Vintage illustration of Christopher Columbus on the deck of the Santa Maria in 1492. Photo by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images

By PJ Grisar
October 14, 2024

Discovering that Christopher Columbus, long rumored to have Jewish heritage, had evidence of Sephardic DNA is, to me, about as monumental as discovering that Earth existed circa 1492. In other words, it’s a delayed conclusion that should change practically little about our understanding of the world today – even if some would see it differently.

Columbus did not set out to prove the shape of the Earth Stan Freberg insisted; The people of his time knew that the world was spherical. There is evidence that Columbus sailed in service of a devout Catholic worldview for a Catholic kingdom that expelled its Jews that same year, something he appears to have supported in his writings.

Nevertheless, a new Spanish documentary, what that revealedAfter a 22-year study of Columbus and his son’s remains, researchers found “characteristics consistent with Jewish ancestry,” making international headlines just in time for Columbus’ holiday of the same name, now also known as Indigenous Peoples Day. Development causes a lot Tsuris For Jews, given Columbus’ controversial reputation, an alternative theory about the explorer’s true motivations could be revived.

Book by the legendary Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal from 1973 Sails of hope believed that Columbus was a Spanish Marrano who wanted to find the lost tribes of Israel or ensure the safety of his co-religionists.

“I guess it’s been embedded in our oral traditions for literally hundreds of years,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who often heard Wiesenthal speak about the 1492 Alhambra Decree in his lectures around the world. When Cooper learned of the DNA evidence at the end of Yom Kippur, his reaction was that it “made perfect sense.”

“That doesn’t mean he wasn’t looking for a route to India,” Cooper said, but in his opinion it means that Columbus most likely had a family that fell victim to the Inquisition and that the trade route may have been one Problem was pretext.

The trip was likely a “reflection of the desperation of someone who wanted to try to find a safe haven for Jews in hiding, and Jews were forced to flee,” Cooper said, noting that he understands how many indigenous groups celebrate Columbus Day may not want to celebrate.

Should we? Was Columbus actually a Jewish hero? Experts say no. At least we can’t say for sure.

Laurence Begreeen, author of Columbus: The Four Voyagessaid: “I don’t see in the writings of Columbus, and he wrote a lot, this specific articulation of his mission.”

“Of course he was driven by a strong faith and belief that he was on a mission,” Bergreen continued, “but beyond that, I want to tell you personally that the needle hasn’t moved for me.”

Columbus’s awareness of his own possible Jewish roots, according to Bergreen, has not been proven, although we know that he sailed with Jews and conversos, probably fleeing the persecution of Columbus’s patrons, the Spanish monarchy.

As for the DNA analysis, the raw data of which has yet to be disclosed, Bergreen notes that their efforts were likely complicated by the fact that Columbus’ remains were buried in three different locations. (Scientist have also expressed doubts about the Spanish team’s conclusions.)

This is no reason for it Offer nachas. Although many Italian-Americans have been fond of boasting about Columbus’ contributions in the past, that impulse has become more complicated in recent decades as the country views Columbus’ voyage as the beginning of a centuries-long genocide against Native Americans.

Jews should at least feel conflicted, but can find some comfort in knowing that identity is about more than just a haplotype.

“Genetics doesn’t make someone Jewish,” said Ronnie Perelis, chair of Sephardic studies at Yeshiva University. told the Jewish News Syndicate.

In fact, Perelis says, Columbus’s writings reveal a man influenced by Jewish theology – and some even suspected that he knew something Ladino – but paint a picture of someone who was, at heart, a Christian who believed his travels were divinely ordained.

“It was kind of messianic,” Bergreen said of Columbus’ mission, which included occasions when he heard the voice of God. Was it the Hebrew God? We can’t say for sure.

Perhaps what has changed most after centuries of speculation is that this discovery is no longer welcome, as comedian Alex Edelman sarcastically muses: “This will be very good for the Jews and people will be very calm about it.”