Reply To: Where to start becoming Jewish when family roots discovered

Hello all,

I am back again from dinner and a meeting and am reading the new wonderful comments you left for me. Many , many thanks!!

YYTZ, it’s funny you should mention the situation of Hispanic conversos, as I have just finished reading a brand new and excellent book called The Forgetting River by Doreen Carvajal regarding her own personal quest in this regard. In fact, I rather think that it was that book that got my courage up enough to inquire in this forum!

RebRY, alas I do not reside in Brazil — it was my great grandmother and her six children who resided there for about a decade between the World Wars (my great grandfather refused to leave Germany, but my great grandmother insisted upon leaving and never going back because of how the people were treated there). II do dream of going to explore there someday in Sao Paulo where they lived, as well as going back to where they came from in Heidleburg Germany. I would be interested in hearing about your experience if you are ever so inclined!

YYTZ, it is good to have that context from you about The Guide for the Perplexed…the title is really what caught my attention because I was so perplexed, so I thought it would be a good way to dive into what I think would be considered Jewish philosophy?

Shmoel, it would be absolutely amazing if something like that were ever possible, but I am afraid that it would be a very uphill battle: the family lore has always been that everything was lost in the ship voyages from Germany to Brazil, and the family members involved have been deceased for a very long time. In addition, at some point my mother’s family affiliated with a Lutheran church is this country, and my mother was confirmed and my parents had me confirmed.

I wish I had the knowledge of the Jewish laws and intricacies that YehudaTzvi and you have, but I suppose that I must start where I am. At least legal systems are of great interest to me, as I am a child advocate attorney for abused and neglected children/wards of the state. And I love learning new languages!