Rabbi Peter Tarlow, Ph.D., will host and open this year's conference
on Thursday April 8th at 12:00 pm. His introductory topic will
be The Before Before there was a Before.
Peter Tarlow has been the rabbi at Texas A&M Hillel since 1983. In that capacity he has worked with Jewish students and faculty, taught courses on Jewish ethics and has served as a chaplain for the College Station Police Department. Tarlow is also an expert specializing in the impact of crime and terrorism on the tourism industry, event risk management, and in tourism and economic development. Tarlow earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Texas A&M University. He also holds degrees in history, in Spanish and Hebrew literatures, and in psychotherapy. Since 1990, Tarlow has been teaching courses on tourism, crime & terrorism to police forces and security and tourism professionals throughout the world.
Tarlow works with US government and international agencies such as the US Park Service at the Statue of Liberty, The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, The Smithsonian's Institution's Office of Protection Services, Philadelphia's Independence Hall and Liberty Bell and New York's Empire State Building. He has also worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the United Nation's WTO (World Tourism Organization), the Center for Disease Control (Atlanta, Triangle Series). Tarlow speaks throughout North and Latin America, the Middle East and Europe. Some of the topics about which he speaks are: the sociology of terrorism, its impact on tourism security and risk management, the US government's role in post terrorism recovery, and how communities and businesses must face a major paradigm shift in the way they do business. Tarlow has trained numerous police departments throughout the world in TOPS (Tourism Oriented Policing Skills) and offers certification in this area.
Tarlow is a member of the Distance Learning Faculty of "The George Washington University" in Washington, DC. He is also an adjunct faculty member of Colorado State University and the Justice Institute of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada). Tarlow is also an honorary professor at the Universidad de Especialidades Turisticas (Quito, Ecuador), the graduate school at the University of Guelph (Guelph, Canada), of the Universidad de la Policia Federal (Buenos Aires, Argentina), and on the EDIT faculty at the University of Hawaii in Manoa, (O'ahu). Tarlow lectures on security issues, life safety issues, and event risk management at numerous other universities around the world including universities in the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Pacific Islands, and the Middle East.
Tarlow's fluency in many languages enables him to speak throughout the world (United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and Africa, and the Eastern Pacific). Tarlow also lectures on current and future trends in the tourism industry, rural tourism economic development, the gaming industry, issues of crime and terrorism, the role of police departments in urban economic development, and international trade. Tarlow has done extensive research on the impact of school calendars on the tourism industries, on tourism crime, and on terrorism. Tarlow is also well known in the area of rural tourism having lectured on this subject in numerous states throughout the United States. Tarlow publishes extensively in these areas and writes numerous professional reports for US governmental agencies and for businesses throughout the world.
Tarlow has appeared on National televised programs such as Dateline: NBC and on CNBC. Tarlow organizes conferences around the world dealing with visitor safety and security issues and with the economic importance of tourism and tourism marketing. He also works with numerous cities, states, and foreign governments to improve their tourism products and to train their tourism security professionals.
Dolores Sloan will speak on The Sephardic Jews from Iberia to the New World: Does it matter who came before us? on Thursday April 8th, at 1:00 pm.
Dolores Sloan holds two MA's, a Master's degree in government, and
a Master's degree in psychology. She brings one half-century of background
as writer, journalist, editor, speaker and professor to her publications
and presentations. The author of "The Sephardic Jews of Spain
and Portugal: Survival of an Imperiled Culture in the Fifteenth and
Sixteenth Centuries," she is Editor
of the "Journal of Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian Crypto Jews" and former
Editor of "HaLapid", journal of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies (SCJS).
She is a member of SCJS's Board of Directors and Chair of the Society's
Arts Programs Committee, which presents crypto-Judaic artists and themes at
annual conferences.
Ms. Sloan first learned about crypto-Judaism from Hispano colleagues
sharing family secrets with her when she directed literature programs for
New Mexico's state arts agency in the 90's. She is a frequently requested
speaker on the subject at museums and cultural centers and at educational,
community and religious organizations. She teaches public speaking and
English at Mount St. Mary's College, Los Angeles, where she also offers
"Women in Jewish History and Culture." Her website is
www.doloressloan.com.
Dr. Stanley M. Hordes will speak on The Sephardic Legacy in the Caribbean: A History of the Crypto-Jews of the Greater Antilles, on Thursday April 8th, at 2:00 pm.
Dr. Stanley M. Hordes, Adjunct Research Professor at the Latin American and Iberian Institute of the University of New Mexico, received his B.A. in History from the University of Maryland in 1971, his M.A. in Latin American History from the University of New Mexico in 1973, and his Ph.D. from Tulane University in 1980. His doctoral dissertation, "The Crypto-Jewish Community of New Spain, 1620-1649: A Collective Biography," was based on research conducted in the archives of Mexico and Spain, supported by a Fulbright dissertation fellowship.
His study on the secret Jews of Mexico revealed a considerable amount of information about the religious customs and career patterns of the descendants of those Spanish Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Many of these conversos continued to practice their old ancestral faith in secrecy, and moved to the Spanish colonies in the New World in order to avoid detection by the Inquisition.
When Dr. Hordes assumed the position of New Mexico State Historian in 1981, he began to encounter Catholic and Protestant Hispanic New Mexicans whose families observed customs suggestive of a Jewish background, such as maintaining dietary laws, celebrating the Sabbath on Saturday instead of Sunday, performing ritual male circumcision, etc. Interviews with several dozen informants revealed that while many of these people engage in these practices without knowing why, others, indeed, express an awareness of a Jewish heritage, and regard themselves as secret Jews. Preliminary documentary evidence, conducted in the archives of New Mexico, Mexico, Spain and Portugal, indicate that some of these individuals descend from secret Jews who had been persecuted by the Inquisition in Mexico and Spain.
