By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Forget the “Pirates of Penzance” (with apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan) — it was the Jewish pirates of the Caribbean that captured the attention of about 30 audience members at the Adath Israel Congregation on Sunday morning.
Author Edward Kritzler, who at one time worked for the Jamaican Tourist Board, outlined the history and exploits of the handful of Jewish pirates who plied the Caribbean Sea and harassed the Spanish fleet.
“I certainly didn’t know about (the Jewish pirates),” said Mr. Kritzler, who grew up on Long Island in the 1950s. “It was the golden age of suburbia. The Holocaust and the horrors of World War II had happened a decade ago. I was a ‘New World’ kid.”
Mr. Kritzler, the author of “Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean,” said he was aware of the Spanish Inquisition and the Spaniards’ persecution of the Jews. He also was aware of the Spanish conquistadors who conquered the New World, noting, “I knew they were Catholics, and they carried a cross.”
But Mr. Kritzler was not aware of the Jewish pirates until he accepted a job with the Jamaican tourism board and began delving into pirates’ journals he found in a Jamaican museum.
One of those journals belonged to an English pirate, who related that when he invaded Jamaica in 1643, the pirate was surprised to find a group of Jews approach him for help, Mr. Kritzler said. That story inspired him to learn more about the Portuguese Jews on that Caribbean island, he said.
Mr. Kritzler traced the Jewish pirates’ origin to 1492 when the Jews were expelled from Spain. Some Jews converted to Catholicism in a bid to stay in Spain, but others crossed the border into Portugal, he said.
The conversos — those who converted to Catholicism but secretly maintained their Jewish religion — were allowed to sail with the explorers to the New World, he said. They were allowed to stay in every colony in the New World where they became merchants, he said.
But at the end of the 16th century, the Christian merchants wanted “in,” and they exposed the conversos who had settled in the colonies, Mr. Kritzler said. The Holy Inquisitors were called in, and when the conversos were exposed as heretics, they were burned at the stake.
The Jews turned to Holland and England for help, and that’s when Samuel and Joseph Palache, Moses Cohen Henriques and other Jewish pirates entered the scene, Mr. Kritzler said. The Palache brothers were among the founders of the Jewish community in Amsterdam, Holland.
To the first generate of Jewish children that grew up in Amsterdam, Samuel Palache was a hero and a role model, Mr. Kritzler said. Mr. Palache, who was also a rabbi, was proud to be a Jew and also sailed with a kosher chef, he added.
“He goes out and fights the enemy and makes himself rich in the process,” Mr. Kritzler said.
Rabbi Palache was a role model for the next generation, who took up piracy as well, including Moses Cohen Henriques, he added.
Moses Cohen Henriques grew up in Amsterdam. He took part in the Dutch invasion and capture of Brazil, which later was recaptured by the Portuguese. He also helped the Dutch capture a fleet of Spanish ships that was carrying silver that would be worth $1 billion today, Mr. Kritzler said.
The conversos who lived in Jamaica, which belonged to the descendants of Christopher Columbus, helped the English conquer the island, he said. To keep Jamaica safe from the Spanish — and to keep themselves safe from the Holy Inquisitors — the Jews encouraged the buccaneers to make it their home base.
And using their knowledge of New World trade — which Spanish ship was setting sail and the cargo it was carrying — the Jews provided information to the buccaneers, Mr. Kritzler said. By using the buccaneers as a surrogate army, the Dutch and the English were able to cripple Spain and cut its financial lifeline, he said.
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