Recently, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, speaking during a Hanukkah celebration at the Jackson Heights Jewish Center claimed, 'One of the things that we discovered about ourselves is that a very, very long time ago, generations and generations ago, my family consisted of Sephardic Jews.' Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, and settled in the Middle East, North Africa, Southern Europe, and later the Western Hemisphere.
Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed for the first time publicly on Sunday that she has Jewish ancestry while speaking during a Hanukkah event in her home borough of Queens. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Who Once Claimed Jewish Ancestry, Now Says She's ‘Black' June 24, 2020 Baxter Dmitry News, US 36 Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Email Reddit. When Ocasio-Cortez announced her Sephardic ancestry at a Jews for Racial and Economic Justice Hannukah party this past December, she implicitly told us why Jewish identity in the context of Latin America is a messy one: 'As is the story of Puerto Rico, we are a people that are an amalgamation; We are no one thing.
Ocasio-Cortez explained that she was descended from Jews who fled Spain during the Spanish Inquisition, when 'many people were forced to convert on the exterior to Catholicism but on the interior continued to practice their faith.' Although she has identified as Catholic, she said her understanding of her ancestry came from 'doing a lot of family trees in the last couple of years.'
Ocasio-Cortez and the Complexity of Jewish Ancestry. I thought of my students when I heard the news that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a newly minted congresswoman from New York, revealed her own. Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) claimed Sunday night at a Hanukkah party in New York that she has Jewish ancestry. 'A very, very long time ago, generations and generations ago, my family consisted of Sephardic Jews.
'A strong group of people, strong-willed, that were determined to continue living life as they wanted to, decided to get on a boat and leave Spain,' she continued, 'Some of those people landed in Puerto Rico,' where her mother was born, her father is also Puerto Rican, although born in America.
Well, if Ocasio-Cortez wants to claim Jewish ancestry, she better be ready for it!
What did Ocasio-Cortez think would happen, when she compared Jewish Holocaust-era refugees to the Central American migrants, 'the caravan,' seeking to enter America today?
She obviously never gave it much thought.
By openly admitting to Jewish ancestry, Ocasio-Cortez has brought disrepute to Jews and Israel, because of her 'self-hating' Israel-bashing. 6 qts gallons.
If she wants to attribute connection to the 'tribe,' she should learn some of 'her' history, throw off her Galut/Exile shackles, and identify openly with the struggle of her own people, the Jews, including their return to the ancient homeland they were forcibly exiled from, Israel.
Stop being a Gringa!
Gringo (m.) or gringa (f.), is a derogatory term, a foreigner from the perspective of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking culture. Like an Uncle Tom, it was originally used in Spain to degrade any foreign, non-native speakers of Spanish, like the Sephardic Jews of old.
The derogatory term 'Marranos' in Spanish, literally, 'pigs,' was also used to refer to Jews. Probably because of the Jewish prohibition against eating pig meat. Ironically, in Mexican cuisine today, a gringa is a flour tortilla, with al pastor pork meat and cheese, served with chilli sauce.
The Catholic Hispanic world hated you Alexandria, that is Jews, in the Iberian peninsula and later Hispanic New World. Stop pandering to the Hispanics, those people who inquisitioned, tortured, burnt (the last as late as 1850 in Mexico), murdered, and exiled your people.
Stop identifying with the oppressor.
The Catholic Hispanic world hated you Alexandria, that is Jews, in the Iberian peninsula and later Hispanic New World.
Ocasio-Cortez has been outspoken, and ignorantly anti-Israel since her campaign began. While Gazans were rioting, burning down Israeli crops with flaming kites, attacking Israeli security personnel along the Gaza-Israel border, and sending into Israel explodable balloons, Ocasio-Cortez running against Rep. Joseph Crowley in the primaries, condemned the deaths of a few violent Palestinian Arabs storning Israel's border, as a 'massacre,' ignoring what was happening to 'her own people.'
777 slots classic vegas slots. In July, she criticized the 'occupation of Palestine,' but then admitted later, she was 'not the expert' on the issue.
In the past, many Jewish converts to other faiths, like Pablo Christiani have caused the Jewish people endless suffering. So too, have descendants of converts, like Tomás de Torquemada, the first Grand Inquisitor, during the Spanish Inquisition, Karl Marx and possibly even Adolph Hitler.
The children of a Jewish father but not mother, making them non-Jews according to Jewish law, sometimes cause great problems too.
Take Frank Collin, a follower of George Lincoln Rockwell, and founder/leader of the National Socialist Party of America in Chicago during the 1970s. Collin's father, Max Frank Collin, born Max Simon Cohn, was a Holocaust survivor who had changed his name from Cohen to Collin. Frank Collin's mother was a Catholic. Frank Collin tormented Jews in the 'Skokie Affair,' when his NSPA threatened to march in Skokie, IL, a town where one in six Jews were Holocaust survivors. The notoriety gained from this incident btw, led to the NSPA being spoofed later, in the 1980 film, The Blues Brothers.
