Copyright (c) 1997 - Ingrid A. Rimland
"Jewish History, Jewish Religion" by Israel Shahak is the latest in an increasing succession of 'admissions against interest' volumes. It is unique in that it is honest and devoid of rationalizations.
Unlike more highly touted volumes such as J.J. Goldberg's "Jewish Power", professor Shahak lays bare the suppressed history of classical Judaism and its resurgence in twentieth century Zionism.
"Jewish History, Jewish Religion" makes clear at outset that most "Jewish studies" are simply apologies which delete the relevant facts.
Jewish entry into gentile society was a relatively late development. It came about as a result of the French Enlightenment and largely against the wishes of the Jewish leaders. Shahak clearly establishes that classic Judaism was both totalitarian and racist. The balance of (this volume) establishes that the Jewish racist and totalitarian tradition persists in the world today.
Zionism, in a very real sense, is the reaction against the liberal assimilation, begun two hundred years ago. Few are aware of just how totalitarian Judaism has historically been.
As one instructive example, Shahak demonstrates that between the fall of the ancient world and the onset of the Italian Renaissance, Jews had no published literature beyond Talmudic commentaries. Indeed, even writing in the vernacular rather than Hebrew was severely punished by the rabbis.
This forms an interesting contrast with the present-day image of Jews as a highly educated, cerebral minority, endowed with an intelligence superior to that of the general community.
The bulk of Jewish History, Jewish Religion deals with that little known work, the Talmud, and its defining influence on orthodox Judaism. The Talmud has the effect of making the "Holy Bible" a dead letter in much the same way that Supreme Court interpretations have made a dead letter of the Constitution.
In Shahak's words, "What is of prime importance is the ritual act, rather than the significance which that act is supposed to have or the belief that attached to it. The next effect of Talmudic misinterpretations of the Bible is to convert Orthodox Judaism into casuistry and totalitarian regulation of the individual Jews' life by the rabbis.
The basic methodology of the Talmud is to set up a principle and then find a way around it. According to Shahak: "The basic rules for every problem are stated dogmatically and cannot be questioned. What can be and is discussed at very great length is the elaboration and practical definition of these rules."
It may shock the modern reader to know that in Israel - "the only democracy in the Middle East" - such problems as milking the cow on a Sabbath or "hinting" to Arabs that they would perform the acts forbidden to Jews on their holy days are seriously discussed, but they are.
(This) racism and hairsplitting of orthodox Judaism would be incomprehensible to a Westerner, which is why they are blacked out from public awareness by the Zionist-controlled US media.
Chapter Four, "The Weight of History", is a severe indictment of Jewish history as popularly taught. Shahak establishes through a detailed survey of medieval history that Jews were precisely the middlemen and exploiters of the peasantry as alleged by their critics. This was particularly true in Spain and Poland.
In the former, Jews predominated as gouging tax collectors and financial advisors to Spanish kings. Poland provided the classic example of Jews financially raping the impoverished peasants on behalf of the voracious nobility. Contemporary history condemns the resulting massacres of Jews as pogroms, but as Shahak cogently points out, no one accused the Irish of irrational prejudice against their brutish English overlords.
Chapter Five, "The Laws Against Non-Jews" are a confirmation of a vast body of underground literature. Since nobody believes it from the "anti-Semites", it is refreshing to have a retired Israeli professor of organic chemistry set the record straight.
In examples from Israeli daily life, "Jewish History, Jewish Religion" demonstrates that orthodox "Jewish brotherhood" means brotherhood only with fellow Jews. Cheating, stealing from, killing and oppression of Gentiles are explicitly sanctioned and practiced in Israel today. The tradition is a holy one and dates back centuries.
This fact is key to understanding modern Israel. Shahak persuasively argues that Zionism cannot be understood except by those who can comprehend that the Talmud is taken literally by its faithful.
"Jewish History, Jewish Religion" is candid enough to recognize that Israeli behavior also implicates Diaspora Jews who support it. Jews who support the Zionist dispossession and brutalization of the Palestinians, while promoting civil rights crusades in the U.S., are acting to promote their Zionist political agendas.
As Shahak points out, principles are universal. Persecution of the Jews is no longer the problem; persecution _by_ Jews is.
"Jewish History, Jewish Religion" is easily the most objective analysis of the real Zionist mentality to appear in modern times. It covers a vast amount of territory in just over a hundred pages and does so in a manner devoid of polemics. It is a volume which belongs in the library of every informed student of the world's affairs.
Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years, by
Israel Shahak, 118 pp.
ISBN - 0-7453-0818-X
ISBN - 0-7453-0818-X (hard back)
Thought for the Day:
". . . A people still,
whose common ties are gone,
who, mixed with every race,
are lost in none . . ."
(George Crabbe in "The Borough")