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From Wikipedia [1] > Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "cryp

From Wikipedia [1] > Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek kryptos – κρυπτός, 'hidden'). > The term is especially applied historically to Spanish Jews who outwardly professed Catholicism, also known as Anusim or Marranos. The phenomenon is especially associated with renaissance Spain, following the 6 June, 1391, Anti-Jewish pogroms and the expulsion of the Jews in 1492. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto-Judaism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto-Judaism

shillremover 7y ago
I'm atheist but culturally Jewish. I don't believe the crazy stuff in the Talmud, I just go to synagogue for the community.
onetimemanytime 7y ago
They are a lot of "crypto" cases, essentially people back then took the faith of the ruler. Convert or die.
- 1propionyl 7y ago
  The case of the "Kakure Kirishitan" (lit: hidden Christians) in Japan is an interesting case. Essentially adherents to the Catholic faith during a period of persecution by the Buddhist/Shinto/etc in the 1600s. They went so far as representing icons such as the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus with statues of what appeared to be Buddhas and Boddhisatvas in the same poses. This variant ended up (as you might expect) slowly becoming something very distinct from traditional Catholicism. In general they merged back into the mainline Catholic faith when it was eventually permitted, but some remained separated, creating some really fascinating religious syncretisms.
  - Gibbon1 7y ago
    That also reminds me of not hidden Lithuanian Tatars. Basically Tatars living in Lithuania for centuries. While mostly cut off from the rest of the Muslim world never adopted Catholicism.
    - selimthegrim 7y ago
      Some Lipka Tatars immigrated to USA and still exist having built some of the oldest mosques in the country.
  - rayhendricks 7y ago
    This is super interesting, never heard of them before! Led me down a Wikipedia rabithole.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
narag 7y ago
There were many jews that, more or less sincerely, converted to stay. We that have a family name that references an animal, like Lobo, León or Aguilar, are probably descendents of jews. Crypto-judaism was a damning suspicion for a long time. A prime minister from my hometown changed his name from Méndez to Mendizábal. Former sounds jew, while the later sounds basque. Also he didn't mention where he was from. Actually, almost nobody in my hometown knows he was a local, though it also might be because he confiscated most properties of Catholic Church: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_%C3%81lvarez_Mendiz%C3%A1bal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_%C3%81lvarez_Mendiz%C3%A1...
- vsadu 7y ago
  >There were many jews that, more or less sincerely, converted to stay. We that have a family name that references an animal, like Lobo, León or Aguilar, are probably descendents of jews. That's Jewish propaganda. Lobo (López) is one of the most common surnames in Spain. León is the name of one of the biggest kingdoms of Spain, and currently a province. If we took that at face value, most Spaniards would be descendants of Jews, which is ludicrous. Not sure about Aguilar though.
- narag 7y ago
  Replying to the dead comment: you're probably right about León, but López comes from Lope (as in De Vega).
- andrepd 7y ago
  >We that have a family name that references an animal, like Lobo, León or Aguilar, are probably descendents of jews. If I remember correctly, that is an popular myth. Why should it be the case?
  - narag 7y ago
    I heard it from my History teacher [1]. Where did he hear from, no idea. But someone seems to think it's not so outrageous: https://bloodandfrogs.com/2011/05/animals-and-name-pairs-in-jewish-given.html https://bloodandfrogs.com/2011/05/animals-and-name-pairs-in-... Edit: I forgot to say that true jew names would have been impossible to keep. They had to change names when they converted, choosing sometimes an "old christian" name to blend in, or maybe something with some cultural meaning for them. There are lists with names compiled from Santo Oficio trial records, that include those names indeed, but also other very common, just for the reasons I mentioned. I still believe the animal hint is true because most of these names are unusual. [1] His name is Aguilar, but he's a communist with very little sympathy for anything Israel, so I doubt he was trying to spread "jewish propaganda" like other commenter said.

shillremover 7y ago

I'm atheist but culturally Jewish. I don't believe the crazy stuff in the Talmud, I just go to synagogue for the community.

onetimemanytime 7y ago

They are a lot of "crypto" cases, essentially people back then took the faith of the ruler. Convert or die.

1propionyl 7y ago
The case of the "Kakure Kirishitan" (lit: hidden Christians) in Japan is an interesting case. Essentially adherents to the Catholic faith during a period of persecution by the Buddhist/Shinto/etc in the 1600s. They went so far as representing icons such as the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus with statues of what appeared to be Buddhas and Boddhisatvas in the same poses. This variant ended up (as you might expect) slowly becoming something very distinct from traditional Catholicism. In general they merged back into the mainline Catholic faith when it was eventually permitted, but some remained separated, creating some really fascinating religious syncretisms.
- Gibbon1 7y ago
  That also reminds me of not hidden Lithuanian Tatars. Basically Tatars living in Lithuania for centuries. While mostly cut off from the rest of the Muslim world never adopted Catholicism.
  - selimthegrim 7y ago
    Some Lipka Tatars immigrated to USA and still exist having built some of the oldest mosques in the country.
- rayhendricks 7y ago
  This is super interesting, never heard of them before! Led me down a Wikipedia rabithole.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

narag 7y ago

There were many jews that, more or less sincerely, converted to stay. We that have a family name that references an animal, like Lobo, León or Aguilar, are probably descendents of jews. Crypto-judaism was a damning suspicion for a long time. A prime minister from my hometown changed his name from Méndez to Mendizábal. Former sounds jew, while the later sounds basque. Also he didn't mention where he was from. Actually, almost nobody in my hometown knows he was a local, though it also might be because he confiscated most properties of Catholic Church: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_%C3%81lvarez_Mendiz%C3%A1bal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_%C3%81lvarez_Mendiz%C3%A1...

vsadu 7y ago
>There were many jews that, more or less sincerely, converted to stay. We that have a family name that references an animal, like Lobo, León or Aguilar, are probably descendents of jews. That's Jewish propaganda. Lobo (López) is one of the most common surnames in Spain. León is the name of one of the biggest kingdoms of Spain, and currently a province. If we took that at face value, most Spaniards would be descendants of Jews, which is ludicrous. Not sure about Aguilar though.
narag 7y ago
Replying to the dead comment: you're probably right about León, but López comes from Lope (as in De Vega).
andrepd 7y ago
>We that have a family name that references an animal, like Lobo, León or Aguilar, are probably descendents of jews. If I remember correctly, that is an popular myth. Why should it be the case?
- narag 7y ago
  I heard it from my History teacher [1]. Where did he hear from, no idea. But someone seems to think it's not so outrageous: https://bloodandfrogs.com/2011/05/animals-and-name-pairs-in-jewish-given.html https://bloodandfrogs.com/2011/05/animals-and-name-pairs-in-... Edit: I forgot to say that true jew names would have been impossible to keep. They had to change names when they converted, choosing sometimes an "old christian" name to blend in, or maybe something with some cultural meaning for them. There are lists with names compiled from Santo Oficio trial records, that include those names indeed, but also other very common, just for the reasons I mentioned. I still believe the animal hint is true because most of these names are unusual. [1] His name is Aguilar, but he's a communist with very little sympathy for anything Israel, so I doubt he was trying to spread "jewish propaganda" like other commenter said.