Mexico has had a Jewish population since the early Colonial Era. However, these early individuals could not openly worship as they were persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition for practicing Judaism. After achieving independence, Mexico eventually adopted freedom of religion and began receiving Jewish immigrants, many of them refugees. The book Estudio histórico de la migración judía a México 1900–1950 has records of almost 18,300 who emigrated to Mexico between 1900 and 1950. Most (7,023) were Ashkenazi Jews whose ancestors had settled in Eastern Europe, mainly Poland. A further 2,640 Jews arrived from either Spain or the Ottoman Empire and 1,619 came from Cuba and the United States.
The 2010 Census recorded 67,476 individuals professing Judaism,[1] most of whom live in Mexico City.[1]
The following is a list of notable past and present Mexican Jews (not all with both parents Jewish, nor all practising Judaism), arranged by their main field of activity: Jose Luis Seligson Visual Artist
Academia
edit- Adina Cemet, sociologist, author, essayist.[2][3][4][5]
- Julio Frenk, president of the University of Miami, former Secretary of Health and dean of the Harvard School of Public Health[6]
- Enrique Krauze, public intellectual, historian, essayist, critic, producer, and publisher
- Helen Kleinbort Krauze, historian, mother of Enrique Krauze[7]
- Arturo Warman, anthropologist, cabinet member of Salinas and Zedillo[8]
- Larissa Adler Lomnitz, social anthropologist (French-born)
- Judit Bokser, sociologist
- Flora Botton, sinologist and gender studies scholar
- Daniel Cazés, anthropologist and gender studies scholar
- Enrique Leff, economist, environmental sociologist and environmentalist
- Katya Mandoki, philosophy scholar
- Otto Mayer-Serral, musicologist
- Andrés Roemer; lawyer and economist
Architecture
edit- Sara Topelson de Grinberg, architect
- Abraham Zabludovsky, architect
- Alejandro Zohn, architect, Holocaust survivor
Arts
editClassical music
edit- Daniel Catán, composer[9]
- Max Lifchitz, composer[10][circular reference]
- Henryk Szeryng, violinist[11]
Photography
edit- Senya Fleshin, photographer and anarchist
- Mariana Yampolsky, photographer
Visual arts
edit- Maurice Ascalon, sculptor
- Arnold Belkin, painter, born in Canada[12]
- Olga Costa, painter
- Luis Filcer, Expressionist painter
- Pedro Friedeberg, painter[13]
- Mathias Goeritz, painter, sculptor, born in Germany[14]
- Vlady Kibalchich Russakov, painter
- Tosia Malamud, sculptor
- Leonardo Nierman, painter, sculptor
- Wolfgang Paalen, painter, sculptor and art philosopher
- Fanny Rabel, painter, member of Los Fridos artistic group.
- Diego Rivera, painter, muralist (Atheist)
- José Sacal, sculptor[15][16]
Business
edit- Carlos Alazraki, advertising executive
- Daniel Lubetzky, entrepreneur, author
- Franz Mayer, financier, photographer, collector, and the founder of the Franz Mayer Museum
- Isaac Assa, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
- Moisés Saba, businessman; board member of various companies
- Sergio Zyman, marketing executive
Entertainment
editFilm and television
edit- Brigitte Alexander, actress, director, author and translator for UNESCO
- Susana Alexander, actress
- Erick Elias, actor
- Irán Eory, actress, model
- Amat Escalante, director
- Gabriela Goldsmith, actress
- Israel Jaitovich, host and comedian
- Pati Jinich, TV chef, cookbook author
- Brontis Jodorowsky, actor
- Mauricio Kleiff, screenwriter
- María Eugenia Llamas, actress
- Mariana Levy, actress
- Emmanuel Lubezki, cinematographer, winner of three Ariel Awards for Best Cinematography (1992, 1993, 1994) and three Oscars in the category (2013–2015)[17]
- Miroslava, actress
- Norma Mora, actress
- David Ostrosky, actor
- Alfredo Ripstein, film producer
- Arturo Ripstein, filmmaker, screenwriter, producer
- Claudia Salinas, model, actress
- Alexander Salkind, producer.
- Ilya Salkind, producer.
