Converso Descendants in the American Southwest: A

Report on Research, Resources, and the Changing

Search for Identity
by
Seth Ward University of Denver (Colorado, USA)
Reprinted from Proceedings of the 1998 Conference of the European
Association for Jewish Studies, ed. Angel Saenz-Badillos. Leiden: E.J. Brill,
1999, pp. 677-86.
Over the past fifteen years or so, journalistic and academic publications
have carried articles about the survival of "Crypto-Jewish" family
practices and traditions in New Mexico, U.S.A. and adjacent areas, and
about individuals with roots in these areas who have become increasingly
open about their "Jewish" or "Crypto-Jewish" identity. For members of the
Jewish community, this reawakened awareness and openness is a kibbutz
galuyot, a "coming together of exiles," allowing distant relatives to
rekindle links, and giving the topic of the "Secret Jews of the American
Southwest" tremendous power and popularity. It combines interest in North
American Jewish history with the U.S. Jewish community's continuing focus
on anti-Semitism-in this case reflected back as interest in the
Inquisition and its horrors-and the romance of Jewish survival against
all odds.

Curiously, a somewhat essentialist approach to descent and genealogy is

frequently highly valued among both researchers and crypto-Jews: "Jewish
ancestry makes someone a Jew." This attitude is common enough in some
contexts within the American Jewish community but stands in stark
contrast to its well-known worry about whether their grandchildren will
be Jews; many who claim crypto-Jewish descent are far more worried about
whether their distant ancestors were Jews.

To my mind, the issue of identity has been inadequately or improperly

addressed in the research. But before looking at the research and at
these issues, we need to briefly review -to the extent space permits-the
size and names given to the phenomenon, its "foundation narrative," and
some of the elements cited in support of the "Crypto-Jewish"
identification.

Name and size for the phenomenon

It is not clear that there is a standard name to describe the

contemporary phenomenon and its provenance, although "Crypto-Jews of the
contemporary American Southwest" or "... of contemporary New Mexico"
appears to be most common. Other terms are known: "Sephardic Jewish
legacy" (Hordes 1993) or even "Southwestern Jews" (Neulander 1994:26);
the term judios "Jews" is also encountered within the tradition, and some
individuals refer to themselves as Sephardim or Sefarditas, sometimes in
contradistinction not only to Ashkenazim but to Jews in general. Tomßs
Atencio uses the local term "Manito," a "shortened diminutive of
Hermano," to refer "to New Mexico's Indohispanos and Indohispanas whose
historical threads are anchored in the Colonial period." But he refers to
"Crypto-Jews" among the Manitos (Atencio 1996). Others prefer "anusim,"
(sometimes without differentiation of singular and plural, e.g., "She is
an anusim" (e.g. Sandoval 1996). Anusim is of course the typical Hebrew
name for Marranos and has been favored in other communities and by some
scholars. "Marrano" is also used by some to refer to their community as a
mark of honor, not of shame. "Crypto-Jews" or "Secret Jews," however,
seems to be the most well known term.

One of the first publications about the New Mexico phenomenon used the
term Converso descendants (Nidel 1984:257), a term which is academically
attractive as neutral, uncontroversial and descriptive. But few if any
inside the community refer to themselves as Conversos or New Christians,
and some appear to find this nomenclature offensive or problematic. It is
rarely encountered in the literature.

Provenance: While the core population seems to have links to villages

from central New Mexico to southern Colorado, many discussions of the
phenomenon include areas along both banks of the Rio Grande south into
Texas, especially around El Paso, and in what is today northern Mexico.
"New Mexico," "American Southwest" and several other terms are used more
or less interchangeably. Many, however, find it difficult not to include
individuals from northern Mexico, Cuba or indeed the entire Spanish
speaking world, although presumably speaking only of the New Mexican
population.

Size: The New Christian community probably reached its heyday in the
seventeenth century. The late J.R. Marcus suggested that there were
20,000 Europeans in 17th century Mexico, including parts which are now
within the United States about a tenth of them New Christians. (Fierman,
1987:7). Of course, it seems likely that the overwhelming majority of
Conversos were not "Crypto-Jews" and were not able to or not desirous of
passing along meaningful components of an explicitly Jewish way of life
(Fierman, 1987:16, citing Greenleaf).

Tobias relates that in the late 1980's, Reverend Carmona estimated there
were some 1500 families in New Mexico who were part of this tradition
(Tobias, 1990:19). Few others have ventured any reliable guesses about
contemporary numbers.

