Anusim (Hebrew:אֲנוּסִים,pronounced[ʔanuˈsim];sg. masculine,anús,אָנוּס,pronounced[ʔaˈnus];sg. feminine,anusá,אֲנוּסָה,pronounced[ʔanuˈsa]), meaning "coerced", is a legal category ofJews inHalakha (Jewish law) who were forced to abandonJudaism against their will, typically duringforced conversion to another religion (oftentimes Christianity). The term "anusim" is most properly translated as the "coerced [ones]" or the "forced [ones]".[1]
The termanusim is derived from theTalmudic phraseda'afilu b'oneis (דַּאֲפִילּוּ בְּאוֹנֶס, 'even if it was rape'),[2] connotating "a forced transgression." The Hebrewones (pronounced[ˈones]) derives from thetriconsonantal rootא-נ-ס (aleph-nun-samekh), and originally referred to any case in which an individual had been forced into any act against their will. InModern Hebrew, the wordoneis typically means 'rape'; thus, "anusim" typically refers to rape victims, with the historical meaning applying only to the Iberian Jews forced to convert to Christianity.
The termanús is used in contradistinction tomeshumad (מְשׁוּמָד, 'self-destroyed one'): a Jew who has voluntarily abandoned Judaism in whole or part. The forced converts were also known in Spanish ascristianos nuevos andcristãos-novos in Portuguese.Converso ormarrano, the latter meaning "pig" in Spanish, was used by Christians as a slur towardAnusim.
Besides the termanusim,Halakha has various classifications for those Jews who have abandoned, or are no longer committed to,Rabbinic Judaism, whether or not they have converted to another religion.
The two most common descriptions are:
The main difference between amin, ameshumad, and theanusim is that the act of abandonment of Judaism is voluntary for amin and ameshumad, while for theanusim it is not. In contemporary Jewish culture, the term "anusim" has also been used to describe "reverseMarranos":Haredi Jews who are religious on the outside but are not necessarily practicing in private.[3]
The termanusim became more frequently used after theforced conversion to Christianity ofAshkenazi Jews inGermany at the end of the 11th century. In hisreligious legal opinions,Rashi, a Frenchrabbi who lived during this period, commented about the issue ofanusim.[4]
Several centuries later, following the mass forced conversion ofSephardi Jews (those Jews with extended histories inSpain andPortugal, known jointly asIberia, orSepharad in Hebrew) of the 15th and 16th centuries, the term "anusim" became widely used by Spanish rabbis and their successors for the following 600 years.[5]
The term may be applied to any Jew of anyethnic division. Since the 15th and 16th centuries, it has also been applied to other forcibly or coercively-converted Jews, including theMashhadi Jews ofPersia (nowIran), who converted toIslam in the public eye but secretly practised Judaism at home.[6]
In the non-Rabbinic literature, the more widely knownSephardicanusim were also referred to as:
The subject of anusim has a special place inrabbinic literature. In normal circumstances, a person who abandonsJewish observance, or part of it, is classified as ameshumad. Such a person is still counted as a Jew for purposes of lineage, but is under a disability to claim any privilege pertaining to Jewish status: for example, he should not be counted in aminyan, that is, aquorum for religious services.
Anusim, by contrast, not only remain Jews by lineage but continue to count as fully qualified Jews for all purposes. Since the act of the original abandonment of the religion was done against the Jew's will, the Jew under force may remain a kosher Jew, as long as theanús keeps practising Jewish law to the best of his/her abilities under the coerced condition. In this sense, "kosher" is the rabbinic legal term applied to a Jew who adheres to rabbinic tradition and is accordingly not subject to any disqualification.
Se‘adyá ben Maimón ibn Danan in the 15th century stated:
Indeed, when it comes tolineage, all thepeople of Israel are brethren. We are all the sons of one father, the rebels (reshaim) and criminals, the heretics (meshumadim) and forced ones (anusim), and the proselytes (gerim) who are attached to the house ofJacob. All these are Israelites. Even if they left God or denied Him, or violated His Law, the yoke of that Law is still upon their shoulders and will never be removed from them.[9]
Hakham Joseph Shalom, writing in the 16th century, stated:
This is how it is with theseconversos: They derive from the hope of Israel, despite the fact that they have been immersed among the idolaters. Their hope and righteousness endure forever (...) furthermore, when they come to be included among the Jews, they are simplycircumcised; they are notimmersed like converts who were never part of the Jewish people.[10]
Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of the State of Israel, stated in the mid-20th century:
And we still have to clarify on the (subject of) Anusím, to whom the government forbids them to perform Halakhicly valid marriages, if it's necessary to say that their wives must have a Get to permit them (to marry another man), for the reason that, by force of the Law (Hazakah/חזקה), a man does not have intercourse for promiscuity (Zenut/זנות) ... (In our very case), we deal with those who converted and kept Torah in secrecy and hide their religion because of the gentile surveillance, we say that they do have intercourse for the sake of marriage.
It follows that Uziel consideredanusím as Jews, because only Jews can give or receive aget, a Jewish divorce.Maimonides stated in theMishneh Torah Sefer Shofetím, Hilekhót Mumarím 3:3:
But their children and grandchildren [of Jewish rebels], who, misguided by their parents ... and trained in their views, are like children taken captive by the gentiles and raised in their laws and customs (וגידלוהו הגויים על דתם), whose status is that of an ’anús [one who abjures Jewish law under duress], who, although he later learns that he is a Jew, meets Jews, observes them practice their laws, is nevertheless to be regarded as an ’anús, since he was reared in the erroneous ways of his parents ... Therefore efforts should be made to bring them back in repentance (לפיכך ראוי להחזירם בתשובה), to draw them near by friendly relations, so that they may return to the strength-giving source, i.e., the Toráh.
There is much controversy regarding the status of conversions today. While thechief rabbis are wary of converting large groups, there are some rabbis such asHaim Amsalem andChuck Davidson who have done mass conversions of Bnei Anusim (descendants of original Anusim). In the United StatesReform rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn is one of the leaders of the outreach movement to the descendants of those Crypto-Jews who wish to renew their ties with the Jewish people.[11]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) (reissued by the publisher as:Epistles ofMaimonides: Crisis and Leadership in 1993).