Anusim - History of Use

History of Use

The term anusim became more frequently used after the forced conversion to Christianity of Ashkenazi Jews in Germany at the end of the 11th century. In his religious legal opinions, Rashi, a French rabbi who lived during this period, commented about the issue of anusim.

Several centuries later, following the mass forced conversion of Sephardi Jews (those Jews with extended histories in Spain and Portugal, known jointly as Iberia, or "Sepharad" in Hebrew) of the 14th and 15th centuries, the term "anusim" became widely used by Spanish rabbis and their successors for the following 600 years, henceforth becoming associated with Sephardic history.

The term, however, is properly applied to any Jew of any Jewish ethnic division, and thus, since then, it has also been used to describe other forced or coerced Jews, such as the Mashadi Jews of Persia (modern Iran), who converted to Islam in the public eye, but secretly practised Judaism at home, to the extent of living a dual-religious life to the fullest, being fully practising Muslims in public life, and fully practising Jews at home.

In non-rabbinic literature, the more commonly known Sephardic anusim are also referred to as:

• "Conversos", meaning "converts " in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan and Ladino (Judaeo-Spanish).
• "New Christians", or cristianos nuevos" in Spanish, and cristãos novos in Portuguese (Catalan: cristians nous).
• "Crypto-Jews", and
• "Marranos", literally meaning "swine" in Spanish, and Catalan (where it is spelled marrans), but also carrying the meaning of anusim. Also meaning "anusim" in Portuguese, but not swine, since marrão (derived from marrano) is the word for swine in Portuguese.

The Catholic Church coined the first two terms, the third is more of a modern invention by historians, and the fourth is the insulting term Spanish antisemites gave to the anusim. All four terms are sociological, whereas anusim refers to a status in Jewish law.