Notes and References for:
Jewish History, Jewish Religion:
The Weight of Three Thousand Years
by Professor Israel Shahak
Notes and References: Chapt. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Chapter 1: A Closed Utopia?
1 Walter Laquer, History
of Zionism Schocken Publishers, Tel Aviv, 1974, in Hebrew.
2 See Yedioth Ahronot, 27
April 1992.
3 In Hugh Trevor-Roper, Renaissance
Essays, Fontana Press, London, 1985.
4 See Moses Hadas, Hellenistic
Culture, Fusion and Diffusion, Columbia University
Press, New York, 1959, especially chapters VII and XX.
Chapter 2: Prejudice and Prevarication
1 The Jews themselves universally described themselves
as a religious community or, to
be precise, a religious nation. 'Our people is a people
only because of the Torah (Religious Law)' - this saying
by one of the highest authorities, Rabbi Sa'adia Hagga'on who
lived in the 10th century, has become proverbial.
2 By Emperor Joseph II in
1782.
3 All this is usually omitted in vulgar Jewish historiography, in order
to propagate the myth that the Jews kept their religion by
miracle or by some peculiar mystic force.
4 For example, in her Origins
of Totalitarianism, a considerable part of which
is devoted to Jews.
5 Before the end of the 18th century, German Jews were
allowed by their rabbis to write German in Hebrew
letters only, on pain of being excommunicated, flogged, etc.
6 When by a deal between the Roman Empire and the Jewish
leaders (the dynasty of the Nesi 'im)
all the Jews in the Empire were subjected to the fiscal and
disciplinary authority of these leaders and their rabbinical
courts, who for their part undertook to keep order among the
Jews.
7 I write this, being a non-socialist myself. But I
will honor and respect people with whose principles I disagree,
if they make an honest effort to be true to their principles. In
contrast, there is nothing so despicable as the dishonest use of
universal principles, whether true or false, for the selfish ends
of an individual or, even worse, of a group.
8 In fact, many aspects of orthodox Judaism
were apparently derived from Sparta,
through the baneful political influence of Plato. On this
subject, see the excellent comments of Moses Hadas, Hellenistic
Culture, Fusion and Diffusion, Columbia University Press, New
York, 1959.
9 Including the geography
of Palestine and indeed its very location. This is shown by the
orientation of all synagogues in countries such as Poland and
Russia: Jews are supposed to pray facing Jerusalem, and the
European Jews, who had only a vague idea where Jerusalem was,
always assumed it was due east, whereas for them it was in fact
more nearly due south.
10 Throughout this chapter I use the term 'classical Judaism' to
refer to rabbinical Judaism as it emerged after about AD 800 and
lasted up to the end of the 18th century. I avoid the term
'normative Judaism', which many authors use with roughly the same
meaning, because in my view it has unjustified connotations.
11 The works of Hellenistic Jews, such as Philo of Alexandria,
constitute an exception. They were written before classical
Judaism achieved a position of exclusive hegemony. They were
indeed subsequently suppressed among the Jews and survived only
because Christian monks found them congenial.
12 During the whole period from AD 100 to
1500 there were written two travel books and one history of
talmudic studies -- a short, inaccurate and dreary book, written
moreover by a despised philosopher (Abraham ben-David, Spain,
c. 1170).
13 Me'or
'Eynayi'n by 'Azarya de Rossi of Ferrara, Italy,
1574.
14 The best known cases were in Spain; for
example (to use their adopted Christian names) Master Alfonso of
Valladolid, converted in 1320, and Paul of Santa
Marja, converted in 1390 and appointed bishop of Burgos in 1415.
But many other cases can be cited from all over west Europe.
15 Certainly the tone, and also the
consequences, were very much better than in disputations in which
Christians were accused of heresy -- for example those in which Peter Abelard or the strict
Franciscans were condemned.
16 The stalinist and Chinese examples are
sufficiently well known. However, it is worth mentioning that the
persecution of honest historians in Germany began very early. In
1874, H. Ewald, a professor
at Goettingen, was imprisoned for expressing 'incorrect' views on
the conquests of Frederick II, a hundred years earlier. The
situation in Israel is analogous: the worst attacks against me
were provoked not by the violent terms I employ in my
condemnations of Zionism and the oppression of Palestinians, but
by an early article of mine about the role of Jews in the slave
trade, in which the latest case quoted dated from 1870. That
article was published before the 1967 war; nowadays its
publication would be impossible.
