History of the Jews in Mexico
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The history of the Jews in Mexico is not quite as extensive as some of the other Latin American countries, though in the modern era the Mexican-Jewish populations living in the country have become more economically and socially prominent. Due to the strong Catholic presence in Mexico, few Jews migrated there until the late 1800s. Then, a number of German (Ashkenazi) Jews settled in Mexico as a result of invitations from Maximilian of Mexico; this was followed by a wave of Ashkenazic Jews fleeing Russia. A second large wave of immigration occurred as the Ottoman Empire collapsed, leading many Sephardic Jews to flee. Finally, a wave of immigrants fled the increasing Nazi persecutions in Europe.
Today, there are between 40,000 and 50,000 Mexican Jews [1]. There are several sectors of the Jewish community in Mexico, the largest of which are the Ashkenazi Community (descended from Central and Eastern Europe), the Maguén David and Monte Sinai Communities (descended from Syrian immigrants), and the Sephardic Community (primarily descended from Turkish immigrants). While most of the Jews in Mexico are concentrated in Mexico City and other large Mexican cities, there are subtantial Jewish communities in Guadalajara, Monterrey, and more recently in Tijuana and Cancún. The "Centro Deportivo Israelita" is a social, cultural and sporting institution which includes members from all Jewish communities.
The Jewish community in Guadalajara is continually shrinking and has approximately 150 families[citation needed]. The community is made up of almost an equal number of Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews. Originally the two groups had separate synagogues and didn’t intermarry; eventually the two groups united and almost all of the younger families are made up of mixed Sephardic-Ashkenazi marriages. There is a community center, similar to that of a J.C.C., which is the center of Jewish life in the city. The center has a sports facility, a Jewish day-school, and also houses the synagogue. In recent years the community, called La Comunidad Israelita, became Modern Orthodox, which caused a sizeable part of the community to break-off and form a new Conservative community, dividing this already small community. Because the Jews of Guadalajara rarely marry outside of the Jewish community, most of the young adults who are interested in getting married are inclined to move to Mexico City, which has a larger Jewish population. This is the main cause of the diminishing population of the community, a similar problem facing the Jewish community of Monterrey which is almost of identical size.
There are also some Mexicans who consider themselves descendants of Conversos (also known as New Christians or Marronos), those being the Jews who converted to Catholicism to escape the Spanish Inquisition and/or Portuguese Inquisition but retained certain elements of their Jewish heritage (like lighting candles on Friday nights). For example, the famous painter and Converso descendent Diego Rivera wrote in 1935 that: "Jewishness is the dominant element in my life. From this has come my sympathy with the downtrodden masses which motivates all my work" [2].
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- List of Mexican Jews
- Crypto-Judaism
- History of the Jews in Latin America
- List of Latin American Jews
- Luis de carvajal el mozo
Categories: Cleanup from March 2007 | All pages needing cleanup | Articles to be expanded since March 2007 | All articles to be expanded | All pages needing to be wikified | Wikify from March 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements since March 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Jewish history by country | Jews and Judaism in Mexico
