The story of the first Jewish arrivals in America stretches across more than a century—from Christopher Columbus’s first voyage in 1492 to the establishment of a permanent Jewish community in New Amsterdam in 1654. These early arrivals reveal that Jewish history in the Americas began much earlier than many people realize.
1. The First Jewish Arrival in the Americas — 1492
The first person of Jewish descent known to have set foot in the Americas was Luis de Torres, who sailed with Christopher Columbus on his first voyage in 1492.
- De Torres was hired as an interpreter because he spoke several languages, including Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, and Portuguese. Columbus believed the expedition might encounter Asian merchants and rulers with whom these languages could be useful.
- Luis de Torres was a converso—a Jew who had converted to Christianity. His voyage took place during one of the most difficult periods in Spanish Jewish history.
- In 1492, the Spanish monarchy ordered practicing Jews to either convert to Christianity or leave Spain. De Torres converted to Catholicism before joining Columbus’s expedition.
2. The First Recorded Jew in the Future United States — 1585
Nearly a century later, Joachim Gans, whose surname is also recorded as Ganz or Gaunse, became the first recorded Jewish person known to have lived temporarily in an English settlement within what would later become the United States.
- Gans was a skilled metallurgist and mining expert born in Prague.
- In 1585, he joined an English expedition associated with Sir Walter Raleigh’s attempt to establish the Roanoke Colony in present-day North Carolina.
- His responsibility was to examine local minerals and determine whether the area contained valuable metals such as copper and silver.
- Gans returned to England in 1586, before the later disappearance of the Roanoke colonists that gave rise to the mystery of the so-called Lost Colony.
3. The First Permanent Jewish Community — 1654
Joachim Gans was only a temporary resident, but in September 1654, a group of Jewish refugees arrived in New Amsterdam and established the beginnings of what would become a permanent Jewish presence in what is now the United States.
- A group traditionally identified as 23 Sephardic Jews—including men, women, and children—arrived in New Amsterdam, present-day New York City, aboard the ship Sainte Catherine.
- They had fled Recife, Brazil, after Portuguese forces regained control of the colony from the Dutch.
- Under Dutch rule, Recife had developed a significant Jewish community. The return of Portuguese authority created fears of renewed religious persecution and the Inquisition, causing many Jewish residents to flee.
- Peter Stuyvesant, the governor of New Amsterdam, opposed allowing the Jewish refugees to remain. However, the Dutch West India Company ultimately permitted them to stay.
A Jewish Presence Older Than the United States
These three moments—1492, 1585, and 1654—mark important stages in the development of Jewish life in the Americas. Jewish individuals were present during the earliest European voyages and settlements, and a permanent Jewish community was established more than a century before the United States declared its independence in 1776.
The history reminds us that Jewish people were part of the American story long before there was a United States of America.
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