The vast majority of the approximately 50,000 Mexican citizens who practice Judaism via organized congregations are descendents of people who, from 1881 to 1939, found life-saving refuge in this country. Unlike the ancestors of many who migrated to the U.S. to avoid military service or seek better economic opportunity, most who came to Mexico were […]
Continue ReadingThe survival of Judaism in Mexico is a tale of tenacity and tolerance. The story begins in Spain with the “Conversos”, Jews who had converted to Christianity, always under duress. It starts in 600 AD, the Visigoth king, Reccard, forcibly baptized 90,000 of his Jewish subjects and expelled those who would not accept Christianity. Some […]
Continue Reading(This is the third of a three-part series about Mexico’s tragic Cristero Rebellion, when forces of secular and religious fanaticism were locked in a no-quarter battle for the country’s soul.) Few movements have ever suffered more from a crisis in leadership than that of the Cristeros. René Capistrán Garza, the fiery but inexperienced young zealot […]
Continue Reading(This is the second of a three-part series about Mexico’s tragic Cristero Rebellion, when forces of secular and religious fanaticism were locked in a no-quarter battle for the country’s soul.) The Cristero Rebellion officially began with a manifesto issued by René Capistrán Garza on New Year’s Day 1927. Titled A la Nación (“To the Nation”), it declared […]
Continue ReadingSince it is the near unanimous verdict of authorities on American history that Abraham Lincoln was our greatest president, it has become a facile formula among historians of other nations to describe their greatest leaders as “Lincolns.” Was Clemenceau a French Lincoln? Was Churchill a British Lincoln? In a way, yes. Both leaders presided over […]
Continue Reading(This is the first of a three-part series about Mexico’s tragic Cristero Rebellion, when forces of secular and religious fanaticism were locked in a no-quarter battle for the country’s soul.) 1: Toward the abyss The 1920s -1930s struggle between Church and State in Mexico ultimately goes back to five articles of the 1917 Constitution. Article 3 […]
Continue ReadingMiguel Hidalgo y Costilla had the unique distinction of being a father in three senses of the word: a priestly father in the Roman Catholic Church, a biological father who produced illegitimate children in defiance of his clerical vows, and the father of his country. Though Guadalupe Victoria was, like Washington, his country’s first president, […]
Continue ReadingThe solar year was the basis for the civil calendar by which the Mexicas (Aztecs) determined the myriad ceremonies and rituals linked to agricultural cycles. The calendar was made up of 18 months, each lasting 20 days. The months were divided into four five-day weeks. The year was rounded out to 365 days by the […]
Continue ReadingOne of history’s recurring ironies is the spectacle of figures who die in defeat or disgrace, but emerge in future generations as heroes while the people who defeated them are downgraded to villains. Miguel Hidalgo, executed as a “traitor” to the Spanish crown, is today considered Mexico’s George Washington. Nathan Hale, hanged by the British […]
Continue ReadingMusic is the universal language that crosses all barriers and penetrates the heart. There was no composer who understood the emotional draw of music better than Agustín Lara, and no song writer who has captured better the soul of the Mexican people. Agustín Lara’s career spanned nearly 70 years. In that time, he penned over […]
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