17 In the end a few other passages also had to be removed,
such as those which seemed theologically absurd (for example,
where God is said to pray to Himself or physically to carry out
some of the practices enjoined on the individual Jew) or those
which celebrated too freely the sexual escapades of ancient
rabbis.
18 Tractate Berakhot,
p. 58b.
19 'Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare
you shall be ashamed...', Jeremiah, 50:12.
20 Published by Boys Town, Jerusalem, and edited by Moses Hyamson, one of the most reputable
scholars of Judaism in Britain.
21 The supposed founders of the Sadducean
sect.
22 I am happy to say that in a recent new translation
(Chicago University Press) the word 'Blacks'
does appear, but the heavy and very expensive volume is
unlikely, as yet, to get into the 'wrong' hands. Similarly, in
early 19th century England, radical books (such as Godwin's) were
allowed to appear, provided they were issued in a very expensive
edition.
23 An additional fact can be mentioned in this connection.
It was perfectly possible, and apparently respectable, for a
Jewish scholar of Islam, Bernard Lewis
(who formerly taught in London and is now teaching in the USA) to
publish an article in Encounter, in which he points out
many passages in Islamic literature which in his view are
anti-Black, but none of which even approaches the passage quoted
above. It would be quite impossible for anyone now, or in the
last thirty years, to discuss in any reputable American
publication the above passage or the many other offensive
anti-Black talmudic passages. But without a criticism of all sides
the attack on Islam alone reduces to mere slander.
Chapter 3: Orthodoxy and Interpretation
1 As in Chapter 2, I use the term 'classical Judaism'
to refer to rabbinical Judaism
in the period from about AD 800 up to the end of the 18th
century. This period broadly coincides with the Jewish Middle
Ages, since for most Jewish communities medieval conditions
persisted much longer than for the west European nations, namely
up to the period of the French Revolution. Thus what I call
'classical Judaism' can be regarded as medieval Judaism.
2 Exodus, 15:11.
3 Exodus, 20:3-6.
4 Jeremiah, 10; the same
theme is echoed still later by the Second Isaiah, see Isaiah, 44.
5 The cabbala is of course an
esoteric doctrine, and its detailed study was confined to
scholars. In Europe, especially after about 1750, extreme
measures were taken to keep it secret and forbid its study except
by mature scholars and under strict supervision. The uneducated
Jewish masses of eastern Europe had no real knowledge of
cabbalistic doctrine; but the cabbala percolated to them in the
form of superstition and magic practices.
6 Many contemporary Jewish
mystics believe that the same end may be accomplished more
quickly by war against the Arabs, by the expulsion of the
Palestinians, or even by establishing many Jewish settlements on
the West Bank. The growing movement for building the Third Temple
is also based on such ideas.
7 The Hebrew word used here -- yihud,
meaning literally union-in-seclusion -- is the same one
employed in legal texts (dealing with marriage etc.) to refer to
sexual intercourse.
8 The so-called Qedusbab
Sblisbit (Third Holiness), inserted in the prayer Uva
Letzion towards the end of the morning service.Numbers, 29.
9-10.
9 The power of Satan, and
his connection with non-Jews, is illustrated by a widespread
custom, established under cabbalistic influence in many Jewish
communities from the 17th century. A Jewish
woman returning from her monthly ritual bath of purification
(after which sexual intercourse with her husband is mandatory)
must beware of meeting one of the four satanic creatures:
Gentile, pig, dog or donkey. If she does meet any one of them she
must take another bath.
10 The custom was advocated (among
others) by Shn'et Musar, a
book on Jewish moral conduct first published in 1712, which was
one of the most popular books among Jews in both eastern Europe
and Islamic countries until early this century, and is still
widely read in some Orthodox circles.
11 This is prescribed in minute detail. For example, the ritual hand washing must not be
done under a tap; each hand must be washed singly, in water from
a mug (of prescribed minimal size) held in the other hand. If
one's hands are really dirty, it is quite impossible to clean
them in this way, but such pragmatic considerations are obviously
irrelevant. Classical Judaism prescribes a great number of such
detailed rituals, to which the cabbala attaches deep
significance. There are, for example, many precise rules
concerning behavior in a lavatory. A Jew relieving nature in an
open space must not do so in a North-South direction, because
North is associated with Satan.
12 'Interpretation' is my own expression. The classical
(and present-day Orthodox) view is that
the talmudic meaning, even where it is contrary to the literal
sense, was always the operational one.
