Crypto-Jewish Heritage on Stage at National Hispanic Cultural Center

ALIBI
By Holly Von Winckel

NEW MEXICO---Secret Things opens next week, and it might hit close to home for some New Mexicans. A drama about a journalist sent back to her hometown to investigate the possible existence of Crypto-Jews—Mexican-Americans with a Jewish background so guarded that they may not themselves be aware of it—Secret Things will enjoy its world premiere on Thursday, July 25, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center (1701 Fourth Street SW). At some point, she stops chasing an assignment and begins exploring the roots of her personal identity. To historians, a Crypto-Jew is a descendent of the Sephardic Jews, expelled from Spain and Portugal in the late 15th century, in whom fear of persecution pushed the practices of Judaism so far down that any given individual may be unaware of his own heritage. [link]