BIBLIOGRAPHY- Anussim


For those members of the "Anusim" list who have asked for literature in English on the crypto-Jews, their origins and secret practices, here is a list of books that I recomend.

To order any of the books from Amazon.com, just klick on the blue line of the title

Cecil Roth / Hardcover / Published 1992
This is the classic textbook to understand the historical background of the anussim. It's an account of the origins and fate of those Spanish Jews who - terrorized by the massacre of 1391 and the Inquisition - professed Christianity to escape persecution.

  • Secrecy and Deceit : The Religion of Crypto-Jews

    David M. Gitlitz / Hardcover / Published 1996
    A comprehensive repository of customs and traditions of the crypto-jews in their dispersion

  • Acts of Faith: A Journey to the Fringes of the Jewish Identity
    Dan Ross - published 1951 - reprint 1982
    A vivid portrait of ten communities whose Jewhisness is disputed: the Portuguese Marranos who have kept the secret of their religion hidden since the Inquisition; the Mashhadi Jews of Iran, forcibly converted to Islam in 1839, Israel's 500 Samaritans and 15,000 Karaites; the Falashas of Ethiopia; The Chinese Jews of Kaifeng; the Bene Israel of Bombay and many others.
    THIS BOOK HAS BEEN OUT OF PRINT FOR A LONG TIME, BUT I HAVE BEEN INFORMED THAT AMAZON.COM HAS SEVERAL SECOND-HAND COPIES, OLD AND NEW, AT VERY LOW PRICES.
    For more information, click on the name of the book above.

  • The Great Auto de Fe of 1649 - as related by Mathias de Bocanegra, S.J.
    Translated and edited by Seymour B. Liebman
    The files of the auto de fe held in Mexico City on April 11, 1649 . It has a good index of names.

  • Farewell Espana : The World of the Sephardim Remembered
    Howard M. Sachar / Paperback / Published 1995


  • Farewell Espana : The World of the Sephardim Remembered
    Howard Morley Sachar / Hardcover / Published 1994


  • Marrano As Metaphor : The Jewish Presence in French Writing
    Elaine Marks / Hardcover / Published 1995


  • The Mezuzah in the Madonna's Foot : Marranos and Other Secret Jews : A Woman Discovers Her Spiritual Heritage
    Trudi Alexy / Paperback / Published 1994


  • Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewries : History and Culture in the Modern Era
    Harvey E. Goldberg(Editor) / Paperback / Published 1996


  • Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewries : History and Culture in the Modern Era
    Harvey E. Goldberg(Editor), Jewish Theological Seminar / Hardcover / Published 1996


  • A Sephardi Life in Southeastern Europe : The Autobiography and Journal of Gabriel Arie, 1863-1939
    Gabriel Arie, et al / Paperback / Published 1998


  • Sephardim : The Jews from Spain
    Paloma Diaz Mas, et al / Hardcover / Published 1993


    • Spinoza and Other Heretics : The Marrano of Reason Vol 1
    Yirmiahu Yovel, Yirmiyahu Yovel / Paperback / Published 1991

  • 703 American Sephardim : diversity within cohesiveness
    Judith Mizrahi / Hardcover / Published 1992


  • Anyos Munchos I Buenos : Turkey's Sephardim : 1492-1992Ys
    Ayse Gursan-Salzmann, Laurence Salzmann / Paperback / Published 1991


  • The Woman Who Defied Kings: The Life and Times of Dona Gracia Nasi - A Jewish Leader during the Renaissance
    Andree Aeelion Brooks


  • Ashkenazim and Sephardim : Their Relations, Differences, and Problems As Reflected in the Rabbinical Responsa (Library of Sephardic History and though
    H. J. Zimmels / Hardcover / Published 1997


  • Ashkenazim and Sephardim : Their Relations, Differences, and Problems As Reflected in the Rabbinical Responsa (The Library of Sephardic History )
    H. J. Zimmels / Paperback / Published 1995


  • The Cross and the Pear Tree : A Sephardic Journey
    Victor Perera; Hardcover
    The beatifully writen account by a journalist and writer of his long journey after his Sephardic roots