13 According to an apocryphal
story, a famous 19th century Jewish heretic observed in this
connection that the verse Thou shalt not commit adultery' is
repeated only twice. 'Presumably one is therefore forbidden to
eat adultery or to cook it, but enjoying it is all right.'
14 The Hebrew re'akha is
rendered by the King James Version (and most other English
translations) somewhat imprecisely as 'thy neighbor'. See however
II Samuel, 16:17, where exactly the same word is rendered
by the King James Version more correctly as 'thy friend'.
15 The Mishnah is remarkably free of
all this, and in particular the belief in demons and witchcraft
is relatively rare in it. The Babylonian
Talmud, on the other hand, is full of gross superstitions.
16 Or, to be precise, in many parts of Palestine.
Apparently the areas to which the law applies are those where
there was Jewish demographic predominance around AD 150-200.
17 Therefore non-zionist
Orthodox Jews in Israel organize special shops during sabbatical
years, which sell fruits and vegetables grown by Arabs on Arab
land.
18 In the winter of 1945-6, I myself, then a boy under 13,
participated in such proceedings. The
man in charge of agricultural work in the religious agricultural
school I was then attending was a particularly pious Jew and
thought it would be safe if the crucial act, that of removing the
board, should be performed by an orphan under 13 years old,
incapable of being, or making anyone else, guilty of a sin. (A
boy under that age cannot be guilty of a sin; his father, if he
has one, is considered responsible.) Everything was carefully
explained to me beforehand, including the duty to say, 'I need
this board,' when in fact it was not needed.
19 For example, the Talmud forbids a
Jew to enjoy the light of a candle lit by a Gentile on the
sabbath, unless the latter had lit it for his own use before the
Jew entered the room.
20 One of my uncles in pre-1939 Warsaw used a subtler
method. He employed a non-Jewish maid
called Marysia and it was his custom upon waking from his
Saturday siesta to say, first quietly, 'How nice it would be if'
-- and then, raising his voice to a shout, '. . . Marysia would
bring us a cup of tea!' He was held to be a very pious and God
fearing man and would never dream of drinking a drop of milk for
a full six hours after eating meat. In his kitchen he had two
sinks, one for washing up dishes used for eating meat, the other
for milk dishes.
21 Occasionally regrettable mistakes
occur, because some of these jobs are quite cushy, allowing the
employee six days off each week. The town of Bney Braq (near
Tel-Aviv), inhabited almost exclusively by Orthodox Jews, was
shaken in the 1960s by a horrible scandal. Upon the death of the
'sabbath Goy' they had employed for over twenty years to watch
over their water supplies on Saturdays, it was discovered that he
was not really a Christian but a Jew! So when his successor, a
Druse, was hired, the town demanded and obtained from the
government a document certifying that the new employee is a
Gentile of pure Gentile descent. It is reliably rumored that the
secret police was asked to research this matter.
22 In contrast, elementary Scripture
teaching can be done for payment. This was always considered
a low-status job and was badly paid.
23 Another 'extremely important' ritual is the blowing of
a ram's horn on Rosh Hashanah, whose
purpose is to confuse Satan.
Chapter 4: The Weight of History
1 See, for example, Jeremiah,
44, especially verses 15-19. For an excellent treatment
of certain aspects of this subject see Raphael Patai, The
Hebrew Goddess, Ktav, USA, 1967.
2 Ezra, 7:25-26. The
last two chapters of this book are mainly concerned with Ezra's
efforts to segregate the 'pure' Jews ('the holy seed') away from
'the people of the land' (who were themselves at least partly of
Jewish descent) and break up mixed marriages.
3 W.F. Albright, Recent Discoveries in
Bible Lands, Funk & Wagnall, New York, 1955,
p.103.
4 It is significant that, together with this literary
corpus, all the historical books written by Jews after
about 400 BC were also rejected. Until the 19th century, Jews
were quite ignorant of the story of Massadah and of figures such
as Judas Maccabaeus, now regarded
by many (particularly by Christians) as belonging to the 'very
essence' of Judaism.
5 Acts, 18:15.
6 Acts, 25.
7 See note 6 to Chapter 2.
8 Concerning the term 'classical Judaism'
see note 10 to Chapter 2 and note 1 to Chapter 3.
9 Nobel Prize winners Agnon and
Bashevis Singer are examples of this, but many others can be
given, particularly Bialik, the national Hebrew poet. In his
famous poem My Father he describes his saintly father
selling vodka to the drunkard peasants who are depicted as
animals. This very popular poem, taught in all Israeli schools,
is one of the vehicles through which the anti-peasant attitude is
reproduced.
