PÉNTEK ESTI MEXIKÓI VACSORA
A VISEGRÁDI UTCAI ZSINAGÓGÁBAN
A PESTI SÚL SZERVEZÉSÉBEN

Az õszi nagyünnepek idején megrendezett közös étkezések sikerein felbuzdulva a Pesti Súl Egyesület vezetõsége úgy döntött, hogy több-kevesebb rendszerességgel közös étkezéseket fogunk szervezni.

Célunk az, hogy megkostolhassuk más országok jellegzetes zsidó ételeit, és ha már egy ország ételeit esszük, akkor egy kicsit próbáljuk megismerni az ország zsidó közösségét, kultúráját is. Amennyiben lehetõségünk van rá, akkor meghívnánk az adott országban élõ embereket, hogy õk meséljenek, és valaki közülünk tartana egy rövid elõadást az ország zsidó közösségérõl,
zsidó kultúrájáról, és nem utolsó sorban jellegzetes zsidó ételeirõl.

Az elsõ ország MEXIKÓ és a mexikói zsidó közösség. A vacsora közben Dov Levi fog mesélni a marranos (titkos) zsidokról.

A Pesti Súl nagy szeretettel meghív a Visegrádi utcai zsinagógában (1137 Budapest, Visegrádi utca 3. földszint) megrendezésre kerülõ MEXIKÓI VACSORÁRA, melynek idõpontja 2002. november 15. péntek este. 18.00-kor kezdõdik az ima (szombat fogadása), amelyet követ a vacsora. Jelentkezni, korlátozott létszámban Panyi Miklósnál lehet, a 06-30-221-8465-os számon, vagy e-mailben (miklos.panyi@hu.eyi.com), legkésõbb 2002. november 12-ig.

A vacsora ára 1,500 forint, mely az étel önköltségét és egy kis adományt tartalmaz.

A Visegrádi utcai zsinagóga és a hitélet müködését támogató egyéb adományokat is szívesen fogadunk.

Nagy szeretettel várunk,

Pesti Súl

Egy kis háttérinformáció Mexikóról:

MEXICO

General population 92,720,000, Jewish Population 40,700

Demography

All but a handful of Mexican Jews live in Mexico City (37,500). Most of the rest live in Guadalajara (200 families), Monterrey (200 families), and Tijuana (60 families). Close to 300 families are scattered in other towns such as Veracruz, Puebla, and Cuernavaca. The number of people registered as "Israelites" in the official census includes Protestant sects and mestizos (Mexicans of mixed Indian and European ancestry) who profess to Jewish roots, such as the "Iglesia de Dios" and "Casa de Dios." None of these groups is recognized by the rabbinate in Mexico or in Israel. Today the community is equally divided between Sephardim and Ashkenazim. The original Spanish Jews were totally integrated into the general population and lost their Jewish identity. The modern-day Jewish community has remained ethnically, culturally, and religiously distinct but has developed an identity based on the synthesis of Jewish and Mexican cultural patterns. The rate of intermarriage is estimated at between 5% and 10%.

History

At the beginning of the 20th century, Jewish immigrants arrived from Russia, Poland, and Germany, as well as Syria, Turkey, Greece (especially Salonika), and Lebanon. Consequently, both Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities were established. The two communities, Ashkenazi and Sephardi, founded separate and parallel welfare and women's bodies, as well as separate social and cultural associations. Mexican Jewry was divided by a linguistic gulf. Yiddish was prevalent in the Ashkenazi organizations and Ladino in the Sephardi.

Community

Mexican Jewry is highly organized. It comprises four different Jewish communities, based on place of origin: Aleppo, Damascus, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans. Each of these groups is represented in the Comite Central Israelita. Each constituent community has its own synagogues. The Tribuna Israelita promotes close ties with Mexican society and monitors anti-Semitism. The Mexican Council of Jewish Women represents women. Almost all the Jews in Mexico City are members of the Comite Central de la Comunidad Judia de Mexico, which offers extensive social and cultural activities. There are other social clubs and sports centers in Monterrey, Tijuana, and Guadalajara.
The Zionist Federation, WIZO, Na'amat, and associations of friends of Israeli universities are all active. There are some 16 youth movements with approximately 2,000 members. Every year several hundred young people visit Israel. The Federation of Mexican-Jewish University Students (FEMUJ) and the Federation of Zionist Students of Latin America (FUSLA) serve the Jewish student population.
Although there have been some manifestations of anti-Semitism, there has been little violence directed at Jews.

Culture and Education

The Education Committee, Vaad Hachinuch, is an umbrella body that coordinates all the educational institutions and their activities. Professional Jewish educators run the extensive Jewish education network, composed of more than a dozen day schools in Mexico City. It is estimated that 80% of the Jewish children of school age receive their education within the Jewish educational system. All the schools offer both primary and secondary education. There are also several yeshivot and a number of kollelim. Almost every community and congregation has a Talmud Torah for bar mitzvah preparation, as well as classes and lectures on Jewish subjects. The Hebraic University provides specialized training for Jewish teachers.
The Universidad Iberoamericana offers a program of Judaic studies. There are about ten Jewish newspapers and magazines.
The Ashkenazi community maintains the Tuvia Maizel Museum, dedicated to the history of Mexican Jewry and to the Holocaust. There are also plans to build the first Institute for Holocaust Documentation in Latin America.

