Understanding Anusim in the 21st century

By all means what is to follow requires further study, and it is an exercise to find truth. This, I hope, will serve to alleviate some anguish that Israel is suffering, which by no means needs to be suffered.

First and foremost, we have spoken about the issues on how the Anusim subject has been treated, both in the Academia and among the common people. 21st century Anusim have been subjected to understand themselves through the mythos of the “marrano”, as “crypto-Judaism” is understood in common parlance. When going to the actual sources – those who actually lived in their own historical periods – one will find the ground levels of how rabbis and Anusim behaved, and how the whole matter was treated. Hardly anyone today has made any efforts to understand the Anusim in their own historical and halakhic contexts. Almost everything as spoken today is disjointed and lacks of tremendous profundity.

At that level, I must agree with Mr. Peretz and Ms. Cohen on the almost annoying misrepresentation that we have experienced; however, it is not the Anusim's fault. The lack of seriousness and proper projection has invaded this matter, and to clear these nuances, one must study, analyze and interpret them in the most favorable way; in no way attack them.

If Judaism represents the unbroken tradition of that awesome event at Sinai – the theophany when God Almighty came down to Earth and established an irrevocable contract (berit) with his people – then by virtue of that contract every Israelite cannot ever loose his / her citizenship.

With the issue to “conversion”, one must clear up what it represents. A convert in Hebrew is translated as “ger”, that is a “naturalized citizen” of Israel. In common parlance, he / she is a proselyte. A ger – in halakhic literature – is an alien who adopts the Jewish Constitution (the Torah) in its entirety. A conversion in Hebrew is called a “giur”, and the strict way of conversion is called a “giur l’humra”, which to my knowledge is applied when the person grew up in the non-traditional frames of Judaism, and with a non-Jewish mother in the matrilineal line. Both are given the name of “ben Abraham” or “bat Sarah”, implying that they are adopted within the Abrahamic family, since Abraham is the father of all Hebrews and the first to explicitly recognize the One God. On all this, I stand to be corrected. However, a ger, though he / she is considered a Jew through the process of naturalization, he / she is forbidden to marry a Kohanim (in case of women). In some communities, people hold reservations about marrying a “ger”, though they should not have any. (Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, this is discrimination). I am not sure of other limitations, but at the outset this is the most prominent I can think about.

The only road that is officially being offered to Anusim today is that of the “giur”, or “giur l’humra” at best. Now, can anyone explain to the Anusim how does this procedure at the metaphysical and traditional levels does not violate the Berit at Sinai, and does uphold the sanctity of His name?

Nowhere, absolutely nowhere, we see from the Sages of Israel – much less from God Almighty – declaring an apostate Israelite a “gentile,” or “worse than gentiles.” One must show four sign post:

<< Yet, even then, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or spurn them so as to destroy them, annulling My covenant with them: for I HaShem am their God >> [Lev. 26:44]

<< If the heaven above could be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they had done, said HaShem >> [Jer. 31:37]

<< An Israelite, although he sinned, is still an Israelite >> [Sanhedrin 44a]

<< (According to Kings 19:18, there were 7,000 faithful Israelites who) “have not bowed to Baal, we did not see that it occurred to any of our Sages that our forefathers who betrayed God, rebelled against Him and denied Him should be called ‘complete gentiles’ or ‘worse than gentiles,’ and that their sons who repented and worshipped God should be considered proselytes >> [R. She’ adyá ben Maimon ibn Danan, Khemdah Genuzah, 15a]

In views of Divine, Prophetic, Talmudic and post-Talmudic understanding, an apostate Israelite is still an Israelite. It follows that an Anous, who was forced into avoda zara / foreign cult, and their children who are born in a state of duress among non-Jews, are also Israelites:

<< (the children of Anusim), who have never seen the light of the Torah, are no different from Jewish children who have lived as prisoners among non-Jews or with Karaites (Israelites who do not believe in the authority of Oral Torah), even Maimuni, Hiljot, Mamrim III, 3, had compassion on them, and treated them lightly. >> [R. Abraham de Aboab – year 1694 -- Deber Shemuel, No. 45(S. 18c f.)]

