A History of the Jews

Paul Bede JOHNSON CBE 11/2 1928-2023 1/12 94yo + 2mos

Penguin/Random House, 1987, 644pp (FHL pb)

Dedicated to Hugh FRASER dates?, a true Christian gentleman and lifelong friend of the Jews.

PJ gives 4 reasons for writing this book; 1 curiosity, while researching his earlier book 'The History of Christianity' he became aware of the truly HUGE debt it owes to Judaism, so wanted to explore that further. 2 excitement at the sheer span of Jewish history i.e. ~4kyrs since Abraham, which is >3/4 of the total known history of 'civilized humanity'. He delights as a historian in tracing such 'long continuities'. 3 awe that Jewish history spans not only TIME but also AREA; they've left their mark on ALL societies, so its almost like writing a history of the WORLD, though from a 'highly particular angle', that of 'the learned and intelligent victim'. Dietrich BONHOEFFER noticed this while in prison. 4 helps to reconsider the most intractable (but important) of all human questions; why are we here? how can we find meaning? does it involve providence or chance? the 2 key ideas of Jewish history are purpose and destiny.

Pt 1: Israelites 1

- The symbolism of the Machpelah Cave (3)

He begins with the ancient village of Hebron, 20mi S of Jerusalem and 3000 feet in elevation in the Judean Hills. The Cave of Machpelah, featuring the ancient Tomb of the Patriarchs (or 'the Mamas and the Papas'). 1st the sepulchre of Abraham and Sarah, by long tradition believed actually to hold their remains. 2nd nearby twin tombs of Isaac and Rebekkah. 3rd across the inner courtyard to 2 more tombs for Jacob and Leah. Finally just outside the building the tomb of Joseph (but no wife). Herod the Great much later built the 40 foot high walls of the building. It began as a Hebrew monument (land purchased by Abraham from a local Hittite). Then fell to Romans ... Crusaders, Muslims, Byzantines then back to Muslims (today).

- I'm a stranger and a sojourner (5)

Here we meet Abraham ... PJ says traditional understand of Bible maintained until early 19C 'Higher Criticism' coming out of Germany, American Julius WELLHAUSEN 1844-1918 ... but then biblical archaeology emerges as a countervailing force along with the discovery of archives, key figures Wm Foxwell ALBRIGHT and Kathleen KENYON.

- A new kind of God (7)

Jews are the ONLY people in the world today who can trace their history to VERY remote times (Adam and Eve), and they also always promoted the [God-given] notion of a moral universe superimposed on the physical one.

- The ethical Flood (9)

He discusses the 1920s discovery and excavation of Ur (in today's Iraq) by Leonard WOOLLEY, which allowed us to see the fundamental difference between the biblical and Babylonian-Sumerian views of the flood i.e. Noah was a MORAL figure, unlike Ziusudra. In fact, Noah was the FIRST moral man in Jewish (and world) history. Through him, we see God's obsession with detail e.g. details regarding design and building of ark. 'The 1 righteous man' and the importance of human life (i.e. we're not just meaningless playthings of capricious gods). The early books of the Bible are about human development, yes, but also THEOLOGY, they teach us that mankind without God is a monstrosity. We also see the 1st mention of a covenant. PJ notes interestingly that the reference to 'Chaldeans' is actually anachronistic, since they lived in the late 2nd millennium v. Abraham's early 2M. But the reason for the mention is so 1M Bible readers can identify the place (S Iraq). Finally, note that all other ancient peoples are gone, Jews are still there and always have been.

- Abraham and his historical rebirth (16)

Abraham was the founder of a nation, a good and just man, supporter of peace and law though willing to fight, magnanimous in victory, proto-monotheist, and obedient above all.

- Monotheism in embryo (17)

Abraham was the founder [with God's help] of Hebrew religious culture, inaugurating the 'top 2' concepts of Covenant and the Land. He faced the harsh test of sacrificing his son Isaac i.e. God above ALL, the topic of Christian existentialist philosopher Soren KIERKEGARD's 1843 book 'Fear and Trembling'.

- The elect nation (18)

We see the 1st introduction of universalism in God's promises to Abraham and his descendants i.e. that ALL nations will be blessed through Israel. Israel is close to being an 'elect' nation, recipient of God's 5 promises of the Holy One; 1 Torah, 2 Heaven and Earth, 3 Abraham, 4 Israel and 5 the Holy Sanctuary.

- A vaguely promised land (19)

Abraham and his descendants have a special role in Providence, but its a leasehold, not a freehold (always revokable). Abraham is a proper symbol and real example of fragility and anxiety (cf book 'Genius and Anxiety').

- Tribes and amphictyonies (21)

Abraham's grandson Jacob is unlike his grandpa; a dissimulator, Machiavellian, [clever] strategist v. [straightforward] fighter, political operator, dreamer and visionary. Interestingly, this approach led to his prospering mightily!? Shechem was the first Israeli possession of a sizable town (taken via assault by Jacob's sons Simeon and Levi), near modern Nablus [Roman Neopolis]. The city was established already in the 19C BC.

There was a continuous existence of a sizable Israeli population in Palestine throughout the period between Abraham and the post-Egypt exile Jews there, which means only PART of that race was enslaved by Egypt (PJ says this gives extra credence to Israel as the Jews' land). Before that Egyptian exile, they were 'a small, almost ordinary people', but afterwards understood themselves as having been rescued by God Himself as their deliverer, having thus been given the promise of greatness and having a new purpose, a program (telos) and a message for the world.

- Joseph, the 1st Grey Eminence (24)

- Infantile bondage, exodus to maturity [in freedom] (25)

- Moses, a totalitarian of the spirit (27)

- The Laws: divine sovereignty, human sanctity (32)

- The democratic theocracy (40)

- The conqueror Joshua and the archaeological record (42)

Jephthah was a son of a prostitute, in fact most of the 'judges' were low-born people, nomads aka Bedouin common. The book of Judges covers 1st 200yrs of Jewish occupation (after crossing the Jordan under Joshua). King E(g/b)lon of Moab was killed by left-handed name? ... 5 key Philistine cities Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron (not Eglon), Gath and Gaza (much in news today!) ... Islam the greatest of all Jewish sectarian heresies ... Jews on arrival in Holy Land (with Joshua) were less sophisticated than Canaanites (tech, farming ...) since they'd come from slavery. God emphasizes in Scripture 'you're eating from crops you didn't plant ...' reminding them HE did that, NOT them, had ALOT to learn ... PJ boils down 'lessons' thusly: 1 low people, 'rubes' who became heroes (with God's help, likes to work with 'nobodies' so HE gets credit ... 2 imaginative writing, historical yet with small 'telling' details (superfluous yet unforgettable, characters 'leap off the page'), great story-tellers, who LOVED the past (sought to 'stay close' to it, as we should) ... 3 loose tribal 'democracy' vs. centralized leadership (more and more after d. of Moses and Joshua i.e. reverted to tribalism, but good in many ways, avoided worst of 'centralized power', but also undergoing 'institution building' in the face of foes, esp. Philistines (existential threat) ... 4 Gideon was offered kingship (1st time in Jewish history) but declined, realized it was wrong for them then aka principle of 'subsidiarity'; keep rule close to people, self-govt, but later Gideon's son Abimelech 'became a monster' (1st King, no, more like tyrant e.g. killed 70 kinsmen [brothers with other mothers] which is/was 'unthinkable' in Jewish ethics) ... 5 kingship accepted reluctantly in the face of the Philistine threat, people resented giving up some self-govt, tribalism, localism (also easy to see how tribalism ramped up after fighting under Joshua was done i.e. more focused on local vs. remote issues ... Prophets were 1 Abraham 2 Moses 3 Samuel (last judge, 1st prophet [of post-judges order] ... always tension (natural) between priests who focus on ritual (never challenge, or even think, tends to 'devolve' into mere meaningless ritualism, RINOs) vs. prophets (seers) who formed 'colleges' attached to shrines (run by priests) like the one at Shiloh where tiny baby Samuel was dropped off by mom Hannah, but these tend (on the other hand) to devolve into sectarianism (schism), rigid boundaries, fanaticism, fundamentalism, civil war, extreme partisanship.

- Judges: the charismatic delinquents (45)

- Samuel and state prophecy (51)

- Saul and the great constitutional debate (52)

- David, the sacerdotal king (54)

- Solomon, royal absolutism and the temple-state (59)

- Elijah's still small voice (66)

- Amos and class warfare (68)

- Hosea and the religion of the heart (71)

- The rise of rigorism (73)

- Isaiah and the birth of conscience (74)

- Jeremiah, the 1st Jew (76)

Hmmm, I thot '1st Jew' was Amos, but no, he closed (chapter and section) with Jeremiah as that i.e. had to give up 'infrastructure' e.g. Temple, culture and start to think through how they'll live 'after' all that. He was also 1st to perceive the hard lesson that powerless-ness and goodness (purity) are related. PJ even says Hebrew Scriptures come close to viewing 'the State' as inherently evil. In any case, whenever they were 'doing well' they became corrupt (cf Lord Acton). Purity always came from harsh treatment from overlords, though they also managed to become corrupt under self-govt in some cases.

Pt 2: Judaism 81

Jeremiah wanted to stay in Holy Land with poor people (left behind by Babylon) but a group 'dragged' him along with them to Egypt, old age (to Spain? UK? with Baruch, as British-Israel theory says?). He had faith in a 'remnant' who would carry on the Jewish tradition (though many Jews, esp. those who'd become successful there, chose to remain in Babylon). Ezekiel's wife d. in the last siege of Jerusalem, and he was exiled 597 BC ... states, empires, thrones don't matter in long term, only individuals (and Jewish nation? for a time?). Only personal devotion to God matters (religious purity). Jeremiah, more than any other, formulated Judaism's individual accountability, tribal past left behind in exile ... 734-581 BC 6 distinct deportations, and more fled voluntarily to Egypt and other parts of the Ancient Near East. From then on, there were more Jews outside the Holy Land than inside it, which led to scribes (writing history and ...) becoming more important than priests (rituals ...). In religious terms, there were 4 great formative eras (periods) in Jewish history; 1 Abraham 2 Moses 3 exile and 4 destruction of 2nd Temple in AD 70.

- Ezekiel's Valley of Bones (81)

- Nehemiah's 2nd Temple (86)

- Ezra, the scribes and the canon (87)

- The Jews as historians (91)

- Job, God and theodicy (94)

- The Greeks v. the Jews (97)

We must not allow the academic prejudices bred by Hegelian ideology, anti-clericalism, anti-Semitism and 19C intellectual fashions to distract our view of these texts (i.e. the OT, 89) ... Hebrew 'sofer' = scribe, scholar ... Rabbi Akiva of the famous Council of Jamnia (Jabneh, Yabnah) which, among other things, set up synagogue-centered Judaism to replace the lost Temple-centered one (90) ... 'masoretes' = families of scribal scholars (produced so-called Masoretic texts of 11C?, oldest until Dead Sea Scrolls) ... Koheleth = 'convenor' (writer of Ecclesiastes, 93) ... nature as a mere background for God's story through man (i.e. Jews not humanist, nature-centered but God-centered) ... Amman, Jordan aka Philadelphia in Hellenistic Age i.e. built by Greeks (or at least greatly enhanced, 98.

- The Maccabeans invent martyrdom (104)

- 2nd Commonwealth: purity to corruption (107)

- Rise of Pharisaic Judaism (108)

- The Temple in its gruesome glory (115)

Joseph of the influential Tobiad family (who outbid others for taxing rights for >20yrs); his MOM was a sister of then-HPxx (name?) ... Herod the Great had 3 key policies; 1 stay connected with leaders in Rome, 2 exterminate the Hasmoneans as much as possible [k. wife's bro (drowned), wife Miriamne, and her mom Alexandra, also both sons by M ... Herod's mom named Cypros, after which he named his Jericho fortress, 1 of 5? listed cf 111 114] 3 emasculate 'rigorist' Jewish power (though PJ says this group usually (always?) wins eventually (PJ thinks it tragic that they weren't able to forge a version which could learn from and get along with the good ideas of other cultures ... says interestingly that one can interpret their winnings as either 'truth winning out over moral corruption of worldly systems' (bingo) or rigorists using power to keep down [better] ideas, hmmm [like postmodernism; truth claims are power grabs].

PJ says 'Canonization lead to 'the end of Jewish history' (creativity) ... good for Jews as 'divine role as priests to the nations' but also led to 'homogeneity, puritanical and fundamentalist tendencies ... rigorists tend to win (in Jewish history, also in others?) e.g. Moses, Josiah, Judah vs. Israel and rigorists returning from Babylon (others stayed) ... this can be seen as either 'the pearl of purified Judaism emerging from the rotten oyster of the world, worldliness' or 'extremists imposing exclusivity and fanaticism on the rest' (take your pick) ... Greek culture was 'opportunity, temptation and threat' all in one 98. How to react? Accommodate or resist? (same challenge today). Many modern people think 'pious' is bad, like self-righteousness, but we see it as good, not the same as self-righteousness. There is such a thing as good, true, authentic piety but of course also bad, false, fake, but then that's NOT piety. PJ: the critical spirit vs. conservatism 99. Once again noted that Joseph the Tobiad's mom was HPxx's sister, held tax contract for 22yrs and improved Jewish lives, 'the 1st Jewish banker' (hmmm, I thought that was a Jewish family in Babylon who thrived during captivity). Tobias stood for 'the Hellenizing principle' in 2C BC Judah. Many pious Jews agreed with Jeremiah that religion and piety flourish more when pagans have to 'conduct the corrupting business of govt'. Pharisees sprang from this tradition. Its significant that Sadducees (recognized no oral law, which they saw correctly as 'rationalizing', only written) warned that the Oral Law would lead to 'more respect for the Book of Homer than for Holy Scripture' (they had a point for sure). Bible & Jews & Christians ... struggle with dream of bringing God and humanity together (only God can do that, on HIS terms) ... human tendency is to become 'Promethean' i.e. 'elevate the human & lower the divine' (wow, so true). Greeks were notoriously so, unreliable, flawed, ... gods ... led to one world govt, universal civilization, one world religion ... yikes (our main political opposition) ... PJ notes High Priests (HPs) and tax-farmers were inter-married (cozy, taxes to to HPs, they share with pagans, become corrupt). Maccabees were 'brave, desperate, fanatical, strong-minded and violent men ... lived and died by sword ... and lived in a spirit of ruthless (and heroic) piety ... later ones e.g. Yanni was 'a monster' (tyrant). PJ calls the hellenizers 'reformers' (more like water-downers of Truth) ... 34yrs of bitter, murderous struggle between 'reformers' (Greek-friendly) and their 'attack on the Law' vs. rigorist Hasmoneans (Maccabees), latter won as usual, fought them back into 'Acra' (Temple Mt fortress) and finally crushed them, burned it down. Herod did 3 things; 1 made sure to stay on good terms with RE ldrs, 2 exterminated Hasmoneans (rivals) pp110-11 and 3 emasculated the power of 'destructive [for him, difficult to govern, mob rule] rigorist Judaism by separating religion and state and bringing diaspora Jews into play (to play them off vs. uncooperative locals). By AD 48 ~7M Jews in Roman Empire p112. p109: After Salome d. (Yanni's wife), claimant Hyrcanus (her son) had a powerfl chief-minister Antipater (an Idumean from a family that had been forcibly converted) 1/2 Jew 1/2 Hellenizer ... natural for such men to 'come to terms with rising Roman Empire', he's the one who struck a deal with Pompey in 63 BC, his son was Herod the Great. 'Big 3' Jewish holidays (i.e. required to 'go up' to Jerusalem) 1 Passover 4 Weeks 7 Tabernacles ... p118 Herod d. Spring 4 BC at Callirrhoe hot springs after ailing for awhile (so just after Jesus born Dec. of year before).

