The Xuetes ( Catalan pronunciation: [ʃuˈətə] ; singular Xueta , also known as Xuetons and spelled as Chuetas ) are a social group on the Spanish island of Majorca , in the Mediterranean Sea, who are descendants of Majorcan Jews that either were conversos (forcible converts to Christianity ) or were Crypto-Jews , forced to keep their religion hidden. They practiced strict endogamy by marrying only within their own group. Many of their descendants observe a syncretist form of Christian worship known as Xueta Christianity .
153-560: The Xuetes were stigmatized up until the first half of the 20th century. In the latter part of the century, the spread of freedom of religion and laïcité reduced both the social pressure and community ties. An estimated 18,000 people in the island carry Xueta surnames in the 21st century, but only a small fraction of the society (including those with Xueta surnames) is aware of the complex history of this group. The Balearic word xueta derives, according to some experts, from juetó , diminutive of jueu ("Jew") which give xuetó ,
306-635: A just and humane society . Later he promoted the principles of Buddhism , and the creation of a just, understanding and fair society was held as an important principle for many ancient rulers of this time in the East. The importance of freedom of worship in India was encapsulated in an inscription of Ashoka : King Piyadasi (Ashok) dear to the Gods, honours all sects, the ascetics (hermits) or those who dwell at home, he honours them with charity and in other ways. But
459-715: A "rival" to the Ashkenazim and help them push the Mizrahim below in the social-economic ladder and behind them, so they won't ever be in line with the Israeli elites of European Jewish descent. He also speaks against the Mapai manner of labeling all the Oriental Jews as "one folk" and erasing their unique and individual history as separated communities; he says that he wonders why the real Easterners of his time who were
612-524: A broad sense and including Mizrahi Jews, North African Jews as well as Sephardim proper. From the point of view of the official Israeli rabbinate, any rabbis of Mizrahi origin in Israel are under the jurisdiction of the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel . Sami Michael rejects the terms Mizrahim and Edot HaMizrach , claiming it is a fictitious identity advanced by Mapai to preserve
765-543: A conflation of terms, particularly in official Israeli ethnic and religious terminology, with Sephardi being used in a broad sense to include Middle Eastern and North African Jews, as well as Sephardim proper from Southern Europe around the Mediterranean Basin . The Chief Rabbinate of Israel has placed rabbis of Mizrahi origin in Israel under the jurisdiction of the Sephardi chief rabbis. Following
918-687: A connection to the Jewish communities of Europe and North Africa in their paternal gene pool, suggesting a common Middle Eastern origin between them. In autosomal analyses, the Iraqi Jews , Iranian Jews , Bukharian Jews , Kurdish Jews , Mountain Jews , and Georgian Jews form a cluster. When examined at a more detailed level, the groups can be separated from each other. This cluster plots between Levantine and Northern West Asian populations. Syrian and North African Jews are separate from it and closer to
1071-510: A documentary and historical source, the book was intended to perpetuate the record and the infamy of the converts, and it contributed notably to provide an ideological basis for the segregation of the Xuetes and to perpetuate it. It was republished in 1755, used in the argumentation to limit the civil rights of the Xuetes and served as the basis of the libel of 1857, La Sinagoga Balear o historia de los judios mallorquines ( The Balearic Synagogue or
1224-469: A doubt, also the adoption of more efficacious strategies of protection on the part of the Crypto-Jews: the later inquisitorial trials talk about how religious practices were transferred within families when a child reached the age of adolescence and, very often in the case of the women, when it became clear whom she would marry and what were the husband's religious convictions. In any event, this period
1377-403: A form of Orientalism towards the Oriental Jews, similar to the ways in which Westjuden had labeled Ostjuden as "second class" and excluded them from possible positions of power. The usage of the term Mizrahim or Edot Hamizraḥ ( עדות־המזרח ), Oriental communities, grew in Israel under the circumstances of the meeting of waves of Jewish immigrants from Europe, North Africa,
1530-585: A fraction of Converso descendants are considered Xuetas. A variety of genetic studies conducted, principally, by the Department of Human Genetics of the University of the Balearic Islands have indicated that the Xuetes constitute a genetically homogeneous group within the populations of Mizrahi Jews and are also related to Ashkenazi Jews and those of North Africa , based on analyzing both
1683-399: A general denunciation, they agreed upon a mass escape. On 7 March 1688, a large group of converts embarked clandestinely on an English vessel, but unexpected rough weather prevented them from leaving, and at daybreak they returned to their houses. The Inquisition was notified of this, and all of the group was arrested. The trials lasted three years and the cohesion of the group was weakened by
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#17327653528601836-771: A general policy of permitting religious freedom throughout the empire, documenting this on the Cyrus Cylinder . Freedom of religious worship was established in the Buddhist Maurya Empire of ancient India by Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century BC, which was encapsulated in the Edicts of Ashoka . Greek–Jewish clashes at Cyrene in 73 AD and 117 AD and in Alexandria in 115 AD provide examples of cosmopolitan cities as scenes of tumult. Genghis Khan
1989-560: A great commotion among the "judaizers." At the same time he was also the object of great admiration for his persistence and courage. The same year López was arrested, some servants of the conversos informed their confessor that they had spied upon their masters and observed them participating in Jewish ceremonies. In 1674, the prosecutor of the Majorca tribunal sent a report to the Supreme Inquisition in which he accused
2142-469: A harsh punitive activity. Subsequently, until 1544, 239 Crypto-Jews were reconciled and 537 were " relaxed " — that is, turned over to the civil authorities to be executed — 82 of whom were effectively executed and burned. The majority of the remaining 455, who managed to flee, were burnt in effigy . This exile was distinct from the decree of expulsion of 1492 , which did not apply to Majorca, which officially had no Jews left in it by 1435. After this period,
2295-420: A horse. These last two penalties do not appear to have been carried out, although the others continued in effect by the force of custom, beyond the two generations stipulated. The Inquisition opened, and eventually closed, several trials of individuals denounced by the accused of the autos de fe of 1691, the majority dead. A single auto de fe was brought in 1695 against 11 dead people and one living woman (who
2448-563: A landmark for Protestant worship, with official Catholic forms of worship being banned. In France, although peace was made between Protestants and Catholics at the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1570, persecution continued, most notably in the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day on 24 August 1572, in which thousands of Protestants throughout France were killed. A few years before, at the "Michelade" of Nîmes in 1567, Protestants had massacred
2601-581: A minimum, freedom of belief (the right to believe whatever a person, group, or religion wishes, including all forms of irreligion , such as atheism , humanism , existentialism , or other forms of non-belief ), but some feel freedom of religion must include freedom of practice (the right to practice a religion or belief openly and outwardly in a public manner, including the right not to practice any religion). A third term, freedom of worship , may be considered synonymous with both freedom of belief and freedom of practice or may be considered to fall between
2754-506: A new wave of inquisitions. Rafel Cortès, (also known as Cap loco or Crazy head), had remarried, this time to a woman with a converso surname, Miró, but who was Catholic. His family did not congratulate him on getting married and censured him for having married someone not of Jewish ancestry. Hurt in his pride, he denounced some of their coreligionists before the Inquisition of maintaining the prohibited faith. Suspecting that he had made
