The Phenomena of the Marranos in Brazil
Copyright 2024 Matheus Zandona Guimaraes
“But their children and grandchildren, who, misguided by their parents… and trained in their views, are like children taken captive by them and raised in the laws of the gentiles, whose status is that of an ‘anus’ (one who abjures Jewish law under duress), who, although he later learns that he is a Jew, meets Jews, observes them practice their laws, is nevertheless to be regarded as an ‘anus’, since he was reared in the erroneous ways of his parents… Therefore, efforts should be made to bring them back in repentance, to draw them near by friendly relations, so that they may return to the strength-giving source, i.e., the Torah.” - Mishneh Torah, Sefer Shofetim, Hilkhót Mumarím 3:2
History shows that more than 120,000 Spanish Jews immigrated to Portugal after the Spanish Inquisition expulsion decreed in 1492. But after 1496, the Inquisition laws against the Jews became valid also in Portugal, with the political wedding of Portugal's king Dom Manoel to Queen Elizabeth, daughter of the Spanish kings. From this year on, Portuguese Jews were obligated to convert to Catholicism under the penalty of expulsion, confiscation of properties and possessions, and even death on the Inquisition stakes, also called “auto de fé”.
The Catholic priests gave the name of “Cristianos Nuevos” (New Christians) to those Jews who were converted by force. But even after conversion, high taxes, prejudice, and persecution made life in Portugal a great challenge for these New-Christian Jews.
Hired by the Portuguese king, a Portuguese navigator called Pedro Alvares Cabral and his team of New-Christian captains found new land below the equator in the year of 1500. It was the “opening of the Red Sea” for these Portuguese Jews, who finally had the chance to start a new life in this New World, far from the intolerance of the Inquisition.
Together with thousands of other Portuguese, these New Christians received the right to immigrate to Brazil in the beginning of 1503, under the leadership of another New-Christian Jewish man called Fernando de Noronha. This was the beginning of Brazil’s history.
But unfortunately, in 1591, Portugal decides to extend the Laws of the “Santo Ofício” to its newly discovered colony, sending the first Inquisitors to many cities in Brazil. The only place in Brazil where the New-Christian Jews had a temporary time of religious freedom was in the region of “Pernambuco” (northeast of Brazil), taken from the Portuguese by the Dutch from 1630 to 1654. In the city of Recife, Portuguese/Brazilian Jews returned to Judaism, and in the year 1636 they established what became the first Synagogue of the Americas: Kahal Tzur Israel.
After 1654, Portuguese armies were able to expel the Dutch, and the laws against the Jews were once more active all over the region. Part of these Brazilian Jews were able to flee to the North, reaching the city of “New Amsterdam” (later called New York). They were the first Jewish people to arrive in North America and to establish there a Jewish Community, in the 17th Century.
But most of the Brazilian Jews were persecuted and arrested by the Inquisition. Hundreds were sent to Lisbon to die as “heretic New Christians”. Whole families were arrested in the countryside of Brazil and executed in the squares of Portugal.
To protect their families, and to assure that their descendants will have the right to live in the land of Brazil, thousands of Jews and New Christians converted to Catholicism, many of them for the second time. They did everything they could to keep Jewish traditions, customs, and culture - teaching their children and celebrating the Jewish holidays in secret, in the basements of their houses. Only in 1824 was the Inquisition period officially ended in Brazil, as well as the persecution of the Jews and the “New Christians”.
Today, as a result of centuries of persecution, Brazil has thousands of people who are direct descendants from the “New-Christian” Jews, or “Anusim”. The majority has lost completely all traces of Jewish ancestry, but a small part of them know, by tradition, customs, and by keeping remembrance, that they are Jews.
But there is still in the air a great fear, and they are afraid to let other people know of their origin. Almost 200 years after the inquisition ended in Brazil, one can easily feel the trauma that the Inquisition planted in the minds and in the hearts of these descendants.
They were able to keep their traditions and remembrance because they were very closed, only marrying with first cousins, by this making sure that they would only marry with other New Christians. They go to mass or to church on Sunday, but they still remember when their grandmother used to celebrate Shabbat with wine, bread, and two candles. They still know the songs, brought by Sephardic Jews to Brazil 500 years ago. Old tunes clothed with a terrible history of intolerance.
In the last 20 and 30 years, descendants of these New-Christian Jews who have kept some sort of remembrance and tradition, have tried to restore their roots and their identity. They have looked for help in traditional Jewish circles, but unless they convert back to Judaism, and abide by an ultra-orthodox Jewish halakha, they will never be considered Jews.
Those descendants who are Christians have also tried to look for help in their circles (Catholics and evangelicals), but they are always told the same by both of them: once you became a Christian, you are no longer a Jew! Therefore, there is no space in their current religion for such a restoration. These descendants are being rejected not only by the Christian community, but mostly by their fellow Jews, who consider them “meshumadim” (traitors), not deservers of a return to the household of Israel.
Their ancestors were forced to convert, and they did it because they dreamed of a day where their descendants would not have to hide who they really are, in what they really believe. They dreamed of a day where they would be able to worship their God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with no fear of persecution.
Now that this day is at hand, their Jewish brothers and sisters want to do to with them what the Inquisition did, that is, force them to convert. Besides, it must be understood that most of this problem is created because these descendants believe in Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah, and any rabbinate would never accept as a Jew a person who believes that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel.
In any case, to force these Jewish descendants to go through a formal orthodox conversion procedure is denying their very Jewish origin and struggle for centuries to survive. This is a public denial of their blood right to be Jews and to be accepted as Jews by the State of Israel.
Therefore, a special organization, called Inquisition Jewish Descendants Brazilian Association (ABRADJIN), was founded in Brazil by Marcelo Miranda Guimarães, with the primary goal of helping these Jewish descendants to know and to restore their identity. Marcelo is an engineer, and has worked for decades as a CFO of an important German company in Brazil. After his retirement, he took on the task of working and researching extensively about the Marranos and their present situation.
Marcelo is a direct descendent of Portuguese Jews who came to Brazil escaping the Inquisition in Portugal. The goal ABRADJIN has is to provide historical research to help these Jewish descendants to rediscover their past, opening for them new doors for the future.
ABRADJIN works in conjunction with both Netivyah Bible Instruction Ministry, located in Israel and Netivyah International led by Joseph Shulam. ABRADJIN tries to achieve two main objectives: First, to equip and bring knowledge of the “Marranos” phenomena to Jewish and non-Jewish circles, as well as academic circles. Second, ABRADJIN fights for the recognition, by Jewish and Israeli immigration authorities, that the Marranos should be fully accepted as Jews, without the need of a formal two-year orthodox conversion.
Nevertheless, ABRADJIN does stand for a proper return to the Jewish faith by the Marranos, with a Jewish lifestyle and profound learning of the Torah and traditions, but without forcing these Jewish descendants to deny once more their identity.
ABRADJIN has a museum located in the city of Belo Horizonte which displays images, documents, and important information about the great contribution shared by Portuguese Jews in Brazilian history, from the 16th to the 19th Centuries. ABRADJIN also has a library and opens up its facilities for people interested in researching and learning more about the history of persecuted Jews in Brazil.
These Portuguese Jewish descendants can be found in almost every region of Brazil, and a great number of them is seeking to restore and re-attach themselves to Israel and the Jewish community. Israeli and rabbinical authorities should provide a fair and sincere way to have these hundreds of thousands of Jewish descendants to come back to their faith, without forcing them to do the very thing the Inquisition made them do in the past.