- Daniel's apocalyptic revolution (121)

- The Idea of the Messiah (124)

- Jesus: Suffering Servant or Rebellious Elder? (125)

- Paul and the theft of Jewish universalism (130)

- Anti-Semitism in pagan antiquity (133)

- Josephus and the Great Revolt (137)

- Simon bar Kokhba's grim little kingdom (140)

- Christians v. Jews (143)

- Jabneh [Yavnah] and rabbinical [synagogue-based] judaism (149)

- Tannaim, amoraim, Mishnah and Talmud (152)

- The maturing of Jewish moral theology (154)

- The necessity for social responsibility (157)

- The renunciation of violence (160 incl. state violence nec. to maintain order)

- The Babylonian exilarchate (162 cf Bible.html)

- Early Christian anti-Semitism (164)

- The Islamic heresy (166)

pp138-61: 'Nasi' = prince or patriarch or secular ruler, Rabbi Akiva ben Joseph AD 50-135 was the greatest scholar of his age, recognized Simon bar Kockhba (Koseva) [leader of AD 135 Jewish revolt] as Messiah !? 141. Most other rabbis did NOT e.g. R Johanan ben Torta. 150: there were many dynasties of scholars, which existed even in 'the period of the 2nd Commonwealth' [Babylonian Captivity to AD 100]. Classified as 'zugot' [pairs]; 5 pairs of leading scholars, the last being the famous Hillel [the Elder or Babylonian], teacher of Jesus Christ, and his opponent Shammai from 50 BC to AD 30 (127-8). Hillel was 'humble, more humane and universalistic, favored 'spirit' of the law' vs. Shammai's more 'rigorist, Sadducee-like, angry, pedantic, sought to follow literal details [the letter of] of law [no mercy]. Hillel's grandson Gamaliel [I] the Elder was father to Gamaliel II, teacher of St Paul. G I was 1st of 6 gens of leaders in this 'time of sages' ... last was R Judah HaNasi late 2C AD; his academia center (and grave) is at Bet Shearim, just off the Nazareth-Haifa road (152). Famous Jewish traveler Benjamin [of] Tudela. Famous Greek scholar Philo was Jewish. Hebrew word 'Zedakah/Tsedakah' (like singer Neil!) means 'charity' and/or 'righteousness'. BELKIN is a Jewish name (like router brand). Jabneh (Yavna) is where Jewish scholars (led by ?) developed a new synagogue-based Jewish religious system after the Temple was destroyed by Romans AD 70 i.e. so scholars (peacefully) took over from warriors -> which PJ calls 'cathedocracy'.

pp161-92; The exilarchs [exiled rulers] of Babylonia were more powerful and secular than the Palestinian 'nasi' e.g. they lived in ceremony in their palaces, proud of their direct (dynastic) descent from K David. In Parthian [of Iran] times they were, in effect, senior officials of the state. This lasted until the 3C when Sassanids revived the national (Persian) religion of Zoroastrianism and began to put pressure on Judaism (and other challengers). Before that time, Babylonia was the best place [in the known world] for Jews to live. Under the Sassanids the exilarchs' power headed down, but that of scholars (e.g. rabbis) headed up. There were ~1200 scholars at Sura (Babylonia) in the 3C. Note from Hershel SHANKS' book 'The Dead Sea Scrolls': for centuries there'd been 3 'centers' of scroll production; Babylon (Talmud), Egypt (Septuagint), and Samaria (viewed as 'not quite authentic' Judaism i.e. alt 'Temple' at Mt Gerasim N of Jerusalem). Exilarch Mar Zutra II c496-520 (cf ahnen-sg) with 400 warriors set up an independent state with capital Mahoza (Babylonia) in opposition to 'evil Sassanid ruler Firuz the Evil who'd k. the former Exilarch. But its [Mar Zutra's?] immorality led to its defeat by [Sassanid] Persians after just 7 years. But in general, PJ says persecution of Jews was worse in the West. Interestingly, Jews viewed RExx Julian the Apostate 'with relief' !? vs. the danger of 'Christian mobs'; they called him Julian 'the Hellene'. 164: AD 388 Christian mob burned (under RExx Theodosius I) the synagogue at Callinicum [aka ?] on the Euphrates, but even the RE thot that went too far, since Jews were seen by rulers as successful and valued citizens of the RE. He ordered it rebuilt at public (Christian) expense. This was hotly denounced by 'that most influential of all Christian prelates' St Ambrose of Milan ... RE was forced to back down. St Augustine softened the Christian view of Judaism/Jews; saw them as 'part of God's design, witnesses to the truth of Christianity, but thought they should be kept in small communities [later ghettos] separate from Christian areas. 165: PJ says Eastern Christian (Byzantine Emp) 'inherited the whole corpus of pagan Hellenistic anti-Semitism' from the Greeks, so were usually more hostile to Jews than Western Christians (like Augustine). He says this bias continues to this day in the E (Exhibit A: daily news) e.g. John Chrysostom's infamous (and harsh) 'Sermon vs. Jews'. 166: Jewish presence in Arabia is very ancient. In S (Yemen) Jewish traders date to 1C AD (latest) and in N (Hijaz) much further back (likely to 586 BC exile). One Arab legend says the Jewish settlement at Medina began under King David, another even earlier under Moses. 166: ~20 (of ? total) tribes of Arabia were Jewish by AD 4C. 167: 1 of the strongest characteristics of Judaism is willingness to live remotely [tough vs. soft] without acculturation, a trait which angered the Muslim founder Mohammed [Muhammad]. 168: Islam soon became violently sectarian like Christianity and even used forcible conversion as had Joshua, David and the Hasmoneans. This practice 'had been conclusively renounced by rabbinic Judaism'. PJ says Jews in Muslim areas were 'now in the cocoon of Islam i.e. protected from the Christian W' but also developed their own (Talmudic) life-support system and its unique form of self-govt; cathedocracy.

Pt 3: Cathedocracy 169 [e.g. rule by (Scriptural) scholars]

- Benjamin of Tudela's world (169)

- Jews and the creation of the Dark Age city (171)

- The moral arguement over interest-taking (172)

- Jews under Islam: the dhimmis (175)

175: Arabs rapidly conquered half of the civilized world in the 7C! [by the use of raw violence]. Maimonides' story cf p179.

177? Jews were 'the 1st Europeans i.e. city dwellers aka bourgeois

- Rule by scholarship (179 aka 'cathedocracy')

- The family and the academic hierarchy (183)

- Maimonides, the central figure in Jewish history (183)

- The Cairo genizah (184 i.e. scrap paper collection)

- The aims of medieval Jewish rationalism (187)

190 Archangels Michael, Gabriel (in Bible) and Metatron; the librarian of heaven!? ... also mentions Judah of Regensburg (in what context?).

191 What Maimonides (and Philo earlier) did for Judaism i.e. place one's religion on a rational basis, was later also done for Islam (Avicenna & Averroes) and Christianity (Thomas AQUINAS). They favored caution, moderation, distrust of enthusiasm and irrationality (189). He also mentions (in same context?) Saadiah ben Joseph of Sura. 188: Jews must use their brains to turn a savage and irrational world into a reasonable one, conforming it to the divine and perfect intellect [God].

- Irrationalism as a countervailing force (193)

- Mysticism and the Kabbalah (195)

- Judah Halevi and Nahmanides (197)

- The zohar (198 i.e. 'textbook' for kabbalah)

- Jews and medicine (199)

- The social structure of medieval Jewries (200)

- Jewish religious infrastructure (202)

- Jews in Latin Christendom (205)

- Anti-Jewish demonology (206)

- The crusader pogroms (207)

- The 1st blood libel (208)

- Moneylending and [de?]faming the Jews (211)

- Jews, Friars and the Black Death (215)

- Spain and 'the Jewish problem': the disputations (217)

- Decline of Jewish intellectual life (220)

- Riots and Tortosa (221)

pp220-48; Jews were still 'intellectually superior' in Nahmanides' day (after 1265 N left for Palestine, thus a great pillar of Spanish Judaism was removed [perhaps contributing to Spain's 'fall from grace' and from #1 GP status in 15C?]. But by the end of the 13C Christian thought was catching up fast. They'd absorbed [rationalizing] Aristotelianism themselves and written their own 'summae', and in trade/admin were more than a match for the Jews. In the 14C Jews were in relative decline, their econ position having been eroded by anti-Semitic laws. Their ranks were also being depleted by forced conversions. For the 1st time, it made sense for Jews to be baptized, thus joining a wide progressive culture. As that happened, the Jewish remnant 'took refuge in Kabbalah [mysticism], aggadic [experience-based] stories, superstition and poetry [hmmm, CSL & other classical scholars?]. PJ says it was a triumph of irrationality [hmmm, Truth is thought to be 'irrational' by people who kill babies, say men can be women ...]. The works of Maimonides and other rationalists were marginalized, blamed for the Black Death and other atrocities. As Jewish misery increased, apocalypticism and messianism increased [which is why so many moderns obsess re the economy, want to 'anesthetize' humans of these 'spiritual' concerns ...]. A 'corregidor' [WWII battle] meant a [Spanish] governor in the citadel (high point of the city). 224: a Jewish convert to Chr was called a 'converso' or, more rudely, a 'marrano' (a term of abuse related to the Spanish word for 'swine'). 229: the final conquest of Muslim Granada was 1-2-1492, then came the end of Jewish expulsion from Spain on 7-31-1492, Columbus left for America x-x-1492. This expulsion was 'the most momentous event in Jewish history since the 1C [AD 70 destruction of the Temple/Jeruslam]. PJ explains that the term Sephardi is a corruption of an old Spanish word for Spain, and today refers to those descended from Spanish Jews, while Ashkenazi refers to Jews from the Rhineland. Both areas had been occupied by Jews since ancient (Roman or even earlier) times. 230: Christopher COLUBUS [Cristobel COLON] was legally Genoese but did NOT write in Italian, may've come from a Spanish family of Jewish origin, had a Jewish sidekick for his travels, and COLON is a common Italian Jewish surname! MIchel de MONTAIGNE's mom Antoinette LOUPPES was a direct descendent of Spanish Jews. Jewish Middle Ages only ended in last decades of the 18C! The Medici's of Florence were philo-Semitic, but later [1494] both Florence and Tuscany expelled them [post-Medici rulers].

- The conversos [Jewish 'converts'] and the Inquisition (227)

- The destruction of Spanish Jewry (229, and of Spain?)

- The refugees and the Judensau (230 i.e. 'Jewish sow' hate cartoon)

Pt 4: Ghetto 233

- Ibn Verga and the Jewish hate-legacy (233)

- The 1st ghetto in Venice (235)

- Jews as controversialists and as slaves (238)

- Renaissance, Reformation and the Jews (241)

- The impact of the Counter-Reformation (243)

- Jews, movement [transport] and expansion of enterprise (244)

PJ makes the interesting point that 'Jews, who lost in the Old World, helped create the New World'. 245: PJ says it used to be argued that Max WEBER and R H TAWNEY explained capitalism (as Calvinists trying to earn salvation or RCCers trying to confirm it ?). PJ has an alt explanation. After the Spanish expulsion of Jews, that lasted 300yrs until Napoleon ended it in 1798. 240: RCC Knights of St John operated out of Malta, used piracy to raise funds, focused on Jewish ships and personnel since they knew they were unprotected by any Great Power. They were the last European center of the slave trade. 245: most civil authorities loved the Jews as wealth creators, but also hated them as idea-mongers [liberty, equality, anabaptists, rebels ...]. Author Cecil ROTH 1899-1970 cited. 236: Joseph CARO 1488-1575 wrote the famous Ghetto law code [hmmm, Robt CARO bio of LBJ Jewish?]. This was 'the authentic halakhic text of Orthodox Jews' for centuries? Jews were forced to E Europe by W countries? Author H H Ben SASSOON 1914-77 [cf Bible.html]. 239: Prague court of Rudolph II aka 'the wizard emperor' [hmmm, used magic?]. Major ports [used by Jewish merchants] Ancona, Leghorn [Livorno], Naples and Genoa [Cr COLON]. 16C many Jews operated from these ports.

