Wow. I admit, I am nervous sharing the story of my family on a public platform. As I write this, both my mother and I are continuously digging into our ancestry, and finding new things all the time, so I’ll do my best to tell this story, some handed down by relatives, some found through the few documents that we’ve found.
My family, though many live in the UK, we are Jamaican, Sephardic Jews, Scots, but we have been crypto Jews for a long time, until the last couple of years. Well, my mother and I anyway.
My family who are Sephardim, came to Jamaica to flee the inquisition in Spain. It’s been discovered that many actually started going to the Caribbean from the late 14th century, including Jews who were kicked out of England in the 13thcentury. But the expediency became much faster once the Inquisition stepped up many gears, in 1492.
In Jamaica, if some of your family had certain surnames, it’s now understood the majority of those folk arrived on the shores as Jewish pirates. Some of these graves, are scattered on the island today; stone slabs with the skull and crossbones, and the writing on the graves are in Hebrew or Spanish. My family have 3 of these names. At this point, Hispaniola (now known as the Caribbean) was a Spanish territory. Many, but not all Jews at this point were conversos when they arrived, and there was also conflict and increased tensions between the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardim.
During the Anglo-Spanish war in 1655, the English beat Spain over the rulership of Jamaica, and soon became a British colony. Jamaica now became a place where Jews could openly and safely practise without the fear of persecution, torture or death.
Now, this next part, I haven’t filled in all the gaps, may not be able to ever. I’m also wary of discussing this with others, because they will use this information to embolden their anti Semitism and anti-blackness. But, it has to be told from Jewish people like myself. At this point, the Sephardim and Ashkenazim (who mainly consisted of white English and German Jews) did not get on. Forbidden for both communities to marry (though some did in secret and changed surnames), lived in different parts of the island and when the first synagogue on the island was built in 1719, the Sephardim were not welcome.
The Sephardi and Ashkenazi united in the same congregation in 1850, for the first time ever on the island. Clearly during this time, the slave trade was thriving and sadly to say, not all Jews on Jamaica were on the progressive side of history. And this is why, some of my family will be against me telling our story. Colourism and class played a big part in slavery, and it was class and colourism that would determine the fates of many on the island. Were there a small amount of Black Jamaicans who weren’t slaves? Yes. Were some of them Jews? Yes. Did some trade commodities? Yes. Were some of these Black Jews slaves themselves? The Jews who were darker in complexion and “lower” in class, I don’t enjoy writing this, but they were bought and sold in the slave trade, some of these slave owners were Jews themselves.
From what I have discovered so far with limited resources, the majority of the Sephardim were overall more darker in complexion compared to the majority ofAshkenazim, that’s not to say some Ashkenazim also fell victim, but of the Jews that were bought and sold in the slave trade, most were dark skinned Sephardim and they fell through the cracks. That was how the generations of trauma and fear, showed up in them at the time and betrayals along with dark choices were made. This is me trying to understand the actions, instead of just simply vilifying.
This included some of my relatives unfortunately. One of my great grandfathers, who was a white Scottish Jew, sold every one of his children, but one. He had 20. I don’t enjoy writing that, I really don’t. It puts a knot in my stomach. I know how some racists will only focus on that one horrific fact to embolden their actions and beliefs, and some Jews will call me a self-hater, but it’s true. However, some of my relatives also traded in sugar, spices, rum, silver, gold, materials for tailoring and didn’t sell/buy enslaved people. At this point, approximately 20% of the population of Jamaica were Jewish.
I have seen the documents myself, where some Jamaican Jews when they died, included a clause to give the synagogues the enslaved Black people that were still, property of the family at the time of death. Information like this, should never ever be weaponised for anti-Semitic nor racist actions, but no community is 100% perfect, especially when dealing with generational trauma for centuries. During this time, anti-Semitism increased from the English as well, because they said the Jews on the island had an unfair advantage when trading commodities, especially metals and money.
The English accused the Jews of skimming profits and tax evasion, and wanted sanctions put on them as well to impede this supposed criminal activity. In other words, Jews were tolerated by the English, more so if they weren’t Black Jews, but not seen as equals to the English either. This definitely caused a shift of consciousness, within the community.
This same shift in consciousness, led to some of the Jews helping the enslaved Black people (non-Jews and Jews, to orchestrate an unforgettable uprising on December 25th 1831. It was also known as the Christmas rebellion, and like Haiti, the uprising was the beginning of the end of the slave trade functioning in the way that it did. Both Haiti and Jamaica’s uprisings, would inspire revolutions in other parts of the world as well. Before the abolition in 1834, many Black people were no longer enslaved and were recognised as free people. As free people, this game them equal rights as other free people who were never enslaved in terms of property and financial ownership, right to travel etc.
The Jewish community, did not have access to these rights and would soon be the only community in Jamaica without access to these rights. The fear that Jamaican Jews were going to deceive, out trade the British in commodities, meant that the Jewish community were purposely being held back. Several petitions to the English government were made and in 1831, Jamaican Jews were given the rights of any British citizen, meaning they could own property and other freedoms along with everyone else on the island.