One 1996 study, based on a small sample of 28 came up with astounding

statistics about Jewish identification. Over a quarter of her sample have
formally converted and 60% of those who have not converted nevertheless
report attending Jewish services and celebrating holidays (Jacobs 1996).
The sample is tiny and based on unscientific affinity group and "snowball
sampling" (i.e. various organizations recommend subjects who in turn
recommend others). Moreover, just over 40% report descent from Spanish
colonial settlers in New Mexico; the rest were themselves born in Mexico
and have moved to the area. Jacobs does not comment on whether the
converts were Mexican or New Mexican, or on the difficulty of focussing
on a single geographical provenance. Nevertheless, these numbers clearly
reflect sampling idiosyncrasies, and boldly underscore the identity
issue.

Foundation Narrative
The "foundation narrative" of this phenomenon-the story participants and
some researchers tell about the history of New Mexico
Crypto-Judaism-starts in the 16th and 17th centuries, when many New
Christians or their immediate descendants came to the northernmost parts
of New Spain to seek their fortune along the frontier. They settled along
the Rio Grande, its tributary creeks and upland villages, from El Paso
northward to what is today New Mexico and southern Colorado. Some chose
this remote area because they worried they might become targets for the
Inquisition, either because they were Judaizers or simply because they
were "New Christians." Others came because opportunity knocked-in the
form of a colonial settlement expedition which had obtained a release
from the usual requirement of limiting participation to those with pure
Old-Christian bloodlines (Hordes 1996:82ff). Among those who came to this
region were members of families known to have Judaized, such as sons of
Luis de Carvajal. According to this foundation narrative, these families
married primarily among themselves, maintaining their identity to the
present day.

Traditional Practices Associated with the New-Mexican Crypto-Judaism

According to the foundation narrative, some families lost all knowledge

of any Jewish heritage, traditions, or practices. Nevertheless, some of
their descendants today are aware of the history of Judaism in Spain, and
the presence of many converso descendants in the early Spanish settlement
in the region. Many contemporary New Mexico Hispanos believe and in some
cases have demonstrated that their ancestors include individuals who were
prosecuted by the Inquisition for loyalty to the "Law of Moses." Other
families appear to have kept alive traditions describing their families
as "Jewish," and still others maintained practices or traditions which
have come to be associated with the phenomenon, although without glossing
them as Jewish in any way. Space permits only a limited review of the
practices and traditions associated with this phenomenon.

Names: Many reports indicate that both given names and family names are a
source of identification as Crypto-Jews. Florence Hernßndez has counted
about 143 surnames believed to be part of this phenomenon. (1993:419-20).
She notes, however, that most of these names were "taken from Christian
sponsors," i.e., they were Old Christians names as well. Given names may
be a more reliable support for a Crypto-Jewish background. Hernandez
lists such names as Sara, Raquel, Rosa, and Betsab , for women and Aron,
Abrßn, Adßn, Efren, Elis o, Jacobo, and others for men. "Adonay" is
sometimes used as a given name, paralleling the use of "Jesus" as a
popular given name among Hispanos. This would be anathema to traditional
Jews, of course. Although most of these personal and family names are
well attested outside the New Mexico group, the presence of "Adonay" and
of Old Testament names to the exclusion of Gospel would be striking in
any Hispano context. It is also easier to trace than many of the
practices, possibly allowing some historical perspective, but conversely
is also easily open to alternative explanations (e.g. Neulander 1996).

Rejection of Christian or Catholic Practices: Some individuals report a

parent advised them that they were not really Christians, or that they
never went to church, or were not baptized or waited as long as possible
to be baptized, or never took communion or were not confirmed. Some
report they were advised not to pray to Jesus and "not to worship
Saints," or trinity but to concentrate only on God" (Hernßndez 1993:423,
Halevy 1996:69). As in the case of the personal names, some note an
emphasis on Hebrew Bible stories to the exclusion of New Testament
stories. A sense that they were "different" from the mass of Catholic
Hispanos may be included within this theme.

Sabbath Observances: The most common and striking observance reported is

lighting candles Friday night, although often without considering it a
"Jewish" practice. Typical reports note women lit candles in bowls in an
interior part of the house, or that draperies were drawn (Hernßndez
1993:423). Other Saturday-Sabbath reports note that the men did not go to
church on Sunday but gathered in a building or in the fields on Saturday,
or that the men worked on Sunday but not on Saturday.