- The rationalization of money (246 i.e. making sense of)

- The Jews and E Europe (250)

pp248-68; 247: 'human societies have always shown an extraordinary unwillingness to demystify money and see it for what it is - a commodity like any other, whose value is relative. We tend indeed to want to attach absolute values to all commodities. But no opprobrium is needed i.e. we should neither love nor hate these things. So its difficult to construct an ethical framework for savings, investments, econ development ... (seen as parasitic, 'unearned' ...). Jews were originally like all other peoples in this misunderstanding (in fact, PJ says, they INVENTED it!). But their religious rationalization finally forced them to face it (with predicament of being forced to be [unwilling] traders of money i.e. banned from other trades). So they were forced to find some kind of resolution; at 1st they developed a double standard; OK to lend to gentiles but NOT to fellow Jews. But by late 15C they more fully 'stripped money of its magic' 248. They finally realized that it would be beneficial to have 'an agreed system of prices, wages and interest to help regulate amicably econ relations in an ordered society [implies these should NOT change rapidly or chaotically]. cf Isaac ABRABANEL's 1551 Deut. commentary. Judaism therefore did NOT polarize (oppose) piety and prosperity (as Chr has often done 248). Also cf the [Apocryphal] Book of ben Sira (and Genesis, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Proverbs). Also unlike Chr, Jews made no distinction between reading/writing books (scholarship) and keeping the books (accounting, business :-) 249). So Jews were well-prepared to take advantage of the growth of the world economy in the Spain-led 16C. PJ says it was 'exclusively Spanish Jews pushing trade outward, resulting in trading empires (1st Portugal, then tDR, UK, USA ...). 1st Gov-Gen Thomas de SOUZA (Jewish origins) led the settlement of Brazil. Also the 1st large scale plantation (sugar) on St Thomas (Caribbean island, right?). De SOUZA had been expelled 1654 and went on to found plantations on Barbadoes & Jamaica. He? said 'Jews and Hollanders are the best subjects' 250. In 1500 there were ~20-30k Jews of Poland's 5M pop; by 1575 150k of 7M. 250: In 1503 the Polish King appointed R Jacob POLAK as 'Rabbi of Poland' -> emergence of Chief Rabbinate, backed by the Crown (mainly tax-raising agencies, so K was 'milking' them) and developed a form of Jewish self-govt they hadn't known since the end of the exilarchate (expulsion from Spain). This self-governance, however, was oligarchic and NOT democratic. R Judah LOEW was Maharel of Prague and was a famous conservative Jewish authority (among other things, he sanctioned lending at interest). 251: wheat grown in Poland-Lith Ukraine was shipped down-river to Baltic ports, then to W Europe. The plantations were owned by Poles (Radziwills, S, Z, O, L), the ports by German Lutherans, the ships by Dutch Calvinists, and 'the Jews did the rest' ($ :-) all cooperated for econ gain, and a kind of revolution i.e. vs. fighting!). In Venice 1577, leaders authorized Dalmatian marrano Daniel Rodriquez to create a new port at Spalato (Split, hmmm, site of RExx ?'s palace [1 bef Constantine] in today's Croatia 252). [hmmm, geni work Spoleto, Italy, related?]. 253: 1st 'court Jew' was Marcus MEISEL. The Jew Basseri von Treuenberg helped the RCC Hapsburgs win the famous 1620 B of White Mtn (part of 30yrs War) and was 'given 2 of the nicest captured Prot homes' 254. That war ruined Germany but brought Jews to 'the center of the European economy' i.e. they helped the RCC Imperial Habsburgs fund their armies by debasing the currency to fund war [hmmm, not for the last time]. The Jewish money-man's protector was Gen WALLENSTEIN (but he was hounded out after latter died, d. w/o most repayment). This was the 1st time that Jews were treated better than most others in society. Gershom SCHOLEM cited alot in here. 256: There were >12 famous dynasties of 'court Jews'; Abensurs, Gomperz, Behrends, Lehmanns, Goldschmidts, Fuersts, Bocarros, da Costas, de Limas, de Casseres, de Sampaios (11 so far) ... then [#1] Samuel OPPENHEIMER became famous for helping Austrian Habsburgs raise $ for 2 big late 17C wars incl. 1683 Muslim (Ottoman Turk) Siege of Vienna and ? v. KoF Louis XIV (both sought control of all of Europe). A 2nd 'star' was Moses ben Jacob CORNOVERO aka Remak 1522-70. OPPENHEIMER's nephew Samson WERTHEIMER was a rival (unusual in Jewish circles 257). #3 Isaac ben Solomon LURIA 1534-72 ha-ari 'the lion'. 259: Ukraine esp. unstable since RCC absentee (& spendthrift) landlords pressured Jewish middle-men (for $ raising) who in turn pressured the Orthodox peasants. So 3 religions in difficult relations, in an inherently unjust and unstable situation -> 1648 revolt led by Bogdan CHMIELNICKI. MANY Jews killed (pogroms) forcing them West et al. 260: and calamity always/everywhere reinforces 'irrational and apocalyptic elements of all religions [including secularism]. 261: Kabbalah (bk Zohar) leaders David ben Solomon ibn abi ZIMRA aka Radbaz, b. Egypt d. Safed. 267: mystic Shabbatai Zevi 1626-76 was used by (mastermind) Abraham Nathan ben Elisha Hayyim Ashkenazi aka Nathan of Gaza 1643-80.

- Making the 30 Years War pay (253)

- The rise and fall of the Court Jew (255)

- The 1648 catastrophe [settlement of 30YW] and its effects (258)

- Lurianic kabbalah and democratic mysticism (260)

- Magic and the Messiah (266)

- Shabbetai Zevi, Nathan of Gaza and osmotic gnosticism (267)

pp267-84: Shabbetai Zevi 1626-76 who claimed to be the Messiah is well known in Jewish circles; less so the 'mastermind' behind him Abraham Nathan ben Elisha Hayyim Ashkenazi aka Nathan of Gaza 1643-80, the puppet-master behind the puppet. 268: Nathan 'was an outstanding example of a highly imaginative & dangerous Jewish archetype which was to become of world importance when the Jewish intellect became secularized. He could construct a system a system of explanations and predictions of phenomena which was both highly plausible and at the same time sufficiently imprecise and flexible to accommodate new and often highly inconvenient events/developments [i.e. like a con artist or pol, he could talk his way out of any problem by 'making it up as he went along' as it were]. MARX and FREUD were to exploit a similar capacity by a technique of 'absorbing all by osmosis'. PJ also makes the interesting observation that he possessed that most necessary trait for being a messiah-subject; self-absorption. He was m. and divorced twice (both w/o consummation) and was what we'd today call bipolar (thus unstable) ... 273: some considered the later Jacob FRANK 1726-91 to be a reincarnated Zevi. PJ explains that 'FRANK' was an Ashkenazi Yiddish term for a Sephardi [hmmm, so GH neighbors, Pam's hubby ...] ... 278: in 1654 23 Jews arrived in (Dutch) New Amsterdam, but Calvinists, though better disposed than Lutherans, could also be oppressive and anti-Semitic ... peg-leg leader name? called Jews 'a deceitful race' ... NA became NYC in 1664 ... PJ explains that the English were the 1st nation to accept Jews as normal full citizens beginning in K Chas II's reign, but in the typically English 'muddled' fashion. Rather than officially passing a law they just 'muddled' the existing ones (so as not to stir anything up) and, as long as the Jews avoided causing trouble, in effect were accepted ... so that by CROMWELL's time [1732] 'hence almost by accident [like building Empire 'in a fit of absence of mind'] England became the 1st place in which it was possible for a modern Jew to become a citizen'. Once the English t/o NYC that 'muddle' applied there too. Later became more 'regularized' or explicitly OK w/the founding American documents of liberty.

- The ecumenical Jacob FRANK (273)

- Manasseh ben Israel and the Jewish return to England (275)

- Jews in NYC (278)

- American Jewry: a new phenomenon (279)

copy last paragraph p280: Jews began to achieve integration ... This was of enormous long-term consequence when the Jewish pop. of N Amer began to expand rapidly. For it meant that Jewry was no longer a dualism: Erez Israel and the diaspora ... the Jewish presence in the world formed, rather, a tripod of forces: Israel, the diaspora and American Jewry, which was quite different in kind to any other diaspora settlement and proved, in the end, the Third Force which enabled the Zionist [homeland] to come into existence.

- Jews and the rise of capitalism (281)

- Rationalism and counter-rationalism in the ghetto: Rossi and Caro (287)

- Spinoza, pantheism and atheism (289)

- Jewish 18C pietism: the Ba'al Shem Tov and the hasidim (294)

- The Gaon of Vilna and meritorious persecution (297)

pp298-314; The Orthodox (cathedocracy i.e. 'scholarship the be-all and end-all of Judaism') tried to destroy hasidism ('enthusiasm' w/ecstasy, miracles, visions) but failed. The effort was soon abandoned as both scholars (Orth) and enthusiasts faced a new enemy - the Jewish Enlightenment or haskalah. A 'maskil' is an 'enlightened Jew', a special type peculiar to Judaism, though the movement is nevertheless a part of the general European Enlightenment. In both France and Germany the Enlightenment sought to examine and re-adjust man's attitude toward God. But whereas in France its tendency was to repudiate or downgrade God and tame religion, in Germany it sought genuinely to reach a new understanding of and accommodation with [God and] the religious spirit in man. This meant the haskalah was mostly in Germany. The French Enlightenment 'was brilliant but fundamentally frivolous', the German one 'serious, sincere and creative' [like Scotland, USA]. THIS is when Jews began to feel 'a distinct affinity' for German culture, 'and thus sowed in their hearts the seeds of a monstrous delusion'. Christianity asked 'how large a part should God play in increasingly secular society', while Judaism asked 'how large a part should secular knowledge play in the culture of God'. 299: Jews were still enfolded in the medieval vision of a total religious society. Maimondides had argued for letting secular science into their thinking, but most Jews disagreed (citing and fearing the example of Dutch apostate ?). Even moderates like the Maharal of Prague attacked ? ROSSI for using secular thinking in religious matters. 301: Clever young Swiss Prot Pastor Johan Caspar LAVATER debated famous 'maskil' Moses MENDELSSOHN. 300: 3 Jewish archetypes; 'the fiery Talmud scholar (gaon)' name? b. c1719, 'the mystic-enthusiast' (Besht) name? b. c1700 and 'the urbane rationalist' Moses M. 1729-86 (i.e. contemporaries). Latter had been befriended by the Prot German dramatist (and 'artiste') Gotthold LESSING. 304: The 3 partitions of Poland 1772, '93 and '95 in which Russia took on MANY Jews, restricting them to 'the Pale' (i.e. not 'beyond'). Irony: the pol. Left saw Jews as opposed to 'progress', the Right saw them as opposed to 'order'; while both can't be true, Jews were treated to illogical '1-2 punch'. Jews liked and helped (played a big part) in German Enlightenment. The mark of a maskil is using classical v. biblical allusions in literature (e.g. neocons) ... the poet Judah Lieb GORDON 303 ... Lord George GORDON, Scot? converted to Judaism and became a radical 307 ... 1st German idealists e.g. FICHTE 309 ... 302: 'a priori' linked to 'metaphysical', 'a posteriori' to 'cosmological' and 'both demolished in the general opinion by KANT's 1781 Critique of Pure Reason' ...

Note: cf br-pt.html; Peter KREEFT says Avery DULLES mapped out a useful chart of 4 possible contemporary Christian attitudes toward our secular society, in a kind of logical square of opposition. He calls the 4 options Traditionalism, Neo-conservatism, Liberalism and Radicalism. 1st believes in the church but not the state i.e. or at least the present [sorry] state of society. It is [thus] countercultural. [2] Neo-cons-ism (e.g. RJN, Michael NOVAK ...) believes in both the church and the American state. [3] Lib-ism believes in Americanism but not in the church i.e. not trad. Chr. And [4] Radicalism says 'A plague on both your houses' [JRS].

- Mendelssohn and the Jewish enlightenment (300)

- Reforming the Jews and the birth of modern anti-Semitism (305)

Pt 5 Emancipation 311

- Attempts to solve 'the Jewish problem': the way of baptism (311)

- The way of the ROTHSCHILDS (314)