This action by Jamaican Jews was so successful and progressive, it inspired Jews in Canada and London, England to also campaign for similar rights as the Christians. They too, were successful. Round about this time period, was when some of my relatives married AND became conversos again, in the hope it would eradicate whatever fear and dysphoria they were experiencing. Beautiful Hebrew name after Hebrew name getting a baptism and then married in church, through discovered documents. Not only that, some of my relatives had completely different names on their death certificate.
Many surnames and forenames had been anglicised at this point, in order to assimilate. This continued well into the 19th century, from what I’ve researched, and been shown so far. Not all my family became conversos though. Nevertheless, some remained crypto Jews after the slavery abolition. My maternal great, great, great, great grandmother (we still have a picture of her) and paternal great, great, great, great grandfather, were open practising Jews their whole life, and proud.
Many Jamaican Jews contributed in a myriad of ways including but not exclusively: teachers, doctors, politicians, fishermen, metalworkers, scientists.
The population did go down again for a while, due to certain weather disasters and pandemics. By the 19th century, Jews from Egypt, Syria, France, India, England and Germany came to Jamaica but by the turn of the 20th century, many left for Europe, North & South America after a descent in the economy. During the second world war, as Jamaica was (and still is, but not in the same way since the 1960s) a British colony, refugee camps were set up in Jamaica in order to support the citizens who were being threatened in Gibraltar by the German army. Only one third of people from Gibraltar took up the space in the refugee camps, Jewish refugees would fill the rest of the space. Almost 1,500Jews were housed in the camps, mainly Dutch & Polish Jews.
Some of these Jews were Sephardim who escaped to Spain from France in the 1940s, and then left Spain for Jamaica. Sadly, it wasn’t the pure utopia as many had hoped. Jamaican non-Jews weren’t allowed to enter the camp and certainly not the part where the Jews were. To leave the refugee camp, Jews had to apply for permission and there was a strict curfew to adhere to. Many saw Jews at this time as secret spies, as many were fleeing from Nazi occupied territories at the time. However, the women were in charge of cooking and serving food for everyone in the camps in line with ritual and kosher practises.
Currently so far, I personally haven’t found any relatives who were interred in these camps. After the war ended, the Jews within the refugee camps weren’t allowed to work in Jamaica, so relocated to the US or UK. However, this does overshadow the fact that the Jews who remained, lived and worked in Jamaica before and after the World Wars broke out, particularly the second one, are an integral part of the Jamaican population, economy, practises and culture. Many of our grandmothers are pictured wrapped in hats or scarves.
For economic, financial and some hostile reasons, though not all, a lot of my family relocated to the US or Europe, including the UK. Despite the unfortunate decisions that involved the refugee camp, Jamaica helped many Jews (including my family) survive the persecution from the Spanish Christians, the Nazis and thousands survived the Holocaust and the Inquisition because of this.
The relatives who decided, to emmigrate to the US were at times, ostracised by both white and Black Americans at times. They were, and sometimes are still, called “Jew-maicans”. There was heavy scrutiny about how Jamaican Jews (and non-Jewish Jamaicans, but were all put in the same box regardless) worked more than 1 job when coming to the US, and would build wealth, do things such as buy land and create businesses. There’s even a joke in an episode of “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” where the man in the barber said they thought a Black man he knows must’ve been Jamaican, because he had two jobs. One of my relatives used to give jobs to both white and Black children where he lived in the South, simply because he wanted to help and break down divides and fear.
Honestly, I think that was one of the few things that made him appear as less of a threat to the white people living there as well, and why he was able to get on with everyone, despite the sporadic tensions that fluctuated there in the 20th century. Even the ones who were openly racist, thankfully left him and his family alone because he gave jobs to members of their family, despite their beliefs and actions. I do believe, many fear and hope based reasons meant by 1948, the Windrush boat, carrying thousands of Caribbeans, including my family, came to the British islands to seek a new life, find employment and so forth. The original intention, was to sail for Germany, but was told by the English government, that if Jamaicans (especially Jamaican Jews) went to Germany, what happened to the European Jews in Germany, would happen to them.
The fear of extermination is always there, and of course that meant many decided to come to England instead. What isn’t discussed though when this is mentioned, is the fact the Jamaicans that got on the Windrush weren’t all Christian. Some did convert to Christianity before leaving Jamaica. A very small number came here, and became part of the British Jewish community but, some were so horrified by the racism AND anti-Semitism they experienced and/or witnessed here, that they became crypto Jews again! This included some of my relatives as well.
Christians in public, protesting too much with Christian memorabilia in the house, or plaques with messages about God in such an ambiguous way you didn’t know if it was leaning more towards Jewish or Christian beliefs. But almost every practise and ritual within my family, was and is Jewish. My maternal great-grandmother kept very kosher in more than one way. From her cooking, cleaning, even the way she conducted business. Her hair was almost always wrapped, or she wore wigs. My paternal grandfather provided Friday night dinner throughout, the whole of my childhood. Going to his house in Finsbury Park, really was a sanctuary for me. No matter what was going on in my life as a kid, every Friday I was there without fail. A lot of my happy memories are connected to him and that house. He would never go into detail, but always told me to bless my food and drink before consuming and would tell me not to eat any dairy desserts he bought me until a certain time after. The way he raised my father was Jewish in many ways, though they only spoke English and didn’t observe the holidays. My Granddad is Sephardi, not sure about my pateral grandmother. My Mum had an unstable childhood for many reasons, my grandmother is Sephardi and it was later my Mum discovered her father, my maternal grandfather is an Ethiopian Jew. But, despite some really shitty moments in my Mum’s childhood, she was fortunate with spending time with a foster family who were also Jewish, and she was able to incorporate many of the kosher practises in her life, and learnt Yiddish.
