Sephardic
Anusim Center of the Americas
February 2008
"The exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
will possess the towns of the Negev." (Obadiah
20)
In my last newsletter I gave you a bird's eye view of
some great things that are taking place all around us.
I'd like to give you an update on them as well as add
a very important note on taking hold of your own DESTINY.
But first the news and then the revelation.
Our Newsletter
First of all, I am happy to report that we're already
getting great feedback from many of you regarding these
newsletters. You cannot imagine how invaluable your
words of encouragement, of love and prayer are to me.
And I also want to add that a few of you have already
begun to partner with us in the area of donations and
finances. One person has pledged to help us get our
fantastic Sephardic exhibit all the way to our Negev
office in Israel.
Our New Website
Secondly, I'm so encouraged that after years of seeing
our website at a stand still, at last, it's overhauled
and looking great! In fact, we're still sprucing it
up and I hope you'll like it. It'll also be en Español.
So when you get a little chance go to www.4sephardim.
com. You'll find all kinds of great information as well
as methods on how you can join our DNA test program.
Our TV Programs
Thirdly, I'm seeing a brilliant awakening within our
television viewership. After five years of broadcasting
special teachings on the history, prophecy and destiny
of Sephardim, things are really beginning to click now.
At first, it was just a tickle of curiosity and interest.
But now this thing has crescendo through the airwaves,
publications and word of mouth. I'm getting serious
correspondence from all over the place, as far south
as Mexico and South America and as far east as Spain
and Switzerland. In fact, we've been encouraged by an
Israeli Knesset member to kick off a campaign pro-Sephardic
Anusim in Israel. This isn't the only official that
has declared this to me but other highest-ranking officials
in various major institutions in Jerusalem. I can indeed
say: Gloria a Dios, Baruch HaShem and Praise God!
As I told you already, things are popping all around
us now!
La Prensa Newspaper Columns
Just a few days ago, an officer of one of the Israeli
consulate offices in our nation contacted the Editor
in Chief of La Prensa here in San Antonio. La Prensa
is a bilingual newspaper with an incredible audience
domestically and internationally. I have been writing
a series of columns for La Prensa on the subject of
expertise, Sephardic Anusim. Sure enough, they want
to connect with us because of the manner in which these
columns are impacting Hispanics in the U.S.A. So as
we say in Spanish: Ebenezer-hasta aqui nos ha ayuda
el Señor. Truly, God has helped us all the way
until now!
Our Sephardic Exhibit
Tons of thanks to Jodie and Richard Keehn for the incredible
job they've done in amassing what I believe is the best
expose on Sephardim across the last 3000 years. They
have read all my publications and tracked with me like
hounds across our Southwest. God has given this couple
the creativity and tenacity to, in less than two years,
put together an exhibit that would take years to do.
A precious Texas couple has pledged to make the transportation
of this exhibit their cause in assisting us with our
calling.
Now for a heart to heart chat with you, if I may. .
.
Control Your Destiny
For about a year God has whispered within my heart that
it's time my people, the Sephardic Anusim, take control
of their God-given destiny. If they don't, someone else
will.
Sephardic Anusim has lived a life of relative flight
for the last five centuries. Hence, many of them tend
to be vulnerable in terms of receiving direction from
others, even strangers that appear to be right. I must
say that many of our people have allowed others to influence
our destiny for a very long time.
There is a host of pro-Israel Zionists jumping in to
inform our people about their probable Sephardic Jewish
roots and their need to become Israeli citizens and
live in Israel. I don't think they're always aware of
what and how they're doing what they do. I don't think
they all mean any harm. But, the fact is that this kind
of behavior is what our people have had to endure all
these generations and it needs to be curbed. Please
let me explain. . .
There is nothing wrong with others of a different race,
culture or persuasion lending us a hand for us to achieve
our destiny. In fact we invite it. We need it and the
bible supports it. But it's one thing to "lend
a hand" and another to lay a hand through use of
ulterior motives or incompatible methods. I use the
word "incompatible" because the Sephardic
Anusim I'm referring to is of Hispanic/Latino ancestry.