It hardly ever occurred to the Sages of Israel in the Ottoman Empire, Italy, Algiers, Morocco, Amsterdam, London – in fact every where the most brilliant luminaries of our tradition flourished – to call Anusim “gentiles” much less “proselytes”. Because, as received in the mouth of Rabbi Samuel de Medina from his teacher R. Taytazak, as confirmed by Gaon Zemah, in relation to the Anusim:

<< . . . if anyone brought up the question about the possibility that the child is from a non-Jewish woman, might answer would be that UNLESS THERE IS PROOF TO THE CONTRARY, we take as fact that the child is from a Jewish woman. Furthermore, we assume that all Marranos are descendants of Jews . . . and just as we assume the father of the Marrano is Jewish, we give as fact that each mother of the Marrano is Jewish >> [Responsa III, 112]

In other words, the proof for the matrilineal descent lies with the accuser . . . Not with the alleged victim. Why? In the Mishna – the compilation of Oral Torah – we find an injunction that says:

<< If a man and his wife went beyond the sea and he and his wife and his children returned and he said, ‘Lo, this is the wife that went with me beyond the sea and these are her children’, he need not bring proof about either the woman or the children. >> [Kiddushin 4:10]

In another responsum, now in regards to the Anusim of Ashkenaz (Germany) in the 12th c., Rabbi Salomon bar Simson said:

<< Whoever talked about them in a demeaning way was a sinner because that person spoke against God. >> [Geshichte der Juden in Deutschland a.a. O. p. 29, Bernfeld a.a. O.S. 192.]

Why? Very simple, to speak wrongs on Israel leads to impiety, as exposed by Maimonides, of blessed memory:

<< It is well known from the account of our rabbis that before the Israelites left Egypt, they corrupted their ways and violated the covenant of circumcision, so that none of them save the tribe of Levi was circumcised . . . Nevertheless, although they were corrupt as all this, God rebuked Moses for saying: What if they do not believe me? [Exod. 4:1]. And he retorted: They are believers, children of believers; believers, as Scripture reports: and the people . . . believed [Exod. 14:31]; sons of believers: because he believed, He reckoned it to his merit [Gen. 15:6]. But you will end up not believing; it is told in Scripture: Because you did not believe Me enough to affirm My sanctity [Num. 20:12]. In fact, he was punished at once, as the rabbis understood: “He who suspects the innocent suffers physically. What is the proof? Moses >> [Iggeret ha-Shemad, Halkin’s translation, (Philadelphia, 1993) p. 17]

Now I am also held accountable.

The very claim of the Anusim carries authority, and establishes the main reference point for rabbinical defense. The Rabbis dialogue underneath the voice of the Anusim. We hardly find any actions to the contrary. And since it is in the majority of opinions to consider Anusim as part of Israel, it follows that it is treated with the utmost respect and care. Therefore, there should be to no one’s amazement to see R. Aaron Soloveichik response when he says:

<< They (the Anusim) must be treated like full Jews in everyway (counted for minyan, given aliyot, etc.) >>

For Judaism to be operative in what we call the “chain of tradition”, the full force the Written and Oral Torah, the commentaries of the Talmud, and the post-Rabbinic tradition as deposited in the Responsa have to operate hand in hand. To render any of these useless, renders the whole “chain” inoperative. For this reason, Maimónides in his Mishne Torah – who in the name of the Sages – says:

<< If a tribunal promulgated a decree, or instituted a rule, or put in practice a norm, and this became widespread among all the people in Israel, and thereafter another tribunal pretends to annul that which was arranged by the first and eradicate such rules, decree or norm, it cannot do it unless it (the second tribunal) surpass the first in wisdom and number. If it surpasses them in wisdom but not in number, or in number but not in wisdom, it cannot annul the dispositions, even if the reason ceased to be for which the said decree or rules were first established . . . >> [MT Hilkhot Mamurim, II.2]

Because it is certain that we all are dwarfs in the presence of the luminaries of the tradition, and when will it happen for us to surpass them? Let me let you into a secret: Never.

