Sefardic Mexican Blue
Desert Journal (1977, new edition 2012 by Trembling Pillow Press)
ruth weiss’s story begins with her heritage- a Jewish family fleeing Nazis in Germany, seeking refuge in the New World. It's a 20th century story, yet it has echoes in the past.
During the Spanish Inquisition, millions of Jews in Europe were killed or persecuted unless they converted to Spanish Catholicism. Jews in Spain were forced to choose between converting, or leaving the country- they became known as the Sephardic Jews, and established communities across Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.
ruth references the sephardic diaspora in her book, DESERT JOURNAL. On the 24th day of the journal, between images of insects hunting and children laying awake at night, the phrase "sefardic Mexican blue" is repeated. ruth wrote many of her poems in California, whose deserts once belonged to Mexico, and before that, to Spain. In fact, there is a direct line from the population of Jews forced to convert during the Spanish Inquisition, and their descendants, currently living in tight-knit communities around Mexico's capital.
Image from ruth weiss, the beat goddess documentary
But the connection goes even further, ruth references the turquoise-royal shade of blue historically associated with Judaism. Having been forbidden from openly practicing their faith, Sephardic Mexican Jews were said to instead make use of such traditional colors in artwork and weaving.
ruth weiss, the poet who didn't believe in endings, observed a peculiar circle. She left one community homeland only to find herself in another. The same desert lands, occupied by distant cousins, claimed by different countries, hundreds of years.
