Customer Reviews

Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years (Pluto Middle Eastern Studies)

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I highly recommend reading the book "Jewish history, Jewish Religion". Its author, Israel Shahak, a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, engages in deep introspection about Jewish religion and practices.

He seems deeply toubled by the rigidity, and intolerance of Jewish religion. Shahak quotes from the Talmud and points out a pervasive Jewish racism and haughtiness toward non-Jews.

He believes that anti-semitism may have its roots in this historic Jewish mindset. Shahak also points out a wide-spread practice of deception and double-speak.

In writing this book, he hopes that other Jews will engage in similar introspection to estabish a more harmonious relationship with Goyims.

Recommended books: 'The Holocaust Industry' (by Finkelstein) 'An Eye for an Eye' (John Sack)

In his most illuminating and disturbing book Professor Shahak takes the lid off previously hidden Orthodox Jewish beliefs and practices. He explains how these beliefs are at the heart of the Zionist adventure and constitute a major influence upon Israeli government policies and actions. We are made aware of the paradox of a largely secular state basing its raison d'etre and future direction upon biblical text. The depth of Orthodox Jewish antipathy toward the gentile, and especially toward Christianity (and Jesus) will come as an unsettling surprise to the many millions of American evangelical Christians who uncritically accept a fawning admiration of all things Israeli repeatedly displayed by the TV evangelists. Frightening, too, is the near-total control of most Jewish organizations now in the hands of Zionists; it is now almost impossible for a Jew to openly disassociate him or herself from, let alone be critical of, the state of Israel or the aims of Zionism. Whereas the critical gentile must be an 'anti-Semite' so must the critical Jew be 'self-hating'. Whatever your point of view on the situation in Israel, whatever your religion or philosophical perspective, however deeply you hold your convictions, you cannot fail to be challenged by this marvelous book.

If you talk to a Muslim/Christian palastinian who is living under the Israeli occupation, he or she will not be surprised by what is written in Mr. Shahak's book. What is being described in this book as classical judaism teaching is currently being practiced and for the last fifty years in the State of Israel in the form of legitimate Judaism but comprise extreme injustice against non-Jewish people of Israel and of the occupied territories. Mr. Shahak describes where do these practices come from, and how are they being supported by the Jewish Israeli community. This book is not anti-semitic, the autor is a Jewish person born in a conservative Jewish family and lived most of his life in Israel. I think that this book has honestly analyzed the origins of the conflict in Israel and the occupied territories. Without considering the role and power of Jewish fundamentalism in Israel as described by Mr. Shahak, the quest for peace will never materialize.

Certain issues raised by Shahak are undeveloped by other reviewers, and I elaborate on the situation facing Polish Jews and peasants at about the time of the Partitions and thereafter.

The anti-Semitism in part of the peasantry of eastern and central Europe is commonly stereotyped as the product of Christian religion and of their backwardness. By contrast, Shahak emphasizes the evolution of Polish society in a direction that placed peasants and Jews into a quasi-adversarial position. It began with the uncontrolled growth of the power of self-interested nobility since about 1600: "This process was accompanied by a debasement in the position of the Polish peasants (who had been free in the Middle Ages) to the point of utter serfdom, hardly distinguishable from outright slavery and certainly the worst in Europe." (p. 61).

The Jewish situation then was very different: "Polish Jewry burst into social and political prominence accompanied, as usual, with a much greater degree of autonomy. It was at this time that Poland's Jews were granted their greatest privileges...Until 1939, the population of many towns east of the river Bug was at least 90 percent Jewish...Outside the towns very many Jews throughout Poland, but especially in the east, were employed as the direct supervisors and oppressors of the enserfed peasantry." (pp. 62-63).

"But, as we have remarked, the peasants suffered worse oppression at the hands of both landlords and Jews; and one may assume that, except in times of peasant uprisings, the full weight of the Jewish religious laws against Gentiles fell upon the peasants." (p. 63).

Shahak continues: "Internal conditions within the Jewish community moved in a similar course...In the period 1500-1795...The considerable power of the Jewish autonomy was used increasingly to stifle all original and innovative thought, to promote the most shameless exploitation of the Jewish poor by the Jewish rich in alliance with the rabbis, and to justify the Jews' role in the oppression of the peasants in the service of the nobles." (p. 63).

