Your email is not valid
Recipient's email is not valid
Submit Close

Your email has been sent.

Click here to send another

thescroll_header
Family

Reporter Digs Up Converso Past

New York Times writer Doreen Carvajal goes to Spain to understand why her ancestors hid their Jewish roots

By Vox Tablet|July 30, 2012 7:00 AM|Comments:
Print Email
The Carvajal family, c. 1931.(Courtesy Doreen Carvajal)
Related Content

Life of a Poet

Yehuda Halevi’s 12th-century Hebrew poems still speak to biographer Hillel Halkin
By Vox Tablet

Doreen Carvajal was raised Catholic and had no occasion to question her religious or cultural heritage growing up. Even when she became a journalist (she’s currently a European correspondent for the New York Times and International Herald Tribune) and readers, seeing her byline, wrote to tell her that her last name was a common Sephardic Jewish name, she remained incurious. It took moving to Arcos de la Frontera, an ancient town in Andalusia, Spain, for her to finally confront the likelihood that her ancestors were conversos—that is, Spanish Jews who 600 years ago converted to Christianity rather than face death or exile during the Inquisition.

In a new memoir, The Forgetting River, Carvajal describes her search for definitive answers to questions about her identity. That search took her to Costa Rica, university archives and genetic specialists, frontier towns in Spain, and her own cache of forgotten memories and keepsakes. She speaks with Vox Tablet host Sara Ivry about what she found out. [Running time: 17:30.] 

More In:
Jacob Arnon says:
July 31, 2012
4:28 AM

This was an extremely interesting discussion. I wonder if
Doreen Carvajal not just about her own personal Jewish background, but the larger discovery that there were and are Jewish communities world wide which even after conversion were being ostracized by majority culture has changed her view of the world?

Teófilo de Jesús says:
August 2, 2012
3:44 PM

I’m not surprised at all about her Doreen’s discovery. My own investigation has taken me to the mountain town of Adjuntas, where lore has it many Spanish conversos settled. My maternal grandmother (Surnamed Pérez) is from that town. As a Catholic, I would feel honored of my Jewish (and African) ancestry. But, I’m still waiting for the guys and gals at ancestry.com to develop their DNA gen test so that I can find out once and for all where they all came from.

Lucy Meyer Fox says:
August 5, 2012
8:23 AM

I will definately get the book and read it…interesting story to say the least.

Flower Star says:
August 5, 2012
4:55 PM

Am I of Jewish Ancestry?
Family Tree DNA has the latest technology for your genealogy research.
http://www.ftdna.com/jgene.html

Teófilo de Jesús says:
August 5, 2012
8:29 PM

I checked on that but I’m waiting for Ancestry.com’s version, since my tree is there. Thank you, though. :-)

2000

Your comment may be no longer than 2,000 characters, approximately 400 words. HTML tags are not permitted, nor are more than two URLs per comment. We reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments.

Thank You!

Thank you for subscribing to the Tablet Magazine Daily Digest.
Please tell us about you.

Reporter Digs Up Converso Past

New York Times writer Doreen Carvajal goes to Spain to understand why her ancestors hid their Jewish roots

More on Tablet:

For Centuries, Jews Ruled Poland’s Liquor Trade. Why Was That Legacy Forgotten?

By Steven I. Weiss — Purim reminds us it’s unusual for Jews to indulge in recreational boozing—one reason Polish nobles liked having them run taverns