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Marranos on the Moradas. Secret Jews and Penitentes in the Southwestern United States (Judaism and Jewish Life)
Marranos on the Moradas Secret Jews and Penitentes in the Southwestern United States - Judaism and Jewish Life Author:Norman Simms Two groups were persecuted over four hundred years in what is now the southwestern United States, each dissimulating and disguising who they truly were. Both now declare their true identities, yet raise hostility. The Penitentes are a lay Catholic brotherhood that practiced bloody rites of self-flagellation and crucifixion, but claim this is a m... more »isrepresentation and that they are a community and charitable organization. Marranos, an ambiguous and complicated population of Sephardic descendants, claim to be anousim. Both peoples have a complex, shared history. This book disentangles the web, redefines the terms, and creates new contexts in which these groups are viewed with respect and sympathy without idealizing or slandering them. It uses rabbinics, literary analyses, psychohistory, and cultural anthropology to consolidate a history of mentalities.« less