Spanish and Portuguese Citizenship for Sephardi Jewish Descendants: An Oral History Collection

Interview with Doreen Alhadeff – Highlights

Rina Benmayor: […] When you were being called extranjera in Spain, inside, did you feel as extranjera?  Did your Sephardic identity emerge in some way to keep you grounded?

Doreen Alhadeff: That’s actually a very good question, huh!  I remember feeling at the time that I had maybe been there before these people!  You know, there’s that moment of, you know, “Hello, I could have been….”  And at the time, you have that moment.  On the other hand, you understand that they see you as somebody from the outside. And what’s fascinating to me is, that was in ‘69, I felt like I was with, especially with this family, ever the extranjera.  The other family, for example, used to always say to me, “You know, you’re a little bit more Spanish than the rest of us.”  They always used to say that.  “You’re a little more Spanish than the rest of us.” But you wonder if…when you look at the change.  So that was then, and now you go… and then they didn’t… I mean they had a hard time wrapping their head around a Jew, let alone a Sephardic in ‘69. So now you go and you say you’re Jewish and you’re Sephardic, and they are happy to tell you, three out of five of them, that they think they have some Sephardic blood.  That is an amazing like, shift.  And it’s not just like in Madrid or, sometimes even in the small towns.  These people now have become aware.  It’s a question of exposure. And now, you know, the schools are teaching it, they’re talking about it. There’s a law. And so these people are taking a little ownership. I find that just absolutely fascinating. 

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Alhadeff:  I just think that the interesting thing now, for me, just the sort of, this total switch from not knowing what a Sephardic Jew was, to go now to places and have people tell you they’re sure they are of Sephardic blood is such a monumental shift!  And culturally for them, I don’t know if they ever would have thought it before, but they never would have said it, you know, because no one would have understood!  But now, I remember we went to a town with Erensya to a small town, fifty four, fifty four people in the town. And we walked up to an old Jewish site in this town that they had done some excavating and found… they were looking for something else, but found a Jewish cemetery, actually. And I was walking with a woman from the town, and she had on a Star of David. And I thought, “Wow!”  So, I didn’t say anything at first. And then she, you know, it was the old, “Are you Jewish?” [Laughs] “Yes, I’m Jewish. That’s why we’re here!” The whole town met us in the square. And she said, “I want you to meet my husband. He thinks for sure that he is Jewish, or of Jewish descent.” And I said, “Okay,” and I said, “I noticed your Star of David.” And she said, “Well, he bought that for me, but wait till you see what he has!” So, he comes up and I can tell because as he’s walking, he has on the biggest thing here [pointing to her chest] with a menorah on it! And you know, and he says he never leaves the house without it. He thinks it’s part of who he is. He does remember certain things from his grandparents. So, he’s convinced he’s of Jewish descent. This is a town of 54 people! This is a type of town that in Spain was always so insular that they hardly knew what was going on in Madrid and what was at the Prado, and this guy is wearing a menorah.  Honestly, it was probably two inches in diameter. And his wife with the Star of David!  And that is happening in big cities, small cities, it’s quite amazing!

Benmayor: Where was this town? What was the name of the town?

Alhadeff: It was a town that used to be called Matajudíos [Killer of Jews]!

Benmayor: Ohhhh.

Alhadeff:  And the town actually had an initiative, they voted on it and they changed the name because it was so offensive, to Motojudíos, which is the “Hill of Jews” or “Jews on a Hill.” And it’s on a hill where the where the burial was. And so, they invited us, they did this big lunch and, you know, they tented the square, and, you know…  and that’s monumental! It’s monumental!  And these people, they put locals at every table where we were. And, you know, is that not the way for everybody to understand where everybody’s coming from? And they are convinced, some of them are convinced, that town was named Matajudíos by conversos who wanted to convince the town that there were no longer practicing Jews. It doesn’t get more interesting than that! 

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