2907-457: A particular community or to defeat the nonbelievers". The Catholic Church comprising Latin, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara rites used to give clear directions to the faithful on exercising their franchise during elections through pastoral letters issued by bishops or council of bishops. The pastoral letter issued by Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council (KCBC) on the eve of the poll urged the faithful to shun atheists. Most Roman Catholic kingdoms kept
3060-511: A refuge for those whose ideology was most intransigent and favorable to the Old Regime. In this context, in 1808, soldiers who had been mobilized to go to the front accused the Xuetes of being responsible for their mobilization, and assaulted the Segell district. Freedom of religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty , also known as freedom of religion or belief (FoRB),
3213-552: A request to the Real Audiencia de Mallorca (Royal Majorcan High Court, the island's highest court) aiming to prevent the republication of Faith Triumphant in 1755, which was accepted and so the book's distribution prevented for a time. Eventually, the Inquisitors allowed distribution to be resumed. In 1773, the Xuetes designated a group of six deputies — popularly known by the name of "perruques" (the wigs) because of
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#17327653528603366-660: A result of the Bohemian Reformation , and became one of the most liberal countries of the Christian world during that period of time. The so-called Basel Compacts of 1436 declared the freedom of religion and peace between Catholics and Utraquists . In 1609 Emperor Rudolf II granted Bohemia greater religious liberty with his Letter of Majesty. The privileged position of the Catholic Church in the Czech kingdom
3519-580: A ship with a group of Jews expelled from Oran by the Spanish Crown and headed for Livorno, called in at Palma. The Inquisition arrested a youth of some 17 years named Isaac López. López had been born in Madrid and baptized with the name Alonso, and as a small boy fled to the Berber lands with his converso parents. Alonso refused to renounce Judaism and was burnt alive in 1675. His execution provoked
3672-779: A singular identifiable division during World War II , when they were distinctly outlined in the One Million Plan of the Jewish Agency for Israel , which detailed the methods by which Jews of the diaspora were to be returned to the Land of Israel (then under the British Mandate for Palestine ) after the Holocaust . An earlier cultural community of southern and eastern Jews were the Sephardi Jews . Before
3825-409: A strict regime of isolation, which prevented any joint action, together with a perception of religious defeat due to the impossibility of escape. In 1691, the Inquisition, in three autos de fe , condemned 73 people, of whom 45 were turned over to the civil authorities to be burnt, 5 burnt in effigy; 3 already deceased had their bones burned, 37 were effectively punished; of these, three — Rafel Valls and
3978-475: A survey by the Adva Center, the average income of Ashkenazim was 36 percent higher than that of Mizrahim in 2004. In 2023, journalist Shany Littman believes the dynamics of inequality have reversed, with most Israeli cabinet ministers and City mayors being Mizrahi Jews; also she stated that middle-class Mizrahi women earned more than their Ashkenazi counterparts. The Middle Eastern Jewish populations have
4131-816: A symbol of religious inclusivity and freedom of worship . Other key sites include the Bahá'í Gardens in Haifa, Israel , which emphasize the unity of humanity and freedom of belief, and Lutherstadt Wittenberg in Germany, where Martin Luther's actions sparked the Reformation , symbolizing a fight for religious reform and liberty. In a historic setting freedom to worship has often been limited in practice through punitive taxation, repressive social legislation, and political disenfranchisement. An example commonly cited by scholars
4284-412: A tapestry of alliances and avoidances among surnames, which had a great influence on endogamic practices of the period. The reasons why the Inquisition returned to act against the judaizing Majorcans after some 130 years of inactivity, and in an era in which the inquisition was already in decline are not very clear: the preoccupation of decadent economic sectors before the ascent and commercial dynamism of
4437-566: A term that also still survives. Other authors consider that it may derive from the word xulla (pronounced xuia or xua , which means a type of salted bacon and, by extension, pork ) and, according to popular belief, refers to Xuetes who were seen eating pork to show that they did not practice Judaism. But this etymology has also been linked with the tendency, present in various cultures, of using offensive names related to pork to designate Jews and Jewish converts (see, for example Marrano ). A third possibility links both putative etymologies;
4590-611: A tight rein on religious expression throughout the Middle Ages . Jews were alternately tolerated and persecuted, the most notable examples of the latter being the expulsion of all Jews from Spain in 1492. Some of those who remained and converted were tried as heretics in the Inquisition for allegedly practicing Judaism in secret. Despite the persecution of Jews, they were the most tolerated non-Catholic faith in Europe. However,
4743-400: A year had passed, the deputies insisted again on Xuetes gaining access to whatever occupation they sought, and reported that the insults and discrimination had not stopped. The deputies also complained about the exhibition of the sambenets at St. Domingo. The king designated a panel to study the problem; the panel proposed the withdrawal of the sambenets; the prohibition of Faith Triumphant;
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4896-483: Is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship , and observance. It also includes the right not to profess any religion or belief or "not to practise a religion" (often called freedom from religion). The concept of religious liberty includes, and some say requires, secular liberalism , and excludes authoritarian versions of secularism. Freedom of religion
5049-628: Is a variant of Aramaic. As spoken by the Kurdish Jews , Judeo-Aramaic languages are Neo-Aramaic languages descended from Jewish Babylonian Aramaic . They are related to the Christian Aramaic dialects spoken by Assyrian people , which are Syriac Christians who claim descent from Assyria , one of the oldest civilizations in the world, dating back to 2500 BC in ancient Mesopotamia . Among other languages associated with Mizrahim are Judeo-Iranian languages such as Judeo-Persian ,
5202-500: Is also common in Jewish religious circles. During the past century, the Sephardi rite absorbed part of the unique rite of the Yemenite Jews , and lately, Beta Israel religious leaders in Israel have also joined Sefardi rite collectivities, especially following rejection of their Jewishness by some Ashkenazi circles. The reason for this classification of all Mizrahim under Sephardi rite is that most Mizrahi communities use much
5355-538: Is always referred to as "Ethnic", while European Jews' work, even if historic in theme, is not, as a result of racism. Most of the "Mizrahi" activists actually originated from North African Jewish communities, traditionally called "Westerners" ( Maghrebi ), rather than "Easterners" ( Mashreqi ). The Jews who emigrated to Palestine from North Africa in the 19th Century and prior started their own political and religious organization in 1860 which operated in Jerusalem
5508-728: Is assuredly no part of religion to compel religion—to which free-will and not force should lead us The Edict of Milan guaranteed freedom of religion in the Roman Empire until the Edict of Thessalonica in 380, which outlawed all religions except Christianity. Religious tolerance in India: A legacy of the past and a promise for the future Ancient Jews fleeing from persecution in their homeland 2,500 years ago settled in modern-day India and never faced anti-Semitism . Freedom of religion edicts have been found written during Ashoka
5661-773: Is considered by many people and most nations to be a fundamental human right . Freedom of religion is protected in all the most important international human rights conventions , such as the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights , the American Convention on Human Rights , the European Convention on Human Rights , and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
5814-424: Is not allowed to anybody to intimidate anybody with captivity or expelling for his religion ". Act of Religious Tolerance and Freedom of Conscience: His majesty, our Lord, in what manner he – together with his realm – legislated in the matter of religion at the previous Diets, in the same matter now, in this Diet, reaffirms that in every place the preachers shall preach and explain