Ocasio-Cortez, get off the fence (or is that a wall you're on), you have to decide, are you part of the problem, or part of the solution. Are you identifying with the oppressors of Jews or coming back home?
Don't think you can use the, 'I'm descended from Jews' line, as a shield to deflect accusations of anti-Semitism or anti-Israelism. Maybe some African-American comedians and rappers, can say 'nigger, nigger, nigger,' and not be accused of racism, while others would be, but you Alexandria, we really don't know about.
Why not convert and move back to Israel, your ancestral homeland, where you can live as a free, proud, open Jewess and help in a historic project, the rebuilding of Jewish civilization. Then we'll know for sure that you're Jewish.
Alexandria, come out of the closet, and bring your menorah.
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Ancestry
'A strong group of people, strong-willed, that were determined to continue living life as they wanted to, decided to get on a boat and leave Spain,' she continued, 'Some of those people landed in Puerto Rico,' where her mother was born, her father is also Puerto Rican, although born in America.
Well, if Ocasio-Cortez wants to claim Jewish ancestry, she better be ready for it!
What did Ocasio-Cortez think would happen, when she compared Jewish Holocaust-era refugees to the Central American migrants, 'the caravan,' seeking to enter America today?
She obviously never gave it much thought.
By openly admitting to Jewish ancestry, Ocasio-Cortez has brought disrepute to Jews and Israel, because of her 'self-hating' Israel-bashing. 6 qts gallons.
If she wants to attribute connection to the 'tribe,' she should learn some of 'her' history, throw off her Galut/Exile shackles, and identify openly with the struggle of her own people, the Jews, including their return to the ancient homeland they were forcibly exiled from, Israel.
Stop being a Gringa!
Gringo (m.) or gringa (f.), is a derogatory term, a foreigner from the perspective of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking culture. Like an Uncle Tom, it was originally used in Spain to degrade any foreign, non-native speakers of Spanish, like the Sephardic Jews of old.
The derogatory term 'Marranos' in Spanish, literally, 'pigs,' was also used to refer to Jews. Probably because of the Jewish prohibition against eating pig meat. Ironically, in Mexican cuisine today, a gringa is a flour tortilla, with al pastor pork meat and cheese, served with chilli sauce.
The Catholic Hispanic world hated you Alexandria, that is Jews, in the Iberian peninsula and later Hispanic New World. Stop pandering to the Hispanics, those people who inquisitioned, tortured, burnt (the last as late as 1850 in Mexico), murdered, and exiled your people.
Stop identifying with the oppressor.
The Catholic Hispanic world hated you Alexandria, that is Jews, in the Iberian peninsula and later Hispanic New World.
Ocasio-Cortez has been outspoken, and ignorantly anti-Israel since her campaign began. While Gazans were rioting, burning down Israeli crops with flaming kites, attacking Israeli security personnel along the Gaza-Israel border, and sending into Israel explodable balloons, Ocasio-Cortez running against Rep. Joseph Crowley in the primaries, condemned the deaths of a few violent Palestinian Arabs storning Israel's border, as a 'massacre,' ignoring what was happening to 'her own people.'
777 slots classic vegas slots. In July, she criticized the 'occupation of Palestine,' but then admitted later, she was 'not the expert' on the issue.
In the past, many Jewish converts to other faiths, like Pablo Christiani have caused the Jewish people endless suffering. So too, have descendants of converts, like Tomás de Torquemada, the first Grand Inquisitor, during the Spanish Inquisition, Karl Marx and possibly even Adolph Hitler.
The children of a Jewish father but not mother, making them non-Jews according to Jewish law, sometimes cause great problems too.
Take Frank Collin, a follower of George Lincoln Rockwell, and founder/leader of the National Socialist Party of America in Chicago during the 1970s. Collin's father, Max Frank Collin, born Max Simon Cohn, was a Holocaust survivor who had changed his name from Cohen to Collin. Frank Collin's mother was a Catholic. Frank Collin tormented Jews in the 'Skokie Affair,' when his NSPA threatened to march in Skokie, IL, a town where one in six Jews were Holocaust survivors. The notoriety gained from this incident btw, led to the NSPA being spoofed later, in the 1980 film, The Blues Brothers.
Ocasio-Cortez, get off the fence (or is that a wall you're on), you have to decide, are you part of the problem, or part of the solution. Are you identifying with the oppressors of Jews or coming back home?
Don't think you can use the, 'I'm descended from Jews' line, as a shield to deflect accusations of anti-Semitism or anti-Israelism. Maybe some African-American comedians and rappers, can say 'nigger, nigger, nigger,' and not be accused of racism, while others would be, but you Alexandria, we really don't know about.
Why not convert and move back to Israel, your ancestral homeland, where you can live as a free, proud, open Jewess and help in a historic project, the rebuilding of Jewish civilization. Then we'll know for sure that you're Jewish.
