keng
27th April 2004, 09:12 PM
Shalom. It’s been a while and I maybe infrequent still, but I wanted to share something I learned about my family history last September that is pertinent to this forum. I went to Witchita, KS to attend the funeral of an aunt. She was at a church youth group function and was doing some rather active things for someone her age. She passed away later that day. Her death probably had little to do with the activity that day. Since she was always active, it was more surprising. She was Catholic as is most of the Mexican side of my family.
I have not spent much time with that part of the family due to distance in miles and life in general. I took my oldest daughter because many times she had expressed interest in visiting with the family. Since she was along she asked probing questions about the family and obtained some documents and pictures. One of the things she discovered was earth shaking to me.
My grandmother and grandfather were from Mexico. My grandmother’s parents whose name was Hernandez were strongly against their marriage because they were Shepardic Jews and they did not want their daughter marrying a Catholic. My parents were absent so I was raised in her home until about the age of 5 and spoke only Spanish when I started school after leaving her home. I have long since lost fluency but have some vague memories.
Several years ago as an adult when I felt compelled to study Jewish things and Hebrew I was learning what I thought was Ashkenazi pronunciation but later a Rabbi informed me I was learning Sephardic and was encouraged to switch, but felt the pronunciation I was learning was more natural. What I had learned about Grandma had a definite effect, just not sure will come of it, I can barely keep up as it is, but I am thankful to the Lord for this experience.
I have not spent much time with that part of the family due to distance in miles and life in general. I took my oldest daughter because many times she had expressed interest in visiting with the family. Since she was along she asked probing questions about the family and obtained some documents and pictures. One of the things she discovered was earth shaking to me.
My grandmother and grandfather were from Mexico. My grandmother’s parents whose name was Hernandez were strongly against their marriage because they were Shepardic Jews and they did not want their daughter marrying a Catholic. My parents were absent so I was raised in her home until about the age of 5 and spoke only Spanish when I started school after leaving her home. I have long since lost fluency but have some vague memories.
Several years ago as an adult when I felt compelled to study Jewish things and Hebrew I was learning what I thought was Ashkenazi pronunciation but later a Rabbi informed me I was learning Sephardic and was encouraged to switch, but felt the pronunciation I was learning was more natural. What I had learned about Grandma had a definite effect, just not sure will come of it, I can barely keep up as it is, but I am thankful to the Lord for this experience.