“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  – Genesis 12:3

Columbus’s Jewishness

Before all the recent articles came out about Christoper Columbus’s being Jewish by virtue of new DNA research, the likelihood of Columbus’s Jewishness was already well-known.

The Alhambra Decree

On March 31, 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella issued the Alhambra Decree.  This was an edict of expulsion proclaiming that all of Spain’s Jews had four months to convert to Christianity or exit the country, under pain of death.

According to the historical record, the “last Jews left Spain on Thursday, August 2, 1492, Tisha B’Av.”  Columbus was supposed to set sail on that date, but he had to wait a day, because the harbor was so busy with fleeing Jews.

Jews who formally converted to Roman Catholicism – “Conversos” – were allowed to remain in Spain.  There were, however, many who secretly continued to practice Judaism.  These people were referred to as “Marranos,” or swine.  Christopher Columbus, known in Spanish as Cristóbal Colón, was a Marrano.

Was Columbus Italian or Spanish?

Columbus did not speak any Italian; he spoke Castilian Spanish, which, in 15th century Spain, “was the ‘Yiddish’ of Spanish Jewry, known as Ladino.”  It was long asserted that the reason Columbus’s family spoke Castilian was because the Jews had been kicked out of Castile a century earlier, and many of them had fled to Genoa, Italy, bringing their Jewish brand of Spanish with them as the language of the home.  It had been long asserted that Columbus was actually born in Genoa, Italy.  Today, Spanish scientists are claiming that Columbus was “born into a Sephardic Jewish family from Western Europe and converted to Catholicism to avoid religious persecution.”

Jews on Deck

Of the 90 sailors hired by Columbus for his voyage, there were several notable Jews: two experienced sailors, Roderigo de Triana and Alfonso de la Calle; a physician, Maestre Bernal; a surgeon called Marco; Queen Isabella’s personal inspector, Roderigo Sánchez de Segovia; and the most high-profile Jew on board, Luis de Torres, an interpreter for the governor of Murcia specializing in Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, and other ancient tongues.  De Torres’s Hebrew skills were needed, because Columbus half-expected to meet Hebrew speakers from the “ten lost tribes of Israel” upon reaching what Columbus believed would be the other side of the world.  It is interesting to note that, upon Columbus’s landing on the island of Hispaniola, de Torres mistook the turkeys he saw for peacocks, so he called them by the Hebrew word tuki.

Columbus’s journey was actually financed by two prominent Jewish Conversos – Luis de Santángel, Chancellor of the Royal Household of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, and Gabriel Sánchez, Treasurer of Aragon.  King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, contrary to popular belief, did not fund Columbus’s voyage.

Columbus, Living Jewishly

Curiously, Columbus wrote “two small marks on the top of every letter he wrote [which] resemble the two marks orthodox Jews still use in their letters.  The two abbreviations come from the Hebrew words besiyata d’ishmaya, meaning ‘with God’s help’ in Aramaic.”

In his will of May 19, 1506, Columbus complied with the Jewish traditions of leaving money to the poor, allowing his servants to remain in his house, and signing with the Hebrew letters representing “long life.”  Also, according to Charles Garcia, “Columbus, who was known in Spain as Cristóbal Colón . . ., made five . . . revealing provisions [in his will]”: 1) Columbus left ten percent of his estate to the poor; 2) he left instructions for an anonymous donation for the support of poor girls; 3) he left money to a Jew living in the Lisbon Jewish Quarter; 4) he signed his will using a special signature of triangular dots and letters resembling inscriptions on the grave markers of Jewish cemeteries, his express wishes being that his heirs continue to use this special way of signing – which was a secretive way of symbolizing the Kaddish, a prayer of mourning recited on the Sabbath for lost loved ones at temple; so, by using this writing, Columbus’s heirs could participate in Kaddish; and 5) he left money to support a Crusade to free the Holy Land from the Muslims, since Jews of his day believed only the liberation of Jerusalem from Islam could usher in the Messianic Era.

Estelle Irizarry, a Georgetown University professor of linguistics, “has analyzed the language and syntax of hundreds of handwritten letters, diaries and documents of Columbus and concluded that the explorer’s primary written and spoken language was Castilian Spanish….”  Also, at the top left corner of twelve of the thirteen letters Columbus wrote to his son Diego, the Hebrew letters bet-hei are present – meaning b’ezrat Hashem (with the help of God).  Many religious Jews have added this blessing to their letters down through the ages.  No Hebrew letters were ever used in missives Columbus wrote to non-family members.

The Blessing of Abraham

In Genesis 12:3, God told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  Is it possible that, out of its Jewish discovery, the New World received Abraham’s blessing, becoming arguably the safest place in the world for both Jews and Christians to worship?

Paul Dowling has written about the Constitution, as well as articles for American Thinker, Independent Sentinel, Godfather Politics, Eagle Rising, and Free Thought Matters.

Image: Public domain.