Thursday, January 16, 2014

El Iluminado

I did it again. I picked up a book, and it's about Jews, specifically crypto-Jews. The book was right up my alley--half in Spanglish and about Jews. The art in this graphic novel isn't great, but I did enjoy the story. Apparently one of the authors writes and illustrates the Rabbi Harvey graphic novels, which I haven't come across yet. I was very enthralled by this graphic novel and was curious to know if any of it was based on real events. The notes at the end of the book do entail what the historical story was based on and list a lot of sources. I think I might see if the library has any of the books that the author referenced. This book was a good weave of actual history and story.

I am very interested in cypto-Jews or conversos. I'm convinced that I have Sephardic, converso background. Hernandez is a Sephardic surname and listed amongst surnames of those forced to convert by the Inquisition.

I really connected with what one of the crypto-Jews said in the book "A Jewish soul is a Jewish soul. When you have it, you know." My sentiments exactly, and that's basically what I told the bet-din at my conversion.


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