Mexico just elected its first female, and first Jewish president, Claudia Sheinbaum. While not religious, Sheinbaum has acknowledged her connection to Judaism, saying, “I grew up without religion…But obviously the culture, that’s in your blood.” The first Jews to arrive in Mexico came in the early 16th century–Sephardic Conversos, or Crypto-Jews–who fled the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal. Some had converted to Catholicism, while others secretly maintained their Jewish beliefs and practices. More tolerance of Jews began in the early 1600’s, when the King of Spain ordered Mexico to free Conversos who had been imprisoned for maintaining their Judaism. After Mexico became independent in 1821, the Inquisition was officially abolished in Mexico, and Jews slowly gained more freedom. The first recorded instance of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services took place in 1861. Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe began emigrating to Mexico in the late 1800’s, with more immigrants coming in the 1920’s when the United States established immigration quotas. By the mid-20th century there were numerous synagogues and Jewish organizations, and the current Jewish population is believed to be as much as 100,000. A Jewish man named Hernando Alonso holds what distinction in Mexico?

Sinagoga Monte Sinaí (Justo Sierra) - Ciudad de México I by Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A. He was the first rabbi to serve in Mexico, having moved there from Curaçao, where he had served as rabbi at Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in the Americas.

B. He was a carpenter on the ship of explorer Hernán Cortés, which led him to be the first Jew known to set foot in Mexico, in 1521.

C. He was the first Mexican to win a Nobel Prize, specifically for literature, honoring his many poetry collections including El laberinto de la soledad: Vida y pensamiento de México (The Labyrinth of Solitude: Life and Thought in Mexico) and La Llama Doble, Amor y Erotismo (The Double Flame, Love and Eroticism).

D. He was one of the most successful matadors in the history of Mexican bullfighting, known as El Judío de los Toros.

E. He was the first Jew to be burned at the stake in the North American continent.

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