page_title: History of the Jews in Mexico
section_title: Jewish communities in Mexico
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Jews in Mexico / Jewish communities in Mexico
caption_attribution_description: Español: Sinagoga Historica de Justo Sierra 71
context_page_description: The history of the Jews in Mexico can be said to have begun in 1519 with the arrival of Conversos, often called Marranos or “Crypto-Jews, ” referring to those Jews forcibly converted to Catholicism and that then became subject to the Spanish Inquisition.
  Over the colonial period, a number came to Mexico especially during the period of the Iberian Union, when Spain and Portugal were ruled by the same monarch. That political circumstance allowed freer movement by Portuguese crypto-Jewish merchants into Spanish America. When the Portuguese regained their independence from Spain in 1640, Portuguese merchants in New Spain were prosecuted by the Mexican Inquisition. When the monopoly of the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico was replaced with religious toleration during the nineteenth-century Liberal reform, Jews could openly immigrate to Mexico. They came from Europe and later from the crumbling Ottoman Empire, including Syria, until the first half of the 20th century.
  Today, most Jews in Mexico are descendants of this immigration and still divided by diasporic origin, principally Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazim and Judaeo-Spanish-speaking Sephardim.
context_section_description: The current Jewish population in Mexico mostly consists of those who have descended from immigrants from the 19th and early 20th centuries with nationwide totals estimated between 80,000 and 90,000, about 75% of whom are in Mexico City. The exact numbers are not known. One main source for figures is the Comité Central Israelita in Mexico City but its contact is limited to Orthodox and Conservative congregations with no contact with Jews that may be affiliated with the Reform movement or those who consider themselves secular. The Mexican government census lists religion but its categories are confusing, confusing those of some Protestant sects which practice Judaic rituals with Jewish groups. There is also controversy as to whether to count those Crypto-Jews who have converted (back) to Judaism. Sixty two percent of the population over fifteen is married, three percent divorced and four percent widowed. However, younger Jewish women are more likely to be employed outside the home (only 18% of women are housewives) and fertility rates are dropping from 3.5 children of women over 65 to 2.7 for the overall population now. There is a low level of intermarriage with the general Mexican population, with only 3.1% of marriages being mixed. Although the Jewish community is less than one percent of Mexico's total population, Mexico is one of the few countries whose Jewish population is expected to grow.
  The Mexican Jewish community has strong roots in Mexico and has few problems in its host country. Openly Jewish people serve prominently in government positions and are found in most spheres of Mexico's business, intellectual and artistic communities. One U.S. born Jew by the name of Sidney Franklin became a popular bullfighter in the early 1920s. There are occasional clashes between the Jewish community and others in Mexico but these are generally solved peacefully. There is an Interfaith Council to help with these issues. While the Catholic Church is dominant both religiously and culturally, it does not suppress the worship or other activities of other religious groups. The only challenges the community faces are intermarriage and migration out of the country. However, Latin American popular culture can resent apparent Jewish economic success, with the community associated with international capital and international influence.
  Jews in Mexico are less united than those in the United States and Canada. Among those descended from immigrants, social divisions remain, based on place of origin despite unification efforts. Those from Aleppo, Damascus and the Balkans and Eastern Europe have their own synagogues and other institutions. However, the main split is between the Ashkenazim from Russia, Poland, Germany and other parts of Europe from the Sephardim, mostly from Italy and the former Ottoman Empire.  The Ashkenazim subdivide among political and ideological axes and tend to be more liberal and secular. They founded several newspapers and other publications such as Mexikaner Idish Lebn, Radikaler Arbeter Tzenter, Unzer Lebn and others to express these different views.  The Sephardim tend to be more patriarchal, less well educated and more religiously observant. Those from Syria are further subdivided into Halebis or Maguen David from Aleppo and the Shamis or Monte Sinai from Damascus.
  Despite ethnic identification all identify as Mexican as well, seeing the two as complementary rather than conflicting. Literature written by Mexican and other Latin American Jewish writers tend to explore the question of what it means to be a Jew in the region. These authors include Sonia Chocron, Alicia Freilich de Segal, Jacqueline Goldberg, Martha Kornblith, Elisa Lerner and Blanca Strepponi. Author Rosa Nissan has written a number of books related to growing up Jewish in Mexico include Novia que te vea and its sequel Hisho que te Nazca.
  During the early 20th century, Jewish immigrants started a large number of religious and social organizations to help the community adapt to life in Mexico and conserve their heritage. On Tacuba Street in the histo
caption: Interior of the Historic Synagogue Justo Sierra 71 located in the Historic Center of Mexico City.
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