Esperanza Road is mentioned in the Bible several times .
In the meantime , the King of Babylon continued his onslaught and finally captured all of the people of Israel taking them placing them in slavery for 70 years . While all of Israel was in captivity , the Sefardic Jews remained in safety , continuing to live freely as Jews . 70 years later , the slavery against Israel was lifted . When the people of Israel came out of Babylon , their homeland was in total desolation with no Temple and they lost their Hebrew roots . So Ezra and Nehemia came and lovingly helped to restore them back to their Hebrew roots . They decided to disperse , but before doing so they said look at the Sefardic Jews living in Sefarad , they continue in the covenant of Abraham and in the teachings of Moses , let us give a loving nickname to the place where they live , we will call it Iveria . Ivrit means Hebrew , Iveria means the place of the Hebrews . As the centuries past , Iveria became Iberia ... the Iberian Peninsula which eventually became known as Spain .
So when you ask any Latino in the world , where their surnames are from , they all say Spain . But if you ask them how did that surname originally get there , they don ’ t know . There is an official list of almost 6,000 surnames that are mostly Hispanic & Brazilian and are all 100 % Sefardic Jewish surnames from Spain ! That list can be found in its entirety at www . asialnegev @ yahoo . com along with a DNA test to confirm that one is a descendant of Sefardic Jews from Spain on a link Family Tree DNA found on the same site .
Latin Times : What has been your biggest obstacle a Latino Rabbi and a descendant of Sefardic Jews from Spain ? Rabbi Gary : My biggest obstacle has been getting this most important information out to the Latino communities which needs to be shared world-wide , helping them to understand their roots , as well . Thanks to The Eternal God of Israel , interview ’ s like this one in Latin Times Magazine is a great help ! With all this said , there is an interesting but sad twist . There is a genetic disorder that is found exclusively among descendants of Sefardic Jews from Spain called Machado Joseph Disease ( MJD ).
Latin Times : What is Machado Joseph Disease ( MJD )? Rabbi Gary : Machado Joseph Disease ( MJD ) is a genetic disorder found on a list called orphan diseases so named because there are very few people world- wide that actually have some of these listed , perhaps 20 people have one or 100 have another and so on . But MJD is at the top of the list because it is the only one that mimics 3 other famous diseases : Parkinson ’ s , Multiple Sclerosis and Muscular Dystrophy . The problem is for example , when a Latino goes to the doctor and they see a symptom that looks exactly like one of the famous 3 , they are told you have so and so disease . They begin a regimen of therapies and meds that work quite will for the famous 3 yet have absolutely no effect on MJD . Then 9-10 months into the treatments , the doctor only see the patient getting worse and states I don ’ t know what you have . Eventually some of these folks get in contact with us and we tell them to ask their doctor to have a DNA test done and to look for the MJD gene . Sadly enough there is no cure for MJD . I am the President of Aliyah Sefarad International , a 501 © 3 humanitarian organization dedicated to the Sefardic cause and we are the only organization in the world with an exclusive written agreement with the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev ( NIBN ) located at the prestigious Ben Gurion University in Israel , to help find the cure for MJD . They need $ 400,000 . And say they can have the cure in 2 years or less . It has been said that the cure for MJD could very well be the cure for the famous 3 , Parkinson ’ s , Multiple Sclerosis and Muscular Dystrophy because no one has ever looked in the back yard of MJD to find one . This is huge and we really need everyone ’ s help . To find out more about MJD and our fund raiser you can visit our website at www . MJDcure . com and donate today .
Latin Times : Who has been your inspiration and hero in life ? Rabbi Gary : The man in which The Eternal God of Israel Himself , gave me the greatest honor and privilege one could have of learning first hand , through a direct descendant of Moshe and Aaron , a Levite and Kohen , a 100 % Orthodox Sefardic Jew from Colombia , Guillermo Acevedo Cano known as Ha Cham Rabbi Haim Levi HaKohen . A very great man who is the reason I continue teaching about the importance of the Sefardic cause . And who taught me about my hero , Moshe Ben Maimon , Maimonides , better known as the Rambam the greatest of the ancient sages . It is said of him in the Jewish world from Moshe ( Moses ) to Moshe ( Maimonides ) there is none other ... and he just so happens to be Sefardic !!!!
Thank You and Shalom !
Rabbi Fernandez is the Head Rabbi at Synagogue Beth Israel , a Torah Observant Sefardic Kehilat in the City of Sanford Florida and you can visit their website at www . bi1948 . com to learn more about them .
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