America, Discovery of America, Judaism in ill
THE
JKWlbll KNCVCLUl'KlJlA
UlKl )iy till' Iiuiiiisiliiiii, in Viilencia, as an adof Jiuluisni.
litiviil
Luis di' ToiR's wiis tlio first Eiirn|i(>an lo licaii Anu'ricaii soil, ami tlii' lirst todiscovtr llii' uscof tobacco, lie sclllcil in Ciilia, ami. liavinjr won the conliilciicc aiul irooil will of one of the clii'fs, fcccivcd from liiin larirc jiiaiits of land and many slaves as From tlie l<inj: anil ((iieen lie also represents. reived an annual pension of H.()4.j maravedis (almtit lie died in Cuba. Luis de !?antanjrel JUG. or €7). was the lirst to receive a detailed statement of the voyaire and discoveries of Coliimlins. contained in a letter written hy the admiral. February lo. 14iKi, in the Azores, where he sIo]iiu(l on his way home. From Lisbon. Columbus w role a similar letter to Gabriel Sanchez, who jiublished it in Harielona. These letters have often been ]>ublished in lalcr times, both in Italian and in Em;lish. The ex i)enses of the second expedition, which sailed from ( 'adiz. Sept. 2-">, 14!I3, were covered by the funds lirocured from the sale of thejrolil and Jewish silver vessels taken from the expelled Treasure Jew s. or from those who had wandered Equips into Portugal, or from the converted
Second
who remained
behind, from Expedition, whom the property was seized under pretext that it formerly belon.ijed to the emijrrants. Even Christians suspected of jhisscssins any of the .Jewish treasure were not allowed to retain it. All valnablesof whateversort. clothes, and othei (roods belongiiisr to the exiles, notes of hand which they could not cash, the daniasU, velvet, and silk drajieries of the Torali, were colle( ted and solil Of the treasure thus colto further the voyage. lecteil. Columbus received 10.000 maravedis. promised to the one who should lirst see land, and LOOO golden doubloons (about S.5,000, or £1,000) as a spe.lews
cial lireseiit.
15y his haughtiness and harsh treatment. Columbus had made many enemies, and had also incurred
The conthe ill-will of Bernal. the ship's doctor. spiracy fostered by Hernal and Camacho was diswho in his desjKMate condiastrous to the admiral, tion was comiielled to call u|ion his old patrons. Gabriel Sanchez and Luis de Santaugel. to intercede For the services for him with the king and iiueen. he had rendered to the state. Luis de Santangel obtained many inivileges: perhaps the most importaiU of them being a royal decree, issued Jlay 30. 1497. by which he. his children, and his grandchildren were to be protected from any further molestation by the Lnpnsition. Emigration to the newly discovered lands, ujion which Columbus had set the seal of the Church, was strictly forbidden to those Maranos whom the Inquisition from time to time still |)ersecuted. Xevertheless. (Jabriel Sanchez was the lirst jierson to obtain a royal grant to exjiort grain and horses to America. Spanish and Portuguese Maranos, wellto-do merchants and learned physicians, emigrated to New Spain in such numbers that the authorities of Castile felt themselves impelled, so soon after the discovery as 1.511. to take steps against the Maranosand the children and grandchildren of those .Tews who
bad fallen victims to thi' ln(|uisilion, and to this end caused similar imiuisitorial courts to be erected in the New World. One of the tirst victims in NewSpain was Diego Caballero. a Jlarauo from Barramcda. The edicts of .June 30. 1567, and ]lareli 1.5, 15()8, were intended to prevent any further emigration of the .Jews.
.Jewish writers soon began todevote theirattention to Columbus and his discoveries. The first to mention them was Abraham Farissol of Avignon, who.
512
according to the "Stories of the Discoveries of Columbus," which appeared in a collection. "The .Tourneys in the NewWorld," V'icenza, "HIT. Mention in refers to them in his geographii al work. " Iggeret Orliot 'Olain." written Jewish 1
Writings,
1.504 (Venice. I.5S7); translated into Latin by Thomas Hyde in lliOl. More particular attenticm was devoted to these discoveries by .Joseph Cohen, also of .Vvignon. who translated into Hebrew, in 1.557, the " Hisloria General de las Indias," by Francisco Lopez dcGomara (2 vols., 1535). and included them in his Hebrew work. "Book of the Chronicles of thi' Kings of Fniiice." etc., Venice. 1.5.52-.53, Amsterdam, 1733; translated into English by Bialoblotsky, I.,ondon, 18.34-35. iii
BiBl.loc.R.vpiiv: M. KayserllDK. r/irMoji/ur CiiUimhus niiil the PartiriiHitiiin nf tin: Ji trtt in tlir Sjuniiiili ttml /Nirfiittuate I)isci)Vrrir.% iniiistuti'il fn»m Ilic (ieriiian Ity Ctnuii'S (iniss. Vi)rli. IWH; Ijimelli) MiHlnnii. Uli Klirei e la SriiiM-rtti ittll* Amrricn, CiLsjile, ISiti; ri'inlnied fnmi Tcj*.vi»t. S*tr.
New
Am.
No.
2.
>L
AMERICA, JUDAISM IN: America
— by
Iv.
.Judaism
in
and historical development of .Tudaism in its most ri'cent sphere of activity promises to react tijion and in certain directions nnHlify all existing phases of the faith. It varies essentially from Oriental .Tudaism. and has surpassed even that of western ICurope in its ail.-iptation more or its
logical
—
—
— of ancient
ideas lo modern forms. It is in much the inevitable creation of its novel einirontnent in a new world but it is not lacking in iiidel)endeiU initiative along lines of thought that sometimes emanate far back in the connnon history. Jn its development three distinct threads of derivation less
happy
may
be discerned w liich. w hen woven together by the hands of time and eireumslance, constitute the firm texture of its fabric to-day. These are: (1) Oriental .Judaism (sometimes called "Orthodox." but more correctly "Ancient." .Judaism), transjilanted to this country by the earliest settlers, w ho were of I'olisli-Gcrman, and British origin: (2) Sephardic-Con.servalive. tracing back to the rationthought of Spain (Sephard) in the early Middle .ges; (3) German-Heformeil. derived from the inllux of recent German thought broughl hither by the living representatives of that .school, to whom the ligid domination of Oriental .Judaism in Europe Sei)liardic, alistic
had grown repugnant.
The
first
.Jewish
settlers
in
Ameiiea naturally
belonged to the Orthodox or Ancient section of the faith. They were observant .Jews, mainly of the Orthodox Sepliardic ty]>e. who had emigrateil from Eurojie directly to South America and later on tn the northern continent. Sdiilliey (" IJislory of Brazil.
by Daly. "The Settlement of the .Jews in North America." ed. Kohler, i>. (i) states that the ojien joy with which the .Tews of Bahia celebrated ((noted
their religious ceremonies attracted unfavorable attention there. olTending their Catholic neighbors; in I'ortngal they had been forced to be ^[iiiaiios (pseudo-Christians). In ir>5() a special tiurial-lot on the oitskirts of the town was presented to the Xew Vork .Jews, who had arrived in that city in l')-54.
In 1077 the community at Ncwjiort. B. I., where .Tews had settled in 1()57, consecrated a .Tewish cemetery. By 1()!)5 the New York colony had dedicated thefirst synagogue on thcconlincnt of North America, in Beaver street. New York. The chaplain to the laiglish garrison (Bev. .Tohn Miller) describes a visit he jiaid to it in that year (.see Daly. p. 27l. In 1710 Abf.diam de I-ucena. mini.ster of the New York congregation, petitioned Governor Hunter for