10 So far as the central power of the Jewish Patriarchate
was concerned, the deal was terminated by Theodosius
II in a series of laws, culminating in AD 429; but many of
the local arrangements remained in force.
11 Perhaps another characteristic example is the Parthian empire (until AD 225) but not enough
is known about it. We know, however, that the establishment of
the national Iranian Sasanid empire brought about an immediate
decline of the Jews' position.
12 This ban extends also to marrying a woman converted to
Judaism, because all Gentile women are presumed by the Halakhah to be prostitutes.
13 The voluntary act on the part of the a
prohibited marriage is not generally void, and requires a divorce. Divorce is nominally a husband, but
under certain circumstances a rabbinical court can coerce him to
'will' it to 'ad she yyomar rotzeh ani (kofin).
14 Although Jewish achievements during the Golden Age
in Muslim Spain (1002-1147) were more
brilliant, they were not lasting. For example, most of the
magnificent Hebrew poetry of that age was subsequently forgotten
by Jews, and only recovered by them in the 19th or 20th century.
15 During that war, Henry of
Trastamara used anti-Jewish propaganda. although his own
mother, Leonor de Guzman, a high Castilian noblewoman, was partly
of Jewish descent. (Only in Spain did the highest nobility
intermarry with Jews.) After his victory he too employed Jews in
the highest financial positions.
16 Until the 18th century the position of serfs
in Poland was generally supposed to be even worse than in Russia.
In that century, certain features of Russian serfdom, such as
public sales of serfs, got worse than in Poland but the central
Tsarist government always retained certain powers over the
enslaved peasants, for example the right to recruit them to the
national army.
17 During the preceding period persecutions of Jews were
rare. This is true of the Roman Empire even after serious Jewish
rebellions. Gibbon is correct in praising the liberality of
Antonius Pius (and Marcus Aurelius) to Jews, so soon after the
major Bar-Kokhba rebellion of AD 132-5.
18 This fact, easily ascertainable by examination of the
details of each persecution, is not remarked upon by most general
historians in recent times. An honorable exception is Hugh
Trevor-Roper, The Rise
of Christian Europe, Thames and Hudson, London,
1965, pp.173-4. Trevor-Roper is also one of
the very few modern historians who mention the predominant Jewish
role in the early medieval slave trade between Christian (and
pagan) Europe and the Muslim world (ibid., pp.92-3). In order to
promote this abomination, which I have no space to discuss here,
Maimonides allowed Jews, in the name of the Jewish religion, to
abduct Gentile children into slavery; and his opinion was no
doubt acted upon or reflected contemporary practice.
19 Examples can be found in any history of the crusades.
See especially S. Runciman, A
History of the Crusades, vol I, book 3, chap 1,
'The German Crusade'. The subsequent defeat of this host by the
Hungarian army, 'to most Christians appeared as a just punishment
meted out of high to the murderers of the Jews.'
20 John Stoyc, Europe
Unfolding 1648, Fontana, London, p.46.
21 This latter feature is of course not mentioned by
received Jewish historiography. The usual punishment
for a rebellious, or even 'impudent' peasant was impalement.
22 The same can be observed in different regions of a
given country. For example, in Germany, agrarian Bavaria was much
more antisemitic than the
industrialized areas.
23 'The refusal of the Church to admit that once a Jew
always a Jew, was another cause of pain for an ostentatious
Catholic like Drumont. One of his chief
lieutenants, Jules Guerin, has recounted the disgust he felt when
the famous Jesuit, Piere du Lac, remonstrated with him for
attacking some converted Jews named Dreyfus.' D.W. Brogan, The
Development of Modern France, vol 1, Harper Torchbooks, New
York, 1966, p.227.
24 Ibid..
25 Let me illustrate the irrational, demonic character
which racism can sometimes acquire with
three examples chosen at random. A major part of the
extermination of Europe's Jews was carried out in 1942 and early
1943 during the Nazi offensive in Russia, which culminated in
their defeat at Stalingrad. During the eight months between June
1942 and February 1943 the Nazis probably used more railway
wagons to haul Jews to the gas chambers than to carry much needed
supplies to the army. Before being taken to their death, most of
these Jews, at least in Poland, had been very effectively
employed in production of equipment for the German army. The
second, rather remote, example comes from a description of the
Sicilian Vespers in 1282: 'Every Frenchman they met was struck
down. They poured into the inns frequented by the French and the
houses where they dwelt, sparing neither man nor woman nor child
. . . The riots broke into the Dominican and Franciscan convents,
and all the foreign friars were dragged out and told to pronounce
the word ciciri, whose sound the French tongue could never
accurately reproduce. Anyone who failed in the test was slain.'