Well written and informative. Although many portions of this writing could easily be extended greatly to include an almost endless amount of details and further examples, this work serves as an excellent source for anyone wishing to gain a solid basic understanding of certain portions of Judaism.

By "Judaism", it must be understood that Mr. Shahak uses the term "classical Judaism". By definition, Judaism itself is Talmudic/Rabbinic/Pharisaic. Not to be confused with the Conservative, Reconstructionist, Reform, et. al. "movements", as these do NOT constitute the religion of Judaism.

True Judaism is Orthodox...it always has been as such. This work discusses "Orthodox" Judaism. I mention this upfront because many who may read this and know someone who is Jewish, or is Jewish themselves, who does not believe or practice the items mentioned in this writing, may experience some confusion. This is due to the fact that this book deals mainly with Orthodox Judaism, which is Talmudic/Rabbinic/Pharisaic.

The so-called Conservative, Reconstructionist, Reform, et. al. "movements" have appeared only since the early to mid-1800's. Before this Judaism was Judaism. It was neither "Reformed" nor "Conservative", etc. In the most basic sense, it was and always has been Orthodox. Understanding Mr. Shahak's work is vital to this fact.

To the layperson, Jews are Jews and their religion is simply the religion of the Old Testament. Nothing could be further from the truth. "This is not an uncommon impression and one finds it sometimes among Jews as well as Christians - that Judaism is the religion of the Hebrew bible. It is, of course, a fallacious impression ... Judaism is not the religion of the Bible." (Rabbi Ben Zion Boskser, Judaism and the Christian Predicament, p 59, 159.)

According to Benjamin Freedman in his letter to Dr. Goldstein titled "Facts Are Facts", Mr. Freedman states the following concerning the authentic roots of Judaism: "RELIGIOUS WORSHIP KNOWN AND PRACTICED TODAY UNDER THE NAME OF "JUDAISM" by so-called or self-styled" "Jews" throughout the world WAS KNOWN AND PRACTICED IN JUDEA IN THE TIME OF JESUS UNDER THE NAME "PHARISAISM" according to Rabbi Louis Finkelstein." (emphasis mine)

It was the oral traditions of these Pharisees, which Jesus Christ so vehemently denounced, that were codified in what became known as the Mishnah beginning in the second century A.D. The Mishnah and its subsequent commentaries are what form the Talmud, the central book of Judaism. And it is the same Talmud that Judaism adheres to today.

The elusive and esoteric details of Judaism and the Talmud are what Mr. Shahak has so significantly exposed in this writing.

Since most Americans are content with, "...CNN, everything you need to know in 15 minutes", and as a whole are more concerned with the weekend and "Must See TV", the truth about Judaism has easily been concealed in the U.S. For this reason, writings such as Shahak's may at first appear extremely provocative to the casual, unsuspecting reader.

Those, such as Mr. Shahak, himself an Israeli Jew, who dare to speak the truth about Judaism and the Talmud / Kabbalah, are instantly branded as "anti-Semitic", "haters" as well as a wide assortment of other popular newspeak terms. As an American, I can rightly attest to the destructive power these labels can have on an individual/group. Once applied, rightly or not, the effects are swift and deadly.

As far as accuracy is concerned, I give this work a A. There are a few details within the writing this I am in disagreement with, yet these are not within the realm of Mr. Shahak's thesis.

Overall, I would highly recommend Jewish History, Jewish Religion to anyone who wishes to begin or continue a study of Judaism.

Prof. Israel Shahak was a great liberator. I rate this book along with Evelyn Kaye's "The Hole in the Sheet" and Michael Hoffman's "Judaism's Strange Gods" as the three main books that changed my life and got me out of the cult of orthodox Judaism.

"Jewish History, Jewish Religion" is one of the most important books of our age. Reading it is like going on an intellectual adventure of a lifetime. Most bookstores and book catalogs won't touch it. Thanks, Amazon for giving us an alternative pipeline to unique thinking and really revolutionary information.

_Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years_ by Israel Shahak is one of the more radical and controversial books to have gained some level of respectability dealing with the age old "Jewish question". Among other things, the author tries to understand, by tracing the history of classical Judaism and appealing to arguments found in the Talmud and regularly used by rabbis, certain highly anti-social and discriminatory adaptations of the Jews (particularly the extreme orthodox). The author makes the contention that because he is treating Judaism as a religion and not as the Jewish race that his book is not anti-semitic. While this may be true, I doubt whether the distinction is a meaningful one at all, considering that the Jewish religion is enforced in such a manner so as to virtually guarrantee racial integrity, one is defined to be a Jew if one had a Jewish mother, i.e. making the Jews a constituted race. The charge of anti-semitism while appropriate seems really unimportant here because the book does bring up some interesting and important points which are indeed true, though perhaps provocative. Some of the more notorious claims in this book such as that the Jews offer special prayers to both G-d and Satan, the descriptions of Jesus and Christians found within the Talmud (conveniently excised in more updated post-Enlightenment politically correct versions, though retained through oral tradition), the exclusivity and double standards of Jews in dealing with Gentiles as recommended by the Talmud particularly with regard to usury and the saving of a Gentile life, the insanity of various regulations which Jews are obliged to follow (particularly concerning work on the Sabbath), and the power attained by Jews in medieval Europe frequently provoking peasant uprisings (by oppressed European serfs) against them. The author makes several other important claims, noting how the Jewish rabbis corrupted the religion through the Talmud, making use of dispensations (in an attempt to deceive their G-d) which were frequently driven entirely by the profit motive, the promotion of Jewish interests first, and the oppression of heretical Jews and the Jewish poor at the expense of the wealthy Jew. In addition, the author notes how Judaism became increasingly intolerant and closed in, especially bigotted against Christians (frequently Jews would ritually curse Christians, Christ, or engage in such provocative acts as spitting on Crucifixes or burning copies of the New Testament), but also against Arabs and Muslims, and even blacks (in fact Shahak claims that the great Jewish scholar Maimonides was an anti-black racist based on his comments about blacks, comparing them to "mute animals"). For example, the comments about Jesus, as charlatan and son of a prostitute, in the _Toledot Yeshu_ are notoriously known. Shahak makes an interesting distinction between peasant uprisings in Europe (which frequently persecuted the Jews, but which were often provoked as a consequence of severe oppression) and the Nazi persecution of Jews which came from above (rather than below) in the form of an oppressive totalitarian technicized state. While Shahak makes some interesting points, and his book is a needed corrective (particularly in a political environment where books with titles such as _Hitler's Pope_ and _Hitler's Willing Executioners_, blaming all Germans for the Nazi catastrophe have been made widely available), I believe it is both somewhat unfair and highly motivated by a political agenda. Of course, the antagonism between Jew and Gentile is ages old, and unlikely to ever be resolved, but in addition Shahak's agenda seems to revolve around both support for the state of Israel and the denial of rights to self determination to the Palestinians. (Shahak of course writes in the tradition of Enlightenment humanism, and is influenced by French Revolutionary ideas of universal human rights, something that I find personally problematic.) This is a more complicated issue, particularly for Americans to deal with. Also, many of Shahak's examples are taken from the extreme right among orthodox Jewish rabbis in Israel. Certainly, similar type statements could be found in reverse against the Jews and non-Muslims if they had been taken from the extreme right of militant Islam. Nevertheless, the book is courageous in that it does attempt to provide a historical position which could otherwise never see the light of day in the modern politically correct (sanitized) culture, were it not embraced by a significant segment of the left itself. Those who sneer at this and cry out "anti-semitism" need only be reminded that books with titles _Why I Am Not a Christian_ and _Why I Am Not a Muslim_ similarly exist.

Israel Shahak has written an important book but one that is misleading for a reader without a substantial background in Judaism.

There are a wide variety of interpretations of Judaism that may be labelled "Orthodox". These interpretations range from the humane, compassionate vision of Yeshayahu Leibowitz to the overtly racist views of some of the Gush Emunim rabbis. Shahak, in this book, has chosen to focus on the latter without, unfortunately, making it clear that that is what he is doing.

If the book is understood as a critique of these more extreme forms of Judaism, and not of Orthodox Judaism in general, it provides a deeper understanding of some of the ideologies that contribute to the troubles in that part of the world. Let me state unequivocably that some of these ