| I have to guess, but I think I know to what you are referring.
During the Inquisition, a new 'sect' was invented, it consisted of Jews that agreed to give up their religion to escape prosecution and torture. They were hated by their fellow Jews, and were not allowed to rejoin after the Inquisition was over. They were also not given much status by the Christians of the time, which only considered them one step up for 'unrepented' Jews. They probably gave many Jews that would have broken another reason to die before losing their faith, since they were treated as traitors or cowards depending on the situation.
I actually knew a member of this sect a number of years back, because I saw his religious symbol and asked what it was. But since our conversations were limited to the times that we both decided to use the local pool, my knowledge is less than complete. |