Of all the rabbis ordained last week at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, few have journeys to the rabbinate quite as unlikely as Juan Mejia.
Raised as a Catholic in Colombia and educated at Christian schools, Mejia was on his way to becoming a monk when he discovered as a teenager that his family had Jewish roots. After a torturous journey, which involved his rejection by the tiny Jewish community in Bogota and several years of study in Jerusalem, Mejia converted and began training for the rabbinate.
Now Mejia is dedicating his rabbinate to helping Jewish descendants like himself who want to reconnect with their roots.
Mejia promises to take the outreach to the descendants of Conversos — Jews forced to publicly recant their religion under threat of execution by the Inquisition but who continued to practice their religion in secret — to a new level.
With many Conversos shunned when they turn to Jewish communities in Latin America for help, Mejia hopes to reach them over the Internet.
He already runs a Web site that offers online instruction in Jewish topics and is planning to relocate to the American Southwest, where many Conversos are located. — jta