Anusim: "Costumbres Familiares"

In 1492, the Spanish Inquisition outlawed the observance of Judaism a stance that spread wherever Spain and Portugal rule was enforced in the New World as well. Yet, Judaism did not disappear completely but was driven underground and today in the South West of the United States, Latin America, and the Iberian Peninsula, there are groups that practice what seem to be "strange rituals" that maybe particular to their town, a small group of families or even individual families. Often these rituals are called Costumbres familiares and hearken back to that period of Jewish history when Jewish life was forced underground to become a stealth practice on pain of death.

Because of the historic dangers associated with Jewish observance, it is not uncommon for those with "Costumbres familiares" to be unwilling to share with outsiders that their practices exist. A sense of protection has been handed down from generation to generation. Many practioners do not even know that these customs identify them as descending from Jews. Others may not practice any customs but have an oral history or a suspicion (that is handed down in the family) that they are of Jewish ancestry. Still other individuals may just "feel" Jewish — they have an affinity for Jewish life. They may experience a spiritual connection or kinship with Jewish ideas or individuals. They may discover they have Jewish ancestry or they may never know why.

Many customs are easily identified with mainstream modern Judaism — others are not. A few common are the discussed below.

Burial customs

Echoing burial and mourning practices that are still commonly observed in contemporary Jewish communities, some b’nei anusim families sit on the floor for a few days after burial, covering mirrors during mourning, trying to procure earth from the Holy Land to place into the burial plot with relatives. They prepare shrouds that are white cotton and place the bindings of the shrouds and the chest, waist and ankles of the deceased. Some place a stone at the gravesite. Others have a straw broom in the house so that its straw can be used in case of death to be placed under the deceased until burial preparations are undertaken.

Dietary customs

During the Inquisition in the Iberian Peninsula, inquisitors often watched the dietary habit suspected anusim to see if they were secretly observing Judaism. Jewish tradition for example forbids the eating of pork or pork products and also blood sausages. To this day, some b’nei anusim have an oral tradition of having an allergy to pork or not eating blood in the form of the ever-popular Spanish blood sausage. Sometimes b’nei anusim do not eat leavened products during Holy Week as a sign of mourning for Jesus, and give all bread and cakes to the poor during holy week- which coincides with the observance of Passover when Jews do not eat bread in remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt in ancient times. Other b’nei anusim eat roasted lamb on the15th day of the spring moon, and fast on the tenth day of the first Fall moon which echoes the Passover sacrifices of ancient times.

Religious customs

Some b’nei anusim avoid praying to the Saints or the Virgin Mary- which would be counter to traditional Jewish practice. They say "El Dio" rather than the "normal" Dios in Spanish. "El Dio" is Ladino for God. They use the Hebrew name "El" for God as if it were the Spanish phrase for "the" and leave the last "s" off as a way of expressing faith in one God. In a nod to the Jewish understanding of monotheism, they avoid the plural in speaking of God which is expressed in Spanish by adding an "s" to the end of words.

Marriage customs

B’nei anusim also tended to marry only certain individuals, marrying only with a few other families in town because the others "are not acceptable." It was passed down in families which families were acceptable for marriage and which ones were not accepted by the traditions of the family. Another interesting feature of marriage practices was the acceptability of marrying Africans rather than certain Spaniards. Many families have reported that they received an oral family history. Africans were acceptable for two reasons; (1)Many of the Africans that were brought to the Americas already believed in only One God and had similar hidden ritual practices and (2) marrying Africans was considered better than marrying certain Spaniards whose lifestyles or family lifestyles had been incompatible to the b’nei anusim family beliefs. Others say that it was out of self-protection: Africans were not going to report the practices because they too were victims of persecution.

Oral tradition

There is also a strong b’nei anusim propensity towards oral history. Many of these oral histories are governed and passed down by family matriarchs. The emphasis on the passing of tradition through the mother accords with the traditional Jewish practice in which Jewishness passes through mothers to children.

Shabbat

Some b’nei anusim do not work on Saturday which connects to traditional Jewish Shabbat observance which abstains from work on Saturdays.

Personal Vignettes as told by Rabbi Manny Viñas

Santo Domingo

A man from Santo Domingo became of aware of his Jewish roots by identifying the reasons for his family's "strange customs." When he had completed the ritual of return and placed his tefillin on his head, he began to cry from the deepest place in his soul. It was a wailing sound that pierced through our hearts and was very reminiscent of the sound of the Shofar. Asked to identify his feelings that were causing this response, he expressed that he was crying out of joy and sorrow for his ancestors who had dreamed of this day for five hundred years.

A Puerto Rican Jew-by-choice converted because of religious belief in Judaism. He had never suspected that his family was harboring a secret that they had never shared with him. Five years after his conversion, he went back to Purto Rico to visit his grandmother who was on her deathbed. When she was near death, a neighbor summoned a local Catholic Priest to deliver the last rites of the Catholic Church. This woman threw the priest out of her room and refused to receive the rite. She then explained to her grandson that the family were originally Jews and had never accepted the last rites because she said, "at this point what can they do to us, I am going to die anyway." He returned to New York knowing that his attraction to Judaism was not just his own, but also one that reflected his grandmother's dying wish.

A large Dominican family from the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan became aware of the origin of their family rituals by observing the German Jews who lived along side the Dominican immigrants. They began to become aware of the Sabbath rituals of lighting candles, the pattern of the Holidays and Jewish dietary practices. They realized that the German Jews were observing similar customs to those they had seen their grandmother observing in Dominican Republic.