Monday is Columbus Day, the Day We Celebrate...

[ProudLib72]

3. You know the rhyme. Now say it with me

In 1492,
Spain expelled all her Jews.

Some went elsewhere in Europe. The more adventurous went with Columbus.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/columbus-sets-sail-judaic-treasures

It was Christopher Columbus, the "world-unveiling Genoese" himself, who first linked the Jews and the New World. In his letter to the king and queen of Spain which opens the Journal of the First Voyage, Columbus writes:

So after having expelled the Jews from your dominions, Your Highnesses, in the same month of January, ordered me to proceed with sufficient armament to the said region of India.

Actually, Columbus set sail on August 3, 1492, a day after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain began. Much has been written of Columbus's purported Jewish origins and of Jews who accompanied him on his first voyage. It is certain only that the expedition's interpreter, Luis de Torres, was born a Jew but had converted shortly before the expedition set sail; that two "New Christians," Luis de Santangel and Gabriel Sanchez, had a hand in the financing; and that two Jews, Abraham Zacuto and Joseph Vecinho, provided technical expertise that helped Columbus navigate the "Ocean Sea."

Anyway, this is what I think about on Columbus Day: anti-Semitism forcing people to migrate to a new land free of bigotry.