Trial

PROLOGUE

The morning of the trial was bright and clear outside. The world had no idea of the turmoil that I was going through. Who was he to accuse me of being stuck in tradition? He went against everything that he was taught. Yes, I was raised with tradition, in tradition, and will continue with traditions. I came from a long line of it. How was I supposed to turn my back on it? My lineage went back to the Spanish Inquisition. And that was where my story of traditions and trials started. My mind wandered to the past as I paced, walking back and forth in front of the courthouse for the biggest trial of my life.

Isabela I, La Catolica (the Catholic) queen of Spain, was born on April 22, 1451 in Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Spain. She had been known to make comments as such, "Si no eres de mi tierra no te quiero (If you’re not from my country, I do not want you)."

But others had different opinions. "Somos Judios (We are Jews). We were here before you were born, Isabela I, and our history goes back before Moses, so what is it to you to want to change my name and where I live to make you more Catholic?"

Isabela I had also been known to speak of the Jews in a condescending way. "Esos Judios son impertinente (Those Jews are impertinent). No creen en JesuCristo y les voy a ensenar quien soy yo (They don’t believe in Jesus Christ. I’m going to show them who I am)."

They responded, "Ser Judio no se cambia! (Being Jewish is not something we change!)"

Isabela I did not like how the Jews were responding to her: "O se convierten o los conviertos debajo la tierra (Or you convert or I’ll convert you under the ground)."

It’s a matter of life or death! That’s what my grandfather from the fifteenth century said. Life or death.

Many of the Spanish had thought, Isabela, you unified Spain and made it more Catholic, but did you forget that there are Jews and Moors who still rule Southern Spain in Granada? Did this escape your mind, or did your ministers forget to mention that we are many?

She was called into a meeting about religion and her attempt at the conversion of the population. At the meeting of ministers, Isabela was confronted by Archdeacon Vincent Ferren Martinez, who was responsible for the conversion of Jews to Christianity. These Jews were outwardly Christians, but in their homes, they still practiced Jewish rituals.

This incensed Isabela. "Les doy libertad de conversion y ahora me pagan con esos rituous paganos (I give them liberty and now they pay me with those pagan rituals)? May God Almighty hear us for we are about to be slaughtered by the sword or a Bible. Conversion O Muerte; Soy Isabela I y no se los olvide! (Conversion or death; I’m Isabela I and don’t you forget it!)"

One of the hidden Jewish ministers had this thought, What fear has come over my brethren? Many are converting, but still practicing the faith fearful unto death.

Isabela I was fearful that the union of the country was at stake as she listened to her ministers’ plans to get rid of the Jews.

No wonder we don’t want to hear of your Jesus! Jew or not, we just won’t hear of it.

One of the Jewish leaders responded, Isabela, if you get rid of us Jews, what are you going to do with us who are part of the active commercial class and educated elite who hold many administrative posts?

"Los voy a botar de mi España de una forma o otra (I’m going to throw you out of my Spain one way or another)!" replied Isabela I.

Isabela, Isabela, why do you have to have the blessing of the Pope to do such a thing?

I’m going to keep Spain Catholic, get rid of you Jews, and then deal with the Muslims in the South.

Las convicciones son del ser de uno o del miedo (Convictions are of you own soul or of fear).

Many, many of my brethren chose fear to accept a religion based on the option of accepting Jesus or dying. What does this have to do with me, a Jew?

Centuries later, I would find out that one of my own would profess this Jesus.

I’ll set up a tribunal with the priests to get these Jews and Muslims to declare Christ and allegiance to the Pope and the Catholic Church. Because of their stubbornness, I’ll inquest them into Catholicism, and with the Pope’s blessing, Isabela proclaimed.

So began our nightmare! We were Jews, Spanish Jews. We spoke Ladino Judeo-Spanish.

If they don’t convert, I’ll kill them! Or better yet, I will send them to the Jew Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) to the New World to finally, be rid of them.

The Inquisition

La Suprema—Supreme Council of the Inquisition—under the direction of the Archbishop of Madrid, Manual Cervantes Gato, known as the Cat by the Conversos—converted ones (Jews and Muslims who had abandoned their faith for Christianity). This was under the authority of Isabela I.

"Priest, you are to bring Conversos suspected of still protecting their forbidden religion in secret to tribunals, which I set up in your district. Use whatever means to find out the truth! Remember, our beloved Pope Innocent IV has issued a bill that allows us to use torture to get a confession. You can use local authorities, but if you are not getting anywhere, you can intervene in the questioning by using whatever means! Remember, my priest, these people do not know the Bible, and you are trained in the art of questioning! Ignorance is no excuse for not knowing or confessing. I want to get to their soul and what they believe!"

One of the protesters said, "I am a Jew! How can I save my people from this devil that calls herself Christian!? In Nevi’-im, the prophet Hosea states, ‘My people are destroyed for want of knowledge! (Anid-mu, Au-Mi, nib-ba-li, had-da-at).’ These inquisitors are smart, using words to confuse us. God have mercy on us!"