pp314-42: The new phenomena of 'private banks' (mostly founded by descendants of 'Court Jews') was sparked 1st by the 30yrs War, then later boosted by the Napoleonic Wars. The ROTHSCHILDs are a key example, but ONLY they escaped 'both baptism AND failure'. 1st phase of large-scale finance was a product of the 30yrs War [1618-48], but the R's were a product of the Napoleonic Wars beginning mid-1790s. Since 'in war Jewish creativity comes to the fore and gentile prejudice goes to the rear', they were able to flourish in these times. The name comes from the 'red shield' (like a coat of arms) they posted on their homes in the Frankfurt ghetto. The patriarch of the family, Mayer Amschel R of Amsterdam, had developed an earlier relationship with the Elector Wm IX of Hesse-Cassel i.e. sold him old coins for the Elector's collection (Elector had become VERY rich by supplying mercenaries to Britain [incl those 'Hessians' sent to fight Amer rebels]. Also, Mayer's son Nathan was sent to London to rep. the family there, so several R connections to UK. Nathan later created most of the R fortune, but based on dad's English connections. After the disastrous Battle of Jena 1806 (Napoleon wins), the (panicked?) Elector sent his fortune to Nathan in London to invest in British securities, which made both parties richer. The Jewish bankers were already known for their ability to transfer bullion (et al) quickly and safely in tough circumstances, and (315) Nathan and Brit Commissary-in-Chief John HERRIES [related? cf -sf] contrived to get #42.5M of gold from R' HQ in Paris to the British army in Spain between 1811-15. Then postwar (1815-) govts found new uses (besides mil. expenditures) for this wartime-developed 'international [banking] system based on paper & credit [so less need to transfer actual gold] that R's had created' (316). In 1815-25 more securities were floated than in the entire 18C! The R's gradually succeeded Barings as London's #1 bank (used by govt). [other #1's mentioned for France, Italy? ...]. R avoided the 'volatile Latin American regimes', sticking w/'the solid European autocracies - Austria, Russia, Prussia aka the Holy Alliance'. They created new R branches in 2 Paris 1811, 3 Vienna 1816 and 4 Naples 1821 ... Paul Julius REUTER 1816-89 (original name Israel Beer Josaphat) left his uncle's Goettingen bank to found the world's greatest news agency in 1848. PJ says many have tried to write the history of the R family, incl Miram R (PJ: most are bunk). Even Miram admitted 'the lies were easy to find; the truth impossible' since fam kept few records on purpose, 'holocausts' of burned papers when any leader died ... cf her 1983 bk 'Dear Lord Rothschild'). They 'cared little for [even their own] history, lived for the present only'. The R fam 'finally solved the long-term Jewish problem of immunizing their lawful property from violence i.e. by using PAPER (and trust) to spread their wealth intl-ly (and can move fast, detect trouble early via internal family 'news' connections). German atks on Jews came in 1819 (people must've sensed their power/influence) and 1848 aka 'Hep Hep' violence (possibly for words used to incite mob). But these turned out to be easily handled by R's and other Jewish bankers. Thereafter their real wealth was beyond the reach of mobs and even mostly of greedy monarchs (317). It was young Benj DISRAELI who 1st argued that Jews and Tories were natural allies i.e. London city elections of 1841 and '43 were decided by Jewish votes ... J W CROKER to fellow Tory ldr Geo BENTINCK: 'Clare co. elected O'CONNELL and settled RCC question, Yorkshire elected WILBERFORCE and settled slave-trade question, and London elected R' and settled Jewish question' ... heiress Hannah R m. L Rosebery (318) ... B Mayer R built Mentmore Towers estate modelled on Wollaton (319, Jews began w/city mansions but later moved to countryside estates too, dominating them politically and created mini-welfare states on them). Their rural HQ became Tring, Hertfordshire, which 'in the true Jewish tradition (Lionel's son/heir) turned it into a mini-welfare state 319. Lionel and Disraeli were very close, though both sides hid that (i.e. 'closer than either side was comfortable to admit' i.e. to hide obvious pol. shared goals?). R's managed to 'transform Randolph CHURCHILL (W's dad) from a slanderer of Jewish 'vested interests' to a notable Philo-Semite. Also turned A J BALFOUR around, became 'perhaps the most effective Brit friend the Jews ever had' (i.e. gave them their homeland back). In 1826 all restrictions were finally removed from Jews being full citizens 321. Betw 1827-39 w/Brit help (esp by PALMERSTON, whose wife was daughter of Shaftesbury, a well-known Philo-Semite, believed strongly that Jews return to Holy Land would hasten the 2nd Coming) the population of Jerusalem went from 550 to 5500 (10x) and all Palestine to >10K. This was the REAL start of the Jewish return to the Promised Land. Unlike Ashkenazi's who felt Jewish suffering was deserved, just punishment for their sins ('in biblical fashion' which D 'had no time for') ... DISRAELI saw Jews as better than most humans, 'epitomizing the incipient arrogance, pride and romance of the Sephardis' (323). His bks for full of these romantic ideas. DISRAELI said Sephardi beliefs in tradition, hierarchical authority and the need for the religious spirit to inform all of secular life are essentially Tory ones ... said real Judaism is completed J-ism (i.e. trad OT J-ism only 'the 1st part'), Christianity provides the needed 2nd part. He preached 'the innate superiority of certain races long before the social Darwinists made it fashionable, or HITLER notorious' (323) ... Moses Hayyim LUZZATTO 1707-46 was a kabbalist and mystic (Kabbal orig written in Aramaic). But maskils (Jewish Enlightenment fans) of course rejected his 'irrationalism' and also hated the (later) Zionists. DISRAELI believed in a combo of aristocracy and meritocracy, detected Jewish genius everywhere; 1st Jesuits, best 2 generals of Napoleon (called 'Messana?' Manasseh) and even Mozart ... c1800 a big thing happened; many Jewish intellectuals that prior would've been sequestered to learn only Torah were released into the (mostly German) secular world -> a shattering importance/impact on world history (cf Gen & Anxiety) bk Marcus.html.

- Britain, a philosemitic society (321)

- The Damascus case (322)

- DISRAELI and Jewish Christianity (323)
- ZUNZ and 'the science of Judaism' (326)

- HIRSCH and neo-Orthodoxy (328)

- KROCHMAL, GRAETZ and the writing of Jewish history (329)

- GEIGER and Reform Judaism (333)

- LUZZATTO and the way of Hebrew (336)

- The Yiddish alternative (338)

- The rise of the secular Jewish intellectual: HEINE and Jewish self-hate (341)

pp342-54 Heinrich HEINE's (HH, originally 'Hayyim') Dorothea' 2nd hubby was Friedrich SCHLEGEL (well known thinker? ...). She became a RCC reactionary. His grandson Felix (MENDELSSOHN) became the best known composer of Chr music. HH viewed [Edmund] BURKE as 'the arch-traitor who betrayed the cause of revolution'. HH was 'the archetypical and prototypical 'maskil' [secular Jewish intellectual], depending on his uncle Solomon HEINE d1844 of Hamburg, a wealthy banker, 1 of the richest men in Europe of that time [hmmm, could Gerry HEIN of GH have been of Jewish b/g? cf 'Piet HEIN']. His uncle was happy to support HH, even left a large inheritance for him, part of Jewish culture of supporting poor and/or 'thinker' types (mostly rabbis before Enlightenment). The HEINE's were (next to the ROTHSCHILDs) the most upwardly mobile (wow, not just Jewish) family in Europe (345). HH's mom was Piera von GELDERN. ? St SIMON was 'the 1st hippy' (my words). Young Karl MARX came to Paris 1843 and worked for the 'Rhine-ish Zeitung' which was founded that year by Jewish socialist Moses HESS 1812-75 (hmmm, ancestor or relative of libertarian [Goldwater speechwriter] Karl HESS?). It lasted 15yrs but was finally k. by Prussian govt. 350: Bruno BAUER was 'the anti-Semitic leader of the Hegelian left (in Germany)'. 348: 'the anti-Jewish polemic in Enlightenment writers like VOLTAIRE ... passed into 2 streams; the German idealist one e.g. GOETHE, FICHTE, HEGEL, BAUER ... and the French socialist stream which linked Jews to (in their view evils of) industrialism (Ind. Rev), commerce and materialism e.g. Francis FOURIER, PROUDHON, Alphonse TOUSSENEL ... MARX absorbed BOTH streams ... Ludwig BOERNE 1786-1837 [rel. to (grandpa of singer ONJ and) physicist Max BORN?] (b. Lob Baruch) was a baptized Jewish radical writer.

- MARX and Jewish anti-Semitism (346)

pp354-68; HEINE and MARX shared self-hatred as apostate Jews (347) ... Many smart 'emancipated' Jews were drawn to MARX's 'halakhic' [Torah-trained] emphasis on abstract interpretations [of econ reality] as discussed in his 'Das Kapital'. These kinds of Jews were mostly from rich bourgeois families and were driven to reject both the Jewish faith AND their wealthy parents and the culture in which they'd grown up. Also 'the past', family in general, community, tradition, country ... this philosophy of [in addition to self-hatred] 'negation, destruction, iconoclasm, even at times nihilism is a peculiarly Jewish social and cultural disease' (354 JRS?, noticed by late-19C cons) ... PJ gives 4 main reasons these types moved 1st to lib-ism, then further left; 1 their biblical trad of social criticism aka the Amos syndrome [Linda] ... 2 demography [pop. boom] 1800-80 roughly lifetime of famous Brit Jew Benj DISRAELI. Sephardi were mostly rural and had more respect for ancient tradition ... vs. Ashkenazi who mostly lived in urban areas and were thus more restless, innovation-oriented, critical, even subversive ... now for Jewry as a whole, during this era Sephardi fell from 20% to 10% ... African/Asian Jews went from 500k-750k (more primitive) but Euro Jews 2M to 7M! Also, in 1800 Jews were mostly found in communities of <10k, of those only 3-4 in world. But by 1880 Warsaw had 125k Jews, and >50k each in Vienna, Budapest, Odessa, Berlin and NYC (and last grew MUCH faster than others thereafter). So the restless Ashk grp grew MUCH faster than more trad Seph i.e. overwhelmed their cons infl. 3 the Jewish sense of justice is NEVER allowed to sleep i.e. tikkun olam [restore the world]. They came to see the main problem in the world not as 'sin' (as in trad Judeo-Chr thot) but the need for reform, even radicalism, esp in USA which seemed friendlier to such thinking ['a more perfect union']. The 6-24-1858 Mortara incident [Jewish boy secretly baptized by maid while sick, dying? but RCC auth later find out, step in and kidnap him, no recourse]. This fueled the already present Jewish HATRED of all types of absolutism [esp of non-Torah type i.e. human auth only] e.g. RCC, GP autocracies [Rome, HRE, Prussia, Russia 357]. Which leads to 4 Russia a special case 358: 'Hence the Russian treatment of the Jews, horrifying in itself, constitutes 1 of the important facts of modern world history and must be examined in some detail ... it was the 1st modern exercise of social engineering' by authorities there. So Russian autocracy [Tsarist 'big 3' Orthodoxy, Authority, Nationality] was hated by Jews, but 'enlightened' thinking led many to 'toss' the trad, quietist, suck-it-up attitude to oppression, and consider more radical responses. PJ notes other GPs were content to 'protect, use, exploit, milk' the Jews, but Russia had always seen them [unlike former] as 'unacceptable aliens', so while they jumped at the chance to t/o much of Poland (containing MANY Jews, which Russians cordoned off into 'Partitions' in several phases), their ultimate goal was to get rid of them via d., emigration ... PJ details the horrid persecution by authorities ... which ignited radicalization among Jews ... tsar ass. ... unrest -> WWI

- The Ashkenazi population explosion (356)

- Tsarist Jewish policy (358)

- The post-1881 exodus from Russia and its effects (365)

- Mordechai Noah, Reform and German-Jewish America (367)

pp368-86; Just when it seemed Judaism would 'wear and fade into the whole' i.e. cultural assimilation to US, the 1881 catastrophe (i.e. Russian crackdown on Jews) changed that by BOOSTING drastically Jewish immigration to USA (370). Hitherto, Prot US (like UK before it) had been papist-baiting v. Jew-baiting (even Reform Jews worried about huge #'s of Orthodox/hasidic immigrants ...). Since Civil War, Jews were seen as 'war profiteers', anti-Semitism became noticeable. But newcomers also gave 'the kiss of life' to otherwise dying 'enlightened' Jewish culture in America, turned NYC into 'the greatest Jewish metropolis in the world' (370). A true 'City of Refuge', later seen providentially like the 1648 [Ukraine] massacres or 1881 [Russia] ... Emma LAZARUS, 'detected and cultivated by [R W] EMERSON' ... from a rich old Sephardi b/g but still saw these poor Ashkenazi refugees as an opportunity to 'rebuild Jerusalem in the US AND Israel'. Her poem 'New Colossus' ['give us your tired, poor ...'] encouraged them ... and 'out of the slums of NYC ... pedlers -> big businesses (initially 'the needle trades' i.e. clothes mostly for newcomers) ... Julius ROSENWALD's Sears & Roebuck ... Benj BLOOMINGDALE's (of Bavaria) stores, ALTMAN Bros, Isidor & Nathan STRAUS who t/o R H MACY ... other families GIMBELs, STERNs, Abraham & Straus (372) ... eventually #1 became Cons, #2 Orth and #3 (former US leader) Reform (i.e. from ~80% Ref pre-1881) ... by 1910 the wealthier Synagogues were Prot-like (robes, pews ...) but w/in 5mi of those one could find synagogues where the Maharal of Prague, the Ba'al Shem Tov or even the Vilna Gaon would feel right at home (374). Also, 'every strand of secular Judaism [was represented], though [none, incl non-secular?] not yet in a position to point overwhelmingly in a particular direction [i.e. of Jewish leadership in future], let alone provide leadership for world Jewry' [hmmm, is PJ implying that secular Jews do that now?! Hope not]. But they were all becoming more organized (374 and vying for such leadership) and would eventually be 'a majority consensus by world Jews on their future'. 'The puzzle pieces were coming together: 1 American mass Jewry, then 2 the Zionist idea'. He mentions the 'Damascus incident of 1840 (374) in which Moses MONTEFIORE came to the rescue (covered above? no, maybe get more details) i.e. visited Ottoman officials in Istanbul and convinced them to free imprisoned Jews. German rabbi Zevi Hirsch KALISCHER 1795-1874 [hmmm, same name as friendly Jewish guide to Jerusalem (on TV show ?) in Jerusalem] emphasized the need for a Jewish homeland, in 1836 asked Frankfurt ROTHSCHILDs to buy land in Jerusalem (which they did). Secular Jews also dreamed of Zion e.g. Moses HESS 1812-75 (hmmm, rel. to Karl?) went from Hegelianism to socialism, like MARX, but soon rejected its 'soulless intellectualism' for Jewish nationalism (but no religion). He reasoned that Jews could be like Italy 1859 (and Germany later in 19C) and re-unify their long-fragmented nation. His bk 'Rome and Jerusalem' discusses this. Once Jews thot of colonization of the Holy Land, they naturally thot of the UK; the expert in that enterprise i.e. PALMERSTON had been (earlier) very favorable to the idea (wife daughter of Christian leader SHAFTSBURY who also loved it, incidentally, PALMERSTON et al pro-South in US Civil War 375). In India DISRAELI 'turned a commercial company into a glittering empire' 376. Botany Bay colony ceased in 1852; at least 1k Jews had been sent there (i.e. lotta crime in poor Ashkenazi slums of London). The most educated Brits were Philo-Semitic until mid-1870s (377). But then Jews became associated w/'large-scale City [of London $] manipulation'. Same on the continent, esp. in GPs Germany and Austria. In latter cases anti-Semitism was boosted, but in UK it was a new phenomenon (a reversal). This motivated the very pro-Jewish Chas WARREN to seek to solve 'the Jewish problem' w/archaeology; to encourage Jews to populate the Holy Land. Jews there had passed 10k by 1840s largely w/British help 378.

