Columbus and the Jews
In 1492, by order of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, hundreds of thousands of Jews from Spain, the largest and most affluent Jewish community in the world, were ordered to either convert to Christianity or leave their homes by the Ninth of Av. Hundreds of Jewish communities that had existed in Spain for more than 500 years disappeared almost overnight, as the Jews were forced to abandon their homes, leave Spain and become refugees.
As hashgacha had it, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were the same monarchs who financed Christopher Columbus's voyage to discover America. Columbus set sail from Spain soon after the Edict of Expulsion took effect, forcing the Jews to leave the country. He reached the New World on Hoshana Rabbah.
Columbus's discovery of America led many Jewish Marranos to flee there to escape the Inquisition and practice Judaism openly. Over the centuries, America continued to serve as a haven for Jewish refugees fleeing persecution. Millions of Jews from Europe, Arab lands, the Soviet Union, and Iran came to America to rebuild their lives in freedom and security. As one door closed in Jewish history, another started to open.
On his voyage to the New World in 1492, Christopher Columbus took along a Jewish interpreter named Luis de Torres. He was hired because he spoke Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic, as Columbus expected to meet people in Asia who spoke those languages. Born Yosef ben Ha'levi Ha'ivri in Spain, Luis de Torres converted to Catholicism just before the voyage to escape the Spanish Inquisition.
On this voyage, Columbus used astronomical tables and navigational instruments developed by R' Avraham Zacuto (1452-1515),¹ the renowned Jewish astronomer and mathematician.
¹ In 1492, he was forced to flee Spain, taking refuge in Portugal. For a brief time, he became court astronomer of King John II and Manuel I, advising the latter on Vasco de Gama's expedition to India. However, Manuel I decided to marry Isabella of Aragon, who told him that the marriage was conditional on expelling all Jews in Portugal. R' Avraham Zacuto was forced to flee once again, getting captured twice by pirates before staying in Tunisia. Eventually, he was forced to flee once again, this time to Turkey, where he was for the remainder of his life.
