Havdalah: The Secret Jews of the Inquisition

For centuries, Iberian “New Christians” lived under the global shadow of the Inquisition, navigating a perilous existence as “crypto-Jews” who were outwardly Catholic while preserving traces of Jewish identity. This talk traces this resilience from clandestine observance in Spain and Portugal and their empires to the emergence of openly professing communities in Amsterdam, London, Brazil, the Caribbean, and the future United States. Through vivid case studies, Dr. Amon explores conscience, identity, and the long journey from persecution to freedom—an extraordinary legacy that continues into the 21st century.

Dr. Isaac Amon is a Lecturer in Law at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis and Executive Director and Scholar-in-Chief of the Sinai Legal Association for Memory & Modernity (SLAMM), an institute dedicated to the study of law, history, and the global Jewish experience. He previously served as a Legal Fellow at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague and as an ISIS war crimes investigator. A grandson of Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi immigrants to the United States in the 20th century, he speaks widely on the legacies of antisemitism and Jewish resilience, with a particular focus on the Inquisition and the Holocaust.

Please note: This is a Saturday evening Havdalah service.

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