5967-473: Is not permitted that anyone should threaten anyone else by imprisonment or by removal from his post for his teaching. For faith is the gift of God and this comes from hearing, which hearings is by the word of God . Four religions ( Catholicism , Lutheranism , Calvinism , Unitarianism ) were named as accepted religions (religo recepta), having their representatives in the Transylvanian Diet, while
6120-554: Is the interpretive work of Sam Philipe, a fifth generation Jerusalemite. Refuge in Israel was not without its tragedies: "In a generation or two, millennia of rooted Oriental civilization, unified even in its diversity", had been wiped out, writes Mizrahi scholar Ella Shohat . The trauma of rupture from their countries of origin was further complicated by the difficulty of the transition upon arrival in Israel; Mizrahi immigrants and refugees were placed in rudimentary and hastily erected tent cities ( ma'abarot ) often in development towns on
6273-601: Is the status of dhimmis under Islamic sharia law. Stemming from the Pact of Umar and literally meaning "protected individuals", it is often argued that non-Muslims possessing the dhimmi status in medieval Islamic societies enjoyed greater freedoms than non-Christians in most medieval European societies, while duly noting that the protection was limited because of regulation by and obligations to government such as taxation (compare jizya and zakat ) and military service differed between religions. In modern concepts of religious freedom,
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6426-672: The "Confraria de Sant Miquel" or "dels Conversos" ("The Confraternity of Saint Michael" or "of the Converts"). It largely replaced former Aljama in taking care of the group's social needs, for instance, assistance to the needy, an internal organ of justice, officiating at weddings, and supporting religious cohesion. At the end of the last quarter of the 15th century, the conversos carried on their activities, some of them clandestine, without suffering external pressures. The guilds did not discriminate based on Jewish origin. The conversos managed some social cohesion. In 1488, while some of
6579-637: The Bourbon Philip V of Spain . Some of the latter perceived the French dynasty as a modernizing element in terms of religion and society, since Bourbon France had never exhibited an attitude of repression and discrimination comparable to the Habsburg rule in Spain, renewed — in the case of Majorca — with Charles II . Thus, a group of Xuetes, led by Gaspar Pinya, clothing dealer and importer, supplier of
6732-880: The Bukhori dialect , Judeo-Tat , and Kurdish languages ; Georgian ; Judeo-Marathi and Judeo-Malayalam . Bukharian Jews from various countries in Central Asia and the Mountain Jews living in Azerbaijan are also widely fluent in Russian due to several of those countries' former status as republics of the Soviet Union . The Jewish diaspora in the Middle East outside the Land of Israel started in
6885-650: The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies has written, "[India] is a country built on the foundations of a civilisation that is fundamentally non-religious." The Dalai Lama , the Tibetan leader in exile, said that religious tolerance of 'Aryabhoomi,' a reference to India found in the Mahabharata , has been in existence in this country from thousands of years. "Not only Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism which are
7038-522: The Council of Constance . Not entirely trusting in his safety, he made his will before he left. His forebodings proved accurate, and he was burned at the stake on 6 July 1415. The council also decreed that Wycliffe's remains be disinterred and cast out. This decree was not carried out until 1429. After the fall of the city of Granada , Spain, in 1492, the Muslim population was promised religious freedom by
7191-818: The European law cases of S.A.S. v. France , as well as numerous other jurisdictions. Symbols of religious freedom are seen in significant locations around the world, such as the Statue of Liberty in New York , representing hope for religious refugees; the Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island , reflecting America's early commitment to religious tolerance ; and the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India ,
7344-499: The First Arab–Israeli War , over 850,000 Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews were expelled or evacuated from Arab and Muslim-majority countries between 1948 and the early 1980s. A 2018 statistic found that 45% of Jewish Israelis identified as either Mizrahi or Sephardic . Mizrahi is literally translated as 'Oriental', 'Eastern', מזרח Mizraḥ , Hebrew for ' east '. In the past, the word Mizrahim , corresponding to
7497-537: The Gran i General Consell , there was not this much hard cash on the entire island. Finally, in the spring of 1679, five autos-da-fé took place, the first of which was preceded by the demolition of the building in the garden and the salting the earth where the conversos met. Before an expectant multitude, condemnation was pronounced against 221 conversos . Afterward, those who were condemned to prison were transported to serve out their sentences in new prisons erected by
7650-510: The Kaddish . Traditionally, Aramaic has been a language of Talmudic debate in yeshivot , as many rabbinic texts are written in a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic. The current Hebrew alphabet , known as "Assyrian lettering" or "the square script", was in fact borrowed from Aramaic. In Kurdistan , a region which includes parts of Turkey , Syria , Iraq and Iran , the language of the Mizrahim
7803-532: The Treaty of Granada , but that promise was short-lived. In 1501, Granada's Muslims were given an ultimatum to either convert to Christianity or to emigrate. The majority converted, but only superficially, continuing to dress and speak as they had before and to secretly practice Islam. The Moriscos (converts to Christianity) were ultimately expelled from Spain between 1609 (Castile) and 1614 (rest of Spain), by Philip III . Martin Luther published his famous 95 Theses in Wittenberg on 31 October 1517. His major aim
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#17327653528607956-412: The Y chromosome , which traces patrilineal descent, and the mitochondrial DNA , which traces matrilineal descent. Likewise, the population is subject to certain pathologies of genetic origin, such as Familial Mediterranean fever , shared with the Sephardi Jews and a high frequency of iron overload particular to that community. The assault on the calls — the Majorcan Jewish ghettoes — in 1391,
8109-425: The botifler nobility, was very active supporting Philip's cause. In 1711, a conspiracy financed by Pinya was discovered. He was sentenced to jail and his properties seized but, as the war ended with a Bourbon victory, he was rewarded with rights associated to the lesser nobility; this did not affect the rest of the community. The tailor Rafel Cortes, Tomàs Forteza and the hunchback Jeroni Cortès, among others, raised
8262-409: The gramalleta indicated what crime its bearer had committed and the punishment imposed. Once the autos-da-fé were over, a painting was created of the convicted heretic wearing the gramalleta and the name of its bearer was included in the painting. In the case of Majorca , these were exhibited publicly in the cloister of St. Domingo to perpetuate and exemplify the record of the verdict. Because of
8415-422: The sanbenitos that have been placed, and renovated this year of 1755, in the cloister of the royal convent of Santo Domingo, of this city of Palma, by the Holy Office of the Inquisition of the Kingdom of Majorca, of defendants relaxados , and reconciled publicly by the same tribunal from the year 1645 ), to insist on the necessity of not forgetting, despite the active opposition of those affected. The attitude of
8568-433: The 18th century, other Jewish communities were established in Newport, Rhode Island, Philadelphia, Charleston, Savannah, and Richmond. Mizrahi Jews Mizrahi Jews ( Hebrew : יהודי המִזְרָח ), also known as Mizrahim ( מִזְרָחִים ) in plural and Mizrahi ( מִזְרָחִי ) in singular, and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or Edot HaMizrach ( עֲדוֹת־הַמִּזְרָח , lit. ' Communities of
8721-611: The 2009 Statistical Abstract of Israel, 50.2% of Israeli Jews are of Mizrahi or Sephardi origin. Anti-Jewish actions by Arab governments in the 1950s and 1960s, in the context of the founding of the State of Israel, led to the departure of large numbers of Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East and North Africa. The exodus of 25,000 Mizrahi Jews from Egypt after the 1956 Suez Crisis led to the overwhelming majority of Mizrahim leaving Arab countries. They became refugees . Most went to Israel. Many Moroccan and Algerian Jews went to France. Thousands of Lebanese, Syrian and Egyptian Jews emigrated to
