This year, the Lawrence Jewish Community Congregation (LJCC) will celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month with two community-wide events devoted to Mexican-Jewish literature, culture and cuisine.
The first, a virtual lecture from Mexican author Gabriela Riveros Elizondo about her 2022 novel “Olvidarás el Fuego,” will take place from 12 to 1 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 29. The second, a fundraising dinner featuring Sephardic cuisine typical of Northern Mexico, will be on Sunday, Oct. 1, from 4 to 7 p.m. Both events are part of a collaboration with KU’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
Virtual lecture with Gabriela Riveros Elizondo
Mexican author Gabriela Riveros Elizondo will speak virtually about her 2022 novel “Olvidarás el Fuego” and will focus on the experience of conversos, also known as crypto-Jews, who settled in Northern Mexico after their expulsion from Spain.
“Olvidarás el Fuego,” meaning “You'll Forget the Fire,” was inspired by the memoirs of Joseph Lumbroso (né Luis de Carvajal). Lumbroso was a poet, statesman and one of the first Hispanic settlers of Northern Mexico. Moreover, he and his family were crypto-Jews expelled from Spain in 1492, but who remained in Spanish territory on the American continent while practicing Judaism in secret. Lumbroso and his family were eventually caught by the Inquisition in a political struggle over the Nuevo Reino de León (roughly Northeastern Mexico). Lumbroso was charged with being a "judaizante relapso pertinaz" (a perpetual, relapsed Judaizer) and burned at the stake along with members of his family in 1596. He left behind him memoirs, letters and a spiritual testament which together comprise the only surviving Jewish writings of the Spanish colonial period.
Elizondo’s talk will take place on Zoom, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87079243671, with the meeting I.D. as 870 7924 3671.
A Sephardic-Mexican cuisine dinner
The second, scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 1, will be a fundraising dinner featuring Sephardic cuisine typical of Northern Mexico. The menu will consist of cortadillo (a beef stew), zucchini in pipian negro (a sauce thickened with ground pumpkin seeds and said to have its origins in the ancient Aztec, Purepecha, and Mayan cuisines), flour tortillas and a dessert of fruits.
Amateur chef and KU Professor of Spanish Rafael Acosta Morales will prepare the meal and refers to the foods on the menu as the “Sephardic cuisine of the conquest.”
“The food in this region evolved to be mostly made out of ingredients that could be kosher, even if they weren’t always sacrificed in the correct way, or if several of the people who ate the food did not follow the rules,” Acosta Morales said. “Goat and beef were the most highly valued ingredients, and traditions like eating unleavened bread became integral to the diet, even as they incorporated indigenous traditions into their cooking.”
Tickets for the meal are available to purchase at lawrencejcc.com on the “What We’re Doing” tab. All proceeds support the LJCC.
“When we (both Jews and non-Jews alike) think of Jewish culture, what we often picture are the staples of Ashkenazi culture: bagels and brisket, the flight from Europe and the cultural and theological ramifications of the Shoah. But Jewish experience is so much wider and more diverse than that,” said LJCC Program and Engagement Director Dr. Lara Giordano. “I think this is an excellent opportunity to educate ourselves and the broader public about these other Judaisms and to eat some delicious Sephardic cuisine.”
More information about LJCC and the events is available at lawrencejcc.com.