Religious Life

Mexico City has 23 synagogues; all but two are Orthodox. The others are Conservative. Kosher food is readily available, and there are a number of kosher restaurants.

Israel

Israel and Mexico enjoy full diplomatic relations. Aliya: Since 1948, 3,200 Mexican Jews have emigrated to Israel.

TEXAS MEXICAN SECRET SPANISH JEWS TODAY

by  Anne deSola Cardoza
from Halapid Summer, 1995

Jewish food, oral traditions, culture, and secret religious customs are showing up today in the folklore, habits and practices of the descendants of early settlers in southern Texas and the surrounding areas of Mexico.  In northern Mexico and what today is Texas, the Jews of Nuevo Leon and its capital, Monterrey, Mexico, lived without fear of harassment from the Holy Office of the 1640's and beyond.  Many of the leading non-Jewish families today of that area are descended from secret Jewish ancestors, according to scholar, Richard G. Santos.
    Santos states there are hundreds, if not thousands of descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Jews living today in San Antonio and throughout South Texas.  Not all are aware of their Jewish heritage.  Santos is a renowned scholar in ethnic studies of South Texas secret Spanish Jewry.  He presented a paper to the Interfaith Institute at the Chapman Graduate Center of Trinity University on secret Sephardic Jewish customs in today's Texas and nearby Mexican areas.
     Here?s how we know that many Tex-Mex Hispanics today are of Jewish ancestry.  It's a well-accepted fact that the founding families of Monterrey and the nearby Mexican border area, "Nuevo Reyno de Leon" are of Sephardic Jewish origin.  If we go back to the Diccionario Porrua de Historia Geografia y Biografia, it states that Luis de Carvajal y de a Cucva brought a shipload of Jews to settle his Mexican colony - with some Jews being converts to Catholicism from Judaism and others "openly addicted to their (Jewish) doctrine".
Seymour Liebman, a scholar on Mexican colonial secret Jews, in his book "Jews in New Spain", explained why Jews settled in areas far away from Mexico City in order to escape the long arm of the Inquisition in the sixteenth century.
     There's an old, universally known anti-Semitic Mexican joke, a one-liner that says, "la gente de Monterrey son muy judios ... son muy codo".  In English it translates, "The people of Monterrey are very Jewish ... very tightwad".
    Secret Jews colonized the states of Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Tamualipas and good old Texas, USA in the 1640's-1680s and thereafter.  The majori>