(S. Runciman, The Sicilian Vespers, Cambridge University
Press,1958, p. 215.) The third example is
recent: in the summer of 1980 -- following an assassination
attempt by Jewish terrorists in which Mayor Bassam Shak'a of
Nablus lost both his legs and Mayor Karim Khalaf of Ramallah lost
a foot -- a group of Jewish Nazis gathered in the campus of
TeI-Aviv University, roasted a few cats and offered their meat to
passers-by as 'shish-kebab from the legs of the Arab mayors'.
Anyone who witnessed this macabre orgy -- as I did -- would have to
admit that some horrors defy explanation in the present state of
knowledge.
26 One of the early quirks of Jabotinsky
(founder of the party then led by Begin) was to propose, in about
1912, the creation of two Jewish states, one in Palestine
and the other in Angola: the former, being poor in natural
resources, would be subsidized by the riches of the latter.
27 Herzl went to Russia to meet von
Plehve in August 1903, less than four months after the hideous
Kishinev pogrom, for which the latter was known to be
responsible. Herzl proposed an alliance, based on their common
wish to get most of the Jews out of Russia and, in the shorter
term, to divert Jewish support away from the socialist movement.
The Tsarist minister started the first interview (8 August) by
observing that he regarded himself as 'an ardent supporter of
zionism'. When Herzl went on to describe the aims of zionism, von
Plehve interrupted: 'You are preaching to the converted'. Amos
Elon, Herzl, 'Am 'Oved, 1976 pp.415-9, in Hebrew.
28 Dr Joachim Prinz, Wirjuden,
Berlin, 1934, pp. 150-1.
29 Ibid., pp. 154-5.
30 For example see ibid., p. 136. Even worse expressions
of sympathy with Nazism were voices by the
extremist Lohamey Herut Yisra'el (Stern Gang) as late as
1941. Dr Prinz was, in zionist terms, a 'dove'. In the 1970s he
even patronized the US Jewish movement Breira, until he
was dissuaded by Golda Meir.
Chapter 5: The Laws Against Non-Jews
1 Maimonides, Mishneh
Torah, 'Laws on Murderers' 2, 11; Talmudic Encyclopedia, 'Goy'.
2 R. Yo'el Sirkis, Bayit Hadash,
commentary on Beyt Josef, 'Yoreh De'ah' 158. The two
rules just mentioned apply even if the Gentile victim is ger
toshav, that is a 'resident alien' who has undertaken in
front of three Jewish witnesses to keep the 'seven Noahide
precepts' (seven biblical laws considered by the Talmud to be
addressed to Gentiles).
3 R. David Halevi (Poland, 17th century), Turey
Zahav" on Shulhan 'Arukh,
'Yoreh De'ah' 158.
5 Talmudic
Encyclopedia, 'Ger' (= convert to Judaism).
6 For example, R. Shabbtay Kohen (mid 17th century), Siftey Kohen on Shulhan
'Arukh, 'Yoreh De'ah, 158: 'But in times of war it
was the custom to kill them with one's own hands, for it is said,
"The best of Gentiles -- kill him!"' Siftey Kohen and
Turey Zahay (see note 3) are the two major classical
commentaries on the Shulhan 'Arukh.
7 Colonel Rabbi A.
Avidan (Zemel), 'Tohar hannesheq le'or hahalakhah' (= 'Purity
of weapons in the light of the Halakhah') in Be'iqvot milhemet
yom hakkippurim -- pirqey hagut, halakhah umehqar (In the Wake of
the Yom Kippur War - Chapters of Meditation, Halakhah and
Research), Central Region Command, 1973: quoted in Ha'olam
Hazzeh, 5 January 1974; also quoted by David Shaham, 'A
chapter of meditation', Hotam, 28 March 1974; and by Amnon
Rubinstein, 'Who falsifies the Halakhah?' Ma'ariv", 13
October 1975. Rubinstein reports that the booklet was
subsequently withdrawn from circulation by order of the Chief of
General Staff, presumably because it encouraged soldiers to
disobey his own orders; but he complains that Rabbi Avidan has
not been court-martialled, nor has any rabbi -- military or civil
-- taken exception to what he had written.