Here PJ discusses Geo ELIOT's bk Daniel Deronda. She'd been ID'd and promoted her frd R W EMERSON and the bk was inspired by her Jewish very good friend Emmanuel DEUTSCH [hmmm, o/l YT 'Jewrnal-ist' of that surname, related?] who d. of cancer. Lucian WOLF wrote in famous 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica that GE's DD novel 'gave the Jewish national spirit the strongest stimulus it had experienced since the appearance of Shabbetai Zevi' [yr?] 379. PJ says the REAL DD turned out to be Theodor HERZL (motivated by the Dreyfuss Affair, esp. DA's conviction on 1-5-1895. [3] That case and 4 HERZL's conversion to Zionism are '2 more puzzle pcs'. PJ explains that when Bismarck's Prussia took Alsace-Lorraine from France in 1870, it came with 'the largest and least popular Alsace-ian colony of German Jews', after which France was left w/only 86k Jews of ~40M pop. in France, so a much smaller proportion. 382: most people assumed France was immune to anti-Semitism until Dreyfuss i.e. blamed it on German-ness (and saw France as 'much more sophisticated'). Its true that German philologists were the 1st to distinguish 'Aryan' and 'Semitic' languages, but it was the French who popularized it e.g. GOBINEAU 1816-82 in his 1853 book. Name?'s essay on the inequality of races i.e. Aryan virtue v. Semitic & Latin 'degeneration' ... these were key to WAGNER's and Germany's anti-Semitism ... PJ next turns to Ernst RENAN's yr? bk on 'Jesus as a humanist hero' [violating CSL's rule; liar, lunatic or lord, no other options] ... the BENDA bros and REINACH bros were successful Jews (in France?) -> resentment by others i.e. Joseph R 1856-1921, Solomon R 1858-1932 and Theodore R 1860-1928 (383) ... 3 layers of French anti-Semitism; 1 pseudo-science cf DRUMONT bk, 2 envy and 3 clerical [RCC] hierarchy which was locked in endless battles w/French state 1875-1900 (in wake of secularizing French Rev of late 18C) ... RCC saw 3 main enemies (of RCC France): Protestants (soul), Freemasons and Jews (both 'body' enemies, hmmm, no mind/spirit?) 383.

- Emma LAZARUS and the NYC mass Jewry (371)

- The Zionist idea: Moses HESS (374, related to libertarian writer ? HESS?)

- Waiting for [not Godot but] Daniel DERONDA (378)

- Modern Racism, DREYFUS and the French (379)

- LAZARE, REINACH, PROUST and the rise of intellectual political power (385)

pp386-404: 'Joseph [of] Reinach, the great Jewish lawyer', Marcel PROUST 'the 1st Dreyfussard', Chas MAURRAS the leading anti-D i.e. 'in defense of army and France'. Maj PICQUART produced evidence pointing to ESTERHAZY (v. DREYFUSS in wrongdoing), but it was P who was arrested and jailed!? After D's conviction and exile to ? Island in 1898 (initial '95, appeals ...), the issue roiled France (and Europe) for 10yrs, 'for the 1st time, emergence of a distinct class of intellectuals i.e. an intelligensia [word coined at this time] as a major power in Euro society w/emancipated Jews an important, sometimes dominant, element' [L-wing]. A new issue arose; who cntls our culture?! Working class 'sat on sidelines' i.e. it was mostly an elitist fight. The Dukes of Brissac, La Rochefoucauld and Luynes (aka 'the Faubourg') were anti-D leaders, most saw 'a [PJ: mythical] secret org of Jews, freemasons and atheists aka 'the syndicate' 387-8. Strauss family (originally Halevy) were pro-D, 'the greatest of all Jewish-Prot haute-bourgeois families' 388. It was the 1st time secular Jews worked together as a class to express their shared Point of View 389. Once the Left won by 1906, it then [of course] waged 'a destructive campaign v. [anti-D] RCC 390. New media power and radical Left both created and won this conflict 389. But the price was the institutionalization of anti-Semitism in France i.e. Chas MAURRAS' League went on to become [post 1914-8 war] 'the most vicious element of the Vichy Regime of 1941-4 ... confirmed for many the existence of a Jewish conspiracy (PJ: not esp a J one) ... even HERZL feared 'the Jewish invasion of culture' in his native Vienna (worse than that in France). The French treatment of DREYFUSS pushed him toward Zionism; he'd wanted to be an Austrian playwright, but LOOKED more like a 'nasi' (Prince of Judah 391). The atheist Max NORDAU 1849-1923 joined the cause early and became the main writer of official Zionist papers (doctrines, manifestos, agreements ...). German anti-Semitism was worse in the more RCC south (Bavaria 392). The German 'folk culture' [voelkische] distinguished 'culture' [benign, organic, natural i.e. its 'soul'] from 'civilization' [corrupt, artificial, sterile, imposed by others? cosmo, alien esp in big cities]. Their 'bible' was 'Land und Leutz' (Place & People) by Munich prof Wilhelm Heinrich RIEHL 393 (anti-rootless migrant proles, pro small, medieval towns). Jewish millionaire Maurice de HIRSCH 1831-96 set up 6k Jews in a series of agricultural colonies in Argentina, the ROTHSCHILDs did same in Palestine 396. HERZL couldn't be like Maimonides i.e. change world via 'quiet words of wisdom'; he was a born showman, actor-manager in a 'production', ironically inspired by the big productions of [anti-Semite] Rich WAGNER (he often went to them in Vienna, a huge fan). Sadly, HERZL d1905 (was d. by then), wife Julia (wealthy fam, allowed hubby to focus on reading, thinking, writing ...) 3yrs later, daughter Pauline became a heroin addict, d1930 of an o/d, son Hans was treated by FREUD (depression?), suicide 1946, other daughter Trude starved in a Nazi d. camp, finally son Stephan suicide 1946 (last), wiping out the family and leaving only Zionism as TH's legacy. He wished (agonizingly) he'd begun earlier to push for Zionism, but still happened [1895-1915] 20yrs before its Arab nationalist equiv. PJ says DREYFUSS' fate 1895 can be seen in retrospect as providential, like 1648 [Ukraine pogroms] and 1881 [Russian pogroms]. By late 19C there were 3 [main] distinct Jewish traditions of central/eastern Europe; 1 hasidism of Ba'al Shem Tov, 2 'musar' or moralism of Orth Lith 'Litvaks' sages, re-invigorated by Israel SALANTER 1810-83 and spread by yeshivoth (Hebrew schools) and 3 the strain of Samson HIRSCH aka 'Torah w/Civ' i.e. elevate the age [up] to the Torah v. degrade Torah [down] to the age, so attack secularism w/its own weapons e.g. scholarship, rational thinking [about Torah], writing, disputation ... he mentions Abe Isaac KOOK 1865-1935 chief Rabbi in Jerusalem.

- HERZL and German anti-Semitism (391)

- Der Judenstaat and the Zionist movement (396)

- The Ostjuden and WEIZMANN (399)

- The religious opposition to Zionism (402)

- The German-Jewish love-affair: COHEN, ROSENZWEIG and RATHENAU (405)

pp404-23: PJ shows how most German Jews felt a strong attachment to the German culture, almost like it was aligned w/historic Jewish thinking, esp. the rational (v. irrational) strain of Jewish thinking. There were 'few able German Jews who didn't draw nourishment and delight from KANT & HEGEL' and other German thinkers. They felt Germany was headed toward #1 status in both industry and intellectual achievement, so wanted to be part of that, worked HARD to do so. It was even thot by many that any 'top performer' must be from Jewish roots e.g. ROSSINI, Johann STRAUSS Sr WAS the son of a baptized Jewish innkeeper in Budapest, WAGNER worried he might be Jewish, but unwarranted. Jacques HaLEVI 1794-1862 famous composer of La Juive 1835, dau Genevieve later a famous hostess m. dad's best student Georges BIZET, author of Carmen, most popular French opera, JH's nephew Ludovic H wrote the libretto for it, and JH' great nephew Elie H was the celebrated historian (409). FREUD 'detested modernism in almost all its forms' (412). PJ says from 1860-1914 'public resistance to modernism grew' to a breaking point [WWI]. Most shocking to many was the acceptance of immorality in public venues. FREUD highly valued Karl JUNG as the 1st non-Jewish 'freudian' i.e. he KNEW he'd need more of those to avoid the appearance of his methods as just being 'a Jewish thing' (416-7, pulled strings to make KJ leader after himself i.e. before their big 'breakup'). PJ insightfully says Freudianism, like Marxism and Kabbalah, was 'systems of superstition', really pseudo-religions, that were able to 'shape-shift' to accommodate ANY type of unwelcome or inconvenient new facts (415). Jewish lit. phil. Lionel TRILLING 1905-75 (420, called cons-ism 'a series of irritable mental gestures'). PJ says its not totally fair to link modernist 'new thinking' w/Jews, since most Orthodox were VERY opposed to it (still are). But its true that 'the Jewish psyche' (esp. rationalizing 'Maimonides' strain) has a radical tendency to develop a new 'theory of everything' (and willingness to 'throw away all that came before' and replace it w/new theory) like EINSTEIN tried so hard to do (and physicists are still trying). But EINSTEIN, unlike most others, was willing to accept 'enduring mystery' and that some things may never be fully understood by humans (his version of religion). FREUD viewed religion as 'made up' (though he created a new one, and fit the profile for a 'founder a new religion' incl punishing challengers e.g. JUNG).

Freud claimed on 7-24-1875 39yo (+3 from typical Jewish 36yo 'key year') he was 'given the secret meaning of dreams', thot there should be a plaque re that at his Vienna address of the time.

- The Jews and modernist culture (408)

- MAHLER, SCHOENBERG and music (409)

- BAKST, [Mark] CHAGALL and Jewish vision (410)

- FREUD: the modern Jewish gnostic (412)

- EINSTEIN and the Jewish rationalist spirit (418)

- KAFKA and the lost souls (420)

pp420-38: Einstein and Freud [and Darwin], at least in popular perception, struck a devastating blow at the (formerly) absolute certainties of Judeo-Chr ethics [Truth], in which E, at any rate, profoundly believed. In many dark minds another heavy debt was 'added to Jewish accounts'; E's theory of relativity often confused [lumped in] w/moral relativity. Confronted w/these seemingly outrageous theories, many gave up trying to keep up w/scientific discoveries. Jewish literary light Lionel TRILLING said it was felt by many as a wound to our intellectual self-esteem, humiliating, silencing, introduced a certain dubiety and alienation [-> cons as 'irritable mental gestures'] and led to an 'arms race' between progs and cons and a feeling of bewilderment and anxiety ['A World on Edge' bk re post-WWI thot currents FHL]. The yearning for remembered certitudes is one of the great engines of PROUST's 'A Remembrance of Lost Time' classic. Also KAFKA: the entire governing principle [of the universe] appears to be incomprehensible displacement'; one of his stories ends w/'I am here, more than that I don't know' ... no rudder ... driven by wind ... blows to uttermost regions of death'. Modernist composer Arnold SCHOENBERG felt the same. Also poet Hans DAVIDSOHN's (aka Jacob von HODDIS) 'World's End' 1910. It begins 'The hat flies off the bourgeois' head' (i.e. not in charge anymore) and sums up modernism. For reasons which now seem obscure, its enemies reduced it to 'incoherent rage'. HD went insane 1914, 'followed by virtually the whole of Europe' [in 2 WW's]. Out of all this 'the prospects for and predicament of Jews were drastically transformed'.

Pt 6 Holocaust 423

... continued from above: PM Asquith speech 11-9-1914 just after Ottoman Empire joined the Axis powers, in his opinion 'committing suicide', he said UK will keep its 100m Muslims (in Brit Emp) from joining the jihad, so UK will now [at last, long 'the sick man of Europe'] seek to break up the Ottoman Empire and give freedom to its peoples. In doing this, he (unconsciously, unintentionally) made it possible (even likely) for a Jewish state to emerge. At the time, however, the notion that Jews would benefit from a German loss [in WWI] would've struck most Jews as absurd. They saw their mortal enemy as tsarist Russia, which Germany was now fighting ('trying to tear to pieces'). Also, they assumed Jewish cultural leadership was German Jewish-ness [i.e. that these 2 were 'in harmony', a special resonance]. Except EINSTEIN, that is, almost the only exception. The German defeat of Russia at Tannenberg allowed the German army to push into Russian Poland aka 'the Pale'. Jews hailed this, incl. later PM M BEGIN's dad Ze'ev Dov B (says PM's sis Mrs ? HALPERIN). Meanwhile, the withdrawing Russians (vindictively) drove the Jews into Siberia ... while German troops treated the Jews well, giving food to all, candy to kids ... German was the official language of Zionism and un-officially in the Holy Land (majority language there). The Berlin Zionist ofc was seen as HQ of Z-ism and most of Islam also wanted a German protectorate over Jews. Many believe it was the large Jewish community of (Greek) Salonika which had helped push Turkey into war on the German side. Obviously these all viewed Germany as the inevitable winner. Only a few (e.g. WEIZMANN, who'd t/o as Zionist leader after HERZL d.) saw the immense significance of the Brit decision to carve up the Ottoman Empire, W's childhood home in Motal (Ukraine) had featured pics on the wall of both Maimonides (rational Judaism) and Baron HIRSCH [both indicating pro-UK? cf p425 Cosima WAGNER story]. This small town was in the Pripet Marsh area, a very trad. part of Ukraine. W became a Brit subject in 1910 (after studying chemistry there). He found his life-task in (Univ of) Manchester; to exploit the Brit Emp and the goodwill of its ruling class to bring a Jewish national home into existence (Z-ism). He always saw the Brits as 'genuinely tolerant and fair-minded, loving freedom and justice' (their own story). W met C P SCOTT, the powerful editor of the Guardian newspaper (425), which then led to W meeting Lancash pols BALFOUR, CHURCHILL and Jewish Lib MP Herbert SAMUEL (who'd been to Balliol, 'that nest of atheism, and lost his faith there, though remaining outwardly conformist, attending synagogue ...'). HS met w/For. Sec'y Sir Edw GREY to discuss a possible Jewish home i.e. can't incl Beirut or Damascus, since these had large non-Jewish populations, so perhaps they should go to France (i.e. better than [as?] Turkey neighbors) ... so this was the origin of the secret Sykes-Picot ME 'carve-up' plan to divide the region [post-WWI] between UK and France. Brits would get Palestine, trans-Jordan and Iraq, French Syria-Lebanon. Asquith said 'Lloyd George cares nothing for Jews, only wants to keep the 'agnostic, atheist French out of the [Chr] Holy Places'. PJ later says he was wrong about this; LG was actually Philo-Semitic AND Zionist, even a 'Bible Thumper', not to mention a Welsh Patriot with sympathy for fellow small-nation cause seekers. War Minister Lord KITCHENER (the only minister who'd actually BEEN there) said 'Palestine would be of NO use to us' (427, so a skeptic). But when he was drowned in Russia, LG t/o as War Min. Asquith was 'a drawing room anti-Semite' 426. 428: Then in Jan 1917 the Tsarist regime collapsed, just as Brits began Palestine conquest and provisional PM Kerensky ends Russian anti-Semite Code. At the end of that month, Germany began its policy of 'unrestricted submarine warfare', making US entry into the war inevitable. And this all triggered worldwide Jewish support for the Allies v. Axis [hugely influential]. 430: at the time of the Balfour declaration, there were ~600k residents in Palestine, of which ~85-100k were Jewish.

