I spent the majority of my childhood in the 1960s. They were tumultuous times. I was too young to be an active participant, but I was an observer and I have certainly seen how those events shaped history for decades to come. My wife and I were traveling through Memphis and decided to visit the National Civil Rights Museum, which takes you through the centuries of history and ends at the room in the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. It was intense and enlightening on many levels.
That Motzei Shabbos we wanted to visit the music district and we happened to get a Lyft driver who was a very nice black lady. She asked us about our stay. I mentioned the visit to the Civil Rights Museum. She asked about my impressions. (My wife was already nervous at that point.) I told her that I grew up in California where the schools were never segregated and how shocked I was by just how bad things had been in the South. I asked her if things are all good now? She said there is still segregation and racism if you look for it and it continues because people aren't willing to have serious talks about real issues without getting angry. (At this point my wife was hoping against hope that we were nearly at our destination. We weren't.)
I said, "Well, I saw that Thomas Jefferson was asked by Benjamin Banneker how he could own slaves when he held that all men are created equal. Thomas Jefferson, a very forward thinker, answered: "Bring me evidence that the blacks are not an inferior race." Personally, I think he was looking for that conversation and would have changed his mind." (At this point my wife is saying T'hillim by heart.) Our driver responded, "But there is plenty of evidence!" "Yes," I replied, "now there is, of course. But look at it from his perspective: Europe had culture, art, science, and universities. Africa had none of that. And it was much harder to get around the world. Whole nations were separated by oceans." She admitted that was true, "But he was prejudiced!" On that, I answered, "True; but everyone has prejudices. There is nothing evil about being prejudiced. Evil is when someone keeps his prejudices even when presented with new information." "Oh... interesting. I hadn't connected it that way; but you are right." At which point she found a way to get us where we wanted to be and avoid traffic. Also, my wife started breathing again.
But that conversation got me thinking. Why was there art, culture, science, and universities in Europe and there was not in Africa. It is not ability, as black Americans are just as capable as anyone else. So I started tracing the history of all that culture and science historically. The Romans brought culture and science to Europe. The Romans themselves were barbarians until they conquered Greece, from whom they learned culture and science. Where did the Greeks get it from?
Consider... the first four letters of the Greek alphabet are α (alpha), β (beta), γ (gamma), δ (delta). The first four letters of the Hebrew alphabet are א, ב, ג, ד. Pretty much the same names. In Hebrew the word for the first letter signifies strength and the letter looks like an ox (use your imagination). The name of the second letter means "house", and it looks like one. The third letter means "camel", and it looks like one (again, don't give me problems). The fourth means "door" and it looks like one. Greek? The names of the letters are not related to any Greek words; they are just names of letters.
Any reasonable person has to conclude that the Greeks learned even their written alphabet from us, the Jews. If even their written language comes from us, certainly all their art, science, literature, and wisdom comes from us.
Isn't that cool? I mean... really, really cool. This is a simple historical analysis. I have heard there is a Ramban (and possibly also a G"ra) that says straight out that all wisdom comes to the world from our Torah and through us. I would be indebted to anyone who can find me that reference.
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