8 R. Shim'on Weiser,
'Purity of weapons -- an exchange of letters' in Niv"
Hammidrashiyyah Yearbook of Midrashiyyat No'am, 1974,
pp.29-31. The yearbook is in Hebrew, English and French, but the
material quoted here is printed in Hebrew only.
9 Psalms, 42:2.
10 'Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from
under heaven', Deuteronomy, 25:19.
Cf. also I Samuel, 15:3: 'Now go and smite Amalek, and
utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay
both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and
ass.'
11 We spare the reader most of these rather convoluted
references and quotes from talmudic and rabbinical
sources. Such omissions are marked [. . .]. The rabbi's own
conclusions are reproduced in full.
12 The Tosafot (literally,
Addenda) are a body of scholia to the Talmud, dating from the 1
lth-13th centuries.
13 Persons guilty of such crimes are even allowed to rise
to high public positions. An illustration of this is the case of Shmu'el Lahis, who was responsible for
the massacre of between 50 and 75 Arab peasants imprisoned in a
mosque after their village had been conquered by the Israeli army
during the 1948-9 war. Following a pro forma trial, he was
granted complete amnesty, thanks to Ben-Gurion's intercession.
The man went on to become a respected lawyer and in the late
1970s was appointed Director General of the Jewish Agency (which
is, in effect, the executive of the zionist movement). In early
1978 the facts concerning his past were widely discussed in the
Israeli press, but no rabbi or rabbinical scholar questioned
either the amnesty or his fitness for his new office. His
appointment was not revoked.
14 Shulhan 'Arukh, 'Hoshen
Mishpat' 426.
15 Tractate 'Avodah Zarah',
p. 26b.
16 Maimonides, op. cit., 'Murderer'
4, 11.
17 Leviticus, 19:16.
Concerning the rendering 'thy fellow', see note 14 to Chapter 3.
18 Maimonides, op. cit., 'Idolatry'
10, 1-2.
19 In both cases in section 'Yoreh De'ah' 158. The Shulhan
'Arukh repeats the same doctrine in 'Hoshen
Mishpat' 425.
20 Moses Rivkes, Be'er
Haggolah on Shulhan 'Arukh, 'Hoshen Mishpat' 425.
21 Thus Professor Jacob Katz, in
his Hebrew book Between Jews and Gentiles as well as in
its more apologetic English version Exclusiveness and
Tolerance, quotes only this passage verbatim and draws the
amazing conclusion that 'regarding the obligation to save life no
discrimination should be made between Jew and Christian'. He does
not quote any of the authoritative views I have cited above or in
the next section.
22 Maimonides, op. cit., 'Sabbath' 2, 20-21; Shulhan
'Arukh, 'Orab Hayyim' 329.
23 R 'Aqiva Eiger, commentary
on Shulhan 'Arukh, ibid. He also adds that if a baby is
found abandoned in a town inhabited mainly by Gentiles, a rabbi
should be consulted as to whether the baby should be saved.
24 Tractate Avodah
Zarah, p. 26.
25 Maimonides, op. cit., 'Sabbath' 2, 12; Shulhan
'Arukh, 'Orah Hayyim' 330. The latter text says 'heathen' rather than 'Gentile' but some of the
commentators, such as Turey Zahav, stress that this ruling
applies 'even to Ishmaelites', that is, to Muslims, 'who are not
idolators'. Christians are not mentioned explicitly in this
connection, but the ruling must a fortiori apply to them,
since -- as we shall see below -- Islam is regarded in a more
favorable light than Christianity. See also the responsa of
Hatam Sofer quoted below.
