Venta Prieta Revisited: Crisis, Conversion and the Co-Construction of a New History

Since the 1940s, anthropologists and journalists have chronicled the evolution of Venta Prieta’s “mestizo” Jewish community, noting the economic ascent of community members as well as their acquisition of Jewish knowledge and custom. While early studies questioned their origin—were they descendants of Spanish marranos or defectors from the Iglesia de Dios?—by the late 1980s, thanks in part to a sympathetic rabbi, the community had developed a liturgy complete in its essential aspects. Still, the community lacked legitimacy in the eyes of the established Jewish community in Mexico City, leading to concern over whom their children would marry. The present article examines how, following a profound crisis, the Venta Prietans finally gained acceptance among Mexico City Jews, and how history, contained in museums and a public memorial in Venta Prieta, is now being rewritten. The article concludes with a discussion of Venta Prieta’s place among emerging Jewish communities in Latin America.