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Reporter Digs Up Converso Past
New York Times writer Doreen Carvajal goes to Spain to understand why her ancestors hid their Jewish roots
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.]
Women Join Talmud Celebration
As the daf yomi cycle of Talmud learning concludes this week, a Jerusalem study group breaks a barrier
How a British Museum Curator Discovered Noah’s Ark Would Have Been Round
Irving Finkel, an expert on ancient Mesopotamia, decodes a Babylonian tablet and traces its path to the Book of Genesis
After the Holocaust, the Dutch Tried To Collect Past Due Taxes From Survivors
How one shy, whistle-blowing intern in an Amsterdam archive uncovered a travesty that insulted a decimated community
Centuries Ago, Jews Were Farmers Like Everybody Else. Why Did They Leave the Fields?
Two economists argue that literacy, not laws forbidding land ownership, created a small, widely dispersed and highly skilled minority
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