PEH244

62

The question pertains to whether the son of a Marrano (a Jewish convert to Christianity) born in Portugal to a Marrana (female Marrano) is legally considered the man's son and entitled to inheritance rights over the second wife, who is the daughter of his only brother. At that time, many Marranos were coming from Portugal, including the brother of the first wife. The father and son corresponded by letter, with the father repeatedly urging the son to return to the religion of their ancestors. Moses Alvares explains the harmful influence of the corrupted Latin translation of the apocryphal Letter of Jeremiah (already a distortion of the Greek text) on the Marranos. From this, it could be inferred that external adherence to a foreign religion, without heartfelt belief, is not considered wrong. Rabbi Emanuel Aboab had already addressed this issue in the second part (Chapter 18) of his work 'Nomologia o discursos legales' [See reference 449]. Alvares rules that the son's inheritance should be preserved until he returns from Portugal.

3

1747-09-30

1748-01-01

Athias, David Israel