Miami woman traced her Crypto-Jewish roots back to 1405. She’ll share her story
Genie Milgrom was raised Catholic in a traditional Cuban household and attended parochial school, but something “didn’t sit right” with her.
“I felt uncomfortable in my own skin,” said Milgrom, who lives in South Miami-Dade.
Then she took a religion class at Barry University and realized she was drawn to Judaism. She soon made the decision to convert and become Orthodox.
It wasn’t until years later that a box her late maternal grandmother left her sparked her curiosity about her heritage. Inside was a hamsa, or “hand of God” trinket, and a gold earring with a Star of David on it.
She took the box as “a sign” and began a journey to find her Sephardic Crypto-Jewish roots. Milgrom traced her history back 22 generations to a time when Jews in Spain and Portugal were forced to convert, or pretended to convert, by the Spanish Inquisition. They became known as conversos.
Milgrom, who has written several books and helped several other people find their Jewish roots, will share her story Sunday as part of a series of lectures that explore the “Hidden Legacy of Sefarad, the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula.”
Sunday’s lecture — which is the second of the three-part series put on by Jewish National Fund-USA and Jewish Heritage Alliance — will feature Milgrom and two other speakers, who have traced their history back to Crypto-Jews.
Milgrom, who is the past president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Miami, said that through dogged research, she was able to trace her maternal lineage back to 1405. She traveled to Fermoselle, a village in the province of Zamora on the Spanish-Portuguese border, where her ancestors’ were from. She collected documents and met with other genealogists.
She now spends her time speaking with people and teaching in many Latin American countries about Judaism and building family trees.
“I am kind of a mother hen to all these people around the world,” she said. “Many people do not return to the Jewish faith; they just love understanding they have this ancestry.”
Also speaking Sunday: Dr. Lorenzo Trujillo, a descendant of Crypto-Jews whose family, in 1598, settled in the region that eventually became New Mexico; and Hannah (formerly Ana) Eyal, a native of Portugal who went back and then landed in Israel.
The final lecture in the series will be on June 13 and will focus on the earliest Sephardic connections to the land of Israel and present-day efforts to connect descendants of Sefarad with their homeland. That lecture will feature Ashley Perry, president of Reconectar, an organization dedicated to reconnecting the more than 200 million descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Jews with Israel.
Samuel Richardson, director of the Jewish National Fund-USA, said there is a growing number of people who are discovering their Sephardic heritage and that the lecture series is a way to share experiences.
“The three stories are all compelling and very encouraging ways to connect to Judaism and to Israel once discovering one’s converso heritage,” he said. “People are going to be able to understand on a very, very intimate level how that discovery impacted the lives of these three people.”
Information on lecture series
What: The Converso and Latino Connection to Israel: A Three-Part Series
When: Part 2 is at 1 p.m. May 23, and part 3 is at 1 p.m. June 13.
Where:The series is being held via Zoom.
Cost: Free
To register: Visit jnf.org/converso.
For information: Contact Samuel Richardson, srichardson@jnf.org or 800-211-1502 ext. 855. Visit jnf.org/ondemand to view additional upcoming virtual events.
