I am posting this here in relation to the history of the 'Maranos' of Belmonte. In 1924 the Lisbon community wrote to the Sephardic Chief Rabbi in Jerusalem Jacob Meir asking for advice on how to deal with the 'anoussim'. His reply is quite surprising - "they should be circumcised and accepted without regard to the possibility that they will subsequently fall away from their Judaism"I am rather surprised that this is not better known. But the history of this 'internal Diaspora' is not well known. Halacha is not the issue here, but the history ...