From the desk of David Shasha: «Ashkenazim and Sephardic History in Mexico» by David Ramirez

Ashkenazim and Sephardic History in Mexico
By: David Ramirez

In Mexico there is a daily radio talk-show called “Que tal Fernanda!,” hosted by Fernanda Familiar, a Mexican journalist who tailors a show of varied interest, but also focused to women and family issues of the day. On Tuesday May 27, 2013, Fernanda had a couple of invitees from the Mexican Jewish community – both Ashkenazim – who were there to talk about the inauguration of the first Yiddish theater in Mexico. You can read about the announcement here:

http://diariojudio.com/bin/videos.cgi?q=ver&id=5888&canal=jws

In the process of talking about the announcement, Fernanda dovetails into the subject of Jewish history in Mexico. The invitees, who seemed to have been caught by surprise, gave a sketchy and non-chronological account of Jewish settlement in Mexico for the past 500 years. What caught my ears is that hardly any of the information they provided about Sephardim was accurate.

You would think this is a subject they studied in Mexican Jewish schools, but all they gave were vague and patchy recollections of a subject that is hardly spoken about in Mexico, and apparently not so much in Mexican Jewish education.

To begin with, they spoke about two Jewish conversos who came with Hernán Cortés, among them Hernando Alonzo, a carpenter who built the ships for the successful siege of Mexico-Tenochtítlan, one which led to the collapse of the Aztec empire. They mentioned that they had come with Cortés’ expedition because they were fleeing the Inquisition back in Spain. The truth is that many conversos came to the New World, and who like their non-Jewish countrymen, were here to gain fame and fortune. It so happens that when an episcopal (local) Inquisition was established, some of Cortes’ soldiers were found doing Judaic practices, and therefore were condemned to the stake.

The second thing they mentioned which was inaccurate is that the city of Monterrey was founded by the Carvajal family. Truth is that the converso Luis Carvajal de la Cueva sought permission to do an expedition in the north of New Spain to Spanish king Phillip II, but his expedition was unsuccessful. Actually, most of his family members that he brought over spread through out the Mexican central highlands after some were found to be judaizers. The city of Monterrey was founded by another converso years later, Diego de Montemayor, but the state owes its namesake to Luis, el Nuevo Reino de León (new kingdom of León), now Nuevo León.

The third thing that it was mentioned is about a group called the Jews of Venta Prieta, which somehow had been a Jewish community since colonial times. Truth is that this is a community that formed during the first half of the 20^thcentury, by people claiming converso ancestry. Nothing was said about the rejection this community experienced for decades from the newer Jewish settlers coming from central Europe and Syria.

And all this information is easily found just by a cursory look on the Internet. Although there is much Mexican converso history to be unearthed, there have been few serious articles and books dedicated to the subject. You would think that a Mexican Jewish community, specially their representatives, would have their facts straight about Jewish history inMexico, even in their simpler versions for PR purposes. After all, shouldn’t we as Jews in our local communities be at least informed of some basic local facts about our history? Let alone that whenever we hear about Sephardim in Latin America is invariably from the mouth of Ashkenazim.

The Ashkenazim, even in Latin American countries where there is a sizeable Sephardic population, like Argentina andMexico for example, dominate Jewish representation. Take for example an article about an ingathering of 600 social entrepreneurs and innovators that took place in Buenos Aires, only one Sephardi was mentioned in the article:

http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/roi-community-gathers-in-buenos-aires/

Besides the obvious anti-intellectualism present through their misinformed responses in these representatives giving the interview with Fernanda Familiar, one thing that does not cease to continuously amaze me is that in the Ashkenazi-led media authors do not seem to be informed about the subject they attempt to explain, sometimes repeating “common wisdom” quite innocently, other times purposefully done to serve specific ideological purposes. One can see it everywhere: Newspaper stories, books of history, academic papers, you name it, on all issues pertaining to Jews. It is hardly rare one turns to any Ashkenazi publicized media without finding errors in the basics, especially with information regarding non-Ashkenazim.

Don’t get me wrong, there are Ashkenazi authors out there, academic or otherwise, who have done fine, accurate, scientific, honest and responsible research and reporting – but sadly, they remain in the minority.

The problem is that all this misinformation just adds continuously to a state of confusion Jews have had since Ashkenazim became the dominant force for everything Jewish. Religious, historical, social, educational, you name it, issues touching on Jewish life is a continuous Ashkenazi-led disembowelment of our being as Jews in all times and places.

This is why it is important to have a good understanding, read responsible reporting and research, to make battle against all sorts of misinformation being continuously and tirelessly put out. As part of our collective dignity, anyone who loves truth should do just as much.