8874-494: The 6th century BCE, during the Babylonian captivity , which also caused some Jews to flee to Egypt. Other early diaspora areas in the Middle East and North Africa were Persia , Yemen and Cyrene . As Islam started to spread in the 7th century CE, Jews who were living under Muslim rule became dhimmis . Because Jews were seen as " People of the Book ", they were allowed to practice their own religion, but they had an inferior status in an Islamic society. Even though Jews in
9027-536: The Arab world saw themselves (including the ones with family background of converts) and were seen as fundamentally a part of the wider collective of the Jewish people, and they maintained their identity as the descendants of the ancient Israelite tribes. Some Mizrahim migrated to India , Central Asia , and the Caucasus . After the establishment of the State of Israel and subsequent 1948 Arab–Israeli War , most Mizrahim were either expelled by their Arab rulers or chose to leave and emigrated to Israel. According to
9180-479: The Arabic word Mashriqiyyun ( Arabic : مشريقيون , 'Easterners'), referred to the natives of Turkey, Iraq and other Asian countries, as distinct from those of North Africa ( Maghribiyyun ). In medieval and early modern times, the corresponding Hebrew word ma'arav ( מערב ) was used for North Africa. In Talmudic and Geonic times, however, this word ma'arav referred to the land of Israel, as contrasted with Babylonia . For this reason, many object to
9333-534: The Castilianism “ judios ”. The Xuetes, aware of the original offensive meaning of the term xuete , have preferred to identify as "del Segell" , "del carrer" or, most commonly, with "noltros" or "es nostros" ("us"), opposed to "ets altres" ("the others") or "es de fora del carrer" ("those from outside the street"). The Xueta surnames are Aguiló, Bonnin, Cortès, Fortesa, Fuster, Martí, Miró, Picó, Pinya/Piña, Pomar, Segura, Tarongí, Valentí, Valleriola and Valls, as publicly displayed on
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#17327653528609486-435: The Child . In a country with a state religion , freedom of religion is generally considered to mean that the government permits religious practices of other communities besides the state religion, and does not persecute believers in other faiths or those who have no faith; in other countries, freedom of religion includes the right to refuse to support, by taxes or otherwise, a state religion. Freedom of religion includes, at
9639-456: The Court and the General Inquisition took action intended to withdraw the sambenets from the cloister, but without result. Probably the most palpable effect of the Cédulas Reales was the slow disarticulation of the Segell community ( el Carrer ). Instead, there came to be small nuclei of Xuetes among the majority of the population and, timidly, some began to establish themselves in other streets and neighbourhoods. For those remaining at Segell,
9792-811: The East ' ), are terms used in Israeli discourse to refer to a grouping of Jewish communities that lived in the Muslim world . Mizrahi is a political sociological term that was coined with the creation of the State of Israel . It translates as "Easterner" in Hebrew. The term Mizrahi is almost exclusively applied to descendants of Jewish communities from North Africa and Asia ; including Yemenite Jews , Kurdish Jews , Turkish Jews , Egyptian Jews , Syrian Jews , Lebanese Jews , Iraqi Jews , Jordanian Jews , Saudi Arabian Jews , Emirati Jews , Kuwaiti Jews , Bahraini Jews , Qatari Jews , Omani Jews , Algerian Jews , Libyan Jews , Moroccan Jews , Tunisian Jews , Iranian Jews , Bukharian Jews , Afghan Jews , and Mountain Jews . Georgian Jews also fall under
9945-404: The Eastern European Jewish peasants from the villages weren't labeled as "Mizrahi" in Israel, despite fitting it more than the Oriental Jews who were labeled that way. Michael is also against the inclusion of Oriental Jewish communities who do not descend from Sepharadic Jews , as "Sepharadim" by the Israeli politicians, calling it "historically inaccurate". He also claims that his work as an author
10098-411: The Gospel each according to his understanding of it, and if the congregation like it, well. If not, no one shall compel them for their souls would not be satisfied, but they shall be permitted to keep a preacher whose teaching they approve. Therefore none of the superintendents or others shall abuse the preachers, no one shall be reviled for his religion by anyone, according to the previous statutes, and it
10251-404: The Great 's reign in the 3rd century BC. Freedom to practise, preach and propagate any religion is a constitutional right in Republic of India. Most major religious festivals of the main communities are included in the list of national holidays. Many scholars and intellectuals believe that India's predominant religion, Hinduism , has long been a most tolerant religion. Rajni Kothari , founder of
10404-497: The Huguenots, the Dissenters, and the Jews who had been expelled from Spain and Portugal. The establishment of a Jewish community in the Netherlands and New Amsterdam (present-day New York) during the Dutch Republic is an example of religious freedom. When New Amsterdam surrendered to the English in 1664, freedom of religion was guaranteed in the Articles of Capitulation. It benefitted also the Jews who had landed on Manhattan Island in 1654, fleeing Portuguese persecution in Brazil. During
10557-448: The Inquisition, and had their goods confiscated. Once the jail penalties were served, a great part of those who persisted in the Jewish faith, whose clandestine practices were noticed, harassed by inquisitorial vigilance and vexed by a society they considered responsible for the economic crisis provoked by the confiscations, decided to gradually flee the island in small groups. In the middle of this process, an anecdotal event precipitated
10710-436: The Inquisition, which intended to force the disappearance of the Jews by means of their forcible integration into the Christian community, in fact accomplished the opposite: it perpetuated the memory of the condemned and, by extension, of all who carried the infamous lineages, even if they were not relatives and even if they were sincere Christians, and helped create a community that, although it no longer contained Judaic element,
10863-411: The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS), Mizrahi Jews are less likely to pursue academic studies than Ashkenazi Jews. Israeli-born Ashkenazim are up to twice as likely to study in a university as Israeli-born Mizrahim. Furthermore, the percentage of Mizrahim who seek a university education remains low compared to second-generation immigrant groups of Ashkenazi origin, such as Russians. According to
11016-495: The Jewish quarter", "of the ghetto"; Catalan call , from Hebrew קָהָל ( qāhāl , community, synagogue, means "jewish quarter"), perhaps made by functionaries of the Spanish Inquisition of Castilian origin, in reference to the old Jewish quarter of the city of Palma, Majorca . In modern times, it relates to the carrer de l'Argenteria or the street of the silversmiths , after a Xueta street that defines
11169-402: The Jewish sub-ethnicities, Israeli officials, who themselves were mostly Eastern European Jews, transferred the name to them, though most of these immigrants arrived from lands located further westward than Central Europe. Mizrahi is subsequently among the surnames most often changed by Israelis, and many scholars, including Avshalom Kor , claim that the transferring of the name Mizrahim was
11322-484: The King, dear to the Gods, attributes less importance to this charity and these honours than to the vow of seeing the reign of virtues, which constitutes the essential part of them. For all these virtues there is a common source, modesty of speech. That is to say, one must not exalt one's creed discrediting all others, nor must one degrade these others without legitimate reasons. One must, on the contrary, render to other creeds
11475-483: The Majorcan Crypto-Jews of 33 charges, among them their refusal to marry "cristianos de natura" ("natural Christians") and their social rejection of those who did so; the practice of secrecy; the giving of Old Testament names to their children; the identification with their tribe of origin, and the arrangement of marriages as a function of that fact; the exclusion in their homes of the iconography of
11628-476: The Majorcan Inquisition ceased to act against the judaizers, even though there were signs of prohibited practices; the causes may have been: the participation of the inquisitorial structure in conflicts between local armed factions ( bandositats ); the appearance of new religious phenomena such as some conversions to Islam and Protestantism or the control of the morality of the clergy. But, beyond