- Diego Schoening, singer, actor and television host
- Alan Tacher, television host
- Ari Telch, actor
- Gregorio Walerstein, film producer and screenwriter
Music
edit- Alix Bauer, singer, founding member of Timbiriche
- Ari Borovoy, songwriter, founding member of the Latin pop group OV7
- Adan Jodorowsky, musician, singer, and actor
- Mark Tacher, musician, vocalist, guitarist, and television host
- Ariel Pink, musician, indie rocker, progenitor of the hypnagogic pop genre
Journalism
edit- Shanik Berman, journalist
- David Faitelson, sports journalist
- Giselle Fernández, television journalist
- Adela Micha, TV and radio journalist
- Jacobo Zabludovsky Kraveski, TV journalist[18]
Literature
edit- Chloe Aridjis, novelist[19]
- Sabina Berman, author, playwright, screenwriter
- Anita Brenner, writer, historian[20]
- Mariana Frenk-Westheim, prose writer, Hispanist, translator
- Margo Glantz, writer and critic[21]* a prose writer who was author of the New York Times bestseller The Empress.
- Bárbara Jacobs, author, poet, essayist, translator
- Myriam Moscona, author, journalist, poet and Ladino translator[22]
- Moises Salinas author and psychologist[23]
- Sara Sefchovich, writer[21]
- Esther Seligson, writer, poet, translator, and historian
- Ilan Stavans, literary critic[24]
Science
editBiology
edit- Jerzy Rzedowski, botanist, plant geographer, researcher, Holocaust survivor
- Annie Pardo Cemo, cell biologist
Engineering
edit- Edward Esseis, nuclear engineer
Mathematics
edit- Samuel Gitler Hammer, mathematician[25]
Medicine
edit- George Rosenkranz, pioneering scientist in the field of steroid chemistry; contract bridge Grand Life Master
- Pablo Rudomín Zevnovaty, neuroscientist
- Nora Volkow, psychiatrist; current director of the United States' National Institute on Drug Abuse
- David Kershenobich Stalnikowitz, gastroenterologist; former director of the Salvador Zubirán National Institute of Health Sciences and Nutrition
- Samuel Siegfried Karl von Basch, personal physician of emperor Maximilian of Mexico and the inventor of the blood pressure meter (also known as sphygmomanometer)
- Edna Cukierman, biochemist
- René Drucker Colín, neuroscientist
- Enrique Graue Wiechers, ophtalmologist, former rector of UNAM.
- Marcos Rojkind Matlyuk, physiologist
- Arturo Rosenblueth, physiologist, known as one of the pioneers of cybernetics
Physics
edit- Jacob Bekenstein, physicist[26]
- Deborah Berebichez, physicist
- Gloria Koenigsberger, physicist[27]
- Marcos Moshinsky, awarded physicist, UNAM cathedratic, Ukrainian-born[28]
Politics
edit- Andrés Roemer, diplomat, author
- Binyamin Temkin, Israeli politician
- Claudia Sheinbaum, President of Mexico
- David Goldbaum, surveyor and politician of Baja California
- Diego de Montemayor[citation needed], founder of Monterrey[29][30]
- Eliezer Ronen, Israeli politician
- Gabriela Brimmer, writer and activist for persons with disabilities
- Jorge Castañeda Gutman, politician and academic who served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs; also known for losing a Supreme Court ruling that would have allowed him to run as an Independent in the 2006 Presidential race
- José Woldenberg, political scientist and sociologist
- Juan de Oñate, Governor of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, descendant of Conversos
- Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva, adventurer, slave-trader, first Governor of Nuevo León
- Francisca Nuñez de Carabajal, Marrana, sister of Luis de Carabajal, executed along with family members for practicing Judaism
- Luis de Carabajal the younger, author, merchant
- Salomón Chertorivski Woldenberg, Senator from Mexico City and former Secretary of Health
- Vicente Lombardo Toledano, labor leader
Religion
edit- Jacob Avigdor, Chief Rabbi of the Ashkenazi Jewish community, author, Holocaust survivor
- Yosef Dayan, rabbi and the author of several books in Hebrew, Spanish and Italian
- Moisés Kaiman, rabbi from Monterrey
Sports
edit- Ilana Berger, tennis player
- Wolf Ruvinskis, wrestler
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Panorama de las religiones en México 2010" (PDF) (in Spanish). INEGI. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
- ^ "Adina Cimet – English – Lexicon – NN Theatre". teatrnn.pl.
