Published: 23 May 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Hundreds of Colombian Christians have converted to Judaism after discovering their family’s hidden Jewish history.
The Jews of Bello, a small city in Colombia, attend synagogue, keep kosher and study Torah. But less than 30 years ago, they didn’t know they were Jewish.
They are among about 600 Colombian Jews who have rediscovered the Jewish roots and hidden traditions that their grandparents had camouflaged, fearing persecution, and embarked on a journey back to Judaism.
The process of creating a Jewish community in Bello, in the Antioquia Department of north-western Colombia, was led by Rabbi Elad Villegas, who converted to Judaism after serving as pastor of an evangelical megachurch.
Villegas travelled to Israel in 1998 in his position as pastor. “I was very surprised to see the similarity between the Jewish and Israeli cultures and the culture of Antioquia,” he said.
A few years later, Villegas returned to Israel and, after conversations with Israeli rabbis, decided to convert to Judaism.
“What was not in my calculation is that about 600 people of the church would follow me into Judaism,” he said.
Some community members said their grandparents maintained some apparently Jewish traditions despite calling themselves Christian.
Rabbi Ezra Rodriguez said his grandparents never ate pork and his grandfather always wore a hat.
His wife, Yehudit Agudelo, said her grandmother recalled her own grandmother speaking “weird Spanish”, which she now realises was Ladino.
“My grandma used to give charity to people in need every day, but not on Saturdays, saying that it is a day when we do not give charity,” she said.
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Colombian descendants of crypto-Jews rediscover their roots (Ynet)
