Spain and the Jews: Prime Minister and Ministers of Interior and Justice Are Marranos

The Prime Minister of the new Spanish Republic, Senor Alcala Zamora, the Minister of the Interior, Senor Miguel Maura, and the Minister of Justice, Senor Fernando de Los Rios, are descendants of Marranos, or secret. Jews, the J.T.A. here learns from a reliable Sephardic source here in close contact with Jewish affairs in Spain.

Before the Revolution, it is stated, a Monarchist speaker in a debate in Parliament, publicly taunted Senor Maura with the fact that he is a descendant of the Chuotas, the derogatory term applied to the Marranos who live on the Island of Majorca, the origin of the phrase, which means swine-eaters, being that these Marranos make a public show of eating swine’s-flesh, with a view to demonstrating that they are no longer bound by Jewish observances, while in secret they continue to practise Jewish rites.

Senor Maura’s father, Antonio Maura, who was also a famous Spanish politician in his time, was brought up in the Marrano ghetto in Palma, the capital of Malorca, and in his younger days himself practised Judaism in secret.

Senor de Los Rios, the Minister of Justice, has publicly declared that he is proud of his descent from a number of famous rabbis and Hebrew scholars, and many years ago, it was he who took the initiative in demanding that Spain should reconsider the question of the Jews.

Senor Zamora, the Prime Minister, is himself a member of the Catholic Church, but his immediate ancestors observed Marrano traditions.

THE MARRANOS OF SPAIN.

Point is given to this report by a long article by Dr. Ezriel Carlebach, appearing in the Yiddish daily “Najer Hajnt” of Warsaw.

I well recall last Yom Kippur visiting the Marranos on the Island of Majorca, Dr. Carlehach writes, and seeing them go into the church, crossing themselves, and then immediately stand up and start the Kol Nidre service. I saw them as they came out, one after the other in the middle of the service, and put down pots of steaming swine’s-flesh outside the doors of their houses, to avert any suspicion of their being Jews.

Now, Dr. Carlebach proceeds, I learn that a child of that ghetto, Miguel Maura, the new Republican Minister of the Interior, promises to abolish the old Inquisitional decrees against the Jews, which have been in force right up to the present day. I can still remember the Jews of Madrid telling me that they got their kosher meat by aero plane from Paris, because the Spanish Government would not allow them to keep a Shochet in Spain, and now we have a Marrano, Fernando de Los Rios, who proclaims his pride in his Jewish ancestry, becoming Minister of Justice in Spain.

MOST LEADERS NOT ONLY OF REVOLUTIONARY PARTIES BUT EVEN OF CHURCH MONARCHIST PARTY DESCENDED FROM JEWS: MORE MARRANOS AMONG CHURCH LEADERS THAN AMONG LEADERS OF REVOLUTION

Those who are acquainted with the position of the Marranos and the Jews in Spain, will not be astonished, Dr. Carlebach continues, for most of the leaders, not only of the Revolutionary Parties, but even of the Church and of the Monarchist Party, are descended from Jews. It should be said that there are more Marranos among the leaders of the Church, than among the leaders of the Revolution, If we bear in mind Marrano psychology, we shall see how that comes about, for if more Marrano children occupy high places in the Church, the more secure will the Marrano parents be in their secret Beth Hamidrash. It has consequently become almost a tradition among the Marranos that at least one son in each family should become a priest, and having plenty of Jewish brains, they generally manage to climb to the highest positions in the church.

Not long ago, when I was in Majorca, Dr. Carlebach writes, I discovered something which has already been made public through the J.T.A. It concerns a Spanish girl, who was canonised by the Pope, and who was, in fact, a Jewess, observing Judaism in secret, according to the Marrano manner. It is said of her that just as she scrupulously observed outwardly all Catholic rites, so at the same time she scrupulously observed in secret her Jewish rites, and did not miss saying her Hebrew prayers each day at the appointed time.

If even the saints are secret Jews, it is hardly surprising to find secret Jews among the Spanish revolutionary leaders and Cabinet Ministers.

The important point, Dr. Carlebach says, is how do they look at their concealed Jewishness and what do the Spanish people think of it?

So far as the Prime Minister and President of the new Republic, Senor Alcala Zamora, is concerned, he proceeds, it must be said right away that he has never had any idea of what Judaism is When he was a Monarchist and held a position in King Alfonso’s Cabinet, it never occurred to anyone to bring up the question of his Jewish origin It was only when he became an opponent of the monarchy, and joined the Opposition, that he was attacked in Parliament, and people began to point out that Zamora was a real Marrano name. When the charge was made publicly in Parliament, he replied that he was proud of his Jewish name and Jewish origin, because it proved that his family had lived for centuries in Spain. I am no less an observant Catholic because of that, he added, however, and it is merely by chance that I am not myself a Catholic priest, for that is what my father intended me to be. The fact that I believe that the priests must not have all the influence upon the Government, that is not a religious question at all.

The Prime Minister, then, Dr. Carlebach writes, is one of the hundreds of thousands of Spaniards who boast of their Jewish origin, because everybody knows that the Jews were among the noblest, wealthiest and most respected families of the country. Living as they have lived, mingling freely with the Christians, nothing of Jewish religion, however, has been left to them. On the contrary, the fact that a man is descended from the Marranos only shows that his ancestors were exceedingly orthodox Catholics. If Senor Zamora, for example, is asked why, he nevertheless considers himself a Jew, he will reply that he is a Catholic Jew in the same way as there are English Jews, or Polish Jews.

