Wayward New Christians and Stubborn New Jews: The Shaping of a Jewish Identity.

Abstract:

The communities of the western Sephardi Diaspora were founded by Conversos who had returned to Judaism and who were not familiar with any other form of Judaism other than the one they themselves were attempting to create. It was only natural that the shaping of a new Jewish identity was of central concern to the leaders of these communities who faced a long list of problems inherent in this return to Judaism. This article deals with one of the main problems facing the leadership of the Sephardi communities in Western Europe – the refusal of a significant number of Conversos to be circumcized. Among those Conversos who refused to be circumcized were those who did not want to commit themselves completely to the Jewish religion, along with those who had still not foregone the idea of returning to Spain and Portugal. The latter group's reluctance was based on their fear that their circumcision might be discovered by the leaders of the Inquisition, thereby endangering their lives. The syn

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