A short conversation about a Mallorcan street sign was all it took to turn ten-year-old Nicolás Aguilo’s life completely around. Not only did the young Catholic boy eventually become a Jew, but today he is the rabbi of Mallorca’s Chueta community. Mishpacha caught up with Rabbi Nissan Ben-Avraham where it all began, a sunny island off the coast of Spain.
Palma de Mallorca Spain
It was a warm spring day in this Spanish port town when ten-year-old Nicolás Aguilo noticed a street sign that would change his life forever. The sign was for Jafuda Cresques Street a street named after the famous medieval cartographer Yehuda Cresques a Mallorcan Jew who was forced to convert to Christianity in 1391.
“Look Ma that guy was a Chueta” Nicolás said with a smirk using the local term for Marrano or Jews like Cresques who were forced to convert to Christianity but maintained ties to the Jewish religion in secret.
Mrs. Aguilo’s reaction couldn’t have come as more of a shock. “Careful who you laugh at” she said. “You’re also a Chueta.”
Forty years later Rabbi Nissan Ben-Avraham laughs as he tells the story but it is clear that the episode was no joke.
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