Reconectar
Strengthening our people through a reconnection between the descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Jewish communities and the Jewish world
About Reconectar
For more than 400 years between the 14th and 19th centuries Sephardic Jews (Jews from Spain & Portugal), and their descendants were persecuted for their religion and ancestry, murdered, expelled or forcefully converted to Catholicism. Many continued to practice their Jewish faith secretly and become what is known today as Anusim, crypto-Jews, secret Jews, new Christians, Conversos or Marranos.
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In search of a safe haven, persecuted Jews who escaped the Inquisition fled across the globe, primarily to Latin and North America, North Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
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Today, according to academic DNA research, their descendants number many tens of millions. Some of them have little or no knowledge of their Jewish heritage.
We endeavor to inform these descendants about their possible Jewish roots and to provide them with an array of tools to facilitate their personal journey of discovery and learning about their heritage.
To implement this non-profit project, a group of academics and professionals from various spheres taht work with us offer the best online content, media and system integration tools. Working in conjunction with other international organizations active in this field we strive to inform, educate, facilitate and assist the descendants of these Sephardic Jews as they seek to embrace their heritage.
Meet Our Team
Ashley Perry
Ashley Perry (Perez) is the Founder and President of Reconectar and Director General of the Knesset Caucus for the Reconnection with the Descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Communities. He was adviser to Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs from April 2009 to January 2015. He has also worked with several other government ministers, Members of Knesset and many of the leading international Jewish, Zionist and Hasbara organizations.
Ronit Treatman
Ronit Treatman is the Director of Reconectar. She was born in Israel, and grew up in Ethiopia and Venezuela. After serving in the Israel Defense Forces' Foreign Liaison Division, she studied International Business Administration in the United States. She was a stay-at-home-mom of three children for ten years, residing in Philadelphia. When her youngest child started school, she became a writer, editor, and ultimately president of The Philadelphia Jewish Voice. During this period she also created the blog and website Hands-On Jewish Holidays and administered many social network communities focused on engagement with Judaism.
She has lectured and presented at conferences around the United States, on topics ranging from engagement with the descendants of anusim (forced converts to Catholicism) to kosher locusts. Her writing is the distillation of ideas that have been percolating for many years, drawing from her professional research, her multinational upbringing, and her experiences raising her own children.