And I must say our people vary tremendously from community
to community, from city to city, state to state and
from country to country. We can't expect that all Hispanics
or all Latinos are the same across the USA, Mexico,
Central America, South America, and Islands of the Caribbean
and all the way to Iberia. In other words, we can't
lump them all together assuming that 'they're all the
same.' Pro-aliyah workers need to be very cautious that
they themselves don't perpetuate the very thing our
people have suffered all these years.
All I'm saying is for us to pray and get the mind of
God on five W's and one inevitable H: who, what, when,
where, why and how? We need to pray that the right "who,"
arms him or herself with the right "why" and
"how" in attempting to reach our people. And
we need to pray that everyone reaching out to our people
be about the business of justice, mercy and humility
according to the prophet Micah's assertion. (Micah
6:8)
Pray that the Lord raise up more leaders among our people
and in various regions of our hemisphere. Pray that
our people are not relegated to some subservient role
but equal in terms of dignity and respect as well as
the nature of role they're to perform. Pray that we're
not patronized but partnered with. And please pray that
we not compromise but be ready to decrease so that God
Himself may increase and get the glory He alone deserves.
In so doing, we'll prevent any empire-building that'll
turn around and bite us. This must apply to all parties
no matter the race, the culture, the color, the language
and accent or the slant of one's own faith. Amen!
I strongly invite any feedback. I'd love to hear what's
on your heart and possibly how you, too, can help us
in this incredible opportunity of collaborating in the
final exodus of our people. Write me at: negevdell@hotmail.com.
And don't forget to check out our new website: www.4sephadim.com.
Shalom,
Dell F. Sanchez, PHD
LAST
MONTH NEWSLETTER
Sephardic
Anusim Center of The Americas January
20, 2008
"The
exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess
the towns of the Negev." (Obadiah 20)
Getting
The Job Done
As an educator I often ask, am I getting the job done?
My response these days is, Yes I am! The work Helen
and I do is very complex and also unique. Nevertheless,
we can honestly say that we've come a long way in our
journey to awaken and inspire Hispanic Sephardic Anusim
to make aliyah, which means to immigrate to the land
of our forefathers, Israel.
The point is that it's not that easy because we're talking
about a very radical lifestyle change. This begins by
changing who we've been told we are to who we really
are in terms of our Sephardic Jewish roots. It's also
an incredible task to equip Hispanic Anusim in legal
and technical matters in order to succeed in being received
by the Israeli government as "full Jews and full
citizens."
In this newsletter, we want to tell you of two cases
which demonstrate that we are getting our job done-
yet we've got a long way to go. We also want to share
with you a little about our new office in a brand new
governmental complex in the Negev of Israel. And we've
got photos to prove it.
We are extremely happy to announce that a very special
family and dear friends of ours will be making aliyah
very soon. I will share their journey with you as it
progresses. Their story was published in the Jewish
Review of Oregon and Southwest Washington, February
15, 2007. In fact, we were with them when this article
came out.
Homecoming
Jewish Review
February 15, 2007
A Portland man, his wife, their two children, his four
siblings and his mother and father have discovered they
are crypto Jews. They have taken it to heart. They all
are coming home to Judaism and they all are moving to
Israel.
Crypto Jews-Moshe David Vasquez uses the Hebrew anusim
instead-are people whose ancestors were forced to convert
to Catholicism during the Inquisition in Spain, Portugal
and Latin America. Those who converted, usually under
pain of death if they did not do so, may have secretly
preserved their Jewish identity and passed it on to
their heirs, or those heirs may have discovered their
heritage on their own. For Vasquez, both avenues led
him home to Judaism.
Vasquez, a 42-year-old Portland-area builder who grew
up in California in a home where he said "Judeo-
Christian" values prevailed and where his mother
and father "instilled in us a deep belief in God."
