List of Mexican Jews
Encyclopedia
The Jewish population of Latin America has risen to more than 500,000 — more than half of whom live in Argentina, with large communities also present in Brazil and Mexico.
In Mexico, Mexico City
has the largest Jewish population. The second and third largest Jewish groups are in Guadalajara and in Monterrey
(the founder of Monterrey, Luis Carvajal, was persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition
for practicing Judaism
). The book Estudio histórico de la migración judía a México 1900-1950 has records of almost 11,300 who emigrated to Mexico between 1900 and 1950. Most (7023) where Ashkenazi Jews
who originated from Eastern Europe
, mainly from Poland
. A further 2640 Jews arrived from either Spain
or the Ottoman Empire
and 1619 came from Cuba
and the United States
. In 1990 almost 58,000 Mexicans and in 2000 about 45,000 professed the Jewish religion in the country, according to the INEGI
.
The following is a list of some renowned past and present Mexican Jews (not all with both parents Jewish, nor all practising Judaism), arranged by their main field of activity:
In Mexico, Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
has the largest Jewish population. The second and third largest Jewish groups are in Guadalajara and in Monterrey
Monterrey
Monterrey , is the capital city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León in the country of Mexico. The city is anchor to the third-largest metropolitan area in Mexico and is ranked as the ninth-largest city in the nation. Monterrey serves as a commercial center in the north of the country and is the...
(the founder of Monterrey, Luis Carvajal, was persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition , commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition , was a tribunal established in 1480 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the Medieval...
for practicing Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
). The book Estudio histórico de la migración judía a México 1900-1950 has records of almost 11,300 who emigrated to Mexico between 1900 and 1950. Most (7023) where Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
who originated from Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, mainly from Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. A further 2640 Jews arrived from either Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
or the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
and 1619 came from Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In 1990 almost 58,000 Mexicans and in 2000 about 45,000 professed the Jewish religion in the country, according to the INEGI
National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Data Processing
The National Institute of Statistic and Geography is an autonomous agency of the Mexican Government dedicated to coordinate the National System of Statistical and Geographical Information of the country...
.
The following is a list of some renowned past and present Mexican Jews (not all with both parents Jewish, nor all practising Judaism), arranged by their main field of activity:
History and politics
- Helen Kleinbort KrauzeHelen Kleinbort KrauzeHelen Kleinbort Krauze is a Polish-born Mexican writer and journalist. She is the mother of Enrique Krauze, a Mexican historian and writer....
, historian, mother of Enrique Krauze - Arturo WarmanArturo WarmanArturo Warman Gryj was a Mexican anthropologist, member of the cabinets of Carlos Salinas and Ernesto Zedillo, also an author of nine books, two of which have been translated to English...
, anthropologist, cabinet member of SalinasCarlos SalinasCarlos Salinas de Gortari is a Mexican economist and politician affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party who served as President of Mexico from 1988 to 1994. Earlier in his career he worked in the Budget Secretariat all the way up to Secretary...
and ZedilloErnesto ZedilloErnesto Zedillo Ponce de León is a Mexican economist and politician. He served as President of Mexico from December 1, 1994 to November 30, 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted seventy year line of Mexican presidents from the Institutional Revolutionary Party...
Physics and astronomy
- Jacob BekensteinJacob BekensteinJacob David Bekenstein is an Israeli theoretical physicist who has contributed to the foundation of black hole thermodynamics and to other aspects of the connections between information and gravitation.-Biography:...
, physicist - Marcos MoshinskyMarcos MoshinskyMarcos Moshinsky was a Mexican physicist of Ukrainian origin whose work in the field of elementary particles won him the Prince of Asturias Prize for Scientific and Technical Investigation in 1988 and the UNESCO Science Prize in 1997....
, awarded physicist, UNAMUnamUNAM or UNaM may refer to:* National University of Misiones, a National University in Posadas, Argentina*National Autonomous University of Mexico , the large public autonomous university based in Mexico City...
cathedratic, UkrainianUkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
-born
Producers, screenwriters, and creators
- Emmanuel LubezkiEmmanuel LubezkiEmmanuel Lubezki Morgenstern, ASC, AMC , better known as Emmanuel Lubezki, is a Mexican cinematographer, known for his groundbreaking techniques and characteristic style. His nickname is "Chivo".-Early life and career:...