  • Del Fuego : Sephardim and the Holocaust
    Solomon Gaon, M. Mitchell Serels (Editor) / Hardcover / Published 1995


  • A History of the Marranos
    Cecil Roth / Hardcover / Published 1992


  • A History of the Marranos (The Modern Jewish Experience)
    Cecil Roth / Hardcover / Published 1975


  • Images of Sephardi and Eastern Jewries in Transition : The Teachers of the Alliance Israelite Universelle, 1860-1939
    Aron Rodrigue / Hardcover / Published 1993


  • The Marrano
    Barry Goldensohn(Editor) / Paperback / Published 1988


  • The Marrano
    Howard Rose / Hardcover / Published 1992


  • The Marrano : A Novel
    Howard Rose / Paperback / Published 1992


  • Marrano Poets of the Seventeenth Century
    Hardcover / Published 1985


  • Marrano Poets of the Seventeenth Century : An Anthology of the Poetry of Joao Pinto Delgado, Antonio Enriquez Gomez and Miguel De Barrios
    Timothy Oelman(Editor) / Hardcover / Published 1985


  • The Marranos of Spain : From the Late 14th to the Early 16th Century (According to Contemporary Hebrew Sources)
    B. Netanyahu / Hardcover / Published 1998


  • The Marranos of Spain : From the Late 14th to the Early 16th Century, According to Contemporary Hebrew Sources
    B. Netanyahu / Paperback / Published 1998
    Professor Ben-Zion Netanyahu - the father of Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu - represents another school of historians that essencialy contest the Jewsihness of the crypto-jews and of the victims of the Inquisition. A view worthwhile to compare.

  • Moreshet Sepharad : The Sephardi Legacy Vol 1
    Haim Beinart(Editor) / Hardcover / Published 1996
    Prof. Haim Beinart is the leader of the "Jerusalem school" of historians of the Sephardic Diaspora. This book contains 38 chapters by some of the best historians that wrote about the life and the works of the Sephardi Jews in many places

  • Moreshet Sepharad : The Sephardi Legacy Vol 2
    Haim Beinart(Editor) / Hardcover / Published 1996


  • Roots and Boots : From Crypto-Jew in New Spain to Community Leader in the American Southwest
    Floyd S. Fierman / Hardcover / Published 1987


  • Sephardi Communities Today
    David Sitton / Paperback / Published 1985


  • Sephardi Entrepreneurs in Eretz Israel : The Amzalak Family - 1816-1918
    Joseph B. Glass, Ruth Kark / Hardcover / Published 1996


  • Sephardi Religious Responses to Modernity (The Sherman Lecture Series , Vol 1)
    Norman A. Stillman / Hardcover / Published 1995


  • The Sephardi Story : A Celebration of Jewish History
    Chaim Raphael / Hardcover / Published 1991


  • The Sephardi Story : A Celebration of Jewish History
    Chaim Road from Babylon Raphael / Paperback / Published 1991


  • The Sephardim : Their Glorious Tradition from the Babylonian Exile to the Present Day
    Lucien Gubbay, Abraham Levy (Contributor) / Hardcover / Published 1998


  • Sephardim of England : History of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Community, 1492-1951
    Albert M. Hyamson / Hardcover / Published 1989


  • Sephardim Their Glorious Tradition from the Babylonian Exile to the Present Day
    Gubbay / Hardcover / Published 1992


  • Turkeys Sephardim:500 Years
    VHS Tape / Published 1995
    We tend to forget that Turkey is the only country in the World where Jews have been well treated for over 500 years

  • Ashkenazim and Sephardim : Their Relations Differences and Problems As Reflected in Rabbinical Responsa
    Published 1987


  • Ashkenazim and Sephardim : Their Relations, Differences, and Problems As Reflected in the Rabbinical Responsa
    H.J. Zimmels / Published 1997