But they weren't exactly Christian, by Vasquez's description,
or much of anything else, although the family dabbled
at alternative services.
In 1972, Vasquez's mother gave her husband an anniversary
gift that might be seen as the first step in the last
phase of a long journey of return to Judaism for Vasquez
and his family. She gave her husband a trip to Israel,
by himself, because they could not afford a trip for
two. Vasquez was only about 7 years old then.
When he was 19, he followed his father's example and
traveled to Israel. "I'd still be there, if I hadn't
gotten sick," he said. He lived and worked for
nearly a year as a volunteer at Kibbutz Gavarm near
Ashkelon. "Ashkelon was my first introduction to
Spanish and Mexican Jews," said Vasquez. "I
got along well there in Spanish."
And that was a clue to his ancestry. Back in California,
when he was growing up, his father had taught him Spanish
with alternate pronunciations for some words. "When
I used those words with some Spanish speakers (in California),
I was told not to use that 'dirty language'," said
Vasquez. He would discover later that the "dirty
language" was Ladino, a blend of Hebrew and Spanish
in use in the past among Sephardic Jews and undergoing
a small revival today. Among Spanish-speaking Jews around
Ashkelon, it was no dirty language. When, some years
later, Vasquez shared a Ladino dictionary with his father,
his father said he had thought using those words had
made him "cool;" he had no idea.
While his initial Israel experience held the kernel
of a clue to his roots, Vasquez did not begin to think
he might be Jewish until after his return to America.
Some people here told him he was of Jewish background.
He did not elaborate. "That planted the seed,"
he said. "I wasn't ready to accept it."
After Israel, Vasquez traveled in Spain where he got
by working as a private English tutor. "I was told
by people and rabbis that I was Jewish," he said.
What did they know that Vasquez did not know? He consulted
genealogical texts and discovered that his family name
may be Jewish. Later, he learned that some who feared
they might become victims of the Inquisition altered
their names to hide their identity. Ez and es, he explained,
often were attached under these circumstances to the
end of names in Spanish. "EZ stands for son of
or eretz Yisrael," said Vasquez, citing genealogical
sources. That was another clue to his heritage. There
would be more.
Vasquez married when he was 25. He told his wife that
he might be Jewish and that he wanted to do Hanukkah
and put a mezuzah on the door. "She said, jokingly,
'It's not bad enough that you're one minority. You have
to be two.'"
Further family research revealed that Vasquez had distant
uncles who had fled Portugal for Mexico at the time
of the Inquisition. In his personal files he has lists
of individuals with various of his family names over
the years, persons who were executed or enslaved or
subject to other punishments in the Inquisition. "There
is not a name associated with my (mother's) family that
does not appear on the victim lists in the Spanish,
Portuguese and Mexican Inquisition(s)," said Vasquez.
Oral history in his family tells of uncles who arrived
in Mexico at the time of the Inquisition. "They
were exposed," said Vasquez. "The Spaniards
chased them to (what is now) Nebraska, trying to kill
them. They altered their names to avoid being captured."
This, he said, affirms the practice of changing names
to avoid becoming a victim, while also embedding a clue
from which future generations may ascertain their heritage.
"I believe Hashem will flick the switch in each
individual when they are ready to accept their heritage,"
said Vasquez. In Vasquez's family the lights have been
coming on all over the place. Last year, to confirm
his research, Vasquez had a DNA test. In recent years,
millions of Jews have taken this test, he said. The
cumulative results from Jews who know or can document
their heritage provide an extensive data base which
others can use to analyze their own DNA test results
for Jewish markers. The results of Vasquez's DNA test
showed the levitical marker for both his parents; that
is, the test results indicated that Vasquez is a descendant
of the tribe of Levi.
When he decided to have the test, he said to his wife,
"I'm going to have mine tested. Let's do yours."
His wife, whose given name is Jodene and is of Italian
descent, agreed to the test, and another light came
on. Her test results showed the marker for Cohen. Her
new Hebrew name is Michela. "It answers many questions
for our children, who are very spiritual," said
Vasquez.
