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YIZKOR SHEMINI ATZERET 5784
We are all living under a very dark cloud as we hear that today Israel was so cruelly attacked exactly 50 years after the surprise attack in the Yom Kippur War. What shall we do. How shall we celebrate Shemini Atzeret today? Should we celebrate at all? Yes, we must! We cannot allow our enemies to destroy Judaism and Jewish life. That would give them just what they want. So, we will pray for Israel and the safety of its citizens, and we will celebrate the holiday. I begin with my Yizkor sermon that I believe has an important message.
This weekend is very special. We celebrate 3 holidays. Today is Shemini Atzeret. Tonight and tomorrow is Simchat Torah; and then Monday is Columbus Day—a Federal holiday, but does anybody know or care? Well, I do. Columbus has a special place in my heart. One of my 1st poems was:
In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
He had three ships and left from Spain;
He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain.
He sailed by night; he sailed by day;
He used the stars to find his way…
Ninety sailors were on board;
Some men worked while others snored…
October 12 their dream came true,
You never saw a happier crew!
“Indians! Indians!” Columbus cried;
His heart was filled with joyful pride.
But “India” the land was not;
It was the Bahamas, and it was hot…
My colleague and friend Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg points out that Colombus Day has something in common with today’s holiday Shemini Atzeret: Very few people observe either day! Of all the Jewish holidays, very few Jews can tell you what Shemini Atzeret is about! It’s message is so sweet. The Talmud has Gd saying after all the holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot: Ikvu imi od yom (stay with me another day) Kasha alai pridatchem (your parting is difficult for me). After a month of Holy Days…after being so close and spending so much time with His children, Gd wants to hold on to them just a little bit longer and hang out! And of all the Federal holidays, Columbus Day is the day that several states no longer have on their calendar—which can only be explained as being an act of anti-Semitism.
As a child growing up in Brooklyn where Columbus Day was a major holiday—especially for the large Italian community—this is the poem we recited in Hebrew School:
In 1492, Columbus was a Jew.
First he killed the British,
and then he made Kiddush
In 1492, Columbus was a Jew.
First he killed the French,
And then he benched.
I have since learned this is not great poetry nor history. Columbus never killed the British or the French. But did he make Kiddush? Did he bench? Was Christopher Columbus a Jew—a Marrano secret Jew who was forced to convert to Christianity? There is so much evidence that many Spanish scholars have concluded that Columbus was indeed a Marrano Jew. Let me share some of it.
We do know that he was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451. His name was then Cristobal Colon. Colon, it is known, was a prominent Marrano family name. His mother’s maiden name was Fonterosa—also a Jewish name. We know that he spoke Italian very poorly and with a Spanish accent indicating that his family was not Italian, but Spanish. His mother tongue was a Castilian Spanish, a form of Ladino—the Yiddish of Spanish Jewry.
We kn that he deliberately postponed his departure to the New World from August 2nd to August 3rd. August 2nd was Tisha B’av which commemorates the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem—a day Jews don’t travel. It is remarkable also that Columbus began his account of his voyage with a reference to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain; and in one document, he refers to the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem by the Hebrew expression, Bayit Sheyni (Second House). When writing to his son, Columbus placed a small unexplained mark at the top left-hand corner of the letters, reminiscent of the letters bet hey—which stands for Baruch Hashem or B’ezrat Hashem (“with the help of Gd”)—a custom Jews still follow. Columbus wrote: “I am a servant of that same Lrd who raised [King David] him to such a dignity.”
Columbus’ voyage was not financed by Queen Isabella, as commonly thought, but by Marrano Jews like Luis de Santagel, Gabriel Sanchez and Isaac Abrabanel. Many of his crew were born Jews—like his interpreter Luis de Torres who was the 1st to step on American soil. De Torres was chosen because he spoke Hebrew and Columbus fully expected to find some of the 10 Lost Tribes. As an aside, De Torres discovered a strange bird which he called tuki after the Hebrew for “peacock.” The word tuki was later corrupted and became, “turkey.”
For me the evidence is compelling. The question today is, do we want him to be a Jew? Columbus has been getting a lot of bad press. For example, it’s been suggested that Columbus may have been a slave-trader—one who brutally colonialized the Americas by force, and ultimately opening the door in America to all the evils of European civilization.
Do you know that our country was almost called Colombia in honor of this man? Our nation’s capital still bears his name: Washington District of Colombia. And now, suddenly, this man has become a villain? Is there nothing about him worth celebrating? What should we say?
What I would say is, if we start looking at all the heroes of our past with a fine-tooth comb, we’d find that many of them were not always so heroic! Look at Mount Rushmore! Washington and Jefferson were both slave owners. Lincoln was not really as much pro-emancipation as he was pro saving the union. And Theodore Roosevelt used to go hunting for fur skins. Should we blast them off Mount Rushmore? When our children hear this, they’re left with the feeling that everyone is a phony—that no one is worth emulating except Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift!
Let me remind you that the Book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) we read today teaches (7:20): “There’s no one on earth who’s perfect and does not sin.” No one! This teaches us that while heroic people have faults, this shouldn’t cause us to erase their virtues.
Columbus discovered America. That was no small thing! The whole world is different because of him. And we should also remember in Columbus’ day slavery was not considered an evil—it was a fact of life. In Columbus’ time colonization was not a crime—it was the way countries functioned. I know this is not politically correct to say, but the indigenous civilization that Columbus is accused of having helped to destroy, practiced cannibalism and human sacrifices. Columbus opened them up—and us—to a new world. Is there not some greatness there?
When we look to the heroes of the past and note their flaws, we must understand that they lived THEN and we live NOW. We can’t judge them by the standards of NOW. Yes, some of the great heroes of our American past had slaves—and I’m not condoning that. But this was very much accepted then. Yes, Columbus certainly was a colonizer but this is what the world was all about then.
In his closing words to the Jewish people Moses said (Ex. 23:7): Z’chor y’mot olam (Remember the days of old), Binu shnot dor vador (consider the years from generation to generation). On a simple level these 2 phrases seem to be redundant, but the Chassidic Masters note that the word shnot, “years,” also means “changes,” rendering the meaning, “Remember the days of old, but consider the changes that come from generation to generation.” Times do change and our perspective does change and what may have seemed right then might not be considered so right now. But heroes deserve to be judged by the standards of their time—not ours.
This is an important lesson for us to consider in these moments before Yizkor. Who were the heroes of our youth? Who were the giants of those days? They were the people for whom we come to say Yizkor today. As we grew up our parents were like giants in our eyes—so smart, so strong. But as the years pass, when we look back on them, they start to look smaller and smaller. Judged from the perspective of our day, there was so much that was wrong about them.
Do you know what my mother used to do? She used to serve me milk—gallons and gallons of milk. According to recent medical data, she obviously was trying to kill me—especially since I later discovered I’m a bit lactose intolerant! Yes, my father didn’t know much from Dr. Spock. When I grew up, fathers were never around much. My father hardly ever came to little league games or school plays. His struggle was to make a buck—to put food on his family’s table. He didn’t always understand or have the ability to communicate. Back then many thought displays of affection and expressions of feeling were a sign of weakness—not of strength. You may not believe this, but I never hugged my father till I was 25!
So yes, z’chor y’mot olam…let’s remember the days of old. Remember the flaws, but also the virtues. And yes, binu shnot dor v’dor…consider the changes that take place from generation to generation. That’s why, when we mention the names of our dearly departed, we add 2 words: Zichronam livracha, “May their memories be for a blessing.” So much of their lives was truly heroic and let us never forget that. May the heroes of our past rest in peace and may we live in peace with them as well. Amen!
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