Tell It In Bay Ridge

Christopher Columbus, MOT! As we approach the Jewish Holiday of Sukkot - and as we pass by Indigenous Peoples Day, observed by New Mexico's (and many Elsewhere's) Native Peoples - we sorta skip over what used to be, and in some places still is, the traditional Italian Holiday of Columbus Day.

But today (actually on Yom Kippur!) everything changed. Italians have been dispossessed, and Columbus Day has been restored, for better and for worse, to its rightful owners: The Jews.

ICYMI - Graham Keeley of The Times of Israel (and everyone else) just reported some version of the story -

Study finds Christopher Columbus was a Sephardic Jew from Western Europe 

Researchers analyze DNA fragmented remains believed to be world-shaping explorer’s; they say any further narrowing down of his origins remains elusive

MADRID (Reuters) – The 15th-century explorer Christopher Columbus was a Sephardic Jew from Western Europe, Spanish scientists said on Saturday, after using DNA analysis to tackle a centuries-old mystery.

Several countries have argued over the origins and the final burial place of the divisive figure who led Spanish-funded expeditions from the 1490s onward, opening the way for the European conquest of the Americas.

Many historians have questioned the traditional theory that Columbus came from Genoa, Italy. Other theories range from him being a Spanish Jew or a Greek, to Basque, Portuguese or British.

To solve the mystery researchers conducted a 22-year investigation, led by forensic expert Miguel Lorente, by testing tiny samples of remains buried in Seville Cathedral, long marked by authorities there as the last resting place of Columbus, though there had been rival claims.

They compared them with those of known relatives and descendants and their findings were announced in a documentary titled “Columbus DNA: The true origin” on Spain’s national broadcaster TVE on Saturday.

“We have DNA from Christopher Columbus, very partial, but sufficient. We have DNA from Hernando Colón, his son,” Lorente said in the program.

“And both in the Y chromosome (male) and in the mitochondrial DNA (transmitted by the mother) of Hernando there are traits compatible with Jewish origin.” 

Abq Jew is sure that the first question to cross your minds, already disjointed from reading Abq Jew's entertaining and informative blog posts, is -

What's the Nafka Minah?, the Jewish Chronicle explains, is

... a colloquial, yeshivish question meaning "What's the practical difference?" It has no neat English equivalent. You might say "What's the nafka minah if she's Christian or Wyccan? The children still won't be Jewish" or "I still can't taste the nafka minah between Coke and Pepsi."

The Talmud frequently asks mai nafka minah (meaning literally "what goes out from it" in Aramaic) to identify the practical halachic consequences of abstract or theoretical arguments. 

For example, it gives three answers to the question of which biblical verse teaches us that a Succah may not be higher that 20 amot (about 30 feet.) A nice theoretical discussion; but then the Talmud wants to know what the nafka minah of the contrasting positions might be in terms of how a succah should be constructed.

The phrase embodies a characteristically talmudic sensibility; that thought, however abstract, should effect or express some practical consequence in the world.

Abq Jew would like to point out that he first argued for Columbus's Jewish identity in his now-classic May 2012 blog post Christopher Columbus, MOT?. 

The new research (many say, but others, of course, don't) only builds on those arguments that Abq Jew presented way back then. 

So. Columbus the Jew or Columbus the Italian - what's the nafka minah? Abq Jew can think of two. Ok ... three. There may be more, but Abq Jew cannot think of them right now.

1. Bay Ridge must be told.

For those of you, Abq Jew's loyal readers, who are not from New York - Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Originally settled by the indigenous Canarsee Indians, Bay Ridge is now home to a lot (that's a technical term) of Italian Americans.

For whom Columbus Day is practically a religious holiday, even though it started out as a one-time celebration that President Benjamin Harrison thought up to placate Italian Americans and ease diplomatic tensions with Italy.

That was in 1892, the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyage, following lynchings in New Orleans, where a mob had murdered 11 Italian immigrants.

2. Borough Park must be told.

For those of you, Abq Jew's loyal readers, who are not from New York - Borough Park is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. 

Borough Park is home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities outside Israel, with one of the largest concentrations of Jews in the United States. Orthodox and Haredi families have an average of 6.72 children, none of whom heretofore have had reason to celebrate Columbus Day.

3. Columbus Circle must be told.

For those of you, Abq Jew's loyal readers, who are not from New York - Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South (West 59th Street), and Central Park West, at the southwest corner of Central Park.

Columbus Circle is (of course) named after the monument of Christopher Columbus in the center, and  is the point (who knew?) from which official highway distances from New York City are measured.

And NYC's Columbus Circle is but one of very, very many places, things, and events named after the First Colonizer. 

So now we must ask -

or

You may have noticed that these days, joyful celebration of Columbus, Columbus Day, and pretty much anything Columbus is ... restrained. 

If not outright hidden or prohibited.

Sure, Columbus was a great man who did great things. But he also did bad things. The result is that we here in America have not been able to come to terms with Columbus the man. 

Or with our Founding Fathers, for that matter.

In the years and years when Columbus was celebrated for the great things he did - he was Italian. Why is it that now that Columbus is Jewish - all we talk about are the bad things he did?

Columbus the Admiral sought to serve Ferdinand II and Isabella I, the Catholic Monarchs of a newly-unified Spain. 

Columbus The Jew was a different man entirely. 

Will Columbus The Jew be good for The Jews?