Food Practices: The avoidance of pork is frequently mentioned; so is

slaughter in which the neck was slit by a knife checked for sharpness,
and the carcass allowed to hang upside down until all the blood drained
out. In a case attested by Neulander, the wife of the informant family
nevertheless collected the blood to make morcellina (1996:27). This is a
familiar archetype in many contemporary Jewish families: despite a desire
on the part of one parent to observe "as much as possible" of kashrut,
the other one prepares or brings home clearly non-kosher treats. Some
recall avoiding meat with milk, not eating eggs with blood-spots,
soaking, salting and soaking the meat, and covering the blood of
slaughtered animals with dirt (Halevy 1996:69-71). Use of Kosher wine is
also reported: Marie Quintana Snowden wrote me that her family's only
Christmas custom was to share a glass of Mogen David Wine (Personal
communication, 1998). Isabel Sandoval recalls her family used kosher
wine, with a picture on the label of a family sitting around a table
wearing funny little hats. Her mother also prepared her own chokecherry
wine although she was a member of churches which prohibited wine
drinking. (1996:77-8).

Holiday Observances: Playing a gambling game with a top, sometimes called

pon y saca "Put in and take out" (Hordes 93:137) often cited as a
Hanukkah-like practice, as is lighting one more candle or luminaria
bonfire each night, starting over a week before Christmas, so that there
are 9 flames at Christmas. The observance of a feast or fast in honor of
"Esther" is often cited. Baking of pan de semita "semitic bread" is
reported at Easter, a heavy bread that did not rise. Some of the
reports-e.g. Mrs. Snowden's wine-sharing-may indicate that practices, if
they are to be explained as "Crypto-Jewish" were transferred to a
different season or occasion, others seem at best to have been corrupted
by or understood in the light of normative (i.e. "non-crypto-) Jewish
practice.

Language: One of the first individuals to come to my attention in Denver,

a Spanish teacher, noted that the Spanish in Erensia Sefardi resembled
her village Spanish more than Castillian, Mexican or any of the Latin
American dialects. Indeed, some refer to the distinctive dialect of the
New Mexico villages as "Ladino," but any assessment of this issue is
beyond our scope here.

Other traditions include gathering nail clippings, sweeping to the center

of a room, next day burial, mourning for a year, bathing after contact
with the dead, covering the mirrors in a house of mourning, leaving
pebbles on graves, and circumcision. Much is sometimes made of the
presence of "Star of David" motifs on gravestones and in churches.
Neulander notes (1996:29-31) that the hexagram was a Christian symbol as
well as a Jewish one and that Scholem has shown that it did not become a
universal marker of Judaism until modern times. (Although Neulander
correctly read Scholem, she nevertheless did not cite Scholem's
references to medieval Jewish hexagrams (1971:269)

Genetic: In testing of 18 patients in El Paso and New Mexico associated

with a rare genetic disease, it was found that 12 of 13 hispano patients
had "genome and protein sequencing associated with Jewish patients"
(Hordes 1996:89). Hordes does not say here whether this relates the
hispanos to Ashkenazim or to Sephardic Jews, and the extent to which this
relates to observed cultural practices, or any other genetic testing;
presumably these issues will be addressed in a medically-oriented report
which is being published.

Many or indeed most of the elements cited in the literature as

identifying "Crypto-Jewish" practices are problematic. Merely identifying
Jewish parallels, or for that matter Protestant or Ashkenazi sources, is
only part of the story.

Research Literature and Resources

Looking at the research literature as a whole, one notes that prior to

the early 1980's, there may have been some hints of awareness of aspects
of Jewish identity among families of colonial Spanish heritage in New
Mexico, but essentially the phenomenon was unknown and unreported. Hordes
did not begin to note these contemporary survivals until after he had
completed his 1980 Ph.D. dissertation on Crypto-Jews on seventeenth
century New Spain (Hordes 1996), and the New Mexico phenomenon goes
unmentioned by Patai (1996 rpt), or in popular works such as Ross's Acts
of Faith. (1982).

There were some earlier indications of awareness of these traditions, to

be sure. Some Rabbis reported inquiries. Tobias recounts items from the
1880's and just prior to 1920 in which there seems to have been awareness
of Jewish heritage (Tobias 1990:20). Fray Angelico Chßvez was certainly
aware of the New Christian heritage of many families descended from
Spanish-period colonials, and perhaps reflected on the continuing
meaningfulness of this heritage in comments on the similarity of his New
Mexico homeland to ancient Palestine. (1954, 1974). Given that assertions
have been made that Jewish heritage and the survival of customs
associated with it was unknown even within the New Mexico community
itself, it will probably be useful to gather and analyze as many
pre-1980's references as possible.