- The 1st World War and the Jews (423)

- WEIZMANN and the British establishment (424)

- ROTHSCHILD and the Balfour Declaration (429)

- The Jewish settlements of Palestine (431)

- JABOTINSKY and Jewish self-defense (433)

- The rise of Arab nationalism (434 i.e. 20yrs after Zionism)

- The Mandate, Samuel and the mufti (436)

p438-450: WEIZMANN: 'I'm not [generally] romantic, except that Jews must always be romantic, for the them reality is too terrible' (427). Unfortunately, the (Palestine) Mandate was born in the Versailles era, a time when it was widely assumed that universal ideals and the ties of human brotherhood could outclass the more ancient and primitive sources of discord (i.e. idealism 439, as 1948 approached that idealism was wearing thin). David ben GURION statement of need for human 'will, passion, energy' p442 reminded me of R&L 'Puritans' issue p25 citation of Puritan pastors 'using metaphors to fit the Bible and social experience, [by/while] influencing the separate faculties of the soul - the will, imagination, affections, understanding ... JABOTINSKI favored population growth 'as fast as possible' vs. WEIZMANN and ben GURION's 'only 1 of several goals' and, 'it must be said, in retrospect, that he had a stronger instinct for ugly realities than either of the other 2' i.e. understood they MUST have a strong majority, couldn't count on 'good feelings' of minorities in Palestine. In the 1920s the Jewish pop. in Palestine doubled to 160k. PJ discusses the internal battles between the religious Mizrachi v. mostly secular Zionists (440-5). Mapai is the Zionist Labor Party, while Histadrut is the Zionist trade union movement, which became a major land/property owner, pillar of Zionist est., and active promoter of agricultural and industrial projects (infrastructure). The Revisionists were non-socialist e.g. JABOTINSKI (often called 'fascist') and anti-Mapai (along w/Mizrachi and other non-socialist Zionists). 446: PJ mentions Chaim ARLOSOROFF's ass. by R 'fascists' near Tel Aviv seashore (cf Genius & Anxiety notes in Marcus.html). 448: ref to Robt WISTRICH's bk History of Jewish Socialism. Einstein was nearly the only prominent Jew to see that Jews should side w/Allies v. Germany (Axis), and also feared 'a narrow-minded nationalism' in Palestine (446).

- Jewish emigration under the Mandate (440 i.e. Brits tried to throttle to stay on good terms w/Arab oil interests)

- [David] Ben GURION and socialist Zionism (441)

- Inter-war British policy (443)

- [Rosa] LUXEMBOURG, [Leon] TROTSKY and non-Jewish Jews (448)

pp450-80: LENIN said Jewishness stands in the way of proletarian revolution and (oddly) many thousands of Jews bought into this thinking, esp. highly educated and intelligent ones !? ... they sought liberation from BOTH J-ness and autocracy (which they'd experienced in Russia) ... these ['self-hating Jews'] were prominent in ALL revolutionary parties just before, during and after WWI ... their identity [led to?] insurrection in both Germany and Austria [1918-]. Bela KUN 1886-1939 (Jewish?), dictator of Hungary Mar-Aug 1919, Kurt EISNER 1867-1919 led the revolutionary rising in Bavaria Nov '18 and ran the resulting republic until ass. 4mos later. Rosa LUXEMBURG 1871-1919 was the brains behind the Spartacist group in Berlin until her ass. a few weeks before EISNER's. But esp. in Russia: Jews were 'spectacularly associated' w/revolutionary violence. The Jewish Leon TROTSKY (b. Lev Davidovich BRONSTEIN) 1879-1940 was the son of a 'kulak' (Ukraine farmer), but 'a product of Odessa' i.e. cosmopolitan, taught at Lutheran school (pumped w/W leftist ideas). Tho he claimed indifference to his Jewishness, 'there was something unnatural, close to hatred' in his behavior toward them'. His own dad lost everything in the revolution, dying of typhoid (son's response, 'whatever'). Bolshevik success would've been unlikely w/o him i.e. his 'volcanic energy and ruthlessness' as a revolutionary. The resulting Russian civil war (bourgeois white Mensheviks v. commie red Bolshies) came close to destroying it. It was TROTSKY who especially cemented the perception of the (Bolshie) revolution as a Jewish phenomenon. The consequence of the rev. for Jews was appalling [Satanic?]. Whites treated ALL Jews as enemies. Ukraine experienced the most extensive pogrom in Jewish history to that time; 60-70k killed. Also esp. bad in Poland after the failure of the Bolshie invasion there and in Hungary after the fall of the Bela KUN regime. Rumania on/off [pogroms] in 1920s. Lithuania remains safe [for Jews] until '39 since Soviets didn't dare annex it until then. Perhaps 300k Jews escaped to Poland, the Baltics, Turkey and the Balkans. LENIN invented the term 'bagmen' i.e. 'exploiters and profiteers' (though he initially saw anti-Semitism as counter-revolutionary 452). Though commie leaders were 15-20% 'non-Jewish Jews' [maskils?], regular, traditional, observant, unpolitical Jews gained nil from the revolution; in fact they were a key victim group (e.g. the Bund, a key org of theirs). By 1917 Russian Zionism was much stronger than Bolshevism (in #'s v. power). STALIN was deeply anti-Semitic.

- The case of Isaac BABEL (454)

PJ mentions Isaac BABEL 1894-1940? ass. by regime likely that year. He was perhaps the only great Jewish writer the Russian Rev. produced. He'd tried to be a heartless killer, but just couldn't, learning that armed non-Jewish Judaism doesn't work. The great mass of Russian Jews were either assimilationist or Zionist v. 'non-J Jews' small numbers. Nevertheless, a common anti-Semitic theme is how Jews supposedly secretly work behind the scenes to dominate the world. This belief is inherent in the medieval blood libel and reached written form on numerous occasions, and now again in 1890s Paris as a pamphlet written in 1864 by Maurice JOLY (Jewish? but NO ref. to Jews) was rewritten (forged), substituting for the original Napoleon III's 'world-dominating ambition' a secret conference of Jewish leaders ... who, by exploiting modern democracy, are coming closer to attaining their objective of world domination. This eventually became The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, 1st published 1905. But the Tzar didn't buy it, and it was little-noted at that time. But after the Russian Oct Rev of 1917, it got a BIG boost in attn (? as theory behind cause of it, or perhaps by commies as theory behind W 'imperialism'?). PJ says G K CHESTERTON and Hilaire BELLOC tended anti-Semitic, identifying Germany as 'enemy' (w/Jews contributing? cf HB's bk published at JUST the wrong time, after anti-Sem 'back broken' at least in UK). PJ says in UK anti-Semitism was 'only a drawing room v. a street phenom'. GKC and HB were very angry that LENIN took Russia OUT of WWI (as intended by Germans sending him to St Pete to foment rev) so their main focus was WINNING THAT WAR. But the Jewish response in UK was 'wow, can't say anymore that there's no anti-Semitism in UK, the country that loved the Bible above all' (457 :-( ). Thankfully, The Times of London in Aug 1921 finally demonstrated that 'Protocols' was a forgery. In France, MAURRAS' Action Francaise WAS anti-Semitic (458). And while Jews EINSTEIN created (discovered) the cosmology of the 20C and FREUD its characteristic mental assumptions, it was the (Jewish-led) cinema which provided its universal popular culture (463). PJ says Th EDISON created the 1st movie camera in 1888, hoping it would advance 'realism' v. 'the lore of the East', but there wasn't much interest for the next 10yrs by 'the educated middle class'. Walter LIPPMANN 1889-1974 newspaper seer downplayed his Jewishness i.e. 'don't be conspicuous' he advised, just as Bernard BARUCH 1870-1965 had done in his day

PJ asks 'how could sophisticated, world-leading' Germany be resp. for the catastrophe of WWI/II?! He gives 3 reasons; 1 the need for a scapegoat (despair at WWI loss), 2 the cult of (normalization of) violence (post-WWI despondent ex-soldiers) and 3 radical students (me: signature of Left). In 1919-22 there were 376 pol. ass. in Germany. 'Enraged people, especially if inarticulate and incapable of replying in kind [to criticism], may turn to violence or vote for those who will' (476). According the 'Frankfurt School' leader Walter BENJAMIN, MARX found the Jewish tradition 'irrational and gnostic', belonged to works? ? ? (can't read notes!? 480) ... In most minds, Weimar was born in defeat and unavoidably linked to it (477) ... actor Peter LORRE Jewish (479) ... the only Weimar manifestation which to some extent fit the anti-Semitic stereotype of 'cult Bolshevism' was the (obscure) Frankfurt Institute (479) ... Weimar Germany used proportional representation, which unfortunately allows radical parties to win e.g. Nazis ... unlike UK's '1st past the post' system (477) ... Many accuse Jews of 'cult Bolshevism (Marxism)' ... ... p480 reread and note, key = bourgeoisie

- The Protocols [of the Elders of Zion] and the consequences of Jewish Bolshevism (455)

- In Britain (456)

- In France (457)

- In America (459)

- [Louis] BRANDEIS [1st Jewish SCJ] and the Supreme Court (460)

- Jews on Broadway and in Hollywood (462)

- Jews in crime (466 e.g. 'Bugsy' SIEGAL ...)

- [Bernard] BARUCH and high finance (467, big frd of x x x cf Brokaw)

- [journo Walter] LIPPMANN and Jewish invisibility (468 i.e. many tried to downplay their J roots)

- Jews in postwar [WWI] Germany (470)

- HITLER's anti-Semitism (471)

- Students, academics and Jews (474)

- Jews, media violence and Weimar culture (475)

- The case of Walter BENJAMIN (479)

pp480-500: Walter BENJAMIN 1892-1940 48yo suicide and famous historian Gershom SCHOLEM (wrote story behind Fiddler on the Roof) were great friends 479 ... ADORNO ended up publishing WB's works in '55 ... key Frankfurt School leaders were Theodor ADORNO, Max HORKHEIMER, Herbert MARCUSE, Erich FROMM and Franz NEUMAN ... they preached a humanist version of Marxism in which the culture assumed a greater importance than practical politics ... Jewish attitudes and concepts undoubtedly played a role in their work ... they were fascinated by Marx's theory of alienation and acutely conscious of the importance of psychoanalysis and in various ways sought to Freudianize Marxism ... also tried to demonstrate (by Marxist means) how socio-economic assumptions determined what most people thot of as cultural absolutes [so cultural relativists]. This was highly subversive and, though in the 20s and 30s even not many Germans had heard of them, by the 1950s was proving very influential worldwide. WB is the most famous alum, and his thot revolved around 2 basic Jewish concepts; Revelation and Redemption (explained by GS in compiling his friend's work after latter's death). Pre-1914, WB's 'messiah force' was 'youth' 480, but postwar (i.e. disillusioned) it became 'literature' (e.g. Torah, though he'd lost his rel. faith, he saw the words themselves as having 'mystical' power ...). WB coined the phrase 'the creative omnipotence of language', so he belonged to the 'irrational and gnostic Jewish tradition' (480 says PJ) like MARX and FREUD, detecting 'deep, secret [esoteric] and life-explaining meaning beneath the veneer of existence'. Later 'literature' became 'history' [e.g. BHO's 'arc of history bends toward ...' (prog priorities) so 2.5 or 3?]. PJ says 'gnosticism is the most insidious form of irrationalism, esp to intellectuals' ... WB's version influenced both Claude LEVI-STRAUSS's anthropology and Norm CHOMSKY's language studies ... and WB's thinking 'expanded into Structuralism, a major force from the 1950s on. He showed the ruling class's manipulation of 'history' to perpetuate its own needs, illusions and deceits [wow, I just heard David BROOKS in a YT vid 2-3 days ago admit that 'intellectual elites' (including himself) had done many good things, but 3 big bad things; 1 rigged society to benefit themselves (make sure they always come out on top), 2 subjectivized morality, thus killing society, belonging, community, solidarity ... i.e. quoted journo Walter LIPPMANN: if morality comes down to individual feeling-ism then we've stepped out of civilization and 3 created DJT and the MAGA movement (which DB hates, says 'don't hitch your wagon to THAT star').

- HITLER in power and anti-Semitic dualism (482)

As the scene darkened in the '30s, WB turned his own cultural version of Marxism itself into his 3rd 'messiah' ... ironic that, though the very smart WB saw this as 'scientific historic materialism' [objective], it was really just (says PJ) 'a product of Judaic irrationality - the old tale of how intensely spiritual people, who can no longer believe in God, find ingenious [pointy-headed] substitutes for rel. dogmas 481 ... but w/o the [traditional] rel. framework, he was (and felt) lost ... fled to Paris '33 after HITLER t/o ... by late '39 tried going to Spain (France falling) but got stuck at the border, a best friend having recently committed suicide (and TUCHOLSKY and many other Jewish intellectuals having also done so) ... WB seems to have seen (in his last days) suicide as a form of 'redemption thru death, the Christ-Messiah' ... so he k. himself and was bur. at the Port-Bou cemetery, which overlooks the sea, w/no friends present at the burial ... but years later in 1940 Hannah ARENDT (friend? fan?) looked for the grave and it was gone [?! removed by Nazi's?] and never identified. Tho WB became in the long run THE most influential of all of the Weimar cultural innovators, few in Germany had then heard of him at that time ... so Nazi accusations that Jews 'ran the Weimar culture' weren't totally untrue [conspiracy theories]. Jews DID run minor pubs which had outsized influence, they were NOT in charge of mainstream outlets in big cities Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. 481 PJ says the Jewish ones WERE the most influential culturally. And sadly, 'the accusation of Jewish cultural dictatorship was an important weapon in HITLER's campaign to create a real one'. All the same, the Nazi's never would've been able to succeed if not for the Great Depression. Germany was hit worse than any other nation except the USA ... low point in both was summer '32 to summer '33, and 'the villains' became ruling GOP in US and lib. Weimar est. in Germany ... Germany voted 11/6, 2 days before FDR won 11/8 [me: in both cases, the 'bad guys' won]. The Nazi's got 33.1% of vote (down from Jul), leading to deadlock and HITLER t/o on 1/30. PJ says US Jews switched from their trad GOP (and socialism !?) allegiance to Dems 85-90% ... in both countries there was 'an angry desire for change'. HITLER then spent Feb-Mar consolidating his power. PJ says there was 'a cruel element of blind chance' [or Satan?] involved in these developments, like the books 'a series of unfortunate events' ...

