Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Queen Esther: Patron Saint of Crypto-Jews

"Queen Esther: Patron Saint of Crypto-Jews" by Ronit Treatman for timesofisrael.com
 http://www.timesofisrael.com/queen-esther-patron-saint-of-crypto-jews/


For class this week I had to read a few articles. This one was written by Ronit Treatman from timesofisrael.com; it's called Queen Esther: Patron Saint of Crypto-Jews. It is about how during the Inquisition conversos (Jews who outwardly converted to Catholicism, but inwardly and in their homes still practiced Judaism) turned Esther and the story of Purim into a Saint and a "Catholic" holiday so they could still celebrate it and not be persecuted.

I think it is a really cool idea that people disguised a Jewish holiday into a Christian one so they could stay Jewish. However, I do not like how after the Inquisition and when people had religious freedom that the conversos (closet Jews) did not go back to Judaism. I think that the conversos went through so much to keep as much Judaism as possible, they should have gone back to Judaism as soon as it was safe. It is interesting to hear that there are still some today, but it is almost a little disappointing that people didn't go back to Judaism.

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