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What level of proof would be needed for a person whose ancestors lived in Mexico and who claims to be a descendant of the Marranos to be considered Jewish for the sake of marriage? Or are all such people required to do tevila for the sake of conversion prior to marriage in an orthodox setting?

I think this question may not be fully answered by the MY answer to the more general question “Am I Jewish​​​?” because there is historical support for the existence of Jews in (and then from) Spain who lived outwardly as Christians.

Isaac Moses
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Yehuda W
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    RE your edit: Yes there is historical support for the existence of Jews in and from Spain living outwardly as Christians. If someone's mother's mother's mother... is one of those people, then that person is Jewish. Otherwise not. The answer is the same. – Daniel Dec 23 '15 at 18:31
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    @Daniel, It's quite possible that on a pragmatic level, there are special established practical heuristics for establishing Jewish status based on "Marrano" ancestry. For example, perhaps (totally guessing) there's a Beit Din in Mexico that specializes in making such determinations, and they have written standards for particular kinds of documentation that will convince them to consider someone to be already Jewish. – Isaac Moses Dec 23 '15 at 20:18
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    Possibly the world's biggest expert on this particular endeavor: http://www.geniemilgrom.com/ – Isaac Moses Dec 23 '15 at 20:20
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    @msh210 This is a separate question, not a duplicate. – LN6595 Dec 29 '15 at 00:51
  • I think that this should be reopened. I read a fascinating book by Genie Milgrom, "My 15 Grandmothers," in which this woman raised as a Catholic in Cuba and Miami, was converting to Judaism when her maternal grandmother gave her a very old hamsa and Star-of-David earrings. She did very detailed genealogical research and documented how she came from a direct maternal line of Jews - secret Jews who married only other secret Jews - before the expulsion in 1492. Priests who were also secret Jews, falsified documents to the church attesting that all were good Catholics. See www.geniemilgrom.com. – Bruce James Dec 30 '15 at 17:09
  • I didn't see Isaac's comment when I wrote the previous comment. Yes, she has written a second book documenting how people with Spanish roots might establish that they descended maternally from secret Jews. Only Genie's mother was not in on the secret, apparently. She married outside the group of secret Jews. But the website shows photos of the town in Spain where they hid in plain sight with hidden synagogues and mikvahs, and a town crest that when turned upside down shows Hebrew letters (difficult to read, though). For her method to prove this go to her book "How I Found My 15 Grandmothers." – Bruce James Dec 30 '15 at 17:15
  • The answer would still be the same as the question as asked is the general level of proof. While historical fact that there are such people shows that evidence can exist, it does not show in any particular case that evidence does exist. In any case if asked, how such evidence can be obtained, then it would not be appropriate as it does not refer to Judaism. – sabbahillel Dec 30 '15 at 19:26

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