work related to Crypto-Jews/Conversos/B’nei Anusim (descendants of victims of the Spanish Inquisition):
SONG: “LIGHTS LEAD HOME” — lyrics & music © 2007, 2014 Lawrence (Larry) M. Lesser, from Lesser’s 2020 album Sparks, a winner and 4-time finalist at the New Mexico Music Awards; Larry Lesser on vocals & Spanish guitar, Bill Radcliffe on electric guitar & harmony vocals; click here or here (or here for a live performance or here for a song video) to hear it!
Rosa Mendez wonders why her abuela drew the blinds,
lit two candles and closed her eyes on Friday nights.
Lights lead home, lights lead home over ocean of soul.
Here in this New World land, Rosa starts to understand
traditions hidden, lost or banned, since Ferdinand.
Lights lead home, lights lead home over ocean of soul.
It’s like she found an ancient key that opened doors of memory:
finally safe now to see sparks redeem.
Lights lead home, lights lead home over ocean of soul.
Lights lead home, welcome home over ocean of soul, sobre el alma del mar.
VIDEO OF “LIGHTS LEAD HOME“: The 3-min. music video directed by Joel Carrasco was screened Oct. 5, 2025 as an Official Selection at the 2025 Silver City Community Film Festival (spanning parts of TX, NM, CO, AZ, and Mexico; see story in the New Mexico Jewish Journal). The video was also shown at the 2023 and 2025 national conferences of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies, the 2025 Texas Hispanic Geneaological & Historical Conference, the 2023 Hispanic Heritage Month exhibit at UTEP’s Union East Gallery, and the Tucson museum Old Pueblo Archaeology Center. The artists’ statement is here and the video’s logline is: based on the Spanish-inflected song “Lights Lead Home”, a transformative story of lovingly-preserved family ritual yielding spiRITUAL discovery of Crypto-Judaic heritage dating back to the Spanish Inquisition; subtitles of the YouTube video can be enabled in English, Spanish, or Portuguese
DISSEMINATION FOR “LIGHTS LEAD HOME“:
in 1/18/26 episode #21 (among artists spanning a dozen countries) of the video arts zine GAS curated by 2023-2025 Texas Beat Poet Laureate Belinda Subraman
story in Nov/Dec 2025 issue of The Jewish Voice [Jewish Federation of El Paso and Las Cruces]
story in winter 2025 (Kislev 5786) issue of New Mexico Jewish Journal
note on p. 43 of Autumn/Winter 2025 HaLapid, the semiannual periodical of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies
Sept. 27, 2025 talk by Blanca Carrasco for the 2025 Texas Hispanic Genealogical & Historical Conference
story in August 2025 issue of the New Mexico Jewish Journal
April 22, 2025 talk by Blanca Carrasco for the Tucson, AZ museum Old Pueblo Archaeology Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqsEtShg-is followed by https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdj7_WpRDqc
Dec. 21, 2023 episode #12 (HERE) of R. Stephen Leon’s iHEART radio podcast “The Secret Jews of the Southwest” (or on Spotify)
in 2023 exhibits at Los Portales Museum (San Elizario, TX) and UTEP Union Gallery (El Paso, TX)
piece in Spring/Summer 2020 issue of HaLapid, the semiannual periodical of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies
lyric appears in 2010 national resource guide, S. Leon & J. Mejía (Eds.), Welcoming B’nei Anousim to Judaism and Memorializing the Spanish Inquisition as Part of Tisha B’Av Observances (p. 16 of this)
performed “Lights Lead Home” at: The Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies conference (2023), a dozen Sephardic Anusim Conferences (for which Cong. B’nai Zion received a 2009 Solomon Schecter Gold Award for Synagogue Excellence in Celebrations and Dedications; see photo and video1 or video2), El Paso’s Anusim Center and Synagogue, The University of Texas at El Paso (opening for speaker Genie Milgrom), Jewish Heritage Dinners, Congregation B’nai Zion, exhibit opening at Los Portales Museum
“Lights Lead Home” lyric included in a forthcoming essay by Rosal Mendez
OTHER SONGS: Many people discover their Crypto-Jewish identity in ways other than a family ritual of discreetly lighting Friday night candles, such as coming across an ancestor’s recipe creatively altered to respect dietary laws. Crypto-Jewish history also adds to tragedies on Tisha B’Av, because the 1492 Alhambra Decree required Jews to convert or leave by Tisha B’Av or be killed. And many Jews, especially Crypto-Jews, often face choices about how visibly to show their identity in the face of intolerance.
more information: on Lesser’s Jewish, music, or Jewish music endeavors; on Crypto-Jews or El Paso’s Anusim Center and Synagogue