Vasquez and his wife were welcomed back to the worldwide
Jewish family at a ceremony of return held Nov. 26,
2006, in Portland under the supervision of Rabbi Joshua
Stampfer, Rabbi Daniel Isaak and Rabbi Brad Greenstein.
Stampfer is the co-founder of the Society for Crypto
Judaic Studies here and rabbi emeritus at the Conservative
Congregation Neveh Shalom. Isaak is senior rabbi at
Neveh Shalom. Greenstein is the assistant rabbi there.
On a recent trip to Israel in preparation for making
Aliyah, Vasquez met with a representative of the Jewish
Agency for Israel. He shared with that person the documentation
for him and his wife provided at the ceremony of return.
"JAFI verbally accepted the documents as evidence
of Jewish heritage," said Vasquez.
Not everyone is so inclined, a fact which Vasquez acknowledges,
albeit not happily. There are some in the Jewish community
who feel that returning Jews such as Vasquez should
go through a formal conversion process. "We were
forced to convert to Catholicism," he said. Among
his friends who are like him he has heard it said, "Why
would our brothers force us to convert again."
Further describing the circumstances in which he and
others like him find themselves, he said, "Your
authenticity as a Jew is questioned, and that hurts
because they don't even know me." He likened the
feeling to what Joseph might have felt when confronted
by his brothers in Egypt: Are they going to accept me?
Do I tell them? Do I wait? "If you asked me to
convert, I would be willing," he said, "but
welcome me."
The couple and their children, plan to leave for Israel
at the end of next year. The rest of their family plans
to follow shortly later. Vasquez, his father and his
brother are contractors, homebuilders. That's what they
plan to do in Israel, build homes in the Negev. Vasquez
has a design for a packaged home built around a standard
shipping container. Inside the shipping container are
the studs, stringers, sheetrock and everything one needs
to build a house to U.S. standards, everything right
down to the kitchen sink. The roof and walls of the
shipping container become the roof of the house, to
be covered in concrete. The basic cost of the house
is about $63,000. It will be even less when they can
be created entirely in Israel, which will obviate shipping
costs. The house goes up in about three months, according
to Vasquez, versus 12 months for a new home built by
current methods in the Negev. This is not just a way
to make a living, not for Vasquez. "The prophet
Obadiah prophesied. . . that the exiles of Jerusalem,
the tribe of Judah that dwell in Iberia, will return
to the cities of the Negev," said Vasquez. Citing
research done in Israel, he estimates there are as many
as 60 million anusim or crypto Jews throughout the Americas.
And the lights are coming on. Vasquez made two trips
to Israel in 2006 to purchase land. "There has
to be cities for us to return," he said.The case
that makes me even happier is about my wife and I. It's
about our personal aliyah journey. Our case and the
Vasquez' have become "pilot cases" before
the authorities in Jerusalem and we're making good progress.
So here below is the actual article that was printed
in the HAARETZ Newspaper in Israel, which came out in
Hebrew as well as English. This newspaper is the most
prestigious paper in all of Israel and is read around
the world. So here it is. Enjoy!
U.S. 'Marranos' Seek A Home In Israel
HAARETZ
December 4, 2007
The authorities would probably call the 30 U.S. citizens
who scoured the Negev last week Christian tourists.
But the members of the group think of themselves as
American Marranos, and they are determined to return
to the faith they say their ancestors were forced to
renounce and strike root in Israel.
Like Del and Helen Sanchez, who headed the group, most
of the tourists grew up going to church on Sunday. Only
recently did most of them discover what they call their
"Jewish roots."
And the trip to the Negev was the first step in a quest
to realize the prophecy in Obadiah 1:20, stating that
"the captives of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad
[Spain], will possess the cities of the Negev."
The group was looking at places to settle as Jews in
Israel.
