Sephardic Bnei Anusim forebear/s who was/were forced to convert from Judaism to Catholicism. In regards to the second issue, in Rabbinic Judaism, a person's Jewish status is determined in one of two ways: Thus, natural-born Jewish status of a child (male or female) comes from its mother, via its maternal grandmother, via its maternal great-grandmother, and so on. As a consequence of the number of generations that have passed since the forced conversion of the Anusim ancestors of the Sephardic Bnei Anusim, the likelihood of a broken direct maternal Jewish lineage in that time (or the difficulty in producing documentary evidence proving otherwise)
Rabbinic cabinet Rabbinic cabinet A rabbinic cabinet or rabbinic council is a branch of a usually secular Jewish organization of some type. Rabbinic cabinets are reserved as advisory and outreach councils for rabbis and cantors who are members of such organizations. They are not to be confused with the associated rabbinical membership and policy bodies of religious and denominational organizations. Rabbinic cabinets have also been assembled by leaders of Jewish seminaries and educational institutions, such as HUC-JIR's President's Rabbinic Council or JTS's Chancellor's Rabbinic Cabinet. These are usually assembled to help guide educational and administrative policy along a theological or ethical perspective.