Although preceded by research on southern Texas "Chicano Jews" (Larralde

1978, Santos 1983), the first articles specifically relating to New
Mexico Crypto-Judaism began to appear in the 1980's. Nidel (1984)
published on the New Mexican phenomenon, and Blake wrote a manuscript on
"Secret Signs of Judaism in New Mexico," which has never been published
(Tobias 1990:195).

After 1985, there seems to have been growing awareness in research and
journalism. Halevy has a lengthy list of journalistic articles on the
subject stretching back to 1985 (1996:75, fn 1). Hordes has published
several articles, most recently an illustrated overview in the Journal of
the West. Tomas Atencio and Stanley Hordes published a 35-page prospectus
for a research project on "The Sephardic legacy of New Mexico" (1987).
Roger Parks studied lingustic traits (1988). In 1987, Floyd Fierman's
Roots and Boots discussed many aspects of Crypto-Judaism in New Mexico in
the sixteenth century, but has only a little to say about it in the
twentieth. He calls Angelico Chßvez's assertion that his ancestors were
Crypto-Jews "charming" (1987:16) but does not dismiss such claims (143).
In 1990, Tobias' History of the Jews of New Mexico, gave a fair but brief
description-although to be sure, within the context of a discussion of
New Mexico's primarily Ashkenazic Jewish community. The importance and
visibility of this motif took a giant leap when Cohen and Peck's
Sephardim in the Americas included a full, descriptive chapter on "The
Secret Jews of the Southwest" by Florence Hernßndez (1993). Janet Liebman
Jacobs, cited above, is most interested finding evidence of women's
transmission of the tradition, a point made by others (e.g. Halevy,
1996), and is currently working on expanding her research, a series of
field-work interviews. (Jacobs, 1996). Renee Levine Melammed is preparing
a report on this phenomenon for the Israeli publication Peamim (personal
communication).

Perhaps the most important set of articles on the subject is a series

published in the Jewish Folklore and Ethnology Review (henceforth JFER).
In 1993, Hordes published a brief note about his ongoing research in
contemporary phenomena in JFER; the same volume also included an account
of an Iglesia di Dios church in El Paso Texas, with many Jewish-like
practices. In 1994, JFER published Judith S. Neulander's "Crypto Jews of
the American Southwest: An Imagined Community," in which she described
her attempt to do a professional ethnographic field study of this
phenomenon, as a dissertation at the University of Indiana. Not
surprisingly, she found that several elements prominently cited as part
of a tradition of Crypto-Judaism were unsupportable as proof of its
survival from Colonial times. G. Haskell, the editor of the JFER, reports
that in response to this article he received "impassioned letters" from
both sides: "The emotions on both sides were strong, and the Review, its
editor, and the authors were vilified and demonized with vigor." (JFER
1996:1) JFER decided to do a special issue dedicated to this phenomenon.
The issue was dedicated to the memory of Raphael Patai, who had just
died, and included reprints Patai's two articles on Venta Prieta, a
community near Mexico City which considered themselves to be Jewish. In
addition to a second, much longer article by Neulander, there were pieces
by Tomßs Atencio, Schulamith C. Halevy, and Isabelle Medina Sandoval, a
brief article by David M Gradwohl, a letter from Stanley Hordes, and two
letters from individuals within the New Mexico Hispano community.

Neulander (1996) analyzed the theology and activities of millenaristic

Protestant sects such as the Seventh Day Adventists and Church of God
(Spanish: Iglesia di Dios) in great detail, which she believes provide
explanations for several crypto-Jewish practices and traditions, and thus
for the phenomenon as a whole. In this she follows Patai, who found just
such a background for Venta Prieta, as shown in the reprinted articles.
Neulander suggests the Iglesia di Dios model can even explain
non-Biblical and highly "Hebraized" customs as lighting candles on
Fridays.