And how can anyone explain to the Anusim – with the full use of Halakha – how these most central matters on Israel’s identity do not come violated to its very core through the use of Giur?

Is this perhaps a joke? Can Israel be Israel without what the Sages have known for all times? And how can one invalidate the lineage of another Israelite without first bringing proof? And borrowing an expression from Maimonides, to make Anusim (coerced Israelites) into Gerim (adopted into the house of Jacob) is a “ranter of nonsense.”

Since when is permissible to take advantage of the innocent’s ignorance?

It is certain proving the Ignorance of some individuals through the Anusim filter. And how we prove their ignorance? Ask them how many Rabbis decreed in favor of Anusim; Ask them for how long this went on; Ask them to prove you how their decision to make a Ger from an Anusim validates tradition. They shall remain speechless for they have not been taught; yet they do not seem to have the responsibility to explain themselves either. As Maimonides lamented over 800 years ago:

<< Evidently he considered his remarks free from doubt, in no need for correction. He handed them to someone who was to convey them in every city and town, and in this way brought darkness into the hearts of men. “He sent darkness; it was very dark” (Ps. 105:28) >> [Iggeret ha-Shemad, Chp I]

Yet, ignorance by itself is not a sin.

Under all this, Anusim have every right to resist a “conversion” as understood in the sense of “adoption”. On the other hand, in no way they can, as with any Israelite, remove themselves from practicing Judaism . . .

Giur may be the “only” way as offered by some today, yet I cannot see how this is the correct way.

Again, I must go back to the few Rabbis who are aware (not even knowing) the legal precedence on Anusim, and yet have to conform to the Status Quo to avoid any problems. Yet, let it be known they are not obliged and loop wholes can be found within the system.

In all fairness, you must understand that the whole issue of “conversion” is abhorred in the minds of some Anusim. They have every right to think so.

We know that some people demanded also conversion from Yemenite Jews decades ago, yet the Yemenite community stood on its feet and fought their way through. How does one Jew have the right to invalidate the other’s lineage? Anusim lack the communal aspect, and as a result they cannot defend themselves jointly.

By all that we know on Anusim, no ceremony of “conversion” was ever performed and neither a certificate was ever issued. Can anyone bring me the Responsa from 1400’s to 1800’s that explicitly show how this was ever done? For all we know, Anusim were treated on the same footing as it is done with any Jew today who did not grow up in the ways of tradition.

For all that this is worth . . . 761 years ago, the monastic orders in Spain set out to preach to Jews in their synagogues and convince them to conversion; 611 years ago the violent persecutions and conversions began in Seville; 515 years ago the longest, the most organized machinery for the destruction of the core of Israel (their soul) was founded. The Inquisition aim was to eradicate the Jewish soul from the conversos, believing in the Christian doctrine that through Jesus everyone forms parts of the Church’s body and are no longer their former selves, and Judaism corrupts that “Body” , therefore we had to be treated as a disease that ultimately was cured with fire.

This is what happened to the community that revived Hebrew in its spoken and written forms, whose communities gave us the Codifiers of our Law, the liturgical poems most respected in our traditions, the Science and Translations that spread through the Civilized world, and a good name that speaks of elegance, mutual respect, and brilliant wit; whose descendants opened the doors again to France and England, and the New World.

Giving into Giur l’humra represents inversely the recognition that the Church achieved its aim. Anusim are no longer Israel . . . Anusim are Aliens to be “newly” adopted into the house of Jacob.

Is this how Jews today pay respect to tradition and the berit?

All be well.

Sincerely,

Your most indolent flea.