Goodbye, Columbus/Hello, Columbus

On the one hand, it’s depressing to find out how much history I don’t know. On the other hand, it’s somewhat understandable given there has been a lot of it through the years, and it’s hard to keep up.

Not only am I ignorant about a lot of history, some of the basic, common facts of history, facts that I know are right because, well, because that’s what I’ve been told all my life are, well, wrong.

Such as, Christopher Columbus didn’t discover America. He never made it to the mainland. He made it to the Bahamas and Cuba. But never America, on any of his three voyages.

How could I grow up not knowing that? Or, rather, why was I taught incorrect information all my life? For that matter, why is Columbus Day still celebrated?

And, if Columbus didn’t discover America, who did? Some say it was the Vikings, others claim it was another Central Conference team, perhaps the Packers.

Sheet music, If Columbus Would Not Have Found This Land by
Sam Lowenirth (J. and J. Kammen Music Publishers and Distributors,
Brooklyn, New York, 1925). Collection of the National Museum of
American Jewish History, Philadelphia. Gift of Sondra Katz.

What else do I have wrong about American history? World history?

I’ve been told, and I’m 99 percent certain it’s true, that Jews were kicked out of Spain in 1492 (coincidentally the year Columbus left on his first voyage, aided with nautical tables perfected by Abraham Zacuto, a Jew forced to leave his native Spain).

I’ve heard that, as a consequence of the Spanish Inquisition, there is no longer any Jewish life in Spain. Is that right? Is that another fact of history I’ve come to have, not supported by reality?

I hope to find out if that is true with a little inquisition of my own. Jewish, etc. is going to Spain, so I won’t be posting for a couple of weeks. When I return I’ll write about what I learned about Spanish Jewry, and then it’s back to American Jewish life.