In the other JFER pieces, Halevy also focuses on the practices, but
concentrates on documenting Jewish sources for them in Mishna and Talmud,
Shulhan Aruch, responsa of Moshe Hagiz, Ibn Habib and others. Tomßs
Atencio-one of the individuals described by Neulander as the "primary
academic promoters" of the Crypto-Judaic idea-does not come across as a
"true believer" in his JFER article. He notes that a "goal of the study,
which is to uncover more information to make the hypothesis more
plausible, has been partially accomplished [but] ... has not gotten any
closer to empirically verifying crypto-Jewish presence in New Mexico."
Dr. Sandoval's contribution to this issue is essentially her own story;
Gradwohl's describes his initial skepticism but argues for "meaningful
scholarly inquiry and civilized debate" (JFER 1996:84).

Some of those who read JFER may feel the editor himself was not totally
above the fray, e.g., by the comparison implicit in his comment about
those who accept claims about crypto-Judaism uncritically-"That Germans
earlier in this century called themselves Aryans did not make it so"(JFER
1996:86)-or, more importantly, by titles allowed for Neulander's articles
and by reprinting Patai's findings about similar claims made in a very
different type of community. Nevertheless, JFER's articles on the New
Mexican phenomenon are well balanced. Haskell correctly noted that
"Neulander does not presume to tell people who they are or are not." But
(as JFER found out) Neulander's calling it "an imagined community" had a
far stronger impact than had she merely said that a pure crypto-Jewish
lineage for the canon elements cannot be supported. Like Patai's work in
Venta Prieta, her work carries a deep meaning for this population, even
or perhaps especially if it is correct. Patai's views seem to have been
able to become accepted even within the Venta Prieta community, and may
have helped them determine what relationship they want today with
Judaism. Although he came to offer a radically different interpretation
than they of the genesis of their practices, he did not imply their sense
of community was imaginary. Neulander, on the other hand, has not yet and
may never overcome the negativity and is perceived with some justice as
having called scholars and informants prevaricators, i.e., liars (JFER
1996: 85, 86f.). Informants' glosses of practices, even if
"ethnographically unsupported" are not "lies" but a central key to their
own systems of understanding; this is no less true if, as is almost
always the case, "remembered" practices include some that were never
quite as reported.

Some general comments

Crypto-Jewish "foundation narrative" tends to exclude post-colonial
influence and heritage elements, to project all elements back to the
colonial period or to Spain, and to be articulated in unlikely terms of
coherence and purity of culture and heritage, for example, among
individuals with only partial Colonial-Jewish heritage (e.g. "My mother
was French") (In this it is similar to a general phenomenon observed in
Santa Fe by Wilson, 1997:312-13). Some elements may indeed go back to
secretly-Jewish New Christians, but even if one rejects Neulander's
Protestant explanations, some elements cited cannot be explained as
uniquely Sephardic survivals or reflect mixing in of outside sources, at
least in the way they are presented. Frequently one encounters Ashkenazic
glosses-Purim cakes referred to as Hamentashen, top as dreidle, etc.
Ashkenazim have been in New Mexico and northern Mexico for some 150
years, and it seems likely that there may have been some influence and
modeling on what openly-Jewish individuals were doing, or from
reading-those within the tradition always characterize it as
intellectual. This process accelerated (or may even have only started)
with the changes of the twentieth century, for several reasons: soldiers'
World War international experiences, the move from villages to towns and
cities, the move from extended kinship/village groups to more nuclear
families within much more heterogeneous communities, and greater access
to a standardized "American" education. Neulander's work also reminds us
that especially in the past fifteen years, many terms and glosses adopted
by contemporary informants may have been influenced in part by
discussions with researchers and journalists, or by reading their
reports.

The "canon of New Mexican Crypto-Judaism" is only a part of the story. It

may be impossible-and ultimately irrelevant-to explain every last item as
either Jewish, converso, Protestant or happenstance in origin. Such
concentration on "are they Jews,"or "are their traditions Jewish"
detracts from an important theme, an openness and interest in Judaism and
in the Jewish part of the Spanish heritage. It is difficult to understate
the degree to which this appears to be diametrically opposed to long-held
attitudes, and it is a change which has taken place primarily in the last
fifteen years. No doubt many claims of heritage, of survival of
tradition, or of genealogical purity, are too grandiose, but the primacy
given Judaic heritage and identity is striking. It may be misplaced to
some outside observers, yet still must be understood and appreciated.

