In a recent blog on Reconectar Ashley Perry revived the rumour that Columbus may have been Jewish. Recent in this context means two days ago, which in Facebook terms may not be very recent. Perry wrote: "This contribution began from the very beginning, with many academics and researchers claiming that Columbus, known in Spain as Cristóbal Colón, was secretly a Jew, and they point to many factors including the fact that he was always openly reticent about his origins, was very close to many Jews, some of the traditions he kept, the language he used and the way he signed his name."Sure enough he linked to an article by Charles Garcia, Special to CNN, Was Columbus secretly a Jew?, posted on the wesbite of CNN in May 2012. Garcia wrote this: “Recently, a number of Spanish scholars, such as Jose Erugo, Celso Garcia de la Riega, Otero Sanchez and Nicholas Dias Perez, have concluded that Columbus was a Marrano, whose survival depended upon the suppression of all evidence of his Jewish background in face of the brutal, systematic ethnic cleansing.”I wanted to know who these scholars were, who recently reached this conclusion about Columbus Jewish ancestry. It turns out that recent is a much more flexible concept than I originally thought. All four scholars are mentioned in this article by none other than Cecil Roth. "Who Was Columbus? In the Light of New Discoveries." Menora Journal 28 (1940): 21-51. A mere 75 years ago. I could not find much about Jose Erugo, I could be that his name was misspelled by Cecil Roth. The other three did indeed write about Columbus, some time ago.