Makes Me Wonder What Else They're Not Telling Me?
((( Shouldn't the Titans Be a Little More With It!? Educated!? Research-Savvy!? Honest!? )))
The 1st Hispanic Supreme Court Justice is NOT Sonia Sotomayor!
by Norman Cohen, Los Angeles
The media are crowing about President Obama selecting the "1st Hispanic Supreme Court Justice," Sonia Sotomayor. I have news for the media.
We already have had a Hispanic U.S. Supreme Court Justice! He was Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, U.S. Supreme Court Justice from 1932 - 1938, a Sephardic Jew of Spanish ancestry.
His father, Judge Albert Cardozo, was Vice President and Trustee of the famous Spanish-Portuguese synagogue in New York City, Congregation Shearith Israel. Young Benjamin was Bar Mitzvah in that synagogue, and as an adult was proud of both his Jewish and Hispanic heritage.
Congregation Shearith Israel is the oldest congregation in the Western Hemisphere, having been founded in Recife, Brazil ca. 1630 and moved to New Amsterdam (now New York City) in 1654. Its present location is at 70th Street and Central Park West. I spent some of my religious and social activity time there as a teenager in the 1950s, when the Rav (the Hebrew word for Rabbi) was the famous Dr. David de Sola Pool.
One thing that surprised me there: the names on the memorial plaques... they were just like my Puerto Rican friends and not at all like my Jewish friends. Study of this history and culture has become a hobby of mine.
Most American Jews, who are of Ashkenaz origins, neither know of nor understand this important component of the Jewish people:
~ Jews were a major component of the populations of Spain and Portugal for 800 years (700 - 1500 CE).
~ Ladino, the "sephardic Yiddish" based on pre-1500 Spanish, is still spoken by 200,000 Jewish descendants around the world, mainly in Mediterranean regions.
~ 45 of the 50 most common Hispanic family names are of Jewish origin.
~ All Hispanic given names ending in "el" are Hebrew phrases with reference to G-d, like Gabriel, Emanuel, Rafael, etc.
~ Many Spanish words and names of places are of Hebrew origin.
~ If you represented all Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust by a crowded Dodger Stadium, just those Jews whose family names were Gamboa and Graciano would fill a whole section of box seats.
~ Gamboas and Gracianos are in Jewish cemeteries all over the world... even in Poland, Canada, South Africa, and Israel.
~ That's just 2 Sephardic-Jewish names.
~ A recent analysis of the DNA of 20 statistical samples of men of Spain found that 20% have the Jewish genetic haplogroup, viz. they descend from Jews.
~ The only way that this is possible: there was already massive assimilation of the Jews of Spain in the centuries leading up to the Inquisition.
~ There are organized groups of b'nai anusim - descendants of Jewish victims of Inquisitions in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America who were forced to convert, or who hid and abandoned their Jewishness out of fear of persecution - who are clamoring for acceptance as Jewish returnees.
~ It is estimated that a significant fraction of the Hispanics of the Southwestern USA and Northern Mexico are of Jewish ancestry and don't know it.
But the media would not think of, nor recognize, Benjamin Cardozo as a "Hispanic." They want a "genuine" Hispanic, certainly not one who was/is also a Jew and was considered a "Great Justice."
The 1st Hispanic Supreme Court Justice is NOT Sonia Sotomayor!
by Norman Cohen, Los Angeles
The media are crowing about President Obama selecting the "1st Hispanic Supreme Court Justice," Sonia Sotomayor. I have news for the media.
We already have had a Hispanic U.S. Supreme Court Justice! He was Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, U.S. Supreme Court Justice from 1932 - 1938, a Sephardic Jew of Spanish ancestry.
His father, Judge Albert Cardozo, was Vice President and Trustee of the famous Spanish-Portuguese synagogue in New York City, Congregation Shearith Israel. Young Benjamin was Bar Mitzvah in that synagogue, and as an adult was proud of both his Jewish and Hispanic heritage.
Congregation Shearith Israel is the oldest congregation in the Western Hemisphere, having been founded in Recife, Brazil ca. 1630 and moved to New Amsterdam (now New York City) in 1654. Its present location is at 70th Street and Central Park West. I spent some of my religious and social activity time there as a teenager in the 1950s, when the Rav (the Hebrew word for Rabbi) was the famous Dr. David de Sola Pool.
One thing that surprised me there: the names on the memorial plaques... they were just like my Puerto Rican friends and not at all like my Jewish friends. Study of this history and culture has become a hobby of mine.
Most American Jews, who are of Ashkenaz origins, neither know of nor understand this important component of the Jewish people:
~ Jews were a major component of the populations of Spain and Portugal for 800 years (700 - 1500 CE).
~ Ladino, the "sephardic Yiddish" based on pre-1500 Spanish, is still spoken by 200,000 Jewish descendants around the world, mainly in Mediterranean regions.
~ 45 of the 50 most common Hispanic family names are of Jewish origin.
~ All Hispanic given names ending in "el" are Hebrew phrases with reference to G-d, like Gabriel, Emanuel, Rafael, etc.
~ Many Spanish words and names of places are of Hebrew origin.
~ If you represented all Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust by a crowded Dodger Stadium, just those Jews whose family names were Gamboa and Graciano would fill a whole section of box seats.
~ Gamboas and Gracianos are in Jewish cemeteries all over the world... even in Poland, Canada, South Africa, and Israel.
~ That's just 2 Sephardic-Jewish names.
~ A recent analysis of the DNA of 20 statistical samples of men of Spain found that 20% have the Jewish genetic haplogroup, viz. they descend from Jews.
~ The only way that this is possible: there was already massive assimilation of the Jews of Spain in the centuries leading up to the Inquisition.
~ There are organized groups of b'nai anusim - descendants of Jewish victims of Inquisitions in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America who were forced to convert, or who hid and abandoned their Jewishness out of fear of persecution - who are clamoring for acceptance as Jewish returnees.
~ It is estimated that a significant fraction of the Hispanics of the Southwestern USA and Northern Mexico are of Jewish ancestry and don't know it.
But the media would not think of, nor recognize, Benjamin Cardozo as a "Hispanic." They want a "genuine" Hispanic, certainly not one who was/is also a Jew and was considered a "Great Justice."
Posted by Caleigh Brooks at 9/2/2009 10:30 AM 
Categories: Politics
Tags: poland israel yiddish hispanic recife brazil ashkenaz israel portuguese synagogue benjamin nathan cardozo canad dodger stadium judge albert cardozo david de sola pool western hemisphere u.s. supreme court justice sotomayor bar mitzvah central park west rav new york city south africa president obama amsterdam mediterranean jewish media sephardic holocaust spanish
Categories: Politics
Tags: poland israel yiddish hispanic recife brazil ashkenaz israel portuguese synagogue benjamin nathan cardozo canad dodger stadium judge albert cardozo david de sola pool western hemisphere u.s. supreme court justice sotomayor bar mitzvah central park west rav new york city south africa president obama amsterdam mediterranean jewish media sephardic holocaust spanish
I like this article, thanks for your work.
I appreciate your hard work. I know this a simple thank you but sometimes plain words are the best way to convey ~ appreciation.
JASStudiosArt
JAS
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Very interesting article and so well researched. Thank you for the efforts you made. Even at number 2, Judge Sotomayor is a great addition to the court. I have lived in the southwest for the several years now and am getting acquainted first hand with the Hispanic influence here.
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It’s really useful Post. I will go through it. Thank you for the nice Post…
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