The Crypto-Jews of New Mexico

At the time of America's 15th century rediscovery by Columbus, the Jews and Muslims of Spain and Portugal were being expelled from the Iberian Peninsula or being intimidated and tortured into converting to Catholicism under the Inquisition. 

Many Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal kept their faith, ultimately coming to the New World and practicing their religion and traditions here. Another group was the Sephardic conversos, forced converts to Catholicism, who often retained cultural traditions and rituals reflecting their Jewish past. 

The third group was the Crypto-Jews, converts who secretly practiced their Jewish faith.

 Over the course of time, conversos and Crypto-Jews came to the New World. Over many, many generations, they became part of the larger Hispanic community, but retained traditions whose origins lay in Judaism. They retained these traditions as family traditions — many without knowing why, without knowing their Jewish origins. 

Portrait photographer, author and lecturer Gloria Golden traveled through North Africa and Spain to find remnants of Judaism there. In Seville, once a center of Jewish culture, she found no evidence of this past. Ultimately, she came upon a community of Crypto-Jews in New Mexico. She embarked on an ambitious project to record their oral histories and to take portraits of the speakers. 

Her work resulted in the 2005 publication of “Remnants of Crypto Jews Among Hispanic Americans (Floricanto Press) and the 2009 publication of "Desaturated Soul" (Xlibris Press) as well as many exhibits and speaking engagements. She both reveals 500 years of the difficulties of the Sephardim and shows how the soul of Judaism endures. 

Ms. Golden's work is on exhibit at the Roland Exhibition Corridor of the Leon & Toby Cooperman JCC, Ross Family Campus, 760 Northfield Avenue, West Orange through July 24. This Monday, May 16 at 12:30 p.m., Golden will present a corresponding slide lecture there. 

Lisa Suss, the visual arts manager and curator for the JCC, spoke about the exhibit and the upcoming talk: "Viewers who stop and read the oral histories as well as look at the portraits are fascinated by them. They reveal a group of individuals with a history that has, for the most part, been a mystery to them," Suss said. "Most of the Crypto-Jews in Gloria Golden's exhibit find that the Jewish aspect of their past fills gaps in their personal histories."

The exhibit runs through Friday, July 24. Exhibit Hours are Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, please contact Lisa Suss at (973) 530-3413 or e-mail lsuss@jccmetrowest.org.