Free Republic

Gibraltar finally joined the official list of British cities on Monday (Aug 29), after 180 years in which its status, granted by Queen Victoria, had been overlooked due to an administrative error. The British overseas territory bid to become a city earlier this year as part of the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, but research in the National Archives established it had in fact been granted city status in 1842. "It is excellent to see official recognition given to the City of Gibraltar, a huge accolade to its rich history and dynamism," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in...

A rake seduces women and murders their male relatives with impunity until the statue of one of his victims invites him to supper and drags him to hell. It sounds silly, but for two centuries it was the most-favored plot device in Western literature. Don Juan was the invention of Tirso de Molina, a Spanish monk from a family of converted Jews. Concealed in its puppet-theater plot is a Jewish joke: Don Juan exists to prove by construction that a devout Christian can be a sociopath, and by extension, that the Christian world can be ruled by sociopaths. The Enlightenment’s...

It's not often that cultural and religious persecution makes countries more diverse, but the Spanish Inquisition might have done just that. One in five Spaniards and Portuguese has a Jewish ancestor, while a tenth of Iberians boast North African ancestors, finds new research. This melting pot probably occurred after centuries of coexistence and tolerance among Muslims, Jews and Christians ended in 1492, when Catholic monarchs converted or expelled the Islamic population, called Moriscos. Sephardic Jews, whose Iberian roots extend to the first century AD, received much the same treatment. "They were given a choice: convert, go, or die," says Mark...

I would like to respond to the article that appeared in Israel Insider crypto-Judaism in New Mexico written by Associated Press reporter Matt Crenson, in which I, and my historical research, were prominently featured. The topic of crypto-Judaism is a complex one, and not easily given to superficial analysis. It is unfortunate that Mr. Crenson missed a golden opportunity to produce an objective and enlightening article on a fascinating aspect of the history of the US Southwest. Instead, Mr. Crenson mischaracterized my work into the history of certain Hispanics in New Mexico who trace their roots back to people forced...

HOUSTON, Oct. 28 - When she was growing up in a small town in southern Colorado, an area where her ancestors settled centuries ago when it was on the fringes of the northern frontier of New Spain, Bernadette Gonzalez always thought some of the stories about her family were unusual, if not bizarre. Her grandmother, for instance, refused to travel on Saturday and would use a specific porcelain basin to drain blood out of meat before she cooked it. In one tale that particularly puzzled Ms. Gonzalez, 52, her grandfather called for a Jewish doctor to circumcise him while he...

WHITTIER -- Seventy-two-year-old Carlos Salas owns one newspaper in Los Angeles, another paper in Baja California and a jewelry store in Pasadena. He has a home in Spyglass Estates near Whittier and another in Tijuana. Also in Tijuana, he founded a Jewish university and is the teacher at a Jewish congregation. Now, the spry, dark-haired native of Zacatecas, Mexico, is taking on a new challenge.In an effort that experts say is either rare or unprecedented, Salas is trying to attract Southern California Latinos with Jewish roots back to the faith.He has officially joined Beth Shalom of Whittier, a conservative congregation...