Spanish Generation

After the Kabbalah has continued to develop and spread, without much to say for mysticism and messianism, things pick up in the 16th century.

One of the grandest Jewish communities ever in history, if not the most sophisticiated and influential and prolific, was in Spain in the late medieval era. 

But at the end of the 15th century, the Crown and the Church liquidated the Jewish communities of Spain and Portugal by expulsion and coerced conversion. 

These events shook the global Jewish communities to the bone, and not just because of the tragic circumstances - the Spanish Jews then spread all over the world, enriching them, actually.

But the Iberian refugees also spread their apocalyptic trauma around the Jewish world. They also spread Kabbalah, as the major centers were in Spain.

It is worth mentioning Don Isaac Abarvanel (1437-1508), who was a towering figure of this era. While he served as a high ranking official in the royal courts of Spain and Portugal, he wrote extensively on messianism. Abarvanel is perhaps the most important classic systematic thinker of mainstream messianism.

Crypto-Jewish

Coerced conversions created a deep challenge for the Jewish world. Those who converted, even if coerced, and just became Christian, did not create a dilemma.

But then there were those who, in their hearts and in practice, secretly, continued to maintain their Jewish identity and traditionals, within closed communities...

This situation created a disturbing challenge for halachically, socially and philosophically. Are they Jews or not? Can they leave, should they? How could they return, on what terms? What are they allowed to bring with them?

The coerced converts who maintained their Judaism, are called conversos, literally ‘converts’, or anusim, which is the Hebrew word for forced conversions or rape, or marannos. They are distinguished from other converts, who are heretics.

The issue of anusim is important especially for the coming Sabbateanism chapter. Remember that. But for now, we start with another man worth mentioning, his story is that of convertions back and forth, apocalyptic kabbalah, and spiritual messianic activism... and his name was Shlomo Molkho.