“There are people out there who we hope will be discovered. She shared how Rabbi Daniel Glatstein was giving a lecture in Spain and he mentioned the Abrabanel and two other family names that are on her family tree. Puerto Rico is filled with people with this type of background.” Her goal in writing her book, The Last Anusah, and with her blog, Gimel Dalet 777, is to let people know that there are hidden Jews out there who have kept the traditions and they need our help. She explained that when Hurricane Maria happened, this forced people in Puerto Rico to move to the mainland where they could be free. In Seville, she was greeted by the name of the bloodline her family had spent centuries trying to preserve: Cristobal Colon. Two of the three were names that belong to my family” ( The Last Anusah). They were names of people who had been burned by the Inquisition. Just outside the trial room there was a list of names. It was a place that also held a tribunal room. “Hashem was leading me there.” She describes how she was in a home that once belonged to Jews and was confiscated by the Office of the Inquisition. She describes in her book that after she visited Puerto Rico, she decided to visit Spain. She described how victims of abuse often have to prove that they were violated and Conversos have to prove who they are. “These people are forced.” The word “anusim” means forced. She pointed out the chilling fact that the Office of the Inquisition is still open. It is still an ongoing story of the Conversos living this dual secret life. She describes how for the people living in Puerto Rico it’s like a prison they can’t escape. However, she noted that when she officially converted and went to the mikvah, her mother told her, “You vindicated us.” Her grandmother also shared how happy she was that Devorah Esther did this. She shares how some members of her family have come back to Judaism but not her immediate family. In Devorah Esther’s book, The Last Anusah, she shares her journey to discovering her Jewish roots and dramatic trip to Puerto Rico where she learned the truth about her family and then the incredible journey she took to Spain where she found her ancestors’ roots and that Christopher Columbus was her 14 th great-grandfather. “It’s all smoke and mirrors, very superficial with no real depth. Christians want to be better people, but there is no system to transform them. She pointed out that with Torah you apply what you learn and it transforms you. “I had much better answers now that made sense to me.” “I couldn’t ignore that Yoshka was not it.” She shared how it was scary in the beginning because she had a Christian identity and she jeopardized losing everything. She shared how she kept fighting it, but her Jewish neshamah just popped out. Amazingly, Devorah Esther was introduced to Judaism through dreams. She left it to Hashem and He revealed the hidden truths to her. When asked how she discovered Judaism, she shared how she felt something had to make sense and be true in life. Her cousins had the same questions, and her brothers did, too. She saw how her family dynamic was different. At one point, she even wondered if her family was part of a witness protection program. She also noticed that her mother and aunt (her mother’s sister) had different names. “Why don’t I know about anyone past my grandmother?” Her relatives would respond, “We can’t tell you.” It was ironic that at the same time that she was asking about religion, she was also asking about her family. Inside, there was this blank space that was never filled. She shared that “she was brought up in a strict environment, but she had this nagging feeling that couldn’t go away. They would say to her, “Why are you asking so much?” She tried to go to the Christian savior but it left her feeling unanswered. If she kept asking, she was treated like a heretic. They taught that you have to believe more. They said bad things happen because you are sinning. The Christian answers didn’t make sense to her. Can you imagine being brought up as a Christian and finding out that the family you never met and the quiet secret your family was hiding was that you were really a Jew and your family was descendants of Conversos from the 1400s?ĭevorah Esther Ivel Colon was brought up as a Christian but was always looking for answers to her questions since she was a young girl. Few people realize that there is a whole community of hidden Jews in Puerto Rico who can trace their ancestry back to the Conversos in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition.
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