The Denver Jewish news., 1923-10-11

| Salamanca.
| In the course of his personal meet
/ ing with Columbus. ZacutO brought to
the latters attention his works on
astronomy and also HIS theory regard
| ing eqninoctial storms-a theory which
proved Of inestimable service to navi
gators. j
| Zaeute Goes Into Exile.
| But his many contributions to
science and his distinction az a scholar
were powerless to save Zacuto from
sharing the fate Of the 100000 Jews
who were expelled from Inquisitorial
Spain on the 2nd Of August 1892. And
this lamentable exile took place the day
before Columbus set sail on his memoir
able voyage to the end Of which the
Jews had so literally contributed!
Accompanying his aged teacher. the
pious Rabbi Isaac Aboard, Zacuto emf
grated to Lisbon. Here in the capital
city of Portugal Zacuto found refuge.
He was soon appointed court astron-
omer to King John III, retaining that
Office when this monarch died in 1895
and the Imperial crown passed to
Emanuel. The Jew is ever faithful
to the country that harbors him and
Zncuto applied himself with redoubled
energy to serve his royal patron King
Emanuel and Zacuto frequently held
conferences on astronomical and mari
time subjects. BY request of the king.
ZacutO elaborated his theory regarding
equinOctial storms in an endeavOr to
serve the interests Of Portuguese en-
terprise in exploitation. The nOtntlc
achievements of VascO da Gama (whO
doubled the Cape OF Good Hope in
1907, thereby discovering a Southwest
crn passage to Indfa) were greatly
facilitated by Zacuto's sound advice.
1t Is recorded that before setting sail
from Lisbon on his voyage to India
the Portuguese navigator received per-
sonaI Instructions from the learned
Jewish scientist In the presence of the
entire crew.
Xseut0 Forced to Leave Portugal
While King EmaAucl was not I'M.
mindful Of the Invaluable services that
Zacuto' rendered towards the promotion
OF Portuaal's ptesrige, there was no
stemming Of the on-rushing tide Of in
tolerance whicif made all Jews its VIC
tins. lnquisitorial spain had obtained
strange hold ON the more liberal
kingdom of Portugal and once more
the Jews were sent scurrying into exile.
M t1,e yenr 1902 Zacuto betook him.
self and his belongings to Tunis where
he sought consolation by writing book
! ON the. history of the Jews. But even
here the war-reaching hand OF the
humble Jewish scholar to work UNI
niolstcd. His finnl place OF residence
wns Syrha, Turkey, where he remained
until l,is death which occurred III 1910.
Such IL the record OF Zacuto's life
eloquent Of Jewish genius In science.
Tho Efnstein Of Metliseval Europe
Because Of the marvellous advance
in scientific knowledge since the days
of the Inquisition, ZacutO's ''Almanach
Perpetuum" (now reposing peacefully
in. the Elkan Adler Library may seem
rather antiquated and unimportant.
But before the Renaissance 1t was nn
ep0ch- -niaating book. One might ha-
xard the surmisc that Abraham Ia
cuto was tic "Albert Einstein' Of the
age In which he lived and not 60 fur
wrong. ZacutO's Calendar and Astron-
omical Tables were then discussed MS
freely by contemporary scholars as
Einstein's Theory Of Relatively" is
today.
Aside from those who adventure in
to. the byways of history and science,
few readers have ever heard Of Za-
cutO. Though he aided Columbus In
discovering America, many a reader
may be discovering him for the first
time. II so, let us give due credit to
the sponsors of the Elkan Adler Ii
brary anu the Jewish Theological SEM
innry for bringing this Jewish scientist
to- our attention.
In THE honor roll of famous Jews
who abettetl the discovery Of Amer
ica there appears the name Of Isaac
Abalbaslel, one of the first to render
financial aid to Columbus when tho
navigator was ridiculed as ''the man
with the cloak full of holes" Another
ndme thnt shines respondent is that
of Luis de Santangel, who made such
an eloquent plea before Spanish royal
ty that he turned the tide in CoItih.
bus's favor. To this roll of honor let
us add, IN letters as luminous us those
penned by a mediaevals scrivener,, the
name of Abraham Zacuto. 1t was the
work Of this Jew that was instru-
mental In guiding Columbus to a land