About 100 Peruvian Indians who claim to be descendants of Marranos will immigrate to Israel in August.
They will be settled in Elon Moreh, a settlement in the West Bank near Nablus founded by the Gush Emunim. Their immigration is being organized jointly by the settlers and the Jewish Agency.
A special rabbinical court was sent from Israel to Peru to supervise the group’s conversion.
The community, which calls it self Bnei Moshe and lives in northern Peru, claims its ancestors were Marranos, Jews from Spain who converted to Catholicism in the 16th century to escape the Inquisition but secretly practiced the Jewish faith.
The Bnei Moshe proclaimed their background 40 years ago, cutting themselves off from neighboring groups. Twenty years later, after meeting with the rabbi of the Jewish community in Lima, they built synagogues and began circumcising their sons.
The first members of the group were successfully absorbed in Elon Moreh last March. They comprised 14 families with a total of 55 people.
The newcomers will be housed initially in 20 mobile homes.
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