11781-591: The Middle East and North Africa formed strong attachments to the areas in which they lived, they were seen as a community which was clearly distinct from other communities. For example, while Musta'arabi Jews in the Arab world were influenced by the local culture, e.g. they started speaking variants of the Arabic language and ate their own versions of the same food, they did not adopt Arab identity. Instead, Jews in
11934-481: The Middle East, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, followers of Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Temani (Yemenite) rites. In modern Israeli usage, it refers to all Jews from Central and West Asian countries, many of them Arabic-speaking Muslim-majority countries. The term came to be widely used more by Mizrahi activists in the early 1990s. Since then in Israel it has become an accepted semi-official and media designation. Before
12087-410: The Mizrahim retained culture, customs and language distinct from their Ashkenazi counterparts. The collective estimate for Mizrahim (circa 2018) is at 4,000,000. The cultural differences between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews impacted the degree and rate of assimilation into Israeli society, and sometimes the divide between Eastern European and Middle Eastern Jews was quite sharp. Segregation, especially in
12240-739: The New Testament and the presence of those of the Old; contempt for and insults toward Christians; exercising professions related to weights and measures in order to trick Christians; holding positions in the Church in order to mock them later with impunity; applying their own legal system; taking up collections for their own poor; financing a synagogue in Rome, where they had a representative; holding clandestine meetings; complying with Jewish dietary practices, including those of animal sacrifice and of fast days;
12393-515: The Sephardi Jews exiled from Spain resettled in greater or lesser numbers in the Arab world , such as Syria and Morocco. In Syria, most eventually intermarried with, and assimilated into, the larger established communities of Musta'rabim and Mizrahim. In some North African countries, such as Morocco, Sephardi Jews came in greater numbers, and so largely contributed to the Jewish settlements that
12546-791: The State of Israel, over 850,000 Jews were forced from Arab Lands and Iran. The desperate refugees were welcomed by Israel. By Act of the Knesset: 30 Nov, annually, is the Departure and Expulsion Memorial Day. Memorial donated by the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, With support from the World Sephardi Federation, City of Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Foundation" The sculpture
12699-480: The State was too weak to enforce them. It took the victory of prince Henry IV of France, who had converted into Protestantism, and his accession to the throne, to impose religious tolerance formalized in the Edict of Nantes in 1598. It would remain in force for over 80 years until its revocation in 1685 by Louis XIV of France . Intolerance remained the norm until Louis XVI, who signed the Edict of Versailles (1787), then
12852-531: The Swiss cantons that accepted Protestantism and the Catholics. In 1531, the Catholics were victorious, and Zwingli was killed in battle. The Catholic cantons made peace with Zurich and Berne. The defiance of papal authority proved contagious, and in 1533, when Henry VIII of England was excommunicated for his divorce and remarriage to Anne Boleyn, he promptly established a state church with bishops appointed by
13005-832: The United States, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and other countries in the Americas. Today, as many as 40,000 Mizrahim still remain in communities scattered throughout the non-Arab Muslim world , primarily in Iran, but also Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. There are few Maghrebim remaining in the Arab world. About 3,000 remain in Morocco and 1,100 in Tunisia. Other countries with remnants of ancient Jewish communities with official recognition, such as Lebanon, have 100 or fewer Jews. A trickle of emigration continues, mainly to Israel and
13158-672: The United States. In the Union of Utrecht (20 January 1579), personal freedom of religion was declared in the struggle between the Northern Netherlands and Spain. The Union of Utrecht was an important step in the establishment of the Dutch Republic (from 1581 to 1795). Under Calvinist leadership, the Netherlands became the most tolerant country in Europe. It granted asylum to persecuted religious minorities, such as
13311-642: The United States. 9 May 2021, the first physical memorialization in Israel of the Departure and Expulsion of Jews from Arab land and Iran was placed on the Sherover Promenade in Jerusalem. It is titled the Departure and Expulsion Memorial following the Knesset law for the annual recognition of the Jewish experience held annually on 30 November. The text on the Memorial reads; "With the birth of
13464-520: The accord and the exile of the Xuetes to Menorca and to Cabrera , where they would be confined with strong restrictions on their liberty. Finally, the king inclined, timidly, in favor of the Xuetes: on 29 November 1782 he signed the Real Cédula (Royal Decree) that decreed liberty of movement and residency, the elimination of all architectonic elements that distinguished the Segell district, and
13617-401: The accused solicited the opportunity to return to the Church, and were reconciled. Part of the penalty consisted of the confiscation of all of the goods of the condemned, which were valued at two million Majorcan lliura which, according to the usual procedures of the inquisition, had to be paid in actual currency. This constituted an exorbitant quantity for the era and, according to a protest of
13770-525: The area of housing, limited integration possibilities over the years. Intermarriage between Ashkenazim and Mizrahim is increasingly common in Israel and by the late 1990s 28% of all Israeli children had multi-ethnic parents (up from 14% in the 1950s). It has been claimed that intermarriage does not tend to decrease ethnic differences in socio-economic status, however, that does not apply to the children of inter-ethnic marriages. Although social integration has increased, disparities persist. A study conducted by
13923-577: The category of Mizrahi. Indian Jews are sometimes labeled as Mizrahi, though members of the community have identified themselves as a separate category. Mizrahi Jews of the Mashriq , consisting roughly of Egypt , Sudan , the Arabian Peninsula , and the Arab regions of the Levant , may be referred to as Mashriqi Jews. These various Jewish communities were first officially grouped into
14076-644: The constitutional text of 24 December 1789, granting civilian rights to Protestants. The French Revolution then abolished state religion and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) guarantees freedom of religion, as long as religious activities do not infringe on public order in ways detrimental to society. In 1558, the Hungarian Diet 's Edict of Torda declared free practice of both Catholicism and Lutheranism. Calvinism, however,
14229-498: The convent of Santo Domingo. Picó and Segura are not found among those condemned by the Inquisition, and Valentí is also absent, which was originally the nickname of a family who were then known as Fortesa. Note that many of those surnames are also very common in the general population of Catalan-speaking territories. The surnames Galiana, Moyà and Sureda figure among the penitents without having been considered Xuetes. Numerous surnames in Majorca with clear Jewish origin are present on
14382-426: The converts, the resumption of religious practices in community, rather than limited to a domestic context, a new growth of religious zeal, and the judgment against Alonso López could have been influential factors. In July 1672, a merchant informed the Inquisition that some Jews of Livorno had made inquiries about the Jews of Majorca with the names "Forteses, Aguilons, Martins, Tarongins, Cortesos, Picons". In 1673,
14535-580: The crown. This was not without internal opposition, and Thomas More , who had been his Lord Chancellor, was executed in 1535 for opposition to Henry. In 1535, the Swiss canton of Geneva became Protestant. In 1536, the Bernese imposed the reformation on the canton of Vaud by conquest. They sacked the cathedral in Lausanne and destroyed all its art and statuary. John Calvin , who had been active in Geneva