Like all the other members of the group, the Sanchezes
believe that their ancestors were in fact Spanish and
Portuguese Jews who escaped the Iberian Peninsula in
the 15th century to flee the Spanish Inquisition. Soon
after arriving, some of these Jews found themselves
once again under the rule of the Spanish conquistadors,
who set up colonies in the Americas.
According to Sanchez's theory, these Jews were forced
to convert to Catholicism to escape persecution. And
like their Marrano relatives in the old country, the
American Jews living under Spanish rule continued to
practice Judaism in secret
Although Helen's family went to church on Sunday, she
says they "always knew that Catholicism was forced
upon them." According to Helen, her family adopted
unusual habits like not working on Saturday, thereby
observing the Jewish day of rest. They also let all
the blood drain from slaughtered livestock, which corresponds
with kosher slaughter.
Helen says her family spoke about being descended from
Marranos, but she says this was not something they would
openly talk about. Her husband Del says his family dealt
with the same issue in a very similar way.
"It was a secret that passed from mother to daughter
and was kept by the women of our family," says
Del, who said he learned of his Marrano roots only 11
years ago, from his father. Del says his father learned
of this from his niece.
"The women didn't tell the men about this because
they were afraid they might get drunk and tell someone
about it," Del says. "In retrospect, I understand
that expressions we used in the family which we thought
were just broken Spanish were in fact Judeo-Spanish,"
he says, referring to the dialect based on old Spanish
spoken by Sephardic Jews.
After discovering this, Del and Helen have devoted themselves
to bringing other U.S. Jews who regard themselves as
descendants of American Marranos closer to their roots.
The couple, who live in San Antonio, Texas, say they
have retraced their lineage as far back as the 12th
century. Del has written nine books on the subject,
and has a TV program in a local channel about it.
He travels with Helen around the U.S., mostly in New
Mexico and Texas, trying to convince people from Hispanic
backgrounds to take a deeper look at their ancestry
and see whether they have any Jewish forefathers.
For Del, this is no metaphor. He says he has taken a
DNA analysis, which shows that his genetic profile matches
that of Jews from the Iberian Peninsula. According to
Del, there are many others like him.
"We're talking about potentially staggering numbers.
Historians estimate that 10 to 15 percent of all the
people of Hispanic backgrounds in North America descend
from Spanish Jews. The U.S. alone has 40 million Hispanic
people."
To further demonstrate the validity of their theory,
Del and Helen have documented old cemeteries across
the southwest United States with graves and headstones
featuring Jewish names and motifs.
But Del says that despite the evidence, the Israeli
and Jewish establishment has treated him with skepticism.
"Israel is taking in non-Jewish immigrants from
the former Soviet Union along with Ethiopian Falashmura
and Indian people claiming to be Jewish," he says.
"How come it won't accept us - the descendants
of proper Jews who have gone through the persecutions
of the Spanish Inquisition?"Anusim Office To Open
In Negev
Finally, I would like to tell you about our new office
in a brand new complex in the Negev of Israel.
Miraculously, God opened a door for us to have an office
in the Ramat Ha-Negev Regional Council in the heart
of the Negev in April last year. The administrator told
us, it's in the safest room in all our building. When
we got there, sure enough, it was the "Safe Room"
also known as the bomb shelter. This bunker was being
used as an office.
We were thrilled to inherit this safe place but before
we left the country, we were told: the mayor wants you
to have an office in our new building instead. It wasn't
that we weren't wanted in that safe room but were preferred
in the new building across the corridor from the old
complex. However the story gets even more interesting.
During our trip to Israel last month, in the midst of
a major conference on Sephardic Anusim in the Negev,
we were "gently kidnapped" and taken to a
brand new structure that wasn't quite complete. We thought
the Israeli administrator that was showing us around
was simply boasting about this wonderful building devoted
to research, business and tourism.
At the end of touring this amazing building, he asked
us, do you prefer to have your office in here or at
the other location? We stood in modest shock. Are you
saying that we can have our office here instead of that
other building? And if so, it'll probably cost much
more, won't it? His response was very Israeli and definitive,
No! Take your pick, it's up to you.
