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Christopher Columbus - the Jew^
T HE Feast of Tabernacles, which in Jewish
history commemorates God’s guidance of the
children of Israel during their 40 years of
journeying through the wilderness from the slav
ery of Egypt to the freedom of Canaan and by a
strange coincidence Succoth is also associated in
Jewish history with another great pilgrimage—
the migration of millions of Jews from the op
pressive lands of the Old World to the tolerance
and liberty of America, which was discovered by
Christopher Columbus on Hoshana Rabba, the
seventh day of Succoth.
On August 2, 1492, which in that year coin
cided with Tisha B’Ab, 300,000 Jews were forcibly
expelled from Spain. The following day Colum
bus sailed from Palos in search of the Indies. Ap
parently realizing that the
historian of the future
would say “where the his
tory of the Jews in Spain
ends, that of the Jews in
America begins,” Columbus
linked the two events in the
following entry in his jour
nal dated August 3, 1492:
“On the day Their Majes
ties ordered the Jews to
leave their lands, on the
same day they provided the
means for me to set out on
my search for new lands.”
The coupling of these two
incidents by Columbus has
led one important school of
historians to believe that
Columbus was a Mariano,
one of those converted Jews
of Spain who outwardly
professed Christianity but
who inwardly clung to their
Jewishness. This group of
historians, supported by re
cently discovered documents
dating back to the time of
Columbus, contends that he
was not an Italian but a
Spaniard.
His real name, they
claim, was Cristobal Colon,
and Colon was a prominent
Jewish family name in
Spain. Many Colons were
burned .at the stake in Spain
while Columbus was there. Christopher Colu
Those who agree with these of Astrono "'y *»
historians also point to the
fact that Columbus wrote
in Biblical style, that he quoted the Prophets fre
quently, that he preferred to read books of Biblical
or Jewish origin, that he referred to himself as
the advance agent of Jehovah, that he was pro
tected by Jews and that he left a legacy to a Jew.
Regardless of whether or not Columbus was a
Jew the fact that he discovered America on Suc
coth is not Jewry’s only interest in him. We
know that material from classical Hebrew writ
ings contending that one could reach Asia by
sailing west from Europe w'as known to Colum
bus through Roger Bacon’s famous collection.
Columbus, who had devoted nearly seven years of
studying all available sources on the geography of
the world, could hardly have been ignorant of
the fact that the Mid rash compared the world to
“a ball that is thrown from hand to hand” and
that the Talmud declared the earth to be round.
Moses de Leon, author of the Zohar, said three
centuries before Columbus, that “the earth re
The little known role of the Jews in the life of Columbus, who was himself possibly
a Jew, is told in this article of interest
By Bertram Jonas
volves like a ball” so that “when it is day on one-
half of the globe, night reigns over the other
half.”
Of even greater interest is the fact that the
actual scientific basis for Columbus’ exploration
was laid at the famous naval academy at Sagres
mhus at the laboratory of Abraham Zacuto, Professor
the University of Salamanca, whose tables and charts
<were used by Columbus.
founded by Prince Henry of Portugal and headed
by Jehuda Cresques, the most famous map-maker
of the 14th and 15th centuries. “Jacob’s staff,” a
sea quadrant devised by Levi ben Gerson and ap
plied to navigation by Abraham Zacuto, was the
first device for observing the stars. Columbus
found Zacuto’s perpetual almanac and astronom
ical tables invaluable on his voyage across the un
charted Atlantic. It was Joseph Vechino, royal
physician at the court of Portugal, who provided
Columbus with copies of Zacuto’s tables. Vechino,
together with Abraham I bn Ezra, Jacob ben
Machir and Jacob Carsoni, all Jews, had helped
develop the astrolabe, an instrument for measuring
the distance of a ship from the equator by means
of the position of the sun. This device, too, proved
immensely helpful to Columbus.
Besides this scientific aid rendered by the Jew's
of Portugal, Columbus also sought their influence
at court in his efforts to prevail upon the king of
Portugal to finance his voyage. Zacuto, an inti
mate of the king, and Professor Diego de Deza,
one of the leading educators of his day, were
among the first to support Columbus’ project but
even their advice proved futile.
Rebuffed in Portugal, Columbus turned to Spain
where the timely and influential aid of the leading
Jews led to the eventual success of his mission
before the court of Ferdinand and Isabella. Co
lumbus’ principal backer was Luis de Santangel.
the Rothschild of the 15th century. Santangel,
w'hose father had been collector of the royal taxes
in Valencia, and w'hose uncle had been a victim
of the Inquisition, had been so near death himself,
even after he had accepted Christianity, that he
did not feel at ease until he obtained from King
Ferdinand a document freeing him and his de
scendants forever from any charges of apostasy
that might be brought against them.
It was this Santangel who persuaded Columbu>
to remain in Spain w'hen the future discoverer was
about to leave broken-hearted. Where others had
failed, Santangel succeeded in obtaining an inter
view' for Columbus with Isabella. He even did
more. He showed the Queen the tremendous pres
tige that w r ould accrue to Spain from any discov
eries that Columbus might make. When shr
pleaded poverty, he offered to advance funds for
the voyage and his offer w r as readily accepted.
In those trying days Columbus also had the valu
able support of Isaac Abarbanel.
Thus it appears that the Jew's not only provided
the scientific inspiration but also the financial
wherewithal for Columbus’ voyage. The textbook-
tell us that Isabella paw ned her jewels in order to
pay for the vqyage. We now know', however,
that it was “Jews, not jew'els” that made his voy
age possible.
At the time w'hen preparations were being
rushed for the expedition Spain w'as preparing to
expel all Jew's from its borders. Their properr-
and w'ealth w'as being confiscated and although
Isaac Abarbanel offered his entire fortune to the
Queen if the edict of expulsion w'as revoked, the
exodus w r as carried out.
Besides the hundreds of thousands of Jews who
were being expelled, there w'ere thousands C
others languishing in Spanish jails where they
been throw'n by the Holy Office of the Inquisition
for the crime of “judaizing,” w'hich meant that
some of them had been found putting on a clean
shirt on the Sabbath or eating a little better
the Sabbath—all going to prove that they werf
Jew's rather than Christians at heart!
Since it is admitted that the greater portion c
the members of the crew's of the Pinta, the N ini
and the Santa Maria were recruited from tt f
jail population, it has been held quite likely that »
large percentage of the sailors who accompany
Columbus w*ere Jew's. The whole venture look f -
so dubious that the safe, sane and respectable de-
ments were not at all anxious to go w'hile crim»na- ?
who could look fonvard to eventual freedom P re_
ferred life in a jail to death in the unknow n A‘
lantic. When the king ordered that any pri-ooet*
w'ho enlisted in Columbus’ crews be given the-
freedom it may w r ell have (Please turn to page
£6]
* THE SOUTHERN ISRAEL^