Columbus was a Jew?

For many years there has been a rumor that Christopher Columbus (Christobal Colom as he usually referred to himself) was of Jewish origin, i.e. from a marrano family. In many of his journals Columbus writes with deep fervor of his Christian faith and often reiterates his allegiance to the King and Queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, who partially financed his voyages. But, this is what you might expect from a "converso" who was trying to cover up his Jewish origins. My relationship to Casa Shalom has brought me into contact with more evidence related to this supposition.

It is generally believed that Columbus was of Italian origin, from Genoa, which would explain the many mistakes in his Spanish writing. But, several experts in Catalan, such as Nito Verdera from the Balaeric Islands, himself of marrano origin, have written that those mistakes are not those of an Italian, but of a Catalan. I learnt this from an article by Gloria Mound, the Director of Casa Shalom entitled, "The Jewish origins of Christopher Columbus" (Casa Shalom Journal vol 11, 2009, p. 7) and from an article by Leah Slote, "Spain rich in Jewish history" from the Jewish News. But, this interpretation in itself would not be conclusive. What is of more interest is the well-known strange sign that Columbus put on the top of letters that he wrote only to his family. These signs have puzzled his biographers for years. A graphologist who analyzed these signs concluded that they were in fact written from right to left. When copies of these signs were shown to two separate Professors of Jewish history at Hebrew University they independently confirmed, without knowing their origin, that these signs were the three Hebrew letters "bet" "hei" and "samech" that were used by Jews in the Middle Ages to communicate with each other, and that stand for the phrase "b'ezrat hashem," or "with God's help."

In 1992, on the 500th anniversary of the edict of expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the Spanish Monarch and Government formally revoked this edict. At the same time an exhibition was mounted in Madrid financed by prominent Israeli financier Elie Schalit, that subsequently toured Spain, on "Colon and the Jewish contribution to the voyages of discovery" (Colon is the Spanish version of Columbus' name). One must note that the expulsion order was signed on March 31, 1492 and Columbus embarked on his first voyage on August 2, 1492, barely 4 months later. Can this be merely coincidence? King Carlos of Spain toured this exhibition, and he himself was convinced of the prominent Jewish contribution to these voyages of discovery. For example, two of the main supporters of Columbus in the Royal household were the Royal Chancellor at the time, Luis de Santangel (born Azaria Ginzillo) and Gabriel Sanchez, the Royal Treasurer, both of whom were prominent conversos. The main mapmaker for the voyage, Abraham Zacuto, was himself a Jew, and a Jewish interpeter, Luis de Torres, converted just prior to sailing. He was the first man ashore when they landed in Cuba in November 2, 1492.

However, although all these Jewish connections, and more, do not prove the point, nevertheless, there is much to be made of the idea that Columbus was himself a Marrano, who embarked on these perilous voyages to secretly try to find a means of escape and a new beginning for the expelled Jews of Spain and for the conversos against whom the Inquisition was targeted. However, the Inquisition followed them to the Spanish areas of South and Central America, but many escaped and in north America the Jews eventually found a haven, and that is where the second largest community of Jews in the world now lives.