, cinematographer, winner of three Ariel Awards for Best Cinematography (1992, 1993, 1994) and nominated for 4 Oscars in the category (1996, 2000, 2006, 2007) - Arturo RipsteinArturo RipsteinArturo Ripstein y Rosen is a Mexican film director.-Life and career:Ripstein got his break into movies working as an uncredited assistant director for Luis Buñuel. In 1965, he directed his first feature, Tiempo de Morir...
, filmmaker, screenwriter, producer. - Alexander SalkindAlexander SalkindAlexander Salkind was the second of three generations of successful international film producers.-Life and career:...
, producer. - Ilya SalkindIlya SalkindIlya Juan Salkind Dominguez , usually known as Ilya Salkind, is a film and television producer, well known for his contributions to the live-action Superman films of the 1970s and '80s alongside his father, Alexander Salkind....
, producer.
Artists
- Arnold BelkinArnold BelkinArnold Belkin was a Mexican painter and mural artist. Born in Canada, he moved to Mexico to be closer to the Mexican artists Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Siquerios. In the '50s he befriended the latter, collaborating with him on two murals in Mexico City...
, painter, born in Canada - Pedro FriedebergPedro FriedebergPedro Friedeberg is a Mexican painter.-External Links:*...
, painter - Mathias GoeritzMathias GoeritzMathias Goeritz - August 4, 1990 in Mexico City) was a well-known Mexican painter and sculptor of German origin...
, painter, sculptor, born in Germany
Medicine
- Samuel Altfeld, Pediatric Clinical Support Supervisor I, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Writers
- Chloe AridjisChloe AridjisChloe Aridjis is a London-based Mexican writer. She is the oldest daughter of writer and diplomat Homero Aridjis and Betty Ferber de Aridjis, an environmental activist & translator...
, novelist - Anita BrennerAnita BrennerAnita Brenner , an author of children's literature and books on Mexican art and history, was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Her father, a Jewish emigrant to Mexico from Latvia, moved his family back and forth from Mexico to Texas during the revolution. In 1916 the family settled in San Antonio,...
, writer, historian - Margo GlantzMargo GlantzMargo Glantz is a Mexican writer, essayist, critic and academic.- Biography :Margo Glantz's family immigrated to Mexico from Ukraine in the 1920s. Her father, Jacobo Glantz, met her mother, Elizabeth Shapiro in Odessa, where they married...
, writer & critic - Myriam MosconaMyriam MosconaMyriam Moscona is a Mexican journalist, translator and poet in Ladino and Spanish languages who comes from a Bulgarian Sephardi Jewish family. She teaches at Miami University...
, author, journalist, poet and Ladino translator - Moises SalinasMoises SalinasMoises Salinas is a scholar of developmental and social psychology, a multi-cultural educator, a Zionist political activist, and the former director of the Office of Diversity and Equity at Central Connecticut State University.- Early life :...
author and psychologist - Sara SefchovichSara SefchovichDra. Sara Sefchovich is a Mexican writerShe studied sociology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico , earning a master's degree in 1987 and a doctorate degree in 2005 in History of Mexico...
, writer - Ilan StavansIlan StavansIlan Stavans is a Mexican-American, essayist, lexicographer, cultural commentator, translator, short-story author, TV personality, and teacher known for his insights into American, Hispanic, and Jewish cultures.- Life :Ilan Stavans was born in Mexico to a middle-class Jewish family from the Pale...
, literary critic
Entrepreneurs
- Emilio Azcarraga JeanEmilio Azcárraga JeanEmilio Fernando Azcárraga Jean or Emilio Azcarraga III, is a Mexican businessman and the son of Emilio Azcárraga Milmo and his third wife, Nadine Jean a French citizen....
, (married to Jewish Sharon Fastlicht on 2004 only by the civil marriage, not by the Jewish religious ceremony. Had plans to convert to Judaism, but desisted during the early phase) owner of the biggest broadcasting television company in latinamerica, Televisa.
External links
- tribuna.org.mx: Official site of the Jewish community in Mexico After the tracks of the Jews in Mexico article on El UniversalEl Universal (Mexico City)El Universal is a major Mexican newspaper.El Universal was founded by Félix Palavicini and Emilio Rabasa in October 1916, in the city of Santiago de Queretaro to cover the end of the Mexican Revolution and the creation of the new Mexican Constitution...