By Eric George Tauber
CHULA VISTA, California — One doesn’t normally expect to hear Hanukah music in a church. But when that church is Iglesia Restauración in Chula Vista, the meeting place of Latinos por Israel, the rules change. It’s taken 500 years, but many B’nei Anousim (Jews forcibly converted to Catholicism during the Inquisition) are reaching back to their roots.
When I walked in the door, I was greeted by a friendly “Shalom,” and not just because I was wearing a kippah. I heard this throughout the sanctuary. They gave a rousing Shalom Aleichem medley that really got the crowd hopping. As I watched their lips, it was clear that they knew the words.
With assistance from the KEN Jewish Community, they told the story of Hanukah (spelled Januká in Spanish) and lit the first candle of a menora grande. My Spanish skills are less than fluent, but I was able to get the gist of what was said.
The pastor pointed out that the Jewish Carpenter himself celebrated the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem as recorded in John 10:22 in Christian Scripture. He also spoke passionately about how both men and women serve in the IDF to defend “el pueblo de Dios” (the Land of God). Their children’s program put together care packages for soldiers in the IDF -complete with personal messages and construction paper artwork- to thank them for their service.
Moreover, an entourage from their community is planning a trip to Israel for next month. They are going not in spite of –but because of- the recent spate of knife attacks. They are determined to demonstrate their solidarity with the Israelis. They want to say to the faces of the Palestinians that they are not afraid.
Singer Zeji Ozeri (a familiar name to our Jewish community) taught the crowd Esa Einai phonetically, line by line, and led us in some traditional holiday favorites like Sevivon and Ner Li. But it was Ocho Kandelikas, sung in Ladino, that really brought the house down.
Ozeri sang Yerushalayim shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold) as a duet with Jonathan Valverde, the leader of Latinos for Israel. I was hoping to hear more of Valverde that evening. If you went to the last pro-Israel rally in Balboa Park, you heard a stirring Star Spangled Banner from a beautiful set of pipes. But that night, Valverde looked pretty busy managing the show at the church where his father is the pastor.
And so, in this season, the miracles continue. The lights of Januká, so long ago snuffed out by hatred and hegemony, are being rekindled by a new generation of B’nei Anousim. If that’s not a miracle, what is?
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Tauber is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. He may be contacted via eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com.