26 These two examples, from Poland and France, are
reported by Rabbi I.Z. Cahana
(afterwards professor of Talmud in the religious Bar-Ilan
University, Israel), 'Medicine in the Halachic post-Talmudic
Literature', Sinai, vol 27, 1950, p.221. He also reports
the following case from 19th century Italy. Until 1848, a special
law in the Papal States banned Jewish doctors from treating
Gentiles. The Roman Republic established in 1848 abolished this
law along with all other discriminatory law against Jews. But in
1849 an expeditionary force sent by France's President Louis
Napoleon (afterwards Emperor Napoleon III) defeated the Republic
and restored Pope Pius Ix, who in 1850 revived the anti-Jewish
laws. The commanders of the French garrison, disgusted with this
extreme reaction, ignored the papal law and hired some Jewish
doctors to treat their soldiers. The Chief Rabbi of Rome, Moshe
Hazan, who was himself a doctor, was asked whether a pupil of
his, also a doctor, could take a job in a French military
hospital despite the risk of having to desecrate the sabbath. The
rabbi replied that if the conditions of employment expressly
mention work on the sabbath, he should refuse. But if they do
not, he could take the job and employ 'the great cleverness of
God-fearing Jews.' For example, he could repeat on Saturday the
prescription given on Friday, by simply telling this to the
dispenser. R. Cahana's rather frank article, which contains many
other examples, is mentioned in the bibliography of a book by the
former Chief Rabbi of Britain, R. Immanuel Jakobovits, Jewish
Medical Ethics, Bloch, New York, 1962; but in the book itself
nothing is said on this matter.
27 Hokhmat Shlomoh on
Shulhan 'Arukh, 'Orah Hayyim' 330, 2.
28 R. Unterman, Ha'aretz, 4
April 1966. The only qualification he makes -- after having been
subjected to continual pressure -- is that in our times any
refusal to give medical assistance to a Gentile could cause such
hostility as might endanger Jewish lives.
29 Hatam Sofer, Response
on Shulhan 'Arukh, 'Yoreh De'ah' 131.
30 Op. cit., on Shulhan 'Arukh, 'Hoshen Mishpat'
194. 31 R. B. Knobelovitz in The
Jewish Review (Journal of the Mizrachi Party in Great Britain), 8
June 1966.
32 R. Yisra'el Me'ir Kagan -- better known as the 'Hafetz Hayyim' -- complains in his Mishnah
Berurah, written in Poland in 1907: 'And know ye that most
doctors, even the most religious, do not take any heed whatsoever
of this law; for they work on the sabbath and do travel several
parasangs to treat a heathen, and they grind medicaments with
their own hands. And there is no authority for them to do so. For
although we may find it permissible, because of the fear of
hostility, to violate bans imposed by the sages -- and even this
is not clear; yet in bans imposed by the Torah itself it must
certainly be forbidden for any Jew to do so, and those who
transgress this prohibition violate the sabbath utterly and may
God have mercy on them for their sacrilege.' (Commentary on Shulhan
'Arukh, 'Orah Hayyim' 330.) The author is generally regarded
as the greatest rabbinical authority of his time.
33 Avraham Steinberg MD
(ed.), Jewish Medical Law, compiled from Tzitz Eli 'ezer
(Responsa of R. Eli'ezer Yehuda Waldenberg), translated by
David B. Simons MD, Gefen & Mossad Harav Kook, Jerusalem and
California, 1980.
34 Op. cit., p. 39. Ibid., p.41.
35 Ibid., p. 41.
36 The phrase 'between
Jew and gentile' is a euphemism. The dispensation is designed
to prevent hostility of Gentiles towards Jews, not the
other way around.
37 Ibid.,p.412; my emphasis.
38 Dr Falk Schlesinger Institute for Medical Halakhic
Research at Sha'arey Tzedeq Hospital, Sefer Asya (The
Physician's Book), Reuben Mass, Jerusalem, 1979.
39 By myself in Ha'olam Hazzeh,
30 May 1979 and by Shullamit Aloni, Member of Knesset, in Ha'aretz,
17 June 1980.
40 Ezekiel, 23:20.
41 Tractate Berakhot, p.
78a.
42 Talmudic Encyclopedia, 'Eshet
Ish' ('Married Woman').
43 Exodus, 20:17.
44 Genesis, 2:24.
45 Maimonides, op. cit., 'Prohibitions on Sexual
Intercourse' 12; 10; Talmudic Encyclopedia, 'Goy'.
46 Maimonides, op. cit., ibid., 12, 1-3. As a
matter of fact, every Gentile woman is regarded as N.Sh.G.Z. --
acronym for the Hebrew words niddah, shifhah, goyah, zonah
(unpurified from menses, slave, Gentile, prostitute). Upon
conversion to Judaism, she ceases indeed to be niddah,
shifhah, goyah but is still considered zonah (prostitute)
for the rest of her life, simply by virtue of having been born of
a Gentile mother. In a special category is a woman 'conceived not
in holiness but born in holiness', that is born to a mother who
had converted to Judaism while pregnant. In order to make quite
sure that there are no mix-ups, the rabbis insist that a married
couple who convert to Judaism together must abstain from marital
relations for three months.