  • Ashkenazim and Sephardim, 1958
    H. J. Zimmels


  • [Hagadah shel Pesa蠺 lefi minhage ha-Sefaradim 桭 adot ha-Mizra蝠= The Sephardi Haggadah : with translation, commentary and complete guide to the laws of Pesah and the Seder


  • History and creativity : in the Sephardi and Oriental Jewish Communities


  • History of Anti-Semitism : From Mohammed to the Marranos Vol 2
    Leon Poliakov / Published 1974


  • LA Gesta Del Marrano
    Marcos Aguinis / Published 1995
    An excellent fiction book that reflects the crypto-jewsih reality in South America. It was writen in Spanish and is available in the United States

  • Jews and Conversos: Studies in Society and the Inquisition
    Yosef Kaplan, editor - published in Jerusalem, 1985
    A collection of articles originally presented as papers at the Eight World Congress of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem 1981) by historians from Israel, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal

  • Marrano
    Martin H. Ross


  • The Marrano Prince
    Auner Gold / Published 1988


  • The Marranos
    Liliaine Webb / Published 1981


  • The Marranos
    Lilliane Webb / Published 1980


  • Moreshet Sepharad = The Sephardi legacy


  • Odyssey of the Exiles : The Sephardi Jews - 1492-1992
    Ruth Porter(Editor), Sarah Harel-Hoshen (Editor) / Published 1996


  • Odyssey of the exiles : the Sephardi Jews 1492-1992


  • The Other Jews : The Sephardim Today
    Daniel J. Elazar / Published 1992


  • The Road from Babylon : The Story of the Sephardi and Oriental Jews
    Chaim Raphael / Published 1985


  • Rylands Haggadah : A Medieval Sephardi Masterpiece in Facsimile
    Raphael Loewe / Published 1988


  • The Sephardi Haggadah : With Translation, Commentary and Complete Guide to the Laws of Pesah and the Seder
    Jonathan, Rabbi Cohen / Published 1988


  • The Sephardi heritage: essays on the historical and cultural contribution of the Jews of Spain and Portugal


  • The Sephardi heritage: essays on the historical and cultural contribution of the Jews of Spain and Portugal


  • The Sephardi heritage; essays on the history and cultural contribution of the Jews of Spain and Portugal


  • Sephardi Jews in occupied France : under the tyrant's heel, 1940-1944
    Gitta Amipaz-Silber


  • Sephardi Jews in the Ottoman Empire : aspects of material culture


  • Sephardim : the spirit that has withstood the times
    P. H. Huisman


  • Sephardim in the Americas : Studies in Culture and History (Judaic Studies)
    Martin A. Cohen, Abraham J. Peck (Editor) / Published 1993


  • The Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire
    Avigdor Levy / Published 1994


  • The Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire
    Avigdor Levy / Published 1993


  • Spain and the Jews : The Sephardi Experience, 1492 and After
    Elie Kedourie(Editor) / Published 1992


  • Spinoza and Other Heretics : The Marrano of Reason Vol 1
    Yirmiyahu Yovel / Published 1989

    Professor Yirmiahu Yovel is a philosopher devoted to the study of Baruch Spinoza. Before writing his book he visited the crypto-jews of Portugal to absorve the real atmosphere of they lifes. One gets a new understanding of Spinoza, his time and his life, after reading this book.

  • Spinoza and Other Heretics : The Marrano of Reason/the Adventures of Immanence
    Yirmiyahu Yovel / Published 1989


  • A Treasury of Sephardic Laws and Customs
    Rabbi Herbert C. Dobrinski
    A comprehensive compendium of the laws and customs of four main communities of Sephardic Jews: Syrian, Morrocan, Judeo-Spanish and Spanish and Portuguese



    • If you read already any of the books listed above and you would like to share with me your impressions, please send me an email .


    You may be able to find most of the books in public libraries, or you may want to order any of them online from Amazon.com. To order any book on line, click on the blue line with the title. You will be taken to the the exact page in the catalogue, with all the information about the book, price and how to order. Sometimes you will find there reviews on the specific book.
    Some of the books may be out-of-print, and Amazon may sugest that they search it for you second-hand. From my past experience they are pretty good at that.





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