The neofiti ( en,
Neophyte
A neophyte is a recent initiate or convert to a subject or belief.
Neophyte may also refer to:
Science
* Neophyte (botany), a plant species recently introduced to an area
As a proper noun Arts and entertainment
* Neophyte, a character class ...
s) were a group of
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
''
anusim
Anusim ( he, אֲנוּסִים, ; singular male, anús, he, אָנוּס ; singular female, anusáh, , meaning "coerced") is a legal category of Jews in ''halakha'' (Jewish law) who were forced to abandon Judaism against their will, typically ...
'', also known as
crypto-Jews, living in
Southern Italy.
History
The ''neofiti'' were descendants of
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
who were
forced to convert to
Roman Catholicism in 1493. They continued to secretly practice certain elements of Judaism, as did many of their descendants.
In the 1490s the
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ( es, Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition ( es, Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand ...
ruthlessly hunted the ''neofiti'' and many were tortured and executed, especially in Sicily.
Today, some descendants of ''neofiti'' in
Calabria and
Apulia have converted back to Judaism and revived their former Jewish congregations.
See also
*
Dönmeh
The Dönme ( he, דוֹנְמֶה, Dōnme, ota, دونمه, tr, Dönme) were a group of Sabbatean crypto-Jews in the Ottoman Empire who converted outwardly to Islam, but retained their Jewish faith and Kabbalistic beliefs in secret. The mo ...
*
Allahdad
*
Chala
*
Converso
*
Marrano
*
Targum Neofiti
Targum Neofiti (or Targum Neophyti) is the largest of the Western Targumim on the Torah, or Palestinian Targumim. The extant copy consists of 450 folios covering all books of the Torah, with only a few damaged verses.
More than a mere Aramaic tra ...
*
History of the Jews in Apulia
*
History of the Jews in Calabria
The history of the Jews in Calabria reaches back over two millennia. Calabria ( he, קלבריה) is at the very south of the Italian peninsula, to which it is connected by the Monte Pollino massif, while on the east, south and west it is surroun ...
*
History of the Jews in Sicily
The history of the Jews in Sicily potentially begins as far back as two millennia, with a substantial Jewish presence on the southern Italian island before their expulsion in the fifteenth century.
Ancient history
There is a legend that Jews w ...
References
{{reflist
External links
terminiimerese.wordpress.comescholarship.org
Jewish Italian history
Italian people of Jewish descent
Crypto-Jews