The Lost Minyan

The largest Jewish community in Europe once called Spain home.  But between 1391 and 1492, many in the
community converted to Catholicism, either voluntarily or through physical or psychological coercion of the Inquisition.  David Gitlitz, a scholar-administrator at the University of Rhode Island, has researched Sephardic historical topics over the last two decades.  He will discuss his latest book, The Lost Minyan, on Sunday, December 18, 1:30 pm at the Godfrey Memorial Library. The
Lost Minyan is historical fiction and profiles Crypto-Jewish families coping with the trauma of living between worlds, neither wholly Catholic nor wholly Jewish.  Struggling to hide their secrets from neighbors, servants, children, and even spouses, they try to resolve the tension between their need for and fear of community.  Gitlitz portrays the Jewish Christians and their tormentors, capturing their responses to the times.