14688-566: The detention of some of the leaders of the Crypto-Jewish community of Majorca, Pere Onofre Cortès (also known as Moixina), master of one of the servants and proprietor of the garden, along with five other people. From that point on, they proceeded to arrest 237 individuals in the course of a single year. Helped by corrupt functionaries, the accused were able to arrange to only provide limited information in their own confessions and to denounce as few of their co-religionists as possible. All of
14841-402: The deterioration of this public display, the Supreme Inquisition ordered its renovation on several occasions in the 17th century. The matter led to conflict because of the presence of a great number of lineages, some of which coincided with those of the nobility, but finally in 1755 the order was carried out, surely because it was now restricted to the renovation of sambenets after 1645, and that
14994-437: The dispersion throughout the city, if necessary by force, of the Xuetes and the elimination of all formal mechanisms of mutual assistance among them; access without restriction to all ecclesiastical, university and military positions; the abolition of the guilds; and the suppression of the statutes of "purity of blood", and, if this were not possible, to limit these to 100 years; these last two were proposed to be applied throughout
15147-429: The dominant Ashkenazi community. Furthermore, a policy of austerity was enforced at that time due to economic hardships. Mizrahi immigrants arrived speaking many languages: Mizrahim from elsewhere brought Georgian, Judaeo-Georgian and various other languages with them. Hebrew had historically been a language only of prayer for most Jews not living in Israel, including the Mizrahim. Thus, with their arrival in Israel,
15300-497: The era of Sabbatai Zevi , but it is unknown whether he had any contact with him. An internal system of social stratification probably began in that period, although it is also believed to be a remnant of the Jewish (pre-conversion) period. This system distinguished a kind of aristocracy, called "orella alta" (literally "high ears"), from the rest of the group, "orella baixa" ("low ears"). Along with other distinctions based on religion, professions, and parentage this configured
15453-714: The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the various current communities of Mizrahi Jews did not identify themselves as a distinctive Jewish subgroup, and many considered themselves Sephardis, as they largely followed the Sephardic customs and traditions of Judaism with local variations in minhagim . The original Sephardi Jewish community was formed in Spain and Portugal , and after their expulsion in 1492 , many Sephardim settled in areas where Mizrahi communities already existed. This complicated ethnography has resulted in
15606-461: The establishment of the state of Israel, Mizrahi Jews did not identify themselves as a separate Jewish subgroup. Instead, Mizrahi Jews generally characterized themselves as Sephardi , as they follow the customs and traditions of Sephardi Judaism (but with some differences among the minhag "customs" of particular communities). That has resulted in a conflation of terms, particularly in Israel and in religious usage, with "Sephardi" being used in
15759-634: The ethnic as opposed to the religious sense. In some Arabic countries, such as Egypt and Syria, Sephardi Jews arrived via the Ottoman Empire would distinguish themselves from the already established Musta'rabim, while in others, such as Morocco and Algeria, the two communities largely intermarried, with the latter embracing Sephardi customs and thus forming a single community. In the Arab world (such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan), Mizrahim most often speak Arabic . Most of
15912-409: The extent to which discrimination was alive and had deep ideological roots; conversely, they are also a proof of the perseverance of the Xuetes in their demands for equality. In October 1782, the prosecutor of the Real Audiencia de Mallorca, despite being aware of the result of these deliberations favorable to the Xuetes, raised a memorandum including highly racist reasoning, proposing the suspension of
16065-555: The free territories. It was presented to Charles V in 1530. In the Holy Roman Empire , Charles V agreed to tolerate Lutheranism in 1555 at the Peace of Augsburg . Each state was to take the religion of its prince, but within those states, there was not necessarily religious tolerance. Citizens of other faiths could relocate to a more hospitable environment. In France, from the 1550s, many attempts to reconcile Catholics and Protestants and to establish tolerance failed because
16218-732: The guild organizations and religious orders. But despite all of this, a small group persevered in their clandestine practices, essentially those who would later be known as the Xuetes, those who, furthermore, maintained and adopted social, familial, and economic strategies of internal cohesion. From 1640, the descendants of the converts began a marked process of economic ascent and increasing commercial influence. Previously, and with some exceptions, they had been artisans, shopkeepers, and retail distributors, but starting from this time, and for reasons not well explained, some began to focus strongly on economic activity: they created complex mercantile companies, participated in foreign trade, coming to control, at
16371-485: The history of the Majorcan Jews ). In the 20th century, there have been abundant republications, all with an intention contrary to that of its author, given that some passages were of scandalous crudity, and lack the most elementary sensibility. The gramalleta or sambenet ( Spanish : sanbenito ) was a tunic that individuals condemned by the Inquisition were forced to wear as punishment. The decorations on
16524-584: The honour befitting them. On the main Asian continent, the Mongols were tolerant of religions. People could worship as they wished freely and openly. After the arrival of Europeans, Christians in their zeal to convert local as per belief in conversion as service of God, have also been seen to fall into frivolous methods since their arrival, though by and large there are hardly any reports of law and order disturbance from mobs with Christian beliefs, except perhaps in
16677-533: The inquisitorial trials, published la Fee Triunfante en quatro autos celebrados en Mallorca por el Santo Oficio de la Inquisición en que an salido ochenta i ocho reos, i de treinta, i siete relaiados solo uvo tres pertinaces ( Faith Triumphant in four acts celebrated in Majorca by the Holy Office of the Inquisition in which tried eighty-eight defendants, and of thirty-seven turned over to civil authorities only three remained stubborn ). Apart from its importance as
16830-507: The intense exterior economic activity, the Xuetes resumed their contact with the international communities of Jews, especially of Livorno , of Rome , of Marseille , and of Amsterdam , through whom the converts had access to Jewish literature. It is known that Rafel Valls, known as "el Rabí" ("the Rabbi") religious leader of the Majorcan converts, traveled to Alexandria and Smyrna in
16983-515: The island but are not considered to belong to the Xueta community. Examples are Abraham, Amar, Bofill, Bonet, Daviu, Duran, Homar, Jordà, Maimó, Salom, Vidal among others. Inquisition registers from the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century documented more than 330 surnames for those persons condemned in Majorca. Therefore, Converso origin is not sufficient to be considered Xueta. Although Xuetas are descendants of Conversos, only
17136-498: The kingdom. Then began a new period of consultations and a new trial, which generated in October 1785 a second Cédula Real , which largely ignored the panel's proposal, and was limited to allowing access to the army and the civil administration. Finally, in 1788, a final disposition established simple equality in the exercise of whatever office, but still without a word about the university nor ecclesiastical positions. That same year,
17289-532: The last converts of 1435 were still alive, the first Inquisitors of the Spanish Inquisition — a tribunal newly created by the Catholic Monarchs as part of an effort to forge a nation state on the base of religious uniformity — arrived in Majorca. The introduction of such a tribunal was followed by public complaints and general opposition in Majorca, as throughout the rest of the Crown of Aragon , but it
17442-587: The latter was in part a reaction to the growing movement that became the Reformation . As early as 1380, John Wycliffe in England denied transubstantiation and began his translation of the Bible into English. He was condemned in a papal bull in 1410, and all his books were burned. In 1414, Jan Hus , a Bohemian preacher of reformation, was given a safe conduct by the Holy Roman Emperor to attend