In an attempt to not sound overly childlike with excitement,
we said Let us pray and think it over. This was a good
way to stall and wait on the Lord for His response.
However, before departing we asked, Can we also have
space in here for our Sephardic Anusim Exhibit which
includes hundreds of items portraying the history of
our people since the days of King David and King Solomon?
His response was again very resolute, yes, of course!
So here's the photo where our office will be in the
heart of the Negev. We plan to furnish and occupy it
in our next trip very soon. In fact, this next trip
might well be our official immigration as Israeli citizens.
We'll keep you posted on this as we go.
Partnering Together
Before I close this newsletter, I'd like to share one
more little story about something that impacted me when
we donated a substantial amount of money to a Jewish
settlement in the Negev. You might recall reading of
it and, who knows, you may have been one that also donated
for this cause. This donation went directly for the
sole purpose of a water system in the settlement named
SHOMRIYAH which means something like God is our Guardian.
You may recall that this settlement is populated with
many of the settlers that were extracted out of Gush
Katiff over a year ago.
When we handed the check to the CEO of Shomriyah, he
warmly said: I take this not as a donation but as your
partnering together with us! This statement has shaken
my inner man up until today.
My question to you is WILL YOU PARTNER TOGETHER WITH
US IN THIS ENDEAVOR OF FAITH IN ACTION?
As you know, the vision God has given Helen and me is
to reach as many Hispanic/Latinos in the Americas as
possible. We're to reach them with the story of the
true history of how many of us are descendants of Jews
that suffered under the Spanish and the Mexican Inquisitions.
Not only are we to set the record straight but to also
equip the remnant to make aliyah. And that's not all,
we're to also help create a special community for Sephardic
Anusim in the heart of the Negev. As you can see, we're
making good progress in these and other areas.
However, we need to furnish our new office, we need
to transport our exhibit to Israel and we need to empower
a staff to oversee these functions. Meanwhile, we need
to continue journeying to various parts of our continent
with accurate knowledge and information in order that
we begin sending our people to occupy the Negev.
The prophet Obadiah told us over 2,500 years ago that
Sephardim would possess the Negev. As we stand at the
threshold of what Obadiah saw we must realize that it
will take a broad effort of a community of people to
realize this prophetic occurrence. Helen and I will
need the partnership of a host of cohorts to accomplish
this comprehensive vision of the aliyah of Anusim. It
will be through the joint venture of these partners
that the visions of Obadiah, as well as David Ben-Gurion,
will be realized. Would you consider becoming a part
of this grand partnership in the restoration of Anusim
to their promised homeland? Because of the swiftness
of the rate that these events are unfolding we need
an immediate response from a multitude of people like
you to meet the immediate needs that are before us today.
We also need people who will partner with us on a monthly
basis to continue to meet the challenge that lies ahead.
We ask that you prayerfully consider joining with us
in this enormous task of the return of the exiles of
Sepharad. While any amount of donation is appreciated
we offer to you the following suggested partnerships:
PIONEERING PARTNERS
• Obadiah Partner . . . . . $1000
• David Ben-Gurion Partner . . . . . $500
• Negev Partner . . . . . $250
• Aliyah Partner . . . . . $100
• Caleb Partner . . . . . $50
You can make your check or money order payable to:
ALIYAH SEPHARDIC CENTER, INC. or ASC
(Don't forget we're a tax-exempt organization.)
Mail your contribution to:
P.O. Box 75, Helotes, Texas 78023
Monthly Partnership:
Please also consider becoming a faithful monthly partner
in this joint venture. Please let us know your monthly
commitment by emailing us at negevdell@hotmail.com.
We GRATEFULLY thank each of you and are excited about
this new partnership in fulfilling the prophecies of
Obadiah and the vision of David Ben-Gurion, as the exiles
of Sepharad possess the Negev . . . and the kingdom
will be the Lord's.
Shalom,
Dell
F. Sanchez, PHD
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