The name Dona Gracia may mean little to most of us, the name Beatriz de Luna even less. But 500 years ago, she was the most powerful woman — perhaps the most powerful person — in the Jewish world. Dona Gracia ran a clandestine operation that foiled many of the Inquisition’s plans, smuggling thousands of Jews out from its grasp, under the guise of a lucrative spice trading company. As events are held worldwide this year marking 500 years since her birth, Rabbi Eliezer Eisikovits unveils her amazing story.
On a sunny day in the middle of 1497 the 70 000 Jewish residents of Portugal suddenly became captives in the largest prison in the world. They were refugees from the Spanish exile who had come to Portugal in the hopes of finding a reprieve. They never imagined that conditions for them in Portugal would be infinitely worse than they had been in the land from which they had been expelled.
A Jew in Spain who chose to cling to his ancestors’ faith had the option of leaving the kingdom and rebuilding his life elsewhere. In Portugal there was no such option. The religious decrees issued from the royal palace were absolute and uncompromising: every Jew would henceforth be considered Christian with no exception and no need for the Jews’ consent. The Jews were ordered to adopt foreign names to participate in Christian services and to give their children a Catholic education. Spies and guards were posted at every border crossing to prevent Jews from escaping to countries outside the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. The iron curtain had fallen quickly isolating the Jews of Portugal from the rest of the world.
Among the myriad Jews who were thrust into this predicament were two brothers Tzemach and Meir Benvenisti scions of one of the most distinguished families in Spain. Tzemach’s teachers had predicted that he would become an eminent talmid chacham but the royal decree had quashed any such plans. Like most other Anusim (forced converts; the Inquisition referred to these hidden Jews as marranos literally “pigs”) the brothers strove to avoid Biblical transgressions of Shabbos refrained from eating nonkosher foods fasted on Yom Kippur and attended occasional tefillah gatherings in private homes.
It was impossible to do more than that. Their first names were changed to Francisco and Diego their family name became Mendes and even their external appearance was altered beyond recognition. Their tzitzis were replaced by a fashionable leather vest known as a doublet while their yarmulkes were supplanted by an elegant Portuguese cap. Externally they appeared to be Portuguese in every way — but the flames of emunah continued to burn within their souls.
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