El Centro de Estudios Judíos "Torat Emet"

Mission
El Centro de Estudios Judíos "Torat Emet" is a Yonkers, New York based non-profit (501) c3 religious organization that focuses on programs for Spanish speaking Latin American Jews, providing Jewish education and religious events in Spanish. El Centro locates and educates Jews of crypto-Jewish background, helps them embrace their heritage, and return to Judaism. The project is based in the United States and involves international outreach.

El Centro is one of the only organizations dedicated to reaching out abnd providing support and education for the Latin American descendants of the persecuted Jews of Spain and Portugal during the Spanish inquisition. For these communities we serve as a unique source of historical, educational, and genealogical information regarding their past and as strong advocates of return to Judaism.

El Centro advocates for proactive encouragement from the established Jewish community to all Latinos that come from an ancestral Jewish background to return to Judaism through conversion/return ceremony, and the study and practice of Jewish life.

Our proactive approach towards conversion/return is based upon various Jewish halachic (legal) sources including the work of Rabbi Moses Maimonides (Rambam), Rav Yosef Karo writer of the Shulchan Aruch, The Rashbaand and a Takana (decree) written by Rabbenu Gershom of Mayence that advocates the return of all Jews who were forced (Anusim) out of their religion back to Judaism. His Takana requires the Jewish community to do everything possible to assist them in their return to Judaism and never to allow any stigma to remain regarding their previous situation. This takana was formulated by the same great sage who formulated a takana against polygamy which is still in force today. Unfortunately, history records that his own son was forcibly converted to Christianity during the Rhineland Massacres and that he died and was buried in a Christian cemetery. Rabbenu Gershom knowing this pain personally wanted to ensure that these victims of persecution would never be forgotten.

There has been resistance to El Centro's work of reconnecting the Anusim with Judaism in the Jewish community. There tend to be three primary factors that have prevented the Jewish community from identifying Anusim as an important communal outreach and educational goal. These include: (1) a lack of knowledge or disbelief that this community still exists; (2) the feeling that there are so many other problems that anusim are a low priority; and (3) prejudice.

Philosophy
El Centro believes that education in the "larger" Jewish world will increase the awareness of the number of individuals that have this ancestry and that are seeking information regarding Jewish life.

Additionally, this story must be presented as another piece of the history of the Jewish people—not a group that is foreign to Jewish history but is a part of Jewish history. We believe that education and powerful documentation of these passionate stories will correct this situation.

Including Anusim in our communities will help to reinvigorate American Judaism. There is a sense of "staleness" and a sense of "static" that is evident in American Judaism. The inclusion of Anusim and other multi-racial and multi-ethnic communities will help reinvigorate the American Jewish experience.

Increasing our numbers significantly will help deal with other issues that plague our community. Changing our image to the larger world communities as a large, growing, dynamic population that is multi-racial and multi-ethnic will make it more difficult to propagate simplistic anti-Semitism.

El Centro tackles the problem of prejudice. First of all it must be acknowledged. African American, Latino, Asian and mixed race Jews indicate that the stigma they face is significant. For this reason communities of Jews of color have tended to remain separate and have difficulty being recognized as legitimate Jews.

El Centro encourages our members to continue to integrate into the Jewish community even in the face of prejudice because we believe that time will heal the wounds and a time will come when it will be so common to see Jews of color participating fully in Jewish communities that it will no longer be subject of conversation.

Programs

Spanish Language Jewish Newspaper
Tora Tropical: Judaísmo con Sabor Latino is a quarterly newspaper with a circulation of 15,000 across the country. It is the only Spanish language Jewish newspaper in the country. Many of the articles cover cooperation and unity events between the Jewish and Latino communities. It also reports on Jewish news from Latin America in a section called "Breves."

Education about the Latin American Jewish community
This includes lectures and publications that educate the Anglo-Jewish community about the Latin American Jewish community.

Conversion
Assistance in Orthodox conversion to Anusim and others who desire it. El Centro will established a Bet Din (rabbinical court) that can perform the return ceremonies/conversions in communities. These rabbinic leaders will provide education, circumcision and immersion for Anusim.

Intergroup relations between Jews & non-Jews
Outreach to the Latino community to promote positive connections and facilitate communication between Latinos (non-Jews) and the American Jewish community to help combat anti-Semitism.

El Centro is working with the following communities:

• Brazil
• Ecuador
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Mexico
• Portugal
• Spain
• United States