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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/26668/full/26668/glimpses-of-a-secret/ <br /><br /> <b>Glimpses of a secret</b> <br /> Friday, August 5, 2005 | by <p>maya melenchuk </p> <br /><br /><p>When Gloria Golden set out to photograph the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico five years ago, she didn’t realize she was embarking on a race against time to record the history of a fading people.<br /><br /> During the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century, Jews were forced to convert to Catholicism, or risk death or expulsion. A number of them — called Crypto-Jews — chose to publicly convert and secretly practice a form of Judaism shrouded in Catholicism. <br /><br /> Some moved to New Spain, which included the southeastern United States, hoping to escape the Inquisition. But its ramifications reached even into the Spanish colonial territories, where Crypto-Jews buried their secret even deeper. Five hundred years later, descendants are still unearthing their true ancestry.<br /><br /> Golden is preserving this legacy. To date she has recorded the experiences of more than 70 people and compiled them into her book “Remnants of Crypto-Jews Among Hispanic Americans.” <br /><br /> Some of these photos and interviews are on display at the Peninsula Jewish Community Center in Foster City. The lobby walls are covered with 16 of the 2-by-3-foot black-and-white photographs flanked by panels of text. <br /><br /> Golden, of Long Island, N.Y., first became acquainted with the subject while taking a photography course in New Mexico. Fascinated with genealogy and having already studied her own Jewish heritage, she seized an opportunity to photograph and interview Gerard Gonzalez, a Crypto-Jew in New Mexico. This was only the beginning.<br /><br /> “While taking their portraits and listening to their stories I felt compelled to record their oral histories — and it mushroomed,” she said. “I’m not specifically searching for Jews, but for remnants of Judaism practiced by people living in Catholic communities.”<br /><br /> She began recording their stories. Gonzalez’ family would leave stones on headstones, wouldn’t mix certain foods and would turn mirrors to the wall when a loved one died. While he already suspected a Jewish heritage, everything clicked for Gonzalez when these rituals were cited at a lecture he attended on Crypto-Judaism. He gradually pieced together his genealogy. <br /><br /> Others learned their identity in an abrupt revelation.<br /><br /> Father Symeon Clemente Carmona’s family recited all prayers from memory so there would be no written traces. Clemente Carmona was a preteen when his grandfather told him he was Jewish — as an explanation for why people called the boy names he didn’t understand.<br /><br /> Sometimes the elders would wait until their deathbed to pass along a family secret, though the truth was usually kept from the children. They were left to imagine why their family had different practices from other Catholic families. <br /><br /> Sometimes, uncovering their past threatened to make their future ambiguous. “Now that I am a priest monk, [Jews who converted to Christianity] come to me to seek counsel about whether to return to Judaism fully or to remain, as we are, a dying dinosaur in this place and time,” his statement says. <br /><br /> The rituals and practices of the Crypto-Jews have been diluted over time, and Golden feared they would disappear unrecorded. “My goal is to reach out to as many people as possible,” she said in a phone interview. “These people are not readily accepted in the Jewish or the Hispanic community.”<br /><br /> Golden plans to continue her work, though there are roadblocks.<br /><br /> The compulsion to maintain their secrets is still present among many of the Crypto-Jews. Several people refused to speak to Golden, for fear of repercussions within their families.<br /><br /> The exhibit has received a positive response since opening in late July, said Todd Braman, program director at the JCC. “A lot of people had never heard of this. It’s an important event in Jewish history with remnants in our own back yard.”<br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /> <b>“Crypto-Jews”</b> runs through Sept. 23 at the Peninsula Jewish Community Center, 800 Foster City Blvd., Foster City. Information: (650) 212-PJCC.</p> <p> </p>

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