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ants came from Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, and Coahuila (the old Neuvo Reyno de Leon) beginning in the 1680s.
 Seventeenth century secret Jews who settled in what is today southern Texas, particularly around San Antonio took with them their Jewish foods, particularly what they call "Semitic bread" or pan de semita ...
Sephardic Jewish foods in old Texas
    Why do Mexican Americans in Texas and in the Mexican province of nearby Monterrey eat "Semitic bread" on Passover/Lent?  According to scholar Richard G. Santos, Tex-Mex pastries such as pan dulce, pan de semita, trenzas, cuernos, pan de hero, and pan de los protestantes (Protestant's bread) are similar to familiar Jewish pastries eaten by Sephardic Jews today in many other parts of the world.
    Pan de semita was eaten in pre-inquisition Spain by Jews and Arab Moors.  Today, it is popular in Texas and in that part of Mexico bordering Texas.  It translates into English as "Semitic bread".  It's a Mexican-American custom in the Texas and Tex-Mex border area today to eat pan de semita during Lent, which occurs on or around the Jewish Passover.
    You bake pan de semita by combining two cups of flour, one half to two-thirds cup of water, a few tablespoons of butter or olive oil, mix and bake unleavened.  Even among devout Catholic Mexicans pork lard is never used, that?s why it's called Semitic bread.  Pan de semita is really the recipe for secret Jewish Matzoth, and all Mexicans today in the north Mexican/Texas border area, regardless of religion, eat it.
Only in Texas and along, the Texas-Mexican border is a special type of pan de semita baked, according to Dr. Santos, who himself is descended from secret Spanish Jews of the area who?ve lived in that part of Texas and Monterrey since colonial times.
    The special pan de semita of the border has special ingredients: only vegetable oil, flour, raisins, pecans and water.  The raisins, pecans, and vegetable oil were identified, according to Dr. Santos, as selected ingredients of secret Jews of New Spain.
Take two cups of flour, a cup or less of water, a handful of olive oil and mix with a half cup to two thirds cup each of raisins and pecans.  Then you knead and bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned and easy to chew.
    Pastry bakers from Mexico claim this type of pan de semita is unknown in central Mexico.  Other pan de semitas are found in Guadalahara made from wheat (Semita de trigo) in which milk is substituted for the water.  In Texas and Guadalahara one also finds Semita de aniz (anis).  However, semita de trigo and semita de aniz never include raisins and pecans and the use of pork lard is forbidden.  Only olive oil or butter can be used to make semitic bread.
    In Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Coahuila and among Mexican Americans in Texas two ways of butchering chicken are performed.  Chickens can only be slaughtered by either wringing the neck by hand or by taking the head off with only one stroke of a sharp knife and immediately all blood must be removed into a container.  The fowl is next plunged into hot water to remove any remaining blood.
This method is the same today as the Crypto-Jews performed in 17th century Mexico as described by Seymour Leibman.   The secret Jews of Mexico in the 1640s decapitated chickens and hung them on a clothesline so the blood would drain into a container of water.  Then the fowl was soaked in hot water and washed long enough to remove all the blood.
    In the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, there is a ritual today of using this method of butchering chickens with an added gesture of drawing a cross on the ground and placing the chicken at the center of intersecting lines.
Eating cactus and egg omelets during the Passover/Lent has been a custom of secret Jews of the 17th century and of Mexican Americans from Texas and Northern Mexico today.  The omelets are called nopalitos lampreados. The custom is to eat this food only during Lent.  Is this an old Passover rite of secret Jews as well?   Many add bitter herbs to their foods during Lent.  Another influence of  Passover?  Some do not eat pork on Friday and others do not eat pork after 6 P.M. or sundown on Friday.
    Another Lenten/Passover food is ?capirotada,? a wheat bread (pilon-cillo) to which raw sugar, cinnamon, cheese, butter pecans, peanuts and raisins are added.  These are identical ingredients to those used by secret Spanish Jews in the New Spain of 1640.  The ingredients and recipes have been recorded by the Holy Office of the Inquisition and saved to this day in the archives.
Mexican Americans from Texas ate meat on Fridays long before the Catholic Church relaxed the rules, which forbid such activity.  Older women cover their hands while praying in the same manner as Jewish women cover their heads.
Sixteen families who were descendants of Canary Islanders established the township of San Fernando de Bexar, today?s San Antonio, in 1731.
    These families intermarried with the local population of nearby Nuevo Reyno de Leon, many of whom were Spanish and Portuguese secret Jews.   Though all Mexican Americans of the area not of Sephardic descent, a large number still use the oral traditions, which are eminently of Sephardic origin.  Historical exposure to and intermarriage with Sephardic secret Jews has occurred in the parts of Mexico that were ?safer havens? for secret Jewish settlement.  The safest haven was Southern Texas and the surrounding Mexican border area.  The Holy Office was not active there in the 17th century.
Today Texans in the San Antonio area are celebrating the secret Jewish origins of some of their foods, culture and oral traditions.
Conversos: Mexico's Lost Jews
By Isaac Wolf of the Israeli-American Cooperative Enterprise

When Hernando Cortes conquered the Aztecs in 1521, he was accompanied by several Conversos, Jews forcibly converted to Christianity during the Inquisition of 1492. Conversos, or Anusim, immigrated en masse to Nueva Espagna (present day Mexico) and some estimate that by the middle of the 16th century, there were more of these crypto-Jews in Mexico City than Spanish Catholics.
In spite of the Inquisition, the Conversos attempted to lead Jewish lives by circumcising their children and keeping kosher. From 1528 on, Conversos were punished for their practices by being burned at the stake. In 1571, Spain solidified its harsh policy toward Jews by opening an Inquisition office in Mexico City, which accelerated the persecution of the crypto-Jews. Over the course of the colonial period, about 1500 were convicted of being Judaizers, meaning they observed the Laws of Moses or followed Jewish practices.
The Conversos assimilated in the 19th century, and descendants of the Conversos are often devout Catholic families that light candles on Friday nights, keep meat and dairy separate, and close their businesses on Saturdays.
Today, Mexico is home to many Conversos, with sizable populations in Vera Cruz and Puebla.
Many prominent Mexicans claim they are of Jewish descent, referencing their Conversos roots. Besides Presidents Porfirio Diaz, Francisco Madero and Jose Lopez Portillo, renowned artist Diego Rivera publicly announced his Jewish roots: "My Jewishness is the dominant element in my life," Rivera wrote in 1935. "From this has come my sympathy with the downtrodden masses which motivates all my work."
To keep from assimilation, the Conversos did not intermarry, and considered themselves superior to their Christian neighbors. "We are not really Mexican," explains Schulamite Halevy. "We are descendants of Spanish nobility."
In 1994, the Mexican Jewish group Kulanu ( Hebrew for "all of us"), began investigating the status of Conversos. Over the past seven years, Kulanu has unsuccessfully attempted to convince the mainstream Mexican Jewish community to accept the Conversos as Jews.
Mexico's organized Jewish community, which numbers about 50,000, has emphatically rejected the Kulanu's efforts not only because Orthodox Judaism traditionally does not proselytize, but also because the community fears a backlash of anti-Semitism.

Vissza a Pesti Sul honlapjára.