Инициатива Jewish Heritage Alliance создаст глобальную цифровую платформу для изучения наследия сефардов и конвертов

By Michael Steinberger in Miami, Florida (Article provided by the Jewish Voice and Opinion) For more than a decade, Jewish Heritage Alliance (JHA) has worked to preserve, interpret, and revitalize the history and legacy of Sefarad, connecting scholarship, cultural heritage, communities, and contemporary Jewish life. That work has built an expanding international network of scholars, historians, genealogists, archives, museums, organizations, community leaders, technology partners, and Bnei Anusim communities across Latin America, the United States, Israel, Europe, and beyond, connecting historical and archival research with genealogical discovery, education, community engagement, and emerging technologies. The Converso Online Community Initiative is the natural progression. The history of the Jews of Sefarad did not end with the expulsions from Spain and Portugal. It continued through the descendants of Jews who were forcibly converted and dispersed across Iberia, Latin America, Europe, the United States, and beyond. For generations, much of this history remained fragmented, hidden, or difficult to access. Growing interest in genealogy, family history, Jewish heritage, and identity—combined with digitized archives, DNA research, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies—is opening new possibilities for discovering and understanding that past. To that end, JHA is developing a global digital community dedicated to the Converso experience, bringing together historical knowledge, genealogical discovery, education, technology, and community. The initiative is currently in the planning and partnership-building stage. JHA has developed a comprehensive framework and strategic architecture and begun establishing the technological, genealogical, educational, historical, and community partnerships needed to bring the vision to fruition. Funding and strategic partnerships are now needed to move from planning to development and implementation. The Converso story is one of the most complex chapters of Jewish history. Persecution, forced conversion, and the Inquisitions transformed Jewish communities throughout Spain and Portugal and across the Iberian world. Over subsequent centuries, descendants of those communities spread throughout the Americas, Europe, and beyond. Family names, traditions, oral histories, customs, religious practices, and other fragments of memory often preserved traces of that past. Today, people around the world are seeking to understand those fragments, yet the resources needed for that discovery remain dispersed among archives, genealogical databases, academic research, family records, cultural institutions, and community organizations. JHA’s longstanding engagement in Brazil has provided a compelling illustration of both the scale of the opportunity and the need for a global initiative. Brazil has one of the world’s largest and most historically significant populations of potential Converso descendants, and JHA’s work with Brazilian researchers, community leaders, genealogists, cultural organizations, and Bnei Anusim communities has revealed extraordinary interest in this heritage. Of the many Bnei Anusim communities in Brazil, several have established a significant digital presence, with content generating tens of millions of views and interactions, demonstrating substantial interest in Converso history, ancestry, family traditions, and Jewish heritage. This reality reinforces an important conclusion: the challenge is not a lack of interest, but the absence of a comprehensive global framework to organize, inform, connect, and sustain that interest. Brazil, therefore, offers an important model and potential pathway for connecting Converso-descendant communities throughout Latin America and the wider world. The initiative is envisioned as more than a genealogy website or historical archive. It would create an integrated digital environment where individuals can learn, research, discover, and connect, bringing together: –Historical and cultural resources documenting Sefarad, the Conversos, the Inquisitions, Jewish migration, and the continuing Sephardic legacy. –Immersive digital experiences featuring historical places, communities, migration routes, stories, timelines, and archival materials. –AI-assisted genealogy and heritage research to help users explore family histories and identify potential connections across historical and genealogical records. –Advanced discovery tools connecting information across historical, genealogical, and archival sources. –Educational resources developed with scholars, institutions, museums, archives, and communities. –A global community environment for discussion, programs, knowledge- sharing, and connection. –Emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, semantic search, advanced genealogy, immersive experiences, and secure data architecture, would help connect information dispersed across archives, genealogical records, family histories, and community knowledge, placing seemingly isolated fragments within a larger historical and genealogical story. Together, these elements create a pathway from history to genealogy, genealogy to discovery, discovery to identity, and identity to community. The initiative comes at a moment when both the need for reliable historical knowledge and interest in personal heritage are growing. As antisemitism rises and historical narratives become increasingly contested, there is a need for accessible, credible, and context-rich resources that support understanding of Jewish history, culture, and identity. At the same time, people throughout Latin America, Europe, the United States, and beyond are exploring ancestry, family history, and possible connections to Sephardic and Converso heritage. This convergence creates an opportunity to use today’s technology to make historical knowledge more accessible while helping individuals explore and understand their own heritage. The initiative is envisioned as cultural and educational infrastructure for a dispersed heritage—preserving historical continuity while strengthening cultural knowledge, informed identity exploration, and global connection. JHA is seeking strategic partners—including philanthropic supporters, academic and research institutions, technology and cultural organizations, genealogical and archival institutions, Jewish organizations, Converso and Bnei Anusim communities, and others who share an interest in preserving and exploring this heritage. Funding and partnerships will enable JHA to move from planning into development and implementation, building the technological infrastructure, educational and historical resources, institutional collaborations, and global community environment envisioned for the initiative. The next chapter is one of rediscovery—and of reconnecting people with a heritage that has never truly disappeared. For more information: Jewish Heritage Alliance — Converso Online Initiative * Michael Steinberger is the founder and CEO of the Jewish Heritage Alliance.