The Jews of Mexico

Abstract This chapter traces Mexican Jewish history back to 1492, when a number of Jews arrived in Mexico as conversos, crypto-Jews, and New Christians. The first signs of a developing Jewish community in Mexico began in the late nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century. Each group of Jews had distinct religious and linguistic preferences, their own synagogues, and particular areas of the country where they settled. There was a tension between the desire of the Jews to become part of the Mexican nation at the turn of the twentieth century and the imperative to remain a discrete cultural and religious community. Relying on the Jewish press and original writings by Mexican Jews, and a particular focus on the research of Anita Brenner, this chapter reveals overlooked divisions and critical intersections of the modern Mexican Jewish community.