SENOR MAURA MINISTER OF INTERIOR WAS HIMSELF BROUGHT UP TO OBSERVE JEWISH RITES

Why, if that is so, should he be attacked in Parliament for bearing a Marrano name? The present Minister of the Interior, Senor Miguel Maura, too, has been attacked by a priest who called him a Chueta, a “swine-eater”. Why should it be an insult for a priest to call a man a “swine-eater”? The answer to that is that the word “Chueta” is synonimous in Spain with “Jew” It means that the Marranos of Malorca, anxious to show that they are good Catholics, parade their pots of swine’s flesh in public, while behind belted doors they practise Jewish rites. In Portugal there are tens of thousands of them. In Spain they are found only in a single town, in Palma, the capital of Malorca. All the other descendants of the Marranos who have been scattered over the country have long since forgotten all about Marranoism and Jewishness.

So that when Senor Zamora is taunted with his Marrano descent, it means that the charge is made that his arrestors were guilty of duplicity, practising secret Judaism while pretending to be loyal Catholics, and when Senor Maura is taunted with the fact that he himself is a “Chueta”, it means that the worst possible insult has been hurled against him. It means that he himself is accused of being a Marrano, brought up to practise Jewish rites, and to deceive the Church. The reproach is just, for the Marranos in Malorca actually live by the Church. All of them live by making crucifixes.

The present Minister of the Interior, Senor Miguel Maura, has confessed, in fact, that when he was a child he observed the Sabbath.

There is a third type of Marranc, the most sympathetic of them, to which the Minister of Justice, Senor de Los Rios belongs. He, too. is descended from a well know Marrano family, which has produced many Rabbis and scholars. But he no longer considers himself a Catholic. He is an intellectual, a historian, who has devoted himself seriously to acquiring Jewish knowledge. He knows what Judaism is, and he is the only member of the Government who has devoted himself in earnest to the various questions that have arisen in connection with the Jews as a result of the revolution.

Dr. Maxima Cohen, a German Jew, who is a permanent resident in Toledo and is a personal friend of mine, had a talk the other day with Senor de Los Rios, and in a letter which I have just received, he tells me what passed between them. He touched on the question of religious liberty, suggesting that if the new Republic really destroys the unlimited power of the Church, the Jews will be able to return to Spain.

The first duty of all our officials, the Minister replied, will be to protect the personal liberty of every citizen and to prohibit all religious incitement.

This principle was made law on the third day of the Revolution. We have proclaimed that all cemeteries have been deprived of their Church status. All priests have been deprived of all official rights, and there has been a complete separation of Church and State. The Church is now entirely a private Institution.

I next asked him what effect this would have on the question of the Jews in Spain and whether there would be any opening for Jewish immigration, Dr. Cohen writes.

I have already spoken of this matter with the Minister of the Intericr, who is also of Jewish origin, as you perhaps know, the Minister replied. We shall not do anything to hinder Jewish immigration.

I thereupon reminded him that there is still the decree of 1492, which prohibits Jews from entering Spain under penalty of death. Will this, I asked, be annulled?

We consider it unnecessary, he replied. Thousands of other laws which were enacted under the monarchy have been annulled. Why should we take just this one decree and annul it, and thereby parade afresh our greatest cultural shame? The world knows without that that we are ashamed now of this folly, and that we do not wish to be reminded of it. If the Jews of other countries, however, insist that it should be done for demonstrative purposes, we shall solemnly annul the law. What I have said now, he added, is the official view of the Republican Government, and above all, of the Marrano Minister of the Interior, Senor Maura.

SPANISH PRIMATE CALLS ON ROMAN CATHOLICS TO UPHOLD RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF CHURCH: PROSPECT ENVISAGED OF POLITICAL STRUGGLE BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE IN NEW REPUBLIC

Cardinal Segura, Archbishop of Toleda and Primate of Spain, has just issued a 4,000-word Pastoral Letter which is causing intense interest, the “Daily Telegraph” states to-day. It deals with the elections to the Constituent Assembly – fixed for June – and makes a strong appeal to Roman Catholics to vote for candidates who will uphold the rights and privileges of the Church. The prospect is envisaged of political struggle between Church and state in the new Republic.

It might even mean that when the Constituent Assembly meets, that both will be dominated rather by Clericals opposing Anti-Clericals than Republicans against Monarchists.

You may dissent concerning the form of Government, or on matters of purely human interest, the Primate writes. But when the rights of religion are in peril, it is absolutely essential that Roman Catholics should unite in order to secure the election of those candidates for the Constituent Assembly who offer a full guarantee that they will defend the rights of the Church and the social order.

To the unbiassed, the “Telegraph” says, it is difficult, on reading the text, not to come to the conclusion that the aim of the Cardinal, in issuing the Pastoral, is to create and cement a practical political union of people and bodies that would resist strenuously any attempt to abolish or reduce any of the privileges of the Roman Catholic Church in Spain. It would seem that the Republican Government has no illusions as to the meaning of the Pastoral. After a meeting of the Cabinet last night Senor Lerroux, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, said to newspaper representatives: “As you have seen, the Primate advises people to vote in favour of Monarchists and Roman Catholics in the forthcoming elections”.