About this talk

I invite you on a visual tour through the history of the Jews in Mexico, focused mostly on the twentieth century, when the current community was formed, while also touching on episodes from the sixteenth century, when crypto-Jews first arrived but were unable to form an open community due to the Inquisition.

We will explore the origins of the various communities, their settlement in the city's neighborhoods, their identity spaces for both the living and the dead, and their dreams and achievements.

It will be a visual feast, thanks to the remarkable historical photos shared by immigrant families, their first-hand testimonies, Yiddish newspaper advertisements, and other invaluable documents.

About Monica

Monica Unikel was born in Mexico in 1963 and is the granddaughter of immigrants from Russia and Lithuania. For more than 30 years, she has offered guided tours in the Jewish areas of Mexico City. She wrote the book Synagogues of Mexico and was part of the restoration team for the Nidje Israel Synagogue—today the "Historical Synagogue"—which had long been abandoned. She proposed transforming it into a Jewish Cultural Center open to the public, and since its reopening in 2010, she has served as its director, establishing a wide-ranging program of activities that showcases the diversity within Judaism.