One of the biggest trending issues of 2021/22 is the question of 'Who is a Jew' in relation to people recently discovering their Jewish heritage. Not that this is a new event, but there seems to be an explosion of 'discovery' now that this issue is featured more in social media. In North America and Brazil there are organisations of crypto-jews undertaking research and also acting as a gathering point for individuals and families. At the Sri Lankan end, things are fairly quiet - although I have it on good information that there are about 55 individual living there who also identify as crypto-Jews.
The issue issue confronting the Jewish world is how to reach out and support these individuals. And there's more and more coming forward everyday!
Not all these crypto-folk wish to convert, and if they did, they would likely need to go through a full conversion (esp if it is an orthodox conversion). What's really clear, is that the effects of the Inquisition still has rippling effects today, especially the Goa inquisition which was harsher than the European version.
Judaism is a non-proslyetising religion, in otherwords, there is no need for people to convert. Instead all gentiles can avail themselves of the 7 Noahide laws:
To find out more about Judaism to increase your knowledge, the My Jewish Learning is a great site
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/
Rumour has it, my blog is causing some disquiet among the burgher community. I am not sure why? Maybe it might be as a consequence of holding firm to certain family stories, only to have them be called into question. Of course I am speculating here in a kind way. Others might suggest that some peoples' reactions could be indicative of a latent antisemiticism, i.e. "there's no Jews in my family!" My standpoint is 'facts' with evidence, although recognising that getting proofs can be difficult especially where people do not want to be found or that registration as we would understand it in the modern sense did not exist. As I am in the final stages of my book (yes, its gone on too long) I am clear that any assertions I make need a degree of substantiation that can be triangulated.
