- Just in Time for Hanukkah, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Remembers Her Jewish Roots (Part Four) Dec 22, 2018 10:00 am By Hugh Fitzgerald Finally, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells us that “I am a firm believer in finding a two-state solution on this issue, and I’m happy to sit down with leaders on both of these.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (/ oʊ ˌ k ɑː s i oʊ k ɔːr ˈ t ɛ z /; Spanish: oˈkasjo koɾˈtes; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials, AOC, is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019.
Incoming Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told a Queens synagogue audience celebrating Hanukkah on Sunday that her family descends from Jews who fled Spain to Puerto Rico during the Inquisition centuries ago.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the newly elected firebrand congresswoman, has revealed for the first time that she has Sephardic Jewish heritage. The 28-year-old Democrat said her distant ancestors fled. In a tweet, the Israeli news site said that Ocasio-Cortez is 'one of an estimated 65 million Latin Americans whose Sephardic roots can be traced back to the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain. The new “Jewish” Democrat is a radical activist who has no ties to the Jewish community. He or she may not even be Jewish. Ocasio-Cortez has claimed that she has Jewish roots because “to be Puerto Rican is to be the descendant of African Moors and slaves, Taino Indians, Spanish colonizers, Jewish refugees, and likely others.”.
It’s the first time that Cortez, who was raised Catholic in the Bronx and Westchester, has publicly claimed Jewish ancestral roots.
“A very, very long time ago — generations and generations ago — my family consisted of Sephardic Jews,” Ocasio-Cortez told congregants at the Jackson Heights Jewish Center.
“The story goes during the Spanish Inquisition, so many people were forced to convert on the exterior to Catholicism, but on the interior continued to practice their faith.
“A strong group of people — strong-willed that were determined to continue living life as they wanted to live it — decided to get on a boat and leave Spain,” she added.
“And some of those people landed in Puerto Rico and some of those people decided to flee up in into the mountains,” describing the trek her ancestors took from the Old World to the New World.
“As is the story of Puerto Rico, we are a people that are an amalgamation,” she said. “We are no one thing, we are black, we are indigenous, we are Spanish, we are European, we are all of those things.”
In a lighthearted moment, Ocasio-Cortez seemed to respond to an audience member who said they had always suspected she was Jewish.
“I knew it! I sensed it!” she said, to laughs from the audience.
Getting in the spirit of the event, which was hosted by Jews for Economic and Racial Justice, the 29-year-old congresswoman joined in dancing the Israeli folk dance the hora.
She later posted a video of herself on the dance floor with the caption: “Plus I can never turn down an opportunity to try a new dance!”
Ocasio-Cortez’s mother was born in Puerto Rico, while her father hailed from The Bronx.
Her family lived in The Bronx’s Parkchester neighborhood, but then moved to suburban Westchester so Ocasio-Cortez could enroll in better schools.
Ocasio-Cortez angered supporters of Israel earlier this year by making critical comments about the “occupation” of the Palestinian territories.
The incoming freshman lawmaker would not be the first to trace their lineage back to Judaism.
Departing House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), a practicing Catholic, found out that he was 3 percent Ashkenazi Jewish through the PBS program, “Finding Your Roots.”
Source: Read Full Article
- Driving home from the hospital 3 days after giving birth, a woman saved a man from a burning oil tanker
- Pro-Beijing business group sues over China 'grooming' claim
- NHS Test and Trace is STILL failing to find a quarter of cases
- NYC mayor Bill de Blasio slams Trump over ‘outrageous’ claim hospitals are hoarding medical supplies – The Sun
- Primary schools sisters campaign for fast food plastic toy ban
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the newly elected firebrand congresswoman, has revealed for the first time that she has Sephardic Jewish heritage.
The 28-year-old Democrat said her distant ancestors fled the Spanish Inquisition to emigrate to Puerto Rico, where her immediate family roots lived until they moved to New York.
“Generations and generations ago, my family consisted of Sephardic Jews,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “So many people practiced Catholism on the exterior but on the interior they continued to practice (Judaism).”
At Hanukkah event with @JFREJNYC in an moving speech, @Ocasio2018 shares that her family were Sephardic Jews who fled to Puerto Rico. “So many of our destinies are tied beyond our understanding” pic.twitter.com/68bjuCFnDD— Taly Krupkin (@TalyKrupkin) December 10, 2018
It’s believed to be the first time Ocasio-Cortez has publicly mentioned her Sephardic roots. Haaretz first reported the revelation Sunday night.
She didn’t explain why she has apparently never mentioned the issue before. In recent months, she has burst onto the national political scene with a leftist critique of the Democratic establishment and its stands on a variety of issues including Israel and the Palestinians.
Ocasio Cortez Jewish Roots Meaning
Ocasio-Cortez told Haaretz that she didn’t plan to talk about her family history on Sunday, either. “Sometimes I feel the space, I feel the moment,” she explained.
Ocasio-Cortez, who pulled off a stunning upset over Democratic powerhouse Joe Crowley in a primary last spring, suggested that her relatives and other Puerto Rican families hid menorahs and other artifacts of Jewish practice in their homes on the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic island.
Ocasio Cortez Jewish Roots Barbershop
She used her unusual family history to draw a parable about the polyglot history of Puerto Rico, where many trace their roots to a mix of Spanish colonizers, indigenous native Americans and black slaves.
“So many of our destinies are tied beyond our understanding,” she said.