My parents were surrounded by Christian influences as well, and I think this is why as adults, they acknowledged being Jews, without being extremely open about it to others. Not in a way, that many would recognise anyway. This secret behaviour is engrained in me and my mother, and my dad to some degree. Never in my life, have my Mum and I put up a Christmas tree. Neither did my dad nor Granddad. What is really funny, is that no one asked when they visited my Mum and I. Either it didn’t feel weird to them being in our space, or they assumed we were too financially poor to have one.
There have been times when we struggled financially, due to my Mum having a lot on her plate as a single parent, but we could’ve bought a tree if we wanted to, never have even now at 29. In my late teens and early 20s, I was fearful of telling others that I’m Sephardi, because I was around so much racism, so many micro aggressions. There was a period, when I would only blurt it out when I was stone drunk at parties, and either I was the only Jew there, or there’d be one other and we’d get attached to each other. Also, there times when I was drinking, I’d get extremely angry, and get into arguments. More so, if they said they knew I was Jewish because of my nose, or if I didn’t look Jewish enough, or my behaviour and overall character insinuated I’m a Jew. Scrutiny, and racial slurs has come from both non-Jews and Jews. Mutterings under the breath of neighbours in my childhood, who are Jewish saying we’re not Jewish because Black Jews don’t exist, certainly not from the Caribbean because they’ve never met one. Some have even told me that Sephardim are dirty, especially Black Sephardim and don’t really represent the “true” Jews, whatever that means. My Mum took me to a synagogue as a baby with my Dad, and one of their friends (for context the friend is also a Jew and non-Black).
When a woman within the congregation saw us, she took her handbag and held it closer to her quickly because of course my parents were going to rob her being Black and all. This story was relayed to me, by the same friend when I was older. That was the last time my Mum has taken me to a synagogue. Sadly, it’s not uncommon for Black Jews to experience hostility at synagogues in the UK, even till this day. There was another occasion, when my Mum and I were visiting a cousin, in an area of North London where there is a massive orthodox Jewish community, and there was an incident with this family. I didn’t understand the context as I was still young at the time, but a woman was giving me really nasty looks for no reason. Bear in mind, I was still a child. When my Mum realised she wasn’t going to stop, she lost her temper and yelled something at her in Yiddish. The woman went very pale, and we received some sort of apology.
Less than 600 practising Jews in Jamaica practise the religion and only 1 synagogue remains in Kingston, but over 2,000 still on the island alone identify and recognise themselves as ethnic Jews. There is a real danger, that the history of Caribbean Jews will be lost altogether though, if the stories aren’t passed down, highlighted or people aren’t aware of the places in Jamaica they visit, that make up an integral part of Jamaican Jewish history. Many Jamaican customs original from Jewish customs. From food preparation, to when someone dies and folks come to mourn. Reggae is influenced by Sephardi and Spanish music. Rastafarianism (my Dad is one) and its ideology comes from Judaism. Rastas share similar dietary laws to the kosher dietary laws. Rastas also use the Hebrew bible as their holy scripture, thus recognising a belonging to the tribes of Israel.
You will sometimes find Rastas at the synagogue, particularly in Jamaica, wearing a yarmulke and reading out quotes from the bible. The dreadlocks and alcohol abstinence comes from the Nazarite vow that Rastafarians take. Some do drink alcohol, but all of them never cut the hair on their head, ever. They too, faced extreme violence and persecution from the Jamaican government and military at one point, but persisted through the power of music. We also have Celtic as well as German Jews in our family, but we are Sephardi and proud. Now I am more open and public, I’m refusing to hold shame for this integral part of my ancestry, which I can now see I have incorporated unconsciously without realising. Particularly when I think of my musical, spiritual, cooking practises and rituals. It’s imperative that Caribbean Jews speak up and share this history, these stories, before it’s too late. I think it’s beautiful that Jamaica speaks English, Spanish, French, Hebrew and Patois (peppered with more French or Spanish, depending which part of the island you visit).
Many of us are Black, but we too are also Jewish, and should be proud of that. We are not going to choose being either Black or Jewish, as many of us have been told to in the past. Jamaican Jews are some of the most diverse within the Jewish diaspora due to our rich history. Harry Belafonte, is a Scottish Jamaican Sephardic Jew for example, whose version of, ”Hava Nagila” became extremely popular. To be Jamaican doesn’t mean a specific race.
It’s a representation of a mixed and diverse culture and ethnicity, that creates something beautiful and new from the pain and destruction, regardless of race. As the Jamaican saying goes, “Out of many, one people.”
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