About this event

In this webinar, we will explore the transatlantic slave trade during the early modern period and the Portuguese converso diaspora in the New World – descendants of Jews forcibly converted to Catholicism centuries earlier. Many conversos remained connected to their Jewish heritage and established a global trading network, cemented by familial, social, and economic ties. Placing ourselves within the broader historical, legal, and social contexts of the time, we will learn about the converso communities in the Americas, their limited involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and ultimately separate fact from fiction.

 

About the series

This three-part series offers an in-depth look at the historical, ethical, and social dimensions of Jewish involvement in the institution of slavery.

Part I begins in biblical times, exploring evolving interpretations in Jewish law and ethics in the Torah, Talmud, and Jewish tradition.

Part II shifts focus to the transatlantic slave trade, providing a critical look at both facts and myths surrounding Jewish participation. Special attention will be given to the role of Conversos—Jews who had converted to Christianity under duress and fled the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions. They created a global network of commerce, especially in the New World.

Part III concludes with an examination of slavery in the American Jewish experience, especially from the Revolution to the Civil War.

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PROGRAM INTRODUCTION:

Mr. Michael Steinberger, Founder & CEO of JHA.

 

MODERATOR:

Dr. Isaac Amon

Dr. Isaac Amon is the Director of Academic Research at JHA and an attorney and counselor at law. He was a Legal Fellow at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Legislative Director at the Missouri Department of Corrections, and an ISIS war crimes investigator. He is an Adjunct Professor at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri and this past summer, he was a scholar in-residence at Oxford University through the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP). The proud grandson of Ashkenazi, Sefardi, and Mizrahi Jewish immigrants to the United States in the 20th century, he often speaks on the law, international criminal justice, and Jewish memory, including antisemitism, the Inquisition, and the Holocaust.

SPEAKERS:

Speaker: Rabbi Dr. Yehonatan Elazar-DeMota

Dr. Yehonatan Elazar-DeMota was born in Miami. He comes from a long line of Sepharadi families from Spain, Portugal, and North Africa, which established themselves in the Caribbean before migrating to the United States of America. He holds a M.A. in Anthropology and Religious Studies from Florida International University and a Ph.D. in International Law from the University of Amsterdam. Currently, he is a distinguished research fellow at the Law and Religion department at Emory University.

 

PROGRAM CO-SPONSORS:
Assisting in underwriting the cost of the event are:

• University of Miami (Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies and the George Feldenkreis Program in Judaic Studies)
• Congregation Mikveh Israel by the way of the late scholar Herman Prins Salomon

 

CO-HOSTING PARTNERS:
Assisting in promoting this program are:

• Greater Miami Jewish Federation
• Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE)
• ANU Museum of the Jewish People
• European Jewish Community Centre (EJCC)
• Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO)
• Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies (SCJS)

 

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