Jewish Multiracial Network » Anousim http://www.jewishmultiracialnetwork.org Because Jews come in all colors! Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:27:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 Columbus of Hidden Jews http://www.jewishmultiracialnetwork.org/2011/01/columbus-of-hidden-jews/ http://www.jewishmultiracialnetwork.org/2011/01/columbus-of-hidden-jews/#comments Wed, 26 Jan 2011 03:47:37 +0000 jmnetmoderator http://www.jewishmultiracialnetwork.org/?p=336 He wanders Amazon jungles, travels to Chinese villages, searches Spain for Marranos, and sees India’s Bnei Menashe as his life's mission. Michael Freund has an obsession: Discovering remote Jews.

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Itamar Eichner

Israel Jewish Scene
It happened six years ago. Michael Freund decided to go on a South American adventure. Armed with high motivation, he entered a small canoe and went off into the Amazon River of Peru, quickly finding himself among wild jungles filled with trees and animals resembling those which appear in children’s nightmares.

Suddenly, he noticed a group of Native Americans in a canoe approaching him. He waved to them. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed something strange – the names of their boats were typical Moroccan Jewish names: Ben-Zaken, Levi, Ben-Shushan.

Freund, the Christopher Columbus of Jews, smiled with satisfaction. Right then and there he knew his journey was a successful one: Another lost Jewish tribe had been found.

Read the full story here.
]]> http://www.jewishmultiracialnetwork.org/2011/01/columbus-of-hidden-jews/feed/ 0 Sephardic Anousim Conference http://www.jewishmultiracialnetwork.org/2010/05/sephadi-anousim-conference/ http://www.jewishmultiracialnetwork.org/2010/05/sephadi-anousim-conference/#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 22:50:45 +0000 tzaadi http://www.jewishmultiracialnetwork.org/v1/?p=65 Congregation B’nai Zion of El Paso with support from the Jewish Federation of El Paso announces the 7th Annual Sephardic Anousim Conference to be held July 16 – 19, 2010. The focus of the conference is the past, present and [+]

]]> Congregation B’nai Zion of El Paso with support from the Jewish Federation of El Paso announces the 7th Annual Sephardic Anousim Conference to be held July 16 – 19, 2010.

The focus of the conference is the past, present and future identities of B’nai Anousim, the descendants of Jews who in 1496 were forcibly baptized in Portugal and prevented from leaving after their ‘conversion.’

El Paso is a city with a strong crypto-Jewish presence and Rabbi Stephen A. Leon of Congegation B’nai Zion has a long history of working with anousim, assisting them in their return to Judaism.

The conference schedule follows.

Friday, July 16th
6:15 PM Shabbat evening services followed by a traditional Shabbat dinner

Keynote Speaker: Andree A. Brooks
Portugal: Facing up to its Converso Heritage and the Impact upon our B’nai Anousim.

Saturday, July 17th
9:30 AM Shabbat morning services followed by Kiddush lunch

Speaker:  Andree A. Brooks
Dona Gracia Nassi, Her Life and Times as a Role Model for Today
Speaker:  Schelly Talalay Dardashti
Genealogy 101 & Sephardic Trends research

Shabbat rest

7:00 PM Mincha

Seudah Shlesheet

Speaker:  Rabbi Juan Mejia
Moving Onward with the Anousim Movement

Ma’ariv & Havdalah

Art Gala: Wine and hors d’oeuvres
Introductions by Sonya A. Loya and presenting artists Elizabeth Genova, Dan Grife, artisan Sonya Loya and photographer Peter Svarzbein

Sunday, July 18th
8:30 AM morning services followed by bagel breakfast

Speaker: Rabbi Stephen A. Leon
Tisha B’Av: A Resolution Realized

Panel discussion

2:30 PM Parted Waters, a play by Robert Benjamin (donations graciously accepted)

5:00 PM evening services

Monday, July 19th
Tisha B’av speaker, Dennis Durfee  of Portland, Oregon

Conference fees are $118 per person and scholarships are available. A mention that you are attending the ‘conference at B’nai Zion’ will get you a group rate discount at the Holiday Inn – Sunland Park on reservations made on or before June 23rd.

Registration and payment information can be found at the Congregation B’nai Zion website.

More on the B’nai Anousim and Crypto-Jews in general, can be found at the Society for Crypto Judaic Studies website.

information, courtesy of JMN member, Sonia Rosen
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