https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gershom_Mendes_Seixas"
Here's an even more interesting story: "Reverend" Seixas came from a family of Portuguese crypto-Jews, aka "marranos". Jews who'd converted to Catholicism but continued to practice Talmudism (the actual religion of the Jews) in secret. Naturally this was looked at negatively by the Catholic governments of Spain and Portugal. The backsliding "marranos" are a separate class from the "conversos" - who were Jews who'd converted to Catholicism, but hadn't (yet) backslid. Marrano means “pig” or "dirty person".
When you read popular histories about the conversos and marranos it is always painted as them being “forced to convert”. Usually at the point of a sword.
But this is not the case. No doubt some were were forced to convert, but most of them did so freely. Some no doubt sincerely. Others out of opportunity.
These opportunistic Jews often began having second thoughts and started reverting… secretly… while maintaining an outward Catholic facade. THAT was the problem. This was a time when Catholics were still Catholics, not mass attending protestants like today, and it was considered as something akin to blasphemy. The Inquisition began searching them out.
Irrespective of whatever Wikipedia might say, the Inquisition had no authority over "Jews" per se... only baptised Catholics. The Jews who ran afoul of it were those disparaging Christ or Catholicism. The conversos were looked at suspiciously because so many of them were surreptitiously reverting to their old rites.
The rabbis even set up a directorate for that purpose: to re-convert the conversos!
The backsliding marranos, and the Jews enabling them, were the ones who found themselves in trouble with the Inquisition. Not the Jews who stayed in their own lane.
It appears Seixas was continuing the old, marrano tradition. Calling himself "reverend” rather than "rabbi". And even gussying himself up to look the part of a proper protestant pastor. The better to fool the goyim.
Fitz
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