Today is the 401st anniversary of the martyrdom of Luis de Carvajal el mozo, according to the Gregorian calendar (which was not used at the time in Mexico). Martyrdom comes from the Greek and means \u201cto bear witness\u201d, and by remembering and reminding, we extend his martyrdom into our time.
\nMay his memory be blessed.<\/p>\n
Attached are part of a lecture I once gave and a poem I wrote in his memory.<\/p>\n
Luis de Carvajal el Mozo, was the nephew, namesake and heir designate of the first Governor of Nuevo Reino de Le\u00f3n. Possibly the largest land tract granted anyone by Spain, it stretched from eastern Mexico, through the Southwest of the US. When Luis learned that he was a Jew, the impact on him was tremendous. A man of culture, of letters and verse who knew how to play the harp and sing, knew several languages and possessed a great spirit, Luis was unable or unwilling to conceal his faith. He went about convincing anyone he could, to observe the \u201claw of Moses\u201d; prayers attributed to him were recited to Inquisitors a century after his death by subsequent victims. He was arrested, and in the cells of the Inquisitions converted his cell mate, a monk, to Judaism. There he also changed his name to Joseph Lumbroso<\/em>: Joseph after the biblical dreamer, since Luis also had inspired dreams, and Lumbroso<\/em> meaning the Enlightened. After his first arrest, torture and incarceration \u2014 knowing full well that a second arrest meant the stake \u2014 he did not relent. Joseph-Luis was denounced again by a would be proselyte. His second arrest was marked with religious pride and steadfastness that left its mark even on his tormentors. He attempted suicide, hoping thus to escape denouncing others under torture. He debated those sent to convert him with eloquence, knowledge and spirit. Seymour Liebman, in his seminal book The Jews of New Spain,<\/em> translated the words of Padre Contreras who walked Luis to his fate:<\/p>\n He was always such a good Jew and he reconciled his understanding, which was very profound and sensitive, with his highly inspired Divine determination to defend the Law of God \u2014 the Mosaic \u2014 and to fight for it. I have no doubt that if he had lived before the Incarnation of our Redeemer, he would have been a heroic Hebrew and his name would have been as famous in the Bible as are the names of those who died in the defense of their law when it was necessary.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n That night I was so radiant Now in the incandescent dawn You and I, Cloistered in my afterglow My apparition soars by Schulamith C Halevy (December 8, 1997) Today is the 401st anniversary of the martyrdom of Luis de Carvajal el <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1255,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-template\/full-width.php","meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nEl Lumbroso<\/em> by Schulamith Chava Halevy<\/h4>\n
\nYou could barely see me for my light.<\/p>\n
\nI am paraded before your helpless eye.
\nThe stakes are high
\nenough for me to see my angel cry.
\nPadre Contreras, frail and vulnerable
\nMurmurs why?
\nListen! the flames’ voice is cracking
\nHear them sigh\u2026
\nMy flesh imploding in the fire
\nTogether we witness it reduce to ashes
\nTogether watch it fly.<\/p>\n
\nHow we danced ever closer to the flames
\n\u2014to my flesh, to its demise
\nYour old soul knows I could not die,
\nbut your mind is young,
\nCannot yet read the milestones of the sky.<\/p>\n
\nShawled in me
\nYou stood in prayer
\nThat the light I have become
\nBe bestowed
\nUpon you.<\/p>\n
\nCarried in your dreams.
\nFour hundred years in the abyss
\nCannot erase
\nthe seal
\nour memories
\ncall
\nI can still embrace
\ncan enter you
\nBreathe my eternity into your soul.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"