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There are a number of articles and books that claim that Christopher Columbus has Jewish acenstry:

  1. Christopher Columbus: Jewish Virtual Library

    The mystery regarding Columbus' origins is largely the outcome of his own mendacity: and as a result it is equally impossible to exclude or to confirm the hypothesis that he was descended from a Jewish or ex-Jewish family.

  2. Sails of Hope: The Secret Mission of Christopher Columbus, by Simon Wiesenthal.

    According to Wikipedia:

    Simon Wiesenthal postulates that Columbus was a Sephardi (Spanish Jew), careful to conceal his Judaism yet also eager to locate a place of refuge for his persecuted fellow countrymen. Wiesenthal argues that Columbus' concept of sailing west to reach the Indies was less the result of geographical theories than of his faith in certain Biblical texts—specifically the Book of Isaiah.

  3. Christopher Columbus and the Participation of the Jews in the Spanish and Portuguese Discoveries, by Meyer Kayserling

  4. Christopher Columbus's Jewish Roots by Jane Frances Amler.

Did Christopher Columbus have Jewish ancestry?

Andrew Grimm
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Edelstein Eli
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  • [Welcome to Skeptics!](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/1505/welcome-to-new-users) We want to focus our attention on doubtful claims that are widely held or are made by notable people. Please [provide some references](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/882/what-are-the-attributes-of-a-good-question/883#883) to places where this claim is being made. – Oddthinking Sep 22 '15 at 23:52
  • Okay, I found an [example of the claim from CNN](http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/20/opinion/garcia-columbus-jewish/), but it lists the evidence they use. However, now the question is asking what an individual believed, which is out of scope; it is unprovable. – Oddthinking Sep 22 '15 at 23:55
  • @Oddthinking, I don't know either. – Edelstein Eli Sep 23 '15 at 02:49
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    @March Ho,@Oddthinking, it was clearly a relevant question. It is irresponsable, to "close" it. – Edelstein Eli Sep 28 '15 at 00:34
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    We must have different definitions of "clearly", "relevant" and "irresponsible". Meanwhile, let's see if we can open it. The definition of "Jewish", which can refer to ethnicity, culture or religion/belief system - or perhaps just his allegiances. No-one can tell you what Columbus believed if he wanted to hide it or what secret motivations he had for his actions, so that they considered off-topic. Do the books claim he was merely descended from ethnic Jews (yawn!), that he practised Jewish culture, or that he was secretly acting on the behalf of Jewish leaders? – Oddthinking Sep 29 '15 at 07:12
  • It is a reasonably simple question. It is not a polar question. Logically, there could be an answer, because it is not a question such that any answer would be false or misleading. It is about his identity, his origin, not his personal belief. – Edelstein Eli Sep 29 '15 at 12:42
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    Thank you for the clarifications. Rather than chastising me for closing the question, please consider fixing the question in the future. – Oddthinking Sep 29 '15 at 13:41
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    @EdelsteinEli: Since one's family tree grows exponentially as one looks back in time, it would be really surprising if Columbus (or any other westerner) did *not* have some Jewish ancestry. I know what you mean, but it's not an easy question to ask, with any precision. – Mike Dunlavey Sep 29 '15 at 19:19
  • @ Mike Dunlavey, the accuracy depends on the validity of the evidence. History is not an exact science whatsoever. Concerning his social identity, there is only three possibilities: Jewish, not Jewish or unconventionally Jewish. – Edelstein Eli Sep 29 '15 at 21:23
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    @EdelsteinEli: We've already established that asking whether someone is Jewish is (a) vague and (b) largely about what is in their head, and so disprovable. Also, the demand for evidence is implied in all Skeptics.SE questions - answers without evidence are deleted. I've rolled back your changes. – Oddthinking Sep 29 '15 at 23:44
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    @EdelsteinEli: The yes/no options are a false dichotomy and ignores many other possibilities: He was genetically descended from (e.g.) Sephardic Jews, fully, partially, or not. He believed in the existence of a Jewish God his whole life, part of his life, fully or partially, or not. He had strong/weak/no allegiance to other Jews. He was bar mitzvahed, or not. He practiced the culture, or not. He was open, closeted, or was partly out, as a Jew. He was a "Jew for Jesus" - i.e. a Christian self-identifying as a Jew, etc. – Oddthinking Sep 29 '15 at 23:50
  • @ Oddthinking, I disagree. I think, under the Inquisition, there was only Catholics, Jews, conversos, Protestants and Moriscos. As you know, at that time, there was no religious freedom so the Jewish identity was not that ambiguous. – Edelstein Eli Sep 30 '15 at 01:14
  • @EdelsteinEli It seems very unlikely that a Jewish identity would be **anything but ambiguous** in the face of persecution. If being a Jew made you the target of persecution, you would probably tone down and hide many of your Jewish features. – March Ho Sep 30 '15 at 03:02
  • @ Marc Ho, ... Indeed, but there was a clear differentiation between the Jews and the Catholics. The Spanish Inquisition created the concept of "limpieza de sangue" (purity of blood). – Edelstein Eli Sep 30 '15 at 04:03
  • @Oddthinking the word acenstry should be fixed to read ancestry. Unfortuantely that's less than six characters. So no edit for me. Feel free to remove this comment after the spelling fix. – 0xC0000022L Sep 26 '18 at 08:22

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