Contributors to This Volume

Contributors Contributors to This Volume vii Mordechai Arbell is a researcher at the Ben-Zvi Institute in Jerusalem. He served many years as an Israeli diplomat and is currently president of the Sefarad Association in Israel. Alicia Gojman de Backal was born in Mexico. She studied at the National University ofMexico and holds a Ph.D. in History. Currently she is a full professor at the Escuela National de Estudios Profesionales, Acathin, Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico and Director ofthe Centro de Documentaci6n e Investigaci6n de la Comunidad Ashkenazi de Mexico. Her books include Los Conversos en la Nueva Espana (UNAM, 1984),Testimonios de Judios en Mexico: Historia Oral (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1990), Historias no escritas: Judios en Mexico (Mexico City: Ed. Cerimavi, 1984), Generaciones Judias en Mexico: La KehilG Ashkenazi 1922-1992 (7 vol. Mexico: Comunidad Ashkenazi, 1993), and Memorias de un Desafio (Mexico City: Bnai Brith en Mexico, 1993). Schulamith Chava Halevy is a scholar ofcomparative religion who has taught Jewish Studies at the Spertus Institute in Chicago and now resides in Jerusalem. She holds an M.A. in history from the University of Illinois.·Her book of Hebrew poetry, Interior Castle, was published recently (Tel-Aviv: Eked, 1998). Janet Jacobs is Professor ofWomen's Studies at the University of Colorado. She has authored four books, including Divine Disenchantment: Deconverting from New Religious Movements, and Religion, Society and Psychoanalysis. Nancy H. Kobrin, Ph.D., is a graduate psychoanalyst specializing in trauma. Jerry L. Kobrin, M.D., is an ophthalmologist at HealthPartners, Inc. and Chair of the Department of Ophthalomology at Phillips Eye Institute, formerly Mt. Sinai Hospital. Both reside in S1. Paul, Minnesota. Elvira de Azevedo Mea, born in Oporto, graduated in the Arts Faculty ofthe city and obtained the degree ofdoctor in Modem and Contemporary History. Presently she holds there the position ofassociate professor. Having done historical research mainly on the subjects of Judaism, New-Christians, and the Inquisition, in the social, cultural and Vlll SHOFAR Fall 1999 Vol. 18, No. I mentalities contexts, Dr. Mea has authored more than 30 papers that were published in Portugal and abroad. S. L. Ramirez lives and works in Chicago. She is currently on the faculty of Wright College, and teaches in the Adult Learning Skills Program. She continues to write both poetry and fiction. Isabelle Medina Sandoval is an Assistant Professor of Education for the College of Santa Fe, in Santa Fe, New Mexico; previously she taught grades kindergarten through twelve and served as a middle school and elementary school principal. She belongs to the Genealogical Society ofHispanic America, Olibama Lopez TusharHispanic Legacy Research Center (where she serves as Sephardim Advisor), the Hispanic Genealogical Research Center ofNew Mexico, and the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies. Her short stories and poetry have been published in the following publications: Ha Lapid; Aurora; Sephardic House; A Muse to Follow; the Llave Exhibit in Albany, New York; JUF News, Colorado Springs Gazette; Peseifas; Jewish Folklore and Ethnology Review, the Santa Fe New Mexican, and the Farolito. Richard Santos is an international research historian. Having published his first book while still an undergraduate, he has authored and co-authored thirty-one books and pamphlets and published over 300 articles in the U.S., Mexico, Europe, and Japan. He earned a B.A. from St. Mary's University and his M.A. from Trinity University, both located at San Antonio, Texas. Autos de Fe ofthe Portuguese Conspiracy Held by the Holy Office ofthe Inquisition ofMexico City 1646-1648 is his latest contribution to Judaica. Inacio Steinhardt was born in Lisbon, in 1933, the son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. He studied in Lisbon and later attended courses at Tel-Aviv University and at the Open University, also in Tel-Aviv. For more than twenty years, he has been an active member ofthe board of Jewish community institutions in Lisbon. In 1976 he emigrated to Israel and is currently the correspondent in Tel Aviv ofLusa News Agency and of the official radio station RDP-Radiodifusao Portuguesa (Antena Urn). As a freelancer, he has published articles and stories, mainly on crypto-Jewish issues, in several daily newspapers and periodicals. Ariel Zapata was born in Cartagena...