Alexandria, come out of the closet, and bring your menorah.
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Ancestry
Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master's Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.
Ocasio Cortez Religion
(c) 2018/5779 Pasko
MANY PEOPLE KNOW that the Galilean city of Safed in the 16th century was a focal point for the Jewish mystical tradition. Fewer people know it was the home of R. Jacob Berab (or Berav) (1474-1546). In his time, Safed was one of many Jewish communities inundated with Spanish and Portuguese converso emigres, individuals claiming Jewish lineage who wanted to be accepted back into the Jewish community. One of Berab's most controversial acts was to suggest the reconstitution of an official Sanhedrin, a rabbinical court from ancient times, in order to decide the cases of large numbers of conversos who were flooding back into Jewish communities.
I was reminded of this history by last month's pronouncement by democratic socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that she descends from Spanish Jews—a pronouncement made just a week before a new genetic study showed that over a quarter of Latin American individuals do indeed have conversoheritage. Perhaps unsurprisingly, instead of pondering the larger implications of the complex relationship of the left and Jewishness, many politically conservative American Jews were more interested in debunking her claim of Jewish heritage as if it was an attempt at affiliationwith Judaism. The difference is important.
Unlike many of the the conversosconcerning Berab, Ocasio-Cortez is not claiming to be Jewish, only to have descended from Jews. Traditionally, Jewishness is determined by maternal lineage (now, in the American Reform movement, also paternal lineage) that can be documented in some way, although many Jews who today identify as such have no documentary evidence beyond a few generations. But more importantly, claiming Jewish heritage, rather than Jewishness per se, only suggests that one has Jewish ancestry, and from a Jewish perspective such a claim needn't be 'proven,' simply because the claimant is not asking to be considered a Jew. Many who make such heritage claims do so on the basis of family lore, or perhaps some customs or artifacts. What matters is that these claims ascribe part of an identity rather than use that identity to affiliate with a community.
Ocasio-Cortez is far from the first to make such a claim. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright found out late in life that her parents were Polish Jews who had converted to Christianity. Responding to this revelation, Albright described herself as coming from 'Jewish parents' (i.e. Jewish heritage) but said that she did not consider herself a Jew. In an essay on Albright, UC Berkeley historian David Hollinger made the important distinction above; Albright ascribed her Jewish heritage but did not affiliate as a Jew. And while Albright had proof of Jewish heritage (while Ocasio-Cortez does not), the claim is all that's necessary to constitute an ascription, a sense of identity that does not meet the bar of affiliation. This is different, for instance, from the case of Julia Salazar, another young socialist and recently-inaugurated state senator from New York City, who publicly affiliated with Jewishness based not only on converso heritage, but also on a history of active Jewish participation in religious and social justice organizations. Salazar's case throws the difference between ascription and affiliation into sharp relief.
Perhaps the more interesting question is why Jewish heritage matters to Ocasio-Cortez herself. Her ascription comes at a curious time, a moment when American Jews are concerned about antisemitism on the left, when some in the progressive community have dug into an anti-Israel position, and when figures such as Linda Sarsour have become lighting rods for anti-left animus among many American Jews. Unless we take a cynical view that her announcement is a political ploy by a leader in the progressive left who has also been quite vocal in her critique of Israel (a view held by some who do not share her views, and which I find somewhat offensive), then we have to assume it does indeed matter to her, as she said it publicly and proudly in a synagogue during a Hanukkah menorah-lighting ceremony.
Ocasio Cortez Jewish Ancestry
Given centuries when Jewish ancestry was, for non-Jews, a stigma, a stain, something one ought to hide rather than proclaim, it is curious to me at this tense moment of Jews and the progressive left, that one of its leaders proudly attests her Jewish heritage. And while Ocasio-Cortez may not have attempted to affiliate, her desire to proclaim her heritage may also mirror a larger phenomenon inside the Jewish community—the phenomenon of individuals whose Jewishness was little more than ascription who, today, explore new ways of affiliation, even if not in any religious context—an event called 'disassimiliation' by sociologists.
While we're far from establishing legal frameworks for converso claimants, as Jacob Berab did in the 16th century, we may share more with Berab's time than might appear. As then, today it seems that more and more people want to reclaim some connection to Jewishness after generations of living comfortably outside any Jewish orbit. Berab's conversos wanted to reaffiliate fully after generations. AOC's situation is obviously different; she is very explicit that she does not want to be considered a Jew. But she is proud that she ostensibly descends from them, and that itself is noteworthy even as, or precisely because, it makes many American Jews oddly uncomfortable.
Shaul Magid is the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Professor of Jewish Studies at Indiana University/Bloomington, Visiting Brownstone Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, Kogod Senior Research Fellow at The Shalom Hartman Institute in New York City, and rabbi of the Fire Island Synagogue in Seaview, Fire Island.
