# #185: Spanish Inquisition - 350 Years of Jewish Defiance

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-for-the-curious-the-jewish-history-podcast-4092442/185-spanish-inquisition-350-years-of-jewish-defiance
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-for-the-curious-the-jewish-history-podcast-4092442/185-spanish-inquisition-350-years-of-jewish-defiance.md
Podcast: [History for the Curious - The Jewish History Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-for-the-curious-the-jewish-history-podcast-4092442)
Published: 2026-02-03T12:56:58+00:00
Episode link: https://rabbiaubreyhersh.podbean.com/e/185-spanish-inquisition-350-years-of-jewish-defiance/
Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/nmwqjkthahzkag9g/HC078_-_Ep_185_-_Spain_Part_3_Assembled_mixdown87yes.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/history-for-the-curious-the-jewish-history-podcast-4092442/episodes/185-spanish-inquisition-350-years-of-jewish-defiance
Duration seconds: 4039

## Resource

The Church was determined to wipe out any vestige of Judaism from Spain, any custom, any law, any practice, and thousands of Jews would pay the price. Spain was not just one country, however; it spread to the Americas and the Indies, and the stories of individual heroism, ingenuity, and courage are breathtaking. Timestamps: 0:00:01 Crypto-Judaism vs. Crusades — constant oversight in Spain 0:00:27 Podcast intro 0:01:16 Series context — part 3 importance 0:02:58 Post-1492 groups — emigrants, later emigrants, those who stayed 0:03:36 Sephardic diaspora — destinations & trades (Ottoman lands, North Africa, textiles, medicine) 0:04:41 Jewish diplomacy under Ottomans — translators/negotiators, ties to Spain 0:07:14 Crypto-Judaism basics — loss of rabbis, books, reliance on oral tradition & Old Testament 0:09:42 Decline of living memory — mid-1500s generational loss 0:11:40 Core beliefs retained — monotheism, Moses, Torah; examples from Inquisition confessions 0:14:02 Observance statistics from trials — fasting, kashrut, Shabbat, Yom Kippur prevalence 0:15:59 Passing faith to next generation — secrecy, double lives, limited transmission 0:17:32 Inquisition edicts as inadvertent guides to practice 0:19:26 End-of-life rituals — refusal of crucifix, tahara, burial customs 0:23:41 Shabbat practices — hidden candles, inward sweeping, blessings 0:26:31 Church attendance — outward conformity, internal belief strategies 0:27:25 New World/Inquisition — arrival in Americas; Inquisition established in Mexico, Peru, Brazil 0:31:00 Dutch Brazil exception — temporary open practice under Dutch rule, later expulsion 1654 0:32:40 Louis de Carvajal & notable trials — arrests, preserved writings used as evidence 0:36:22 Secret communication/code — phrases, walks, covert declarations…

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