HITLER's anti-Semitism was a mix of 'emotional loathing and cool reasoning' 483 and this emerged in his regime as well e.g. the spontaneous, emotional, un-controlled street violence of pogroms by the Brownshirts and the cool, systematic, legal and regulated violence of the state' (HIMMLER's SS and police, courts ... deep state). PJ discusses HITLER's published talk with Maj Josef HELL, in which H laid out the need for BOTH of these tactics, and PJ says H was brilliant in tacking back and forth as necessary, had an intuitive ability to shift as needed, paying close attn to public feeling and what would 'work'. Like Pat BUCHANAN, PJ says H was an opportunist, sensed openings ... at 1st H realized he couldn't go all out v. rich, influential Jews since that would disrupt the econ strength of Germany, so at 1st he relied mostly on informal thug violence while 'disavowing' it publicly (but doing nil to stop it [like his ideological cousins in US Left and Deep State]). His approach was eerily like that of 14-5C Spain; rabble-rousing Vicente FERRER (GOEBBELS) and cool, implacable TORQUEMADA (HIMMLER). Later H 'turned off' GOEBBELS and 'turned on' HIMMLER's more systematic approach (PJ says he ALWAYS gave verbal orders, rarely written, and almost certainly gave DIFFERENT orders to these 2 sub-leaders i.e. NOT being straight w/them). PJ quotes HIMMLER as saying he's never heard H discuss GOEBBELs type ops, not sure he even knew about them, HIMMLER viewed G as a power-hungry climber (and rival). By ye1932 there were ~500k Brownshirts. So '33-5 the Brownshirts were leading the charge, but in summer '35 came the infamous Nuremberg (rallies? then?) 9/15 Decrees, converting the informal anti-Semitism of the former to the more legal, formal anti-S of latter. PJ says this was the original Nazi program of anti-Semitism. HIMMLER opened the 1st conc camp (Dachau NW of Munich) just 7wks after HITLER t/o so c9/1/33. Tho the 9/15 ND seemed to promise to Jews a legal (if lowly) status, Jews and others missed HITLER's warning (in writing or just verbal, implied?) that 'if these measures don't work or break down, it might be necessary to hand the problem over to the Nazi Party for a final solution' (uh oh). PJ says that, in fact, that final solution was already being assembled in '33 485. HIMMLER's SS was built up and 'had no parallel outside STALIN's Russia' (Cheka?). By '38 the econ power of Jews in Germany had been destroyed, the legal attack v. them had been 'built on the plinth of the ND laws'. By that time >200k had fled but the econ was strong even w/o them. By then HITLER was tying to make his anti-Semitism an international effort, having 'solved' it in Germany but seeing a worldwide anti-Nazi effort being assembled by Jews and others (he viewed FDR as a focal point for Jewish resistance to his plan). He discussed this theme in speeches, beginning after the Anschluss.

An e.g. of what he worried about was the 11-9=38 ass. of a Nazi diplomat in Paris by Jewish Hershel GRYNSZPAN. HITLER now ramped up his 'dualist technique' (official AND unofficial violence) which led to Kristallnacht not after the Paris ass. Here's when PJ says HITLER told HIMMLER and GOEBBELS opposite things, and when Kristallnacht upset the German populace, he switched tactics from 'unofficial' ('stand down') to official via HIMMLER ('ramp it up'). In this say, says PJ, HITLER 'turned a pogrom into a genocide'. HITLER noticed that in peacetime, 'open, widespread, physical violence v. Jews was not acceptable to the German people', but he knew that in wartime ... exigencies would make not only violence but more secrecy possible ... so, as PJ says, 'HITLER willed the war to destroy the Jews' 488, and not just in Germany, but also (once war began) in Poland and Russia (where the bulk of Europe's Jews lived). PJ says this was a key goal of HITLER's from the beginning, to destroy Europe's Jews aka solve 'the Jewish problem' ... running out of paper but more notes: 490 regular German army disliked SS, so kept notes on their mass killing ops (still available) ... 492 'final solution' begin 9-1-39 (attack Poland day, right?) 'since a Jewish victory meant the Bolshevization of society (how HITLER viewed Weimar) ... 497 'macht frei' was just 1 of many euphemisms for 'k. Jews' i.e. it was characteristic of Germans (soldiers and civilians) to use 'ironic humor' in describing these awful ops (which PJ says most Germans knew about) ... 492 signed orders rare, HITLER usually gave verbal only ... 493 gas k. 80-100k Jews in Germany but was stopped Aug '41 due to church complaints, only occurrence of church preventing killing ... 494 The Einsatzgruppen were mobile killing battalions using carbon monoxide or Zyklon-B to k. large numbers of Jews, 4 battalions A-D led by names (1 a Prot pastor!?) numbers k. (70k 50k 30k ?) ... 500 PJ says Austrians were worse than Germans, more anti-Semitic, but still 1 Germany k. the most, 2 Austria, 3 Romania ... mentions a Hans RAUTER in Austria who was a leading killer ... wow, dark.

- The steps toward the Holocaust (484)

- Wartime: starving and working to death (488)

- Origins of the extermination program (492)

- Mobile mass killing (494)

Wow, just this morning (We 7-2-25) I read name of guy who invented these mobile units in Econ mag of 5-10-25 issue ... !?

- The death camps (495)

- Role of the German people (498)

- The Austrians, the Rumanians, the French, the Italians (499)

- The role of the British and Americans (503)

pp500-19: wow, ugly time ... with (Vichy) French help, HITLER k. 90k or 26% of French Jews (of 75k deported only 2.5k survived the war). HITLER's Italian ally was fortunately much less cooperative in that way, also Jews were much more integrated in Italian society (we could add that MUSSOLINI never hated Jews, also unlike Germans, Italians only 'kinda sorta' followed directives from on high), KoI Victor Emannuel III told HERZL 'Jews are full-blown Italians'; 2 Italian PMs and 1 war minister were Jews. MUSSOLINI became a protector of Jews after HITLER t/o (Stefan ZWEIG called him 'wunderbar M' 501). M later 'wishy washy' on the issue but in any case there was 'little popular support for anti-Semitism' in Italy. Italy surrendered to Germany 1943 (by then 1/2 controlled by German troops). A notable French Jewish survivor was Bernard BERENSON, the intensely bookish son of a Lithuanian rabbinical family and top writer (expert?) on Italian Renaissance painting. Here my notes sparse (ran out of paper) and REALLY dark stuff ... despite local resistance, Nazis managed to k. 58k of 60k Jews there, Belgium 40k/65k, Neth 105k/140k ... while the Finns, though a German ally, managed to withhold their 2k Jews (i.e. save from destruction). (Nazi-occupied?) Danes sent 5k (nearly ALL Jews there) Jews to (Allied?) Sweden to protect them. In Hungary ('last' ?) 21.7k J were k. while 596k were deported, of which 117k survived (502). PJ says the UK was the least anti-Semitic of the GPs. In America, he says, 35-40% would've backed anti-Semitic laws. He wonders why only 21k Jews were admitted during the war, just 10% of the allowed quota (504). He says they were viewed as threats; #3 behind only 1 Japs and 2 Germans (perhaps associated w/subversive ideologies in many minds?). 513: 1st Nuremberg trials 11-20-45 to 10-1-46, ending on Day of Atonement, 12 sentenced to d., 3 life, 4 prison, 5 acquitted (22 total, list cf file?). Then came 12 more such trials (all at Nuremberg? 2-13) in which 177 convicted, 12 k., 25 life, the rest shorter prison sentences. PJ says other such 'trials' occurred up until recent times (when most all participants are gone). Also mentions ongoing efforts to return Jewish property to families from which it was stolen. 517: WWI made Zionism possible, WWII made it essential.

- Jewish acquiescence and resistance (506)

- The survival of anti-Semitism (512)

- Punishing the criminals (513, went on for years ...)

- Compensating the victims (514)

Pt 7: Zion 519

3-11-25 read 1st few pp of this ...

- Catastrophe and providence in Jewish history (519)

- Britain and the Zionist State (520)

pp519-24: The 1939 White Paper had, in effect, repudiated the Balfour Declaration i.e. no predominantly Jewish Palestine allowed ... 520: Ben GURION: 'we must fight HITLER as though there were no White Paper, and fight White Paper as though there were no HITLER' i.e. 1 defeat HITLER, 2 remove objection to Jewish Isreal from WWII's 3 winners; UK (1st since 'power in possession'), US and USSR ... El Alamein in late 1942 removed the German threat from the Middle East ... but Brits (leaders) did NOT want 'a coherent Jewish army' (since postwar it could then 'determine events on the ground' i.e. precisely what M BEGIN et al demanded) ... but CHURCHILL was very stubborn (and popular) and managed to get his way 521 ... PJ 521: another Jewish contributed to the shape of the modern world: the scientific use of terror to break the will of liberal rulers, this was another 'byproduct of the Holocaust' and esp. Menachem BEGIN was expert at this (though he refused outright murder or assassination). This explains 'how could superpower UK lose in Palestine?' ... Many regular Brits wanted Jews to succeed but most leaders saw it as strategic threat i.e. upset relations with neighboring Arab countries from which UK got LOTS of oil (and imperial gdp) ... BEGIN had a rough background in Ukraine, would NOT be intimidated like most others, NEVER broke down under 'interrogation' but grimly vowed (privately) to settle score, his own dad was shot while digging graves for friends k. by Nazis (so very personal). He took over control of Irgun Dec '43 (aft joining anti-Nazi Ukraine? army and making his way to Palestine). PJ says there were basically 3 groups in Palestine (Jews): 1 WEIZMANN et al who viewed UK as having 'British good faith', 2 Ben GURION who was skeptical of that view but agreed must stick with UK until war over i.e. 1st priority and 3 Irgun and other more extreme groups (Stern gang, Shamir, Jabotinsky ...) ... BEGIN viewed Haganah (Israel [leftwing] labor union) as too passive, Stern gang as too crude, vicious, dumb ... he saw that his enemy was not UK but only 'the Brit admin in Palestine' (~100k Brits there v. ~600k Jews in Palestine at the time). Remember, UK ruled 1/4 of Earth's surface in 1945! So when Brits insisted on limiting Jewish immigration he aided smuggling and took other covert actions ... most infamously disobeying Jabotinsky's order for ceasefire w/Brits to bomb the King David Hotel where many Brit (and Arab) leaders were staying. His intent was not to kill but to drive the Brits out. He even had a young girl call in a warning of the bomb a short time before, but still many d. and were badly hurt. So he 'threaded the needle' between outright terrorism and intimidation. He was obviously more committed than the Brits were, who pulled out when? (not long aft bombing?). The Jewish armed forced formed in late WWII (Sep '44) went on to form the core of what later became the IDF, and PJ says it was 'critical to Israel's success 4yrs later in '48 (just as Brit leaders had feared). So BEGIN was a key figure in these successes.

- [Menachem] BEGIN and Jewish terrorism (521)

- The British abdicate (524)

524-50 with some review ... Haganah would NOT employ terror in any form 523. It would only support 'plausibly military' ops. Menachem BEGIN (MB) also always rejected murder e.g. cold-blooded killings by Stern-ists of 6 Brit paratroopers in their beds on 4-26-46. But MB WAS willing to take 'moral risks' as well as physical ones. How else could the Promised Land be secured but by Joshua, who didn't shy away from bloody work ('wet work')? And was not the book of Joshua a disturbing record of how far the Israelites were prepared to go to conquer the land that was theirs by divine command? MB was a leading figure in 2 episodes which were instrumental in inducing the Brits to quit Palestine. 1st on 6-29-46, the Brits did a dawn raid on the Jewish Agency (pseudo govt), ~2718 Jews arrested. Object was to produce a more moderate Jewish leadership. Fail. Opposite happened; since MB's grp Irgun was untouched by the raid, it strengthened his hand ('see how the Brits treat you who try to work w/them?'). He then got Haganah to agree to blow up the K David Hotel, were part of the Brit admin was housed. The agreed objective was to humiliate, not kill. But the RISK of mass murder was enormous. WEIZMANN heard of it and threatened to resign and tell all. H told MB to call it off but he refused. At lunch 7-22-46 t-6min (planned) ~700# of high explosives demolished 1 wing of the KDH, k. 28 Brits, 41 Arabs, 17 Jews and 5 others. A 16yo schoolgirl gave a warning phone call as part of the plan. Conflicting reports on what happened next; MB always insisted that adequate warning was given and blamed Brit authorities for the deaths. He mourned ONLY the Jewish casualties. But PJ says, c'mon, surely those who PLANT explosives must be held responsible for any resulting deaths!? That was the view of the local Jewish establishment. H ldr Moshe SNEH was forced to resign. The Jewish Resistance Movement then broke into its parts (hardcore, moderate, soft) ... but Brits DID end up eventually leaving and this was 1 key cause. They proposed a tri-partate division of Palestine (Jewish, Arab, international), but both Jews and Arabs rejected it. Then on 2-14-47 Brit for. sec'y BEVIN announced UK planned to hand the Palestine problem over to the UN. But since they didn't leave immediately, the terror tactics cont'd. A further episode (2nd) proved decisive; though MB opposed outright Sternist-type ass., but did insist on Irgun's moral right to punish members of the local Brit armed forces just as they did likewise to his people. Since Brit policy was to flog and hang convicts, MB (Irgun) would do the same to them. In Apr '47 3 Irgun men were tried/convicted for attacking the Acre fortress, which resulted in freeing 251 Jewish prisoners. MB threatened that, if the sentence was carried out, he'd respond in kind. It was 7/29. So a few hours later, 2 Brit Sgt's (Clifford MARTIN and Mervyn PAICE) were captured and hanged by Irgun leader Gidi [Gideon] PAGLIN. MB also had their bodies mined, horrifying many Jews (years later it came out that MARTIN's own mom was Jewish). This caused 'unrestrained fury' in UK. The Derby synagogue was burned down and there were anti-Semitic riots in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester ... the 1st since the 13C. Also, while Brits had originally planned to remain in Pal. to prevent Arabs from (inevitable) 'wholesale slaughter' of Jews, in their rage they now decided 'to hell with them', we're leaving ASAP (i.e. renouncing the 'Mandate', to end 5-15-48 527). So MB's plan succeeded but at enormous 'appalling' risk. These risks depended somewhat on the willingness of GPs USA and Russia to intervene. PJ says Israel was saved thru 'luck or providence according to one's taste'.

