Editing Anusim (section)

==Rabbinic legal opinions==
[[Saadia Ibn Danan|Se‘adyá ben Maimón ibn Danan]] in the 15th century stated:
{{blockquote|Indeed, when it comes to [[Lineage (anthropology)|lineage]], all the [[Israelites|people of Israel]] are brethren. We are all the sons of one father, the rebels (''[[Heresy in Orthodox Judaism|reshaim]]'') and criminals, the heretics (''[[Apostasy in Judaism|meshumadim]]'') and forced ones (''anusim''), and the proselytes (''[[Conversion to Judaism|gerim]]'') who are attached to the house of [[Jacob]]. All these are Israelites. Even if they left God or denied Him, or violated His Law, the yoke of that Law is still upon their shoulders and will never be removed from them.<ref>R. Se‘adyá ben Maimón ibn Danan (16th century), ''Hhemdah Genuzáh'', 15b</ref>}}

Hakham Joseph Shalom, writing in the 16th century, stated:<blockquote>This is how it is with these ''conversos'': They derive from the hope of Israel, despite the fact that they have been immersed among the idolaters. Their hope and righteousness endure forever (...) furthermore, when they come to be included among the Jews, they are simply [[Brit milah|circumcised]]; they are not [[Mikveh|immersed]] like converts who were never part of the Jewish people.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Goldish |first=Matt |title=Jewish questions: responsa on Sephardic life in the early modern period |date=2008 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-12264-9 |location=Princeton, N.J |pages=100–101}}</ref></blockquote>[[Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel]], the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of the State of Israel, stated in the mid-20th century:
{{blockquote|And we still have to clarify on the (subject of) Anusím, to whom the government forbids them to perform Halakhicly valid marriages, if it's necessary to say that their wives must have a Get to permit them (to marry another man), for the reason that, by force of the Law (Hazakah/חזקה), a man does not have intercourse for promiscuity (Zenut/זנות) ... (In our very case), we deal with those who converted and kept Torah in secrecy and hide their religion because of the gentile surveillance, we say that they do have intercourse for the sake of marriage.}}

It follows that Uziel considered ''anusím'' as Jews, because only Jews can give or receive a ''[[Get (divorce document)|get]]'', a Jewish divorce. [[Maimonides]] stated in the [[Mishneh Torah]] Sefer Shofetím, Hilekhót Mumarím 3:3:

{{blockquote|But their children and grandchildren [of Jewish rebels], who, misguided by their parents ... and trained in their views, are like children taken captive by the gentiles and raised in their laws and customs (וגידלוהו הגויים על דתם), whose status is that of an ’anús [one who abjures Jewish law under duress], who, although he later learns that he is a Jew, meets Jews, observes them practice their laws, is nevertheless to be regarded as an ’anús, since he was reared in the erroneous ways of his parents ... Therefore efforts should be made to bring them back in repentance (לפיכך ראוי להחזירם בתשובה), to draw them near by friendly relations, so that they may return to the strength-giving source, i.e., the Toráh.}}