- ^ "Critical Approaches to Jewish-Mexican Literature Review | Sephardic Horizons". www.sephardichorizons.org.
- ^ Cimet, Adina (1995). "Jews as a Minority in Mexico". Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Latino-Américaines et Caraïbes. 20 (39/40): 215–225. doi:10.1080/08263663.1995.10816726. JSTOR 41799921.
- ^ "Adina Cimet | Autor en Diario Judío México |". 14 May 2020.
- ^ "Julio Frenk and the University of Miami: Family History". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
- ^ "Mexican Cartoon Character at Center of Dispute : NPR". npr.org. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
I come from a Jewish family. My parents came from Poland to Mexico.
- ^ "Infancia y juventud – Arturo Warman" [Children and Youth – Arturo Warman]. catedrawarman.org (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
- ^ Opera Japonica/Daniel Catán Archived 2006-10-02 at the Wayback Machine "I was born of Jewish parents in Mexico City."
- ^ "Max Lifchitz".
- ^ "Jewish Violinists". www.jinfo.org.
- ^ Ugalde Gómez Nadia. Arnold Belkin; la imágen como metáfora. México, 1999.
- ^ "Aldo Castillo Gallery". Archived from the original on June 23, 2006.
Pedro Friedeberg was born in Florence, Italy in 1936 to German-Jewish parents
- ^ Wendl, Karel (1998). "The Route of Friendship: A Cultural/Artistic Event of the Games of the XIX Olympiad in Mexico City - 1968" (PDF). OLYMPIKA: The International Journal of Olympic Studies. VII: 113–134. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2010 – via www.la84foundation.org.
- ^ "José Sacal, escultor". Diario Judío: Diario de la Vida Judía en México y el Mundo (in European Spanish). 2013-08-16. Retrieved 2018-06-14.
- ^ "Agradece Eilat al escultor judío mexicano José Sacal por obra donada". Enlace Judío (in Mexican Spanish). 2018-03-08. Retrieved 2018-06-14.
- ^ Bloom, Nate (2007-02-22). "Jewish Standard Hollywood's big night". Jewish Standard. Archived from the original on 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
- ^ 100 year of Jewish immigration Archived 2005-12-10 at the Wayback Machine "The exhibit has photos of many members of the community who have become well known for their artistic or cultural contributions. Wolf Ruvinskis was a famous wrestler in the 1950s.... Jacobo Zabludovsky is a household name, having been a prominent news anchor for decades both in television and radio."
- ^ Jacobs, Gerald (July 23, 2009). "Interview: Chloe Aridjis". The Jewish Chronicle.
- ^ Kerstin Jones. "Anita Brenner". ic.arizona.edu. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
- ^ a b Invenciones multitudinarias: escritoras judíomexicanas contemporáneas Archived 2006-04-26 at the Wayback Machine "Guadalupe Cortina’s study of Mexican Jewish women writers features general introductions to four writers and textural analyses of their work. The writers are Margo Glantz, Ethel Krauze, Sara Levi Calderón, and, more briefly discussed than the previous three, Sara Sefchovich. "
- ^ Where Words Like Monarchs Fly Archived 2005-11-20 at the Wayback Machine "Myriam Moscona is the daughter of Sephardic parents who came to Mexico from Bulgaria."
- ^ ".:: Welcome To The Jewish Ledger ::". jewishledger.com. Archived from the original on 31 May 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
- ^ Interview: Ilan Stavans "born in Mexico in 1961 to an Eastern European Jewish family"
- ^ Agencias (10 September 2014). "Dr. Samuel Gitler Z"L, Multigalardonado matemático miembro del Colegio Nacional". Diario Judío (in Spanish).
- ^ "Jewish Physicists". www.jinfo.org.
- ^ "Instituto de Ciencias Físicas". www.fis.unam.mx.
- ^ "Marcos Moshinsky :: Background". Archived from the original on March 21, 2006.
Moshinsky belongs to a family of Jewish emigrants from the Ukraine ... He has lived in Mexico, where he received his entire elementary and higher education and has spent almost all his professional life, from the age of three
- ^ Hordes, Stanley M. To the ends of the earth: A history of the crypto-Jews in New Mexico
- ^ Farias, George. The Farias chronicles: a history and genealogy of a Portuguese/Spanish family.
External links
edit- Judíos Destacados en México, articles on notable Mexican Jews by Diario Judio