Guest Speaker Rabbi Stephen Leon is spiritual leader of Congregation Bnai Zion, El Paso, Texas. Rabbi Leon is an ordained Conservative rabbi who for over 20 years has developed a relationship with individuals in SW USA who are seeking to connect with their historical/familial roots which are Jewish, harking back to the expulsion of Jews  from  Spain during the Inquisition that began in 1492. He has many tender and heartwarming stories of the “returning” Jews or Anousim, who identify with Judaism, many of whom he has converted.

Rabbi Leon teaches part time at the University of El Paso on Judaism and the Holocaust. He is dedicated to seeing the return of large numbers of Anousim.

Rabbi  Leon has served with many Jewish organizations and for several years was a board member of Kulanu Inc., a US based organization that works with emerging, re-turning Jewish communities in dispersed areas of the world. 

Rabbi Leon and Rabbi Juan Meija, himself a Crypto Jew or Anous,  created the Tisha B’av service that commemorates the Jews and Jewish communities destroyed by the Inquistion and celebrates the return of their descendants, even after 500 years. This service has been adapted by Darchei Noam.

Co-presented by Canadian Friends of Kulanu Inc.

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Pre-registration requested, but registration at the door will be accepted.

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