Christopher Columbus and the Jews
Diary of Christopher Columbus:
“In the same month in which their Majesties [Ferdinand and Isabella] issued the edict that all Jews should be driven out of the kingdom and its territories, in the same month they gave me the order to undertake with sufficient men my expedition of discovery to the Indies.”
Christopher Columbus’s Jewish roots have been deeply researched, and there are too many coincidences to brush the possibility aside. Firstly, Christopher Columbus set sail for the Americas a day after the expulsion. The growing theory is that as a Jew, he would never start his journey on the Tisha b’Av, and has therefore extended the departure with a day.
He further mentions Zion a lot and marked the top of his pages with something that closely resembles the abbreviation “b’siyatta diShmaya” – with the Help of Heaven – an abbreviation that orthodox Jews in their writings.
DNA research published in October 2024 showed DNA samples from the tomb, and from the bones of Columbus's son, Hernando, and brother, Diego, strongly showed Jewish ancestry. Read about it here.
Five Jews were included in his crew. His translator, Louis de Torres, born Yosef ben HaLevi HaIvri, who apparently converted to Christianity on the day of the expulsion, spoke twelve languages, including Portuguese, Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic.
The instruments for navigation that he used were developed and manufactured by Jews including the astrolabe and the quadrant, also known as "Jacob's staff".
Contrary to popular belief, Columbus’s voyage was not funded by Queen Isabella, but rather by the deep pockets of two Jewish Conversos, Louis de Santangel and Gabriel Sanchez, who advanced an interest-free loan of 17,000 ducats to help pay for the voyage. The other was Don Isaac Abarbanel, a rabbi and Jewish statesman, who also served as the royal treasurer.
Don Abarbanel was the most influential and powerful Jew in Spain and was highly respected. He did everything in his power to overthrow the expulsion edict, even offering 300,000 Ducats for a reprieve. Unfortunately, his efforts failed.
