Could Christopher Columbus Have Been Jewish?

During this year’s Limmud conference, Rabbi Barbara Aeillo, gave a fascinating lecture about secret Crypto Jews of Southern Italy.

I had never heard of this idea, and would have assumed that the name "Christopher" made it obvious he was a Christian, that is until I heard Rabbi Aellio, the descendent of Crypto Jews speak (Aeillo’s grandmother used to go to the basement to light her shabbas candles and even continued to do so once the family moved to the United States, since "you never know’).

Often Crypto Jews took on Christian sounding names as a way to conceal their Jewish identity, according to Aeillo, who has done extensive research into Jewish surnames. As she explained the Italian surname "Auitamichristo", which means "Help Me Jesus" is a Jewish surname, one taken on by Jewish families who had fled from Spain to Southern Italy. As Aeillo explained these Crypto Jews lit shabbat candles in a candelabra that had a shammash in the middle, would sound a ram’s horn on December 31, and would put red strings on a baby’s crib (in line with the Jewish tradition of the Kabbala). They would not eat milk and meat together "because it’s not healthy" and those in the garment industry made vancalle’s (scarfs), with blue and white stripes that didn’t mix fabrics (to serve as talits). Aiello even brought with her a ‘vancalle’ which she said is probably "a vestige of the talit," and told the story of how an Italian woman who was a Crypto Jew filled her mikveh with water for donkeys to drink from it, so no one would know.

Columbus discussed particular dates and phrases unique to Hebrew people. When writing about the fall of Jerusalem, he said “the destruction of the second house,” referring to the Temple. Letters and journals attributed to Columbus are studded with references to Jewish scripture and dates from the Jewish calendar, and it is noted that Columbus selected many Jews and conversos — Jews forced to convert to Catholicism to escape persecution — as astrologers, navigators and translators in his crew.

Most historians agree that Columbus was born in the Republic of Genoa, or modern-day Italy, yet Columbus spoke Spanish fluently, perhaps indicating that the Columbus family was originally from Spain. Spanish-speaking refugees were numerous in mid-15th century Genoa as Jewish families fled the Spanish Inquisition. It also is known that the family profession was weaving, a traditionally Jewish profession at the time, and that Jewish given names like Abraham and Jacob were common in the family of Columbus’ mother.

Columbus is said to have used a unique triangular signature similar to inscriptions found on gravestones of Jewish cemeteries in Spain and South France. Most interesting is the fact that in the upper left corner of his letters to his son Diego, was the Hebrew letters "Bet Hey", which stand for the Hebrew blessing "Be Ezrat Ha Shem," or "with G-d’s help."

There is a scholarly article by a Professor at Georgetown University entitled "Three Sources of textual Evidence of Columbus, Crypto Jews" worth a read http://www.tbspr.org/_kd/Items/actions.cfm?action=Show&item_id=2026

"….Whoever Christopher Columbus was, and however he is remembered, this much we know: he was a boundary crossing explorer who drew on multiple identities and traditions in ways that empowered him to take incredible chances when others would not, see remarkable opportunities where others could not, and accomplish things big enough that their full implications were beyond anyone’s understanding. That is the stuff of spiritual greatness."

BACK TO RABBI AIELLO

There is an extensive article on here in Ha’aretz http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/still-jewish-after-all-these-years-1.283773