The La Comunidad Mexicana Israelita El Neguev "Venta Prieta" (English: El Neguev Mexican Israelite Community of Venta Prieta), better known as the Jewish Community of Venta Prieta is a Jewish community in the city of

Pachuca de Soto Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whi ...

, Hidalgo,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The community is made up of people who are descended from B'nei Anusim, also known as

Converso A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert", () was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of his or her descendants. To safeguard the Old Christian po ...

s, Jews who were either forcibly converted to Christianity during the Spanish Inquisition and later returned to Judaism. It is a small congregation, of which many view themselves as either Sephardic Jews (due to a family history coming from Spain to Mexico) or as descendants of one of the

lost tribes of Israel The ten lost tribes were the ten of the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said to have been exiled from the Kingdom of Israel after its conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire BCE. These are the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Ashe ...

. The synagogue was founded in 1930 by the Téllez brothers and today run by the Téllez family. For many years, Rabbi Samuel S. Lerer was the educational and organizational leader of the community until his retirement in 1999. It is said that the community was founded between the end of the 19th century and 1920, by María Trinidad, a widow of one of the Téllez brothers. Maria viewed herself as a descendant of the Anusim, and (according to tradition) arrived in

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo (; Purépecha: ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of ...

with her mother and twelve children escaping a religious revolt (possibly the Cristero War), that was occurring during that period. Maria reportedly kept the customs of her ancestors, including refraining from eating pork, ceasing work on Friday and praying only to HaShem. The name ''Venta Prieta,'' originated in the 1920s as the name of the neighborhood. The word ''Venta'' comes from the vendor stalls along the side of the road, as the area lies on the road from

Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whic ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

and

Actopan, Hidalgo ''Actopan'' ( Otomi: Ma’yüts’i) is a city and one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, in central-eastern Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 280.1 km. It is crossed by the federal road that runs from Mexico City to Nuevo Laredo a ...

. ''Prieta'' described the soot from charcoal used in cooking as well as the black soil of the area.

References

Bibliography

* Los judíos en México: una historia con énfasis especial en el período de 1857 a 1930.Corinne Azen Krause, Ariela Katz de Gugenheim. Universidad Iberoamericana, January 1, 1987 * A Travel Guide to the Jewish Caribbean and Latin America. Frank, Ben G.Pelican Publishing * Return to Centro Histórico: A Mexican Jew Looks for His Roots. Ilan Stavans. Rutgers University Press, 30 December 2011. {{Coord, 20.0875, -98.7701, display=title History of Hidalgo (state) Pachuca New Christians (moriscos and conversos) Religious persecution Crypto-Jews Jewish Mexican history Synagogues in Mexico Religion in Hidalgo (state)