Passover of the ‘forgotten Jews’

The “forgotten Jews,” great-grandchildren of the Maranos of Spain and Portugal, celebrate the Passover holiday in a unique way.

Jewish scholars who have written about the Maranos tell of the curious and interesting customs observed by these people whose ancestors were burned at the stake, the name of their God on their lips.

As soon as the month of Nissan arrives, there is an upheavel in every Marano house, Engineer Schwartz tells us in his French work, “The New Christians in Portugal in the Twentieth Century.” For a month the Passover preparations are in progress. The rooms are whitewashed, new dishes and cooking utensils are prepared, and grapes are put up for wine. All year long, except on Passover, these Jews drink wine made by non-Jews. They also make ready special flour for matzohs, which are not baked before the holiday, but during the holiday proper.

CEASE THEIR LABORS

The first two days of the holiday are observed by merely abstaining from all work. There is no seder ceremony. Nor are there any of the other Passover customs, such as the eating of matzohs, during the first two days. The reason for this is the fact that during the first two days of Passover, the great-great-grandparents of the Maranos were carefully watched by spies of the Inquisition.

The spies would break into the homes of the Jews. And when matzohs were found in a man’s house he was arrested at once and tortured until he admitted that he was a secret Jew. As a result, the Jews decided to make Passover a “postponed” holiday, beginning it two days late, in order thus to avoid the clutches of the Inquisition. This custom of “postponement” has persisted until the present, when there is no longer anything to fea.

On the third night of the Passover week, everyone goes in secret to the house of the head of the community. In this house a freshly calcimined oven stands ready. All the women are dressed in holiday clothes and the men are wrapped about with white sheets, to recall the white linen ceremonial robes their ancestors wore to the seder.

THROW DOUGH TO FLAMES

Each person brings along some olive twigs. These are thrown into the stove and kindled. Then the women knead the dough of the “holy bread,” as the Maranos designate the matzohs. While the women are kneading the dough, the men begin the prayers.

When the dough is ready, each person takes a bit of it and casts it into the fire. This ceremony is a remnant of the ancient rite of bread-offering. The Marano whose bit of dough is quickly consumed is happy, for this is a good omen.

The prayer which accompanies this ceremony is interesting. It begins with the words: “Samua, take it away, take it to feed the sinful.” What the word “Samua” signifies nobody knows. Some scholars think it is an invocation of the Satan, Samuel; and still others think it is the Aramaic word for “heaven.”

After the matzohs have been baked, each person in the assemblage takes his share, which is placed in a clean sheet. The people all wish each other a “safe” Passover, exchange kisses and go home. (The wish for “safety” probably dates back to the time when it was necessary to hope that all would elude the spies of the Inquisition.)

MEAT IS SHUNNED

During the remaining six days of Passover, everyone eats matzohs. No meat is eaten, recalling the fact that the Maranos of old were determined not to eat unclean meat on Passover, and in order to keep this resolve elected to eat no meat at all.

According to what Dr. Ezriel Ezriel Karlbach tells us in his book, “Exotic Jews,” the Maranos no longer know anything of conducting the seder ceremony or of reciting the haggadah, etc. Judaism plays no part in their lives. All that remains is the tradition of celebrating Passover. All the priests know they do this, and combat it, but to no avail. In the same way they have been vainly fighting for hundreds of years against other Jewish traditions which the peasants observe to this very day, such as salting meat, baking chaleh for Friday, and observing the seven-day period of mourning.

The church has practically given up the hope of eradicating these remnants of the ancient Jewish community. It takes no notice of it and even raises children of the “Jewish street” to the highest offices of the Catholic Church. Not very long ago the church Beatifield a nun whose name was Perez.

CABINET MINISTER A MARANO

Minister of the Interior of the Spanish Republic, Miguel Mauro, a child of one of the five families left in the Jewish quarter of Mallorca, only recently boasted in Parliament that he was a Marano. When, after the revolution, a priest attacked him because of his Jewish descent, the well known Socialist leader replied:

“It is true that I am a Marano, one who eats pork. My grandfathers ate pork publicly in order to show that they were no longer Jews. During my youth, I myself would set pots containing pork before the door of our house. But I give you my word of honor that neither I nor any of the other Maranos knew the significance of all this. We thought it an incomprehensible ceremony and could not understand why our fathers commanded us to observe it.”

From all this, the most tragic chapter of the history of Spain can be read. The Jews were so persecuted, every vestige of Jewish culture was so thoroughly erased from their memories, that the very masquerading as a Christian became a sort of religion. There was so much torture for eating kosher meat that the eating of unclean meat became a sacred ceremony.

Maranos eat meat all the year round, except on Passover. And on Yon Kippur they make it a point to place a pot containing pork outside their doors, a ceremony of which they no longer know the meaning. The church has enmeshed them in a net of lies and suffering and they have forgotten the difference between true and imposed faith.