The Denver Jewish news., 1924-09-11
by MAYER u. NEwFIELD

In these times of worldwide stress
and agitation one should bear in mind
the old axiom, History repeats itself. .
In reality the world advances but slow
ly. A careful perusal Of history estab-
fishes the fact that periods OF great
prosperity and goodwill are inyaria.
bly, followed by conflicts OF more or lcss
!. magnitude, always resulting In period
wherein poverty prevails and ill-wilI.
suspicion, and distrust I'LL the hearts OF
men and nations. And, as always. the
minority becomes the sacrifcial scape-
goat upon which is heapcd the blame
for the majority's misdemcanors The
jew, ever constituting minority, Is
therefore subject to prejudice ns in
tense as it is traditional.
| A celebrated French author has re-
marked, The truth of history should
be no less sacred than the truth Df re-
ligion.' The one great common goal
Of all religions. Of al the science, ~ the
unfolding of Truth. No better weapon
then. can he employed to dispd the
clouds of misunderstanding and dis
trust than a knowledge Of the simple
facts Of history. 1t is toward this
great end that this paper is directed.
In The latter part of The sixteeath
century and the early part Of the sew
enteenth, the Jews OF Spain and Por-
tugnl played no small part in the acci-
dental discoveries of North and South
America. In 1899 Brazil WIS dscov.
cred by Pinzau, n Spaniard, and inde-
pendently the following year by POr-
tuguese, Alvarez de Cabrai. With him
was "A Jewish mariner Gaspar, who
was of much assistance to him In the
discovery of Brazil, and who " favor
ably mentioned by AmerigD Yespucci.
II was in Brazil that any large number
of Jews first settled In America. P0r-
tugal annually sent two ship-lOads OF
Jews, together with criminals, and per
sons condemned by the lnquisition. The
Marands are said to have quickly
thrown off their mask and to have pro-
fesscd Judaism openly. Under Dutch
rule the Jews in Brazil enjoyed prac-
tically the same privileges Is the other
inhabitants ;and they rendered valu-
able services in civil and military life.
In 1GiG war broke ont agajn between
the Dutch and the Portuguese, and in
this struggle, which lasted nine years.
the Jews aided the Dutch until the end
After the Dutch capitula ti0n, the Jew
ish colony was gradualy broken up.
Jews settled in several other South
American countries, among others,
Peru, Mexico, the Argentine, and West
indies. In general, their experience
was very similar to that undergone by
their brethren in Brazil
And now we come logically, II not
chronologically, TO the North American
continent; for it is here that the Jews
enjoyed their greatest freedom, pros
perity, and development, and it is with
them that we, as Americans, are pri-
marily concerned.
The discovery of America by CO.
lumbus is connected Intimately with
the Jews. On March 81, 1902. the
Catholic mOnarchs issued a decree to
the effect that all Jews and Jewesses
must leave the Kingdom of Spain with
in period Of four mouths On April
20 Columbus was ordered to equip n
fleet TO sail for the East indies. In
August 100000 Jews left Spain forever
to settle wherever they might find
shelter. And Spain, with her famous
motto, NE plus ultra'-''nOthing more
beyond" in reality began the slow
process of spiritual, moral and physi-
cal decay resulting in her fall from the
first rank among nations to the third
rate power she Is today. Columbus
first account of his discovery took the
form of "A letter to his Jewish friend and
patron. Luis de Santangel, who had
| been instrumental in perSuading Queen
Isabella of the Importance of the plans
Of Columbus.
ON the first voyage of Columbus at
least five persons OF Jewish blood ac-
companied him, one Of whom, Louis de
Tories, is said TO haze been the first
white man to set foot On American soil.
The first Jewish settler in New Ans
tcrdam Of whom we have record Is
Jacob Basimson, who arrived there in
lG3t In the same year a party of 23
arrived there on the bark, st. Cata-
rina.P They are supposed to have
sailed from Brazil or the West Indies.
The Jews in this Dutch settlement were
slowly able to assume most of the
rights accorded the other Dutch citi.
zens. But, for the most part, their life
under Dutch rule was never free from
more or less petty restrictions.