Dr. Hordes's book, To the End of the Earth: A History of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico, was published by Columbia University Press in 2005 with a generous grant from the estate of Eva Feld. In 2006 the book was awarded the "Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá Prize" by the Historical Society of New Mexico for outstanding historical publication of the year. In 2007, the book won the Southwest Book Award, given by the Border Regional Library Association.
Bennett Greenspan will speak on DNA and Crypto Jews
on Friday April 9th, at 11:00 am.
Since its inception, in April of 2000, Family Tree DNA has been
associated with the Arizona Research Labs, led by Dr. Michael Hammer,
one of the world's leading authorities in the field of Y-DNA
genetics. Family Tree DNA has other renowned scientists on its
advisory board and is the world leader in the field of genetic
genealogy exploration. With over 255,000 records, Family Tree DNA
has the largest database of its kind in the world.
Family Tree DNA and other cooperative ventures, including the
National Geographic Society's Genographic Project and AfricanDNA.com,
now comprise the largest non-medical DNA testing program in the
world. Family Tree DNA was founded in 2000 by Mr. Bennett Greenspan,
an entrepreneur and life-long genealogy enthusiast, turning a hobby
into a full-time vocation. His effort and innovation created the
burgeoning field now known as genetic genealogy.
Mr. Greenspan, a Nebraskan native who received his B.A. from the
University of Texas, spent years investigating the ancestors of his
maternal grandfather, an obsession which eventually led to the
founding of Family Tree DNA and the beginning of a new kind of
genealogy.
As a serial entrepreneur, his business career has spanned
photographic equipment and supplies, real estate, the pro-college
website GoCollege.com, Family Tree DNA, and is now also involved in
DNATraits.com, a new medical genetic testing company.
Despite the long hours and frequent travel, Mr. Greenspan is still
married and enjoys returning home to his wife and two children.
Juan Bejarano-Gutierrez will speak on Conversos and the Rise of Secularism, on Thursday April 8th, at 3:15 pm.
Juan Bejarano-Gutierrez earned a bachelor's degree in Electrical
Engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. He also completed a
Master's Degree in Jewish Studies at the Siegal College of Judaic Studies
where his thesis was on the Evolution of Jewish Identity through the Second
Temple Period. He is currently a doctoral student at the Spertus Institute
of Jewish Studies in Chicago. He lectures on Sephardic history and the
spiritual legacy of Sephardic Judaism.
Dovid Ben Yosef will speak on Maimonides on Crypto-Judaism,
on Friday April 9th, at 1:30 pm.
Dovid Ben Yosef is currently pursuing a Masters in Jewish Studies at
Spertus Institute in Chicago. His coursework at Spertus includes Jewish
Theology, Halakha, and Rabbinical Texts. Dovid's desire is to help others
grow in their commitment to Judaism and strengthen their connection with
traditional Jewish sources.
Full screening of a new documentary on Crypto-Jewish life called "The Longing: The Forgotten Jews of South America" will be shown on Friday April 9th at 8:45 am. The film is 75 minutes long. A small group of South Americans long to affirm their faith. Their ancestors - European Jews - were forced to convert during the Spanish Inquisition. Isolated in Catholic countries, rejected by local Jewish communities, they battle to become Jews regardless of the consequences.
For more information on The Longing, see film treatment here.
Producer/Director Gabriela Böhm's film, The Longing: The Forgotten Jews of South America, was honored with the "Best Documentary" Award,
Long Island Latino International Film Festival, "Best Latino Film" Award,
Santa Fe Film Festival, "Telly Award" for Religion & Spirituality and
"Honorable Mention", Orlando Hispanic Film Festival. She produced and
directed Passages, which won "Best Documentary" at the
Woodstock and "Jury Award", Tambay Film Festivals. This personal film was
a search into her family's history in an attempt to pass on its legacy to
her unborn son. She produced, directed, wrote and edited her first
film, Voice-less, which screened at film festivals throughout
the U.S. She also produced The Wild Side, a short documentary
on the war on drugs in Brazil. A native of Argentina, she studied art and
photography in Israel, prior to coming to the United States, where she
received a BFA at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
Dr. Roger L. Martinez will speak on New Archival Evidence on the Family Relations of Luis de Carvajal and his Mexican inquisitors,
on Friday April 9th, at 10:00 am.
Roger L. Martinez, Ph.D., M.P.P. is from St. Joseph's University.
For fall 2008 - spring 2010, he is serving as the Burton Postdoctoral Fellow
at St. Joseph's University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.) He earned his Ph.D.
in May 2008 from the Department of History at the University of Texas at
Austin where he specialized in the study of medieval and early modern Spain,
transatlantic migration, and religious minorities under Islamic and Catholic
rule (in particular, conversos and Jews.)
Relying on his specialized training in Spanish paleography and Spanish and
Portuguese language expertise, he conducted research in over 25 local,
ecclesiastical, provincial, and national archives in Spain, Mexico, and the
United States for this dissertation. He is the fortunate recipient of several
research fellowships and awards, including ones provided by the Mellon
Foundation, Council for European Studies, Spanish Ministry of Culture,
UT-Austin College of Liberal Arts, UT-Austin Department of History, and
UT-Austin Medieval Studies Program.
Prior to returning to the university, he worked for eight years in the public
sector, including research and consulting positions at the Institute for the
Future, the Texas Legislature, and MGT of America. Lastly, he holds a Bachelor
of Arts in the Humanities from the University of Texas at Austin and a
Master of Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley, and
he is a PPIA Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.
For further information see his CV.
