Israel conflict is fundamental to peace in the Middle East.  What a crock of bullshit.  The Syrians and the Lebanese (often under their control) kept the Palestinians in a state of slavery for the past 65 years, restricting them to the “camps” not allowing them to even work and earn a living so that they would be totally dependent on UN hand-outs, and keeping them in a state of violent agitation.  But, their actual treatment of the Palestinian people shows how little regard for their lives the Syrians and all other Muslim actors have.  For example, they pass numerous resolutions at the UN, the Conf of the Islamic States and the Arab League, but when it comes to delivering food or money, forget it.  Of the b$5 that was promised to help the Gazans rebuild it was reported recently that only 2% has been delivered.  The US has given more money to UNRWA than all the Arab States combined.

Most people don’t know that the Kuwaitis killed and violently expelled the Palestinians who were living there because they sided with Saddam Hussein during the First Gulf War and they often helped the Iraqi Army to capture and kill Kuwaitis.  Most people do not know that Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States do not allow Palestinians to reside in their countries for fear of their violent activities.  Yet, Israel is supposed to give them a State and live side-by-side with them.  By the way, PA Pres. Abbas has been conspicuously quiet about the fate of the Palestinians in Yarmouk, but remember they are Hamas, his enemy, so who cares.

Jack Cohen:  Born in London, UK, lived in suburban Washington DC area for 30 years, moved to Israel in 1996. He has a web site: Jack’s Blog