On July 31, 1492, which coincided with Tisha B’Av, after years of attempted forced conversions, threats and pogroms, Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Sephardic Jews of Spain as their “final solution.” They and Spanish citizens stole these people’s life work, forcing them to sell their homes and assets for a pittance of their worth. Forced onto ships, mostly to the Ottoman Empire (yet, also prohibited from returning from exile by the Sultan to their homeland and only allowed to go to other portions of the Ottoman Empire), this expulsion saw horrors unimaginable. Believing that the Jews had swallowed any gold or gems they had to take some wealth with them, it was not uncommon for sailors to slice open the stomachs of the Jews in their ships once they were over water. Jewish women were forcibly and violently raped. The exile was bathed in blood. And those that escaped to Portugal only delayed their suffering, as Ferdinand and Isabella successfully encouraged Manuel I to expel Jews from there in 1496.