47 Characteristically, an exception to this generalization
is made with respect to Gentiles holding
legal office relating to financial transactions: notaries, debt
collectors, bailiff and the like. No similar exception is made
regarding ordinary decent Gentiles, not even if they are friendly
towards Jews.
48 Some very early (1st century BC) rabbis called this law
'barbaric' and actually returned lost
property belonging to Gentiles. But the law nevertheless
remained.
49 Leviticus, 25:14.
This is a literal translation of the Hebrew phrase. The King
James Version renders this as 'ye shall not oppress one another';
'oppress' is imprecise but 'one another' is a correct rendering
of the biblical idiom 'each man his brother'. As pointed out in
Chapter 3, the Halakhah interprets all such idioms as referring
exclusively to one's fellow Jew.
50 Shulhan 'Arukh, 'Hoshen
Mishpat' 227.
51 This view is advocated by H. Bar-Droma, Wezeh Gvul Ha'aretz (And
This Is the Border of the Land), Jerusalem, 1958. In recent
years this book is much used by the Israeli army in
indoctrinating its officers.
52 Maimonides, op. cit., 'Idolatry'
10, 3-4.
53 See note 2.
54 Exodus, 23:33.
55 Maimonides, op. cit., 'Idolatry'
10, 6.
56 Deuteronomy, 20:16.
See also the verses quoted in note 10.
57 Numbers 31:13-20;
note in particular verse 17: 'Now therefore kill every
male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known
man by lying with him.'
58 R. Sha'ul Yisra'eli,
'Taqrit Qibbiya Le'or Hahalakhah' (The Qibbiya incident in the
light of the Halakhah'), in Hattorab Wehammedinah, vol 5,
1953/4.
59 This is followed by a blessing
'for not making me a slave'. Next, a male must add a blessing
'for not making me a woman', and a female 'for making me as He
pleased'.
60 In eastern Europe it was until recent times a universal
custom among Jews to spit on the floor at this
point, as an expression of scorn. This was not however a strict
obligation, and today the custom is kept only by the most pious.
61 The Hebrew word is meshummadim,
which in rabbinical usage refers to Jews who become
'idolators', that is either pagan or Christians, but not to
Jewish converts to Islam.
62 The Hebrew word is minim,
whose precise meaning is 'disbelievers in the uniqueness of
God'.
63 Tractate Berakhot, p.
58b.
64 According to many rabbinical
authorities the original rule still applies in full in the Land
of Israel.
65 This custom gave rise to many incidents in the history
of European Jewry. One of the most
famous, whose consequence is still visible today, occurred in
14th century Prague. King Charles IV of Bohemia (who was also
Holy Roman Emperor) had a magnificent crucifix erected in the
middle of a stone bridge which he had built and which still
exists today. It was then reported to him that the Jews of Prague
are in the habit of spitting whenever they pass next to the
crucifix. Being a famous protector of the Jews, he did not
institute persecution against them, but simply sentenced the
Jewish community to pay for the Hebrew word Adonay (Lord)
to be inscribed on the crucifix in golden letters. This word is
one of the seven holiest names of God, and no mark of disrespect
is allowed in front of it. The spitting ceased. Other incidents
connected with the same custom were much less amusing.
66 The verses most commonly used for this purpose contain
words derived from the Hebrew root shaqetz
which means 'abominate, detest', as in Deuteronomy, 7:26:
'thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it;
for it is a cursed thing.' It seems that the insulting term sheqetz,
used to refer to all Gentiles (Chapter 2), originated from
this custom.
67 Talmud, Tractate Beytzah,
p. 21a, b; Mishnah Berurah on Shulhan 'Arukh, 'Orah
Hayyim' 512. Another commentary (Magen Avraham) also
excludes Karaites.
68 According to the Halakha, a Gentile
slave bought by a Jew should be converted to Judaism, but
does not thereby become a proper Jew.
69 Leviticus, 25:46.
70 The Hebrew form of the name Jesus -- Yeshu -- was interpreted as an
acronym for the curse may his name and memory be wiped out',
which is used as an extreme form of abuse. In fact, anti-zionist
Orthodox Jews (such as Neturey Qarta) sometimes refer to Herzl as
'Herzl Jesus' and I have found in religious zionist writings
expressions such as 'Nasser Jesus' and more recently 'Arafat
Jesus.'
Chapter 6: Political
Consequences (No notes)
jewhist7.htm
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