The 1st providential factor was FDR's d. 4-12-45. In his last weeks he'd turned into an anti-Zionist, esp. after meeting w/K Saud sometime after the Yalta Conference. Pro-Zionist asst to FDR David NILES: I sincerely doubt Israel would've come into being if FDR had lived. TRUMAN was much more straightforwardly pro-Zionist (for both emotional and pragmatic reasons), and also less assured of the Jewish vote in upcoming '48 elections than FDR would've been. TRUMAN vigorously backed the 2nd UN proposal of separate Jewish and Arab states with an intl zone for Jerusalem (the 1st and minority UN plan was for 'a federated bi-national state'). The famous UN vote was 11-29-47: 33 yes, 13 no, 10 abstentions so 56 total) ... USSR, Arabs and intl Left later came to see Israel as 'a capitalist-imperialist conspiracy', but PJ says 'the facts show the reverse' i.e. neither US nor Brit DoS, DoD were in favor, instead forseeing disaster. e.g. US DoD leader James FORRESTAL (read elsewhere he committed suicide over ?): no (foreign) group should be permitted to influence our policy to the point of endangering our national security (i.e. America 1st, sensible, Tucker makes same point today). Brit and US oil companies were even MORE opposed; feared Israel would endanger their privileged access to the Arab oilfields. 1 oil CEO said this issue 'has extinguished US moral prestige and destroyed Arab faith in our ideals'. PJ: NO powerful econ interest in either US or UK pushed for it, in both countries, an overwhelming majority of supporters were on the Left. So if it WAS a conspiracy, USSR was a big part of it 525. USSR voted yes in Nov UN vote. Israeli independence was declared 1 day before the UK officially pulled out, on 5-14-48. TRUMAN immediately 'de facto' recognized the new state, 3 days later STALIN did 'de jure' (by law). Immediately the Arab nations attacked. French arms were sent but mostly to anger the Brits ... by ye48 Israel was militarily paramount in Palestine, a position it has never lost to this day. 520: Israel (to Jews) as 1 national home, Promised Land, Zionist state ... PJ says most today see it as 3rd (but it was 'marketed' as all 3 at various times). The '48 war ended in Armistice's signed by Egypt 2-14-49, Lebanon 3-23-49, Transjordan (Jordan, where Saud's name? army was based) 4-3-49 and Syria 7-20-49 ... Iraq had no armistice but stopped fighting, and 'the 5 Arab states' officially 'remain in a state of war w/Israel (this refers to the post-WWI French protectorates 1 Syria and 2 Lebanon and British protectorates 3 Palestine, 4 Transjordan and Iraq, but there's also Saudi Arabia, Algeria?, Tunisia?, Yemen?, Morocco?). 533: 7-23-51 mil. junta ousts last Egyptian monarchy, next yr? Nehru comes to power as a 'populist dictator' dedicated to destroying Israel. '56 Israel +France, UK ... re-open Suez Canal to Israel (as USA Pres Ike 'slaps down' former superpower UK). 7-20-51 last of Arab moderates K Abdullah of Jordan is ass. PJ: timing also providential i.e. Jan '48 STALIN k. Russian Jewish actor Solomon MICHOELS (domestic policy turning anti-Semitic), but only after a slow transition did official Soviet foreign policy catch up and become anti-Semitic, done by Fall '48 but by then, Israel was secure, so the 'window' of possible failure had passed. wow. Jerusalem's Old City was lost to K Abdullah's Brit-officer-led Arab Legion (based in trans-Jordan) on 5-28-48, which meant all settlements to the East had to be evacuated (aka E Jerusalem).

- America, Russia and the window of opportunity (525 i.e. after UK pulled out)

- The war of Israel's independence (527)

- Deir Yassin and the refugees, Arab and Jewish (528)

pp550-68, notes 527-49: the infamous Stern Gang massacre of Arabs 4-9-48 at Deir Yassin (village) near the Jerusalem (SW?) suburb Givat Shaul. Before that, PJ says since 1920s (under Brit Mandate) Jews had refrained from attacking Arab settlements, though did harshly respond to some Arab raids. PJ notes (in his discussion of the 3 views of Palestine above) that David's, though NOT Solomon's, kingdom included Syria 530. Hasmonaeans also had a large kingdom including many non-Jewish peoples, so 'complicated' decided the proper boundaries of modern Israel i.e. may've all been given by God, but what's practical, prudent ... 532: Abba EBAN famously said the Jews' land plans were 'always empirical and contemporary v. religious and historical (i.e. pragmatism above all). But this pragmatic approach was always opposed by 'maximalists' (on frontiers) like JABOTINSKY (& BEGIN) et al. Ironically, Arab intransigence (NEVER make deals, always 'bide for time', prep for next war) ended up helping Jews i.e. de facto settlements v. de jure land grabs. PJ says Labor (leftist, socialist, even communal) dominated Israel until May 1977 when Labor lost, handing leadership to 'Revisionists' (Right) aka 'in the shape of' later BEGIN's Likud Party. PJ notes how BEGIN was able to trade 'land for peace' in a way Labor never could've done, 'which by a paradox familiar to democratic societies, made peace more likely' (like NIXON's opening to China ...). Precisely because of Likud's strong 'maximalist' commitment (and thus trust of the people to protect their interests), they were able to trade away some land for security/peace (Labor would never have been trusted to do so, since they tend to want 'peace at any price'). Iraq nuclear reactor destroyed by Israel 6-7-1981. Aliyah is 2nd (in pol. priority) only to national defense/security, so Israel goes to (almost) any lengths to welcome Jews home, providing housing et al where necessary (and this, of course, requires a lot of land -> settlements). Mapai = secular labor party, Mizrachi = 1st religious pol. party (cons?). WEIZMANN was 1st President and tried to preserved US-like strong powers for that office, but failed, leaving it weak and making PM the most powerful (though transient), like EU. On state v. party (uncomfortably blurred since founding), PM Ben Gurion was able to wrench free (from the Labor party) his own PM's office (staff), the Defense Ministry, the army and the (public) schools, but NOT the public health system, which Histadrut in effect kept. PJ says this is always a tricky business, and there's a continuing battle to distinguish state and party. Post 1977, the 2 parties fought each other but eventually formed a 2-party coalition by which they switch back and forth, thus avoiding the dangers of a 1-party state e.g. USSR (which Jews of all people know to avoid at all costs). 546: Likud/Labor fight to a 'draw' by 1984, aft which they form a coalition w/alt. premiers. 547: Just as Samuel's era turned to (worldly, secular?) monarchy to protect itself from existential threat the Philistines, modern Israel stays secular (state) in the face of existential external threats, so in both cases the state is 'a political/military tool for Jewish survival'. But PJ says 'the animating spirit of the Labor party is Euro-socialist, rule of elites, intellectuals, globalists, Davos-types, people who go to kibbutzim as weekend cottages ... PJ says most post-1980s immigration has come from East so they tend to join Likud and other cons parties. Labor folks came mainly from West (but immigration from there comparatively small today). 547: Just as Zionists used Judaism to create the state of Israel, pious (cons) Jews use the Zionist national spirit to bring cons/Orth Jews back to Israel cf Abraham Isaac KOOK 1865-1935, named Chieff Rabbi with Zionist supt. 560: 3rd (AD 1948), like 2nd (439 BC Nehemiah), Jewish Commonwealths drew only about 1/4 of world's Jews. PJ says secular Israel regime has 3 internal 'enemies' (on the right, at least); 1 w/in coalition (Likud), 2 o/s coalition but w/in govt (Mizrachi), 3 o/s govt but w/in Israel (Agudist). 548: 10th Zionist Conference 1911 decided on secular v. Torah schools, angering cons/Orth Jews, so latter formed Mizrachi party to fight for Torah sch. But as time went on, they were forced to compromise in order to get govt bennies (inevitably), eventually seen as 'traitorous' by cons/Orth Jews, who created the Agudist movement in 1912 ... by 1923 a mass movement led to creation of the 'Council of Great Men of Torah' (2nd rel. party) which is very strong in East (weak in West). Many new aliyah immigrants from the East join it. But this is opposed by the Zionist (so secular) Jewish Agency. 4 diff types of schools ... later reduced to 2 ... complicated, ongoing battles (culture wars, like in USA).

- The frontiers of Zion (531)

- The Sinai campaign (533)

- The maximum security state (533)

- The 6 Day War (534)

- The Yom Kippur War (535)

- Peace with Egypt (536 i.e. Jimmy CARTER's Camp David Accords)

PJ goes thru detailed numbers of Jews in 1970s ... 1 USA 5.8M, 2 Israel, 3 USSR 1.8M, 4 France 670k ...

- Delinquent? >? Jews (538)

- The Ingathering (539 i.e. of Jews to Israel)

- Hebrew as a modern tongue (540)

- The socialist corporate state (543)

- Ben GURION and [Menachem] BEGIN (544)

- The religious parties (546)

- Sabbath, education and marriage (551)

- The Temple Mount (554)
- The Trial of [Adolph] EICHMANN (558)

- The continuing diaspora (560)

- Exotic sects (561)

- The diaspora in Europe (562)

- The special role of American Jewry (566)

p568: US Jews gradually (2nd half of 20C) became as ubiquitous and pervasive in its cultural influence as the earlier elites, the WASPs. Jews ceased to be a lobby in America socially, they became part of the natural organism itself, a limb, and powerful one. They began to operate NOT from the outside in, but from the inside out. With their historic traditions of democracy, tolerance and liberalism, they assumed to some extent the same role in America as the Whigs had once played in England: an elite seeking moral justification for its privileges by rendering enlightened service to those less fortunate (i.e. noblesse oblige). In short, no longer a minority ... but part of the majority ... from influencing to exercising authority, which led to a 'new tripod' of Jewish influence; American Jews, Israeli Jews and the remaining diaspora (1st no longer really part of diaspora, since they consider themselves fully American while also retaining their Jewishness). So 1 the diaspora Jews, 2 ingathering Jews (Israel) and 3 possessing Jews (America). Latter were a 'mirror image' of Russian Jews; Amer Jews helped to OWN the country v. Russian Jews BEING owned (possessed) by theirs. A lesson of history is that anti-Semitism corrupts a country (569 i.e. just as Dem slave plantations did to Dem Party i.e. no principles except maintaining POWER at ANY cost). It turned the Nazi state into 'a heaving mass of corruption', an abomination that HAD to be destroyed. 'But nowhere was worse than Russia, where 'the state became habituated to a close repressive and highly bureaucratic system of control'. Jews were allowed to help but NEVER to rule 571 (like 'court Jews' elsewhere in Europe). Any Jews who gained power in Russia did so only via 'violent anti-Zionism'. 572: like MARX's theory of capitalism, LENIN's theory of imperialism was based on (roots in) anti-Semitic conspiracy theory. PJ says this arose from (boosted by) the development of S Africa from the 1860s. It became 'the outstanding example of the application of large-scale capital to transform a primitive into a modern economy. S Africa had been a rural backwater until the discovery of the diamond fields of Kimberley 1860s, then the goldfields of the Rand 20yrs later. These opened its interior and mineral wealth to exploitation. This brought a new and faster way to organize these enterprises; the mining financial house i.e. to concentrate claims and raise/deploy enormous sums to develop these deep mines, a system invented by Cecil RHODES. But Jews had always been involved w/precious stones, esp. diamonds and bullion, and so played a notable part in this S African development ... he names 9 surnames; BEIT, BARNATO, COHEN ... the journalist J A HOBSON (anti-Semite) became a 'rabble rouser' in S Africa in response to this 573. His 1900 bk 'The War in S Africa' and 1902 'Imperialism' especially highlighted the German Jews there who facilitated what he called 'Western Imperialism' that was 'enabled by these nefarious Jews' (i.e. he made latter the main 'bad guys'). PJ reminds us this was a FALSE theory, but 'like all conspiracy theories, its promoters were NOT interested in facts or Truth but only in the admirable beauty of the concept' 573. These books esp. influenced LENIN, whose 1916 'Imperialism: the highest stage of capitalism' made a big splash (to this day). He theorized a Zionist-Masonic axis which the USSR pushed with propaganda until its 1991 demise. Esp. infl. in 1970s 576. One version said 300 Jews worldwide form the Elders of Zion and direct world events 577. Arabs were esp. gullible to this message, 'explaining' as it does how they (innocents) have been (diabolically) dispossessed of their 'inheritance' by these devious Jews. The 'Entebbe' (Uganda) incident of 1976 (k. Bibi's elder bro but was successful) was pulled off by the infamous Baader-Meinhof gang of Germany; only d. was an elderly lady k. by Idi AMIN himself!

- Russian Jewry and Stalinist anti-Semitism (569)

- South Africa and the origins of 'Zionist imperialism' (572)

- Modern Soviet anti-Zionism (574)

- The Arab anti-Semitism campaign (576)

- The UN, terrorism and the Israeli response (578)

- The role of the secular Zion today (581)

Later, copy last 2 paragraphs of book, very good ... in wrapup PJ says Judah HaLevi's bk 'Kuzari' c1140 covers a key Jewish theme in the form of a dialog between a rabbi and the wise king of the Khazars ... the Jews admit they're uncomfortable w/state violence even tho they realized its necessary to maintain order and appreciate that the Khazar does this (like French cons. Joseph DeMAISTRE). Remains a key theme in modern Israel, many Jews remain uncomfortable w/it but realize it MUST be done.

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