17595-477: The law is usually blind to religious affiliation. In Antiquity , a syncretic point of view often allowed communities of traders to operate under their own customs. When street mobs of separate quarters clashed in a Hellenistic or Roman city, the issue was generally perceived to be an infringement of community rights. Cyrus the Great established the Achaemenid Empire ca. 550 BC, and initiated
17748-794: The lineages thus implicated in Judaic practices were limited strictly to Xuetes, not the broader range of people prosecuted at an earlier date. The sambenets were to remain exposed until 1820, when a group of Xuetes assaulted and burned St. Domingo. In the same year, 1755, in which Faith Triumphant was republished, another work was published as well, the Relación de los sanbenitos que se han puesto, y renovado este año de 1755, en el Claustro del Real Convento de Santo Domingo, de esta Ciudad de Palma, por el Santo Oficio de la Inquisición del Reyno de Mallorca, de reos relaxados, y reconciliados publicamente por el mismo tribunal desde el año de 1645 ( The relation of
17901-707: The local Catholic clergy. The Norman Kingdom of Sicily under Roger II was characterized by its multi-ethnic nature and religious tolerance. Normans, Jews, Muslim Arabs, Byzantine Greeks, Lombards, and native Sicilians lived in harmony. Rather than exterminate the Muslims of Sicily, Roger II's grandson Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (1215–1250) allowed them to settle on the mainland and build mosques. Not least, he enlisted them in his – Christian – army and even into his personal bodyguards. Kingdom of Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic) enjoyed religious freedom between 1436 and 1620 as
18054-533: The luxurious adornment they used during their lobbying — in order to address King Charles III to make a claim for outright social and juridical equality with other Majorcans. In this regard, the Court decided to inquire of the Majorcan institutions, which frontally and decidedly opposed the pretensions of the descendants of the conversos . A lengthy and costly trial followed, in which the parties passionately stated their cases. The documents used in this trial demonstrate
18207-452: The many notable philosophical, religious and literary works of the Jews in Spain, North Africa and Asia were written in Arabic using a modified Hebrew alphabet . Aramaic is a Semitic language subfamily. Specific varieties of Aramaic are identified as " Jewish languages " since they are the languages of major Jewish texts such as the Talmud and Zohar , and many ritual recitations such as
18360-563: The native religions but also Christianity and Islam have flourished here. Religious tolerance is inherent in Indian tradition," the Dalai Lama said. Freedom of religion in the Indian subcontinent is exemplified by the reign of King Piyadasi (304–232 BC) ( Ashoka ). One of King Ashoka's main concerns was to reform governmental institutes and exercise moral principles in his attempt to create
18513-414: The neighborhood around the church of Santa Eulàlia. This neighbourhood is where the majority of the Xueta lived, and takes its name from a popular occupation of that group. In some older official documents, the expressions "de gènere hebreorum" ("of Hebrew genus") or "d'estirp hebrea" ("of Hebrew lineage") are used. The Xueta have been referred to simply as jueus ("Jews") or, more frequently, by
18666-666: The new Austrian masters forced in the middle of the 18th century the Hutterite Anabaptists (who found a safe haven in 1621 in Transylvania, after the persecution to which they were subjected in the Austrian provinces and Moravia) to convert to Catholicism or to migrate in another country, which finally the Anabaptists did, leaving Transylvania and Hungary for Wallachia, then from there to Russia, and finally in
18819-659: The nobility and the clergy, even with the functionaries of the Inquisition. The renewed energy and the political alliances achieved permitted them to fight actively for equal rights, adjusting to whatever the surrounding circumstances were. As with the rest of the island's population during the War of the Spanish Succession , amongst Xuetes there were both maulets — supporters of the Habsburg Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor and botiflers — supporters of
18972-426: The north eastern region of India. Freedom of religion in contemporary India is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 25 of the nation's constitution. Accordingly, every citizen of India has a right to profess, practice and propagate their religions peacefully. In September 2010, the Indian state of Kerala 's State Election Commissioner announced that "Religious heads cannot issue calls to vote for members of
19125-569: The observance of the Jewish Sabbath ; and avoidance of Last Rites at the time of death. Four years later, in 1677, the Supreme Inquisition ordered the Majorcan Inquisition to act on the case of the confession of the servants. According to the servants, the observants , as they called themselves, in reference to the Torah , met in a garden in Palma where they observed Yom Kippur . This led to
19278-599: The other religions, like the Orthodoxs , Sabbatarians and Anabaptists were tolerated churches (religio tolerata), which meant that they had no power in the law making and no veto rights in the Diet, but they were not persecuted in any way. Thanks to the Edict of Torda, from the last decades of the 16th century Transylvania was the only place in Europe, where so many religions could live together in harmony and without persecution. This religious freedom ended however for some of
19431-461: The peripheries of Israel. Settlement in moshavim (cooperative farming villages) was only partially successful, because Mizrahim had historically filled a niche as craftsmen and merchants and most did not traditionally engage in farmwork. As the majority left their property behind in their home countries as they journeyed to Israel, many suffered a severe decrease in their socio-economic status aggravated by their cultural and political differences with
19584-570: The possessions of Frederick III, Elector of Saxony , where he translated the New Testament into German. He was excommunicated by papal bull in 1521. However, the movement continued to gain ground in his absence and spread to Switzerland. Huldrych Zwingli preached reform in Zürich from 1520 to 1523. He opposed the sale of indulgences, celibacy, pilgrimages, pictures, statues, relics, altars, and organs. This culminated in outright war between
19737-438: The pre-existing Jews were assimilated by the more recently arrived Sephardi Jews. Either way, this assimilation, combined with the use of the Sephardi rite, led to the popular designation and conflation of most non-Ashkenazi Jewish communities from Western Asia and North Africa as "Sephardi rite", whether or not they were descended from Spanish Jews, which is what the terms "Sephardi Jews" and "Sfaradim" properly implied when used in
19890-418: The preaching of Vincent Ferrer in 1413, and the conversion of the remainder of the Jewish community of Majorca, in 1435, constituted the three events that resulted in numerous conversos . They had agreed to mass conversions in order to manage a collective peril rather than individual spiritual changes. Many of the new Christians continued their traditional communal and religious practices. They established
20043-410: The prohibition of insults, mistreatment, and the use of denigrating expressions. Also, with reservations, the king showed himself to be favorable to the establishment of outright professional liberty and the participation of the Xuetes in the navy and army, but gave instructions that these dispositions would not take effect until some time had passed in order to allow the controversy to ease. Before half
20196-460: The religions of Transylvania in 1638. After this year the Sabbatarians began to be persecuted and forced to convert to one of the accepted Christian religions of Transylvania. The Unitarians (despite being one of the "accepted religions") started to be put under an ever-growing pressure, which culminated after the Habsburg conquest of Transylvania (1691), Also after the Habsburg occupation,
20349-664: The rite of the Sephardim, perceived as more prestigious. Even before this assimilation, the original rite of many Jewish Oriental communities was already closer to the Sephardi rite than to the Ashkenazi one. For this reason, "Sephardim" has come to mean not only "Spanish Jews" proper but "Jews of the Spanish rite", just as " Ashkenazim " is used for "Jews of the German rite", whether or not their families originate in Germany. Many of
