BEGINNINGS

The first known individual of Jewish origin to arrive in the New World was Luis de Torres, the interpreter who accompanied Christopher Columbus in 1492. Baptized shortly before the expedition sailed, de Torres settled in Cuba. Although many have claimed that Christopher Columbus himself was of Jewish origin, the Encyclopedia Judaica properly concludes that “it is equally impossible to exclude or to confirm” this hypothesis. Columbus concealed much about his origins.

Whether or not Columbus himself was Jewish, his discovery made an enormous impact on Jews and Jewish history. Just before his voyage commenced, Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had expelled “all Jews and Jewesses of whatever age they may be” from their “kingdoms and seignories,” warning them never to return. Five years later, in 1497, Jews were likewise expelled from Portugal. Only those who converted to Catholicism – voluntarily or forcibly – were allowed to remain on the Iberian Peninsula. Because the Holy Inquisition targeted these conversos if it suspected them of practicing Judaism in secret, hundreds of them traveled to the New World to seek haven. In time, the New World would likewise provide haven for millions of persecuted Jews from other places.

Enough sixteenth-century New World conversos practiced Jewish rituals clandestinely that the Inquisition soon took notice. Beginning in 1569, it began pursuing “Judaizing heretics” – real and imagined – in the Americas. Some Catholics of Jewish origin continued to practice selected Jewish rituals secretly, notwithstanding the rising danger of discovery.