Identities

Because there is much information in this anthology, I focus on a few themes: >>more...

A thought-provoking assessment of Jewish life in the Middle Ages that eschews persecutions and expulsions to concentrate on the remarkable growth in the number of Jews living under Christian rule between 1000 and 1500." - Anna Sapir Abulafia, Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge >>more...

Author Robert Chazan begins with an introduction to early Christianity. He acknowledges the sometimes-denied fact that TOLDOT YESHU (TOLEDOT YESHU) was in fact a derogatory Jewish counter-story of the life of Jesus Christ. (p. 6, pp. 74-75). >>more...

The author identifies himself as Jewish. (p. x). His work consists of many details on the Jewish provisions, in rabbinical literature, dealing with gentiles >>more...

CHRISTIANITY AND RABBINICAL JUDAISM

Kulp and Rogoff appear to take a middle view on the degree of interaction of early Christianity and rabbinical Judaism, “Proving that rabbis argued against the followers of Jesus or that Christians were familiar with the rabbis of the Mishnaic and Talmudic period is notoriously difficult (although at times possible).” (p. 64). >>more...

Communism is a product of Judaic thinking  Anyone who doubts that Communism (as distinct from generic enlightened Utopianism)was birthed from the philosophical and "social" (anti-social) ideals that flourished in the minds of such Judaic revolutionaries as Hess will change their tune when they read Hess' book. He comes right out and admits that the entire "progressive" agenda of the post-enlightenment 18th and 19th Centuries (retrograde, neanderthal herd-mentality "egalitarianism") which resulted in the utter destruction of genteel, aristocratic, Christian estates in Europe and the stultification of Christianity in America, is a product of Judaic or "Jewish" [sic] thinking. Highly recommended and extremely potent material for people who are seeking to understand the origins of the decline of Western Christian society.

Here are a few supportive quotes from the book:

"The Jewish religion is not threatened, as is Christianity, by the national and humaitarian aspirations of the time." - ibid, p. 50.

"It was out of Judaism that our present "humanitarian" [communist-totalitartian] outlook on life grew" - ibid., p. 61, brackets inserted

"With the French Revolution began the rebirth of the nations who owe their national historic religion to Judaism" - ibid., p. 72.

**The French Revolution, a bloody extermination of middle class peasants by "progressive" "urban" city-dwelling communists, was the beginning of the matertialist influenced decline of western civilization, our moral degradation, and the rise of the socialist-communist totalitarian nanny-states in Europe.**

"...the founding of Jewish organizations for agriculture, industry and commerce in accordance with Mosaic, i.e. socialistic principles, these are the foundations on which Judaism in the Orient will rise again..." - ibid., p. 85, verbatim quote. >>more...

Rabbi Mordecai Menahem Kaplan, the author, presents a wealth of ideas. I focus on a few themes.

AMERICAN JEWS ALREADY VERY SECULAR

The author engages in what arguably can be called soft atheism. Kaplan consistently rejects the supernatural, including God. (See especially his caricature of God, worthy of a militant atheist, on page 225 and page 538). To Kaplan, "God" is to be re-defined as a cosmic process, or as a Power to help one overcome obstacles, and not a Supreme Being in the conventional sense of the term. (e. g., pp. 171-172, 182-183, 192). Why not just drop the pretense of believing in God at all? >>more...

This work focuses on prominent Yiddishist thinkers, from about 1900 until after WWII, and their understanding of what it meant to be Jewish, how Jews should "modernize", and related topics. Owing to the breadth of the information presented, I focus on a few themes, and devote my emphasis to the impact of Yiddishist thinking on Polish-Jewish relations >>more...

This work focuses on how the Hasidic movement developed, and how it interacted with other Jews, and gentiles. It also provides insight into the situation facing Jews in the Russian-ruled and the Austrian-ruled parts of Poland. Much attention is devoted to the criticisms against Hasidism that arose in Jewish and gentile circles alike. This work is relatively technical, requiring the reader to have a good background in 19th-century life to appreciate fully. It has a helpful glossary of Jewish terms. >>more...

This work is an impressive collection of positive Jewish statements about gentiles. For instance, righteous non-Jews deserve a place in the World to Come (SANHREDRIN 105a). (p. 131). Maharal of Prague (1512-1609) taught that he shared the blessings that he got from God with all humankind. (p. 126). According to Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi, God’s promise, to wipe away the tears from all faces, includes the faces of non-Jews as well as Jews. (p. 156). >>more...