From the pit of Hell itself, Innocent IV opened the gates to bring about confession, knowing full well that he was fighting God.

My forefathers were tortured! Did this spirit have to continue to show its face to us Jews even to modern times? Only the Messiah to come could stop this!

These evil priests, they were so set on getting a verbal confession that the type or length of torture didn’t matter.

Who could get to a man’s soul but only God Himself?

I remember the story of the Protestant English merchant Nicholas Burton. These criminals, Gestapo-like priests hung him by his hands for days, pulling his arms out of their sockets, to try to get him to confess. Oh, how these priests loved strappado, the rack! They used this to stretch man, woman, or child and then burned them to confess their crime to bring them back to the faith.

But how could you bring one back to a faith that he was ignorant of?

The thought was, "Oh, you priest, the blood of Abel cries out to God! You think that because Pope Alexander IV decreed that you could absolve yourselves, you continue with torture!? Adonai, my Adonai, my God of Israel sees all!

Just because you burned our bodies as some would do later, that evil spirit of death that transcends generation after generation would not end with the last inquisition of 1836 in Mi España (my Spain).

Your neighbors, España, would embrace this spirit and use skulls on their caps to be messengers of death like other forefathers passed down generation after generation as the story was told.

Japanese Inquisition

This evil spirit of death by confession spread around the world! Even to Japan! Now Catholicism was under trial! The great inquisitor himself, one of many, Inoue, Lord of Chikugo, tortured, burned, and murdered the Japanese Christians to renounce their faith. The year was 1619 after the edict of expulsion of Christianity from Japan was promulgated into law.

The Jews again are facing this. Isabela, the spirit that drew you to evil before you and after you are still alive today. Who will free us from this curse? The Messiah, whom we patiently await as Jews, or is it the one we so call came by Christians?

CHAPTER 1

SÂNÊʼ

HATE, ODIO

So who am I?

José Antonio Sanes, a Sephardic Jew from Andalucia, Spain. My lineage is of rabbis who were learned men of the Torah and Talmud. I am a man of tradition. I firmly believe in the Jewish beliefs and law.

Would I, José, hold on to tradition and put my own son on trial?

We are Sephardic Jews! What is that? My father would teach me. He would tell me, Hold on to God and tradition, for without it you’re not a people.

As a child, I remembered my father, like his father, learning from the Geonim . They were scholars of the two great Babylonian, Talmudic Academies of Sura Pumbedita (now known as Iraq). Geonim transmitted Torah Jewish law to their students, just as Moishe (Moses) did. My great-great-great grandfather was a Geonim . So do I hold on to tradition? Yes!

As a child, there were rituals; rituals that I had to learn. At times, it felt more like rituals and rules without a true relationship to the Almighty. That was something I had to deal with all of my life. We had to do what we did because my father and his father and his father did it. Their forefathers would hope that these external-imposed religious rites would create a relationship with God.

So the commandments without a relationship were null! I felt as a father that I had a relationship that was not null with God. How could I relate this knowledge, this tradition, to my son? I wish his mother, who had now passed away, would have shared this with him. As a father, I could pass on tradition and rituals, but my beloved, she could pass on a love of God that I could not.

My family immigrated to Puerto Rico, then to the United States in the early 1950s. We settled in Charleston, South Carolina.

How did we end up in America? All I could remember was that we lived in Spain. I grew up in the Province of Andalucia. I really don’t remember the town’s name. We had Spanish names and went to religious school in the mornings and public school in the afternoons. My surroundings were what I would call normal. I had Christian friends and, of course, Jewish friends. We celebrated the holidays at the synagogue and did our daily prayers and observed the Sabbath.

My favorite part of being a Jew was family; my Christian friends envied this.

My family and I moved to America when I was twelve. My father felt that it was time to move. Francisco Franco, known as El Caudillo, the leader, persecuted political opponents, repressed the culture and language of the Basque and Catalan regions, censored the media, and, according to my father, was ready to attack Jews. Inquisition or not, we were the next target. So it was time to move.

Franco became friends with Hitler and Mussolini to secure arms for his fight during the Spanish Civil War. This made life even more dangerous for Jews.

So we moved. We started life over. We eventually settled in Charleston, with all of its Southern trappings, with my great-uncle and my maternal great-grandmother Maria, who was a Jew converted to Catholicism.

The day I met my beloved would be one that I would never forget. We met at a wedding reception that we were attending. She was from Charleston; born and raised here. She was unlike anyone I had ever met. I had only dated several times, and only women in my religious circle.

And yet, here I was, a Jew at a wedding attracted to this light-haired, bronze-skinned Caucasian Southern girl. Her Southern charm was the least of my worries—the first glance did it all. I kept thinking to myself, I am a Jew, attracted to a goy, a Gentile. We would talk briefly that day, then I would see her again through mutual friends. My father didn’t know for a long time that I had developed feelings for this Southern Christian woman, but I was smitten!

Religion and tradition; somehow, I was to transmit my beliefs to her. We dated for a little bit before I met her parents. Her father was not thrilled at all that she was going out with