An image of Dona Gracia appears on an Israeli stamp.
500 years ago Dona Gracia was a Jewish woman, born in Portugal to a Jewish family who had been forced to convert to Christianity. She remains a model of commitment to one’s heritage in the face of danger. She was able to utilize her family’s great personal wealth for the benefit of her community.
When her husband died in 1536 she inherited his family’s banking and business interests. She moved to Antwerp and was able to relocate many Jews from the dangers of Portugal and the Spanish Inquisition, to the Ottoman Empire. In Europe a time-honored Jewish tradition was the bankrolling of empires. Gracia was able to leverage her position and wealth to gain concessions on behalf of her community from the Ottoman Empire. Despite her wealth Gracia was arrested and spent two years in prison in Italy. Upon her escape she traveled to Istanbul to meet the Sultan, where she paid for property in the Holy Land, determined to redeem the land for Jewish settlement.
She succeeded in building Jewish communities across the Land of Israel in Tiberias, Gaza, Jaffa, Safed and Jerusalem. She built schools and synagogues there and took care of many of the poor. She was also able to transport many Jews from Europe to the Holy Land of Israel.
Gracia is buried on the Mount of Olives, in Jerusalem, next to her husband.
Today in downtown Tiberias there stands a hotel named after Gracia and in it there is a museum commemorating her life.
www.donagraciaproject.org/