Many of the leading representatives of this group meet together at

various formal and informal venues around the country. For many of them,
joining the Jewish community represents four problems. One: Most Jewish
communities would require them to undergo formal conversion. This rubs
some as the wrong approach: "We have struggled hard to retain our
Judaism-and we have to convert? Why can't we be recognized for what we
"are"?" The second problem is that for many Judaism-even merely a
recognition of Jewish ancestry-represents a very strong break with family
Catholicism or with New Mexican Hispano sensibilities. A third problem is
theological: many cannot reject some sort of faith in Jesus; some have
explored so-called "Messianic" Judaism as an alternative. Fourth, and
related to the previous ones: for many the identification with Jews is
genealogical and heritage oriented more than religious or cultural.

Research needs to focus also on the emerging community of individuals who

are making these claims, seeking out the meaning to them of being Jewish,
and ways in which they will-or will not-continue the tradition. We may
never be able to paint a full picture of "traditional New Mexican
Crypto-Judaism," to determine the extent to which it reflects survival of
the practices of earl;y colonial Judaizers, or even to prove it existed.
It is perhaps impossibly complicated by the variety of practices and by
issues of how practices are remembered. Yet let us not forget that the
glossing of these practices as "Jewish" by a significant body of
hispanos-in the New Mexico community and elsewhere-is truly an amazing
story. Even if many of the reported elements of the canon are slippery
and can be interpreted in various ways by scholars, the way they are
being interpreted by those who hold them dear, and are alternately pained
and exhilarated by them, drives our interest in them. This
interpretation, as it is developing and unfolding, requires not
romanticization and emotionalism, but further research and understanding.

Atencio, T., and S. Hordes 1987: The Sephardic legacy in New Mexico: A
Prospectus, Albuquerque, University of New Mexico, Southwest Hispanic
Research Institute.

Chßvez, 1954, F., Origins of New Mexico Families in the Spanish Colonial
Period, Santa Fe Historical Society of NM, (originally published 1954;
rpt.)

___, 1974, My Penitente Land: Reflections on Spanish New Mexico

Albuquerque UNM press.

Fierman, F., 1987: Roots and Boots: From Crypto Jew in New Spain
Hoboken, Ktav.

Halevy, S.C. 1996: "Manifestations of Crypto-Judaism in the American

Southwest" JFER

JFER: Jewish Folklore and Ethnology Review, G. Haskell, ed.

Hernßndez, F. 1993: "Crypto-Jews of the American Southwest," in Cohen and

Peck, Sephardim in the Americas, Tuscaloosa, American Jewish Archives.

Hordes, 1993: "'The Sephardic Legacy in the Southwest Crypto-Jews of New

Mexico' Historical Research Project Sponsored by the Latin American
Institute, University of New Mexico," JFER 15:2 137-38.

---, 1996 in: , Journal of the West 35 (1996), 82ff.

Jacobs, J.L., 1996, " Women, Ritual and Secrecy: The creation of
Crypto-Jewish Culture" Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion,
35, 97-109.

Larralde, C.M. 1978 "Chicano Jews in South Texas" Ph.D. Dissertation,

UCLA

Neulander, J.S. 1994: "Crypto Jews of the Southwest: An Imagined

Community" JFER 16:1, 64-68.

____ 1996:, "The Crypto-Jewish Canon: Choosing to be Chosen in the

Millenial Tradition" JFER 18:1-2 (1996) 19-58.

Nidel, D. 1984: "Modern descendants of Conversos in New Mexico," WSJHQ

16:3 (1984) 194-262.

Parks, P., 1988: Survival of Judeo Spanish Cultural and Linguistic traits
among descendants of Crypto-Jews in New Mexico, M.A. Thesis, University
of New Mexico, 1988.

Patai, R. 1996: "The Jewish Indians of Mexico" [originally published

1950] JFER 18 1-2, 2-12, and "Venta Prieta Revisited [Originally
published 1965] JFER 18:1-2, 13-18.

Ross, Dan, 1982: Acts of Faith: A Journey to the fringes of Jewish

Identity, New York, St. Martin's Press.

Sandoval, I.M. 1996: "Abraham's children of the Southwest" JFER 77-82.

Santos, R. 1983: "Chicanos of Jewish Descent in Texas." WSJHQ 15: 327-

333.

Scholem, G.S. 1971: The Messianic Idea in Judaism and Other Essays on
Jewish Spirituality, New York, Schocken
Tobias, H. J., 1990: A History of the Jews in New Mexico, Albuquerque,
University of New Mexico Press.

Wilson, C. 1997: Myth of Santa Fe: Creation of a Modern Regional

Tradition, Albuquerque University of New Mexico Press

Fuente:
https://web.archive.org/web/20060709171934/http://www.du.edu:80/~sward/cryptojews.html