20502-471: The same attitudes of social discrimination, matrimonial endogamy and traditional professions were kept but, in any case, segregation was overt and public in the world of education and religion, bastions untouched by the reforms of Charles III. Majorca was not occupied during the Napoleonic invasion and, in contrast to the liberalism that dominated the new Spanish Constitution of 1812 , the island became
20655-507: The same religious rituals as Sephardim proper due to historical reasons. The prevalence of the Sephardi rite among Mizrahim is partially a result of Sephardim proper joining some of Mizrahi communities following the 1492 Alhambra Decree , which expelled Jews from Sepharad ( Spain and Portugal ). Over the last few centuries, the previously distinctive rites of the Mizrahi communities were influenced, superimposed upon or altogether replaced by
20808-414: The siblings Rafel Benet and Caterina Tarongí — were burned alive. 30,000 people attended. The sentences dictated by the Inquisition included other penalties that were to be maintained for at least two generations: those in the household of the condemned, as well as their children and grandchildren, could not hold public offices, be ordained as priests, marry persons other than Xuetes, carry jewelry or ride
20961-408: The time of the end of the inquisitorial trials, 36% of the total, they dominated the market for insurance and retail commerce of imported products. Otherwise, companies were usually owned by conversos , and they gave part of their profits to works of charity in benefit of the "community", unlike the rest of the population, that used to give its profits as charity donations to the Church. Because of
21114-462: The trials of 1691 came the end of the Crypto-Jewry of Majorca. The effect of the escape of the leaders, the devastation of the mass burnings, and the generalized fear made it impossible to sustain the ancestral faith. It is after these events that we can begin to actually speak of the Xuetes. The same year as the autos de fe of 1691, Francesc Garau, Jesuit, theologian and active participant in
21267-495: The two terms. Crucial in the consideration of religious liberty is the question of whether religious practices and religiously motivated actions that would otherwise violate secular law should be permitted due to the safeguarding freedom of religion. This issue is addressed in numerous court cases including the United States Supreme Court cases Reynolds v. United States and Wisconsin v. Yoder and in
21420-521: The use of Mizrahi to include Moroccan and other North African Jews. During the 1940s, before Israel's establishment, the demographer Roberto Bachi used the categories of "Mizrahim" and " Ashkenzim " in his ethnic classification of the Yishuv . In the 1950s, the Jews who came from the communities listed above were simply called and known as Jews ( Yahud , يهود in Arabic) and to distinguish them in
21573-542: The word xuia may have provoked the substitution of the j of juetó by the x of xuetó , and xueta could have been imposed over xuetó by the greater phonetic resemblance with xuia . The Xueta have also been called "del Segell" ("of Segell"), after a street on which many lived, or del carrer ("of the street") as a shortened form of "del carrer del Segell" ; possibly also by way of Castilian Spanish "de la calle" , provoked from an approximate phonetic translation of "del call" ("of
21726-618: Was called " The Western Jewish Diaspora Council " ( Hebrew : ועד העדה המערבית בירושלים ). Many Jews originated from Arab and Muslim countries today reject Mizrahi (or any) umbrella description, and prefer to identify themselves by their particular country of origin, or that of their immediate ancestors, such as "Moroccan Jew", or prefer to use the old term Sephardi in its broader meaning. Today, many identify non-Ashkenazi rite Jews as Sephardi – in modern Hebrew Sfaradim – mixing ancestral origin and religious rite. This broader definition of "Sephardim" as including all, or most, Mizrahi Jews
21879-400: Was characterized by the reduction of the group by means of the flight of the penitents of the earlier epoch, the unconditional adhesion to Catholicism of the majority of those who remained, and the generalization of the statutes of neteja de sang (literally "purity of blood", most commonly referred to in English by the Spanish language expression limpieza de sangre ) in the majority of
22032-545: Was expelled in 1538 in a power struggle, but he was invited back in 1540. The same kind of seesaw back and forth between Protestantism and Catholicism was evident in England when Mary I of England returned that country briefly to the Catholic fold in 1553 and persecuted Protestants. However, her half-sister, Elizabeth I of England was to restore the Church of England in 1558, this time permanently, and began to persecute Catholics again. The King James Bible commissioned by King James I of England and published in 1611 proved
22185-414: Was firmly established after the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. Gradually freedom of religion in Bohemian lands came to an end and Protestants fled or were expelled from the country. A devout Catholic, Emperor Ferdinand II forcibly converted Austrian and Bohemian Protestants. In the meantime, in Germany Philip Melanchthon drafted the Augsburg Confession as a common confession for the Lutherans and
22338-440: Was legalised by the Roman emperor Galerius in 311. Holmes and Bickers note that as long as Christianity was treated as a part of Judaism, which was generally tolerated because of its antiquity and its practice of making offers on behalf of the emperor, it enjoyed the same freedom, but the Christian claim to religious exclusivity meant its followers found themselves subject to hostility. The early Christian apologist Tertullian
22491-411: Was one of the first rulers who in 13th century enacted a law explicitly guaranteeing religious freedom to everyone and every religion. The Romans tolerated most religions, including Judaism , and encouraged local subjects to continue worshipping their own gods. They did not however, tolerate Christianity , because of the Christian refusal to offer honours to the official cult of the emperor, until it
22644-399: Was prohibited. Calvinism was included among the accepted religions in 1564. Ten years after the first law, in 1568, the same Diet, under the chairmanship of King of Hungary , and Prince of Transylvania John Sigismund Zápolya (John II), following the teaching of Ferenc Dávid , the founder of the Unitarian Church of Transylvania , extended the freedom to all religions, declaring that " It
22797-425: Was reconciled). Also, in the 18th century, the Inquisition carried out two individual trials: in 1718, Rafel Pinya spontaneously inculpated himself and was reconciled, and in 1720, Gabriel Cortès, (also known as Morrofés) fled to Alexandria and returned formally to Judaism; he was burnt in effigy as the last person condemned to death by the Majorcan Inquisition. There is no doubt that these last cases are anecdotal; with
22950-436: Was still obliged to maintain a strong cohesion. In contrast, the descendants of the island's other crypto-Jews, those who were not so brought to the public view, lost all notion of their origins. But, soon after, the Xuetes regained the leading role that they had before the inquisitorial trials. Now, deprived of their religious network, and their fortunes having been requisitioned, they sought to protect commercial alliances with
23103-488: Was the first-known writer to employ the term "freedom of religion" ( libertas religionis ), which appears in the 24th chapter of his Apologeticum . He expanded on the case for the tolerance of all religious views in his epistle to proconsul Scapula, in which he states [I]t is a human right [( humanis ius )], a privilege of nature [( naturalis potestas )], that every man should worship according to his own convictions: one man's religion neither harms nor helps another man. It
23256-403: Was theological, summed up in the three basic dogmas of Protestantism: In consequence, Luther hoped to stop the sale of indulgences and to reform the Church from within. In 1521, he was given the chance to recant at the Diet of Worms before Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor . After he refused to recant, he was declared heretic. Partly for his own protection, he was sequestered on the Wartburg in
23409-466: Was useless. Their central objective was the repression of Crypto-Judaism, which they began by applying the Edicts of Grace , which allow severe punishment for heresy to be avoided through self-incrimination . By the Edicts of Grace (1488–1492), 559 Majorcans confessed to Jewish practices and the Inquisition obtained the names of the majority of the Judaizing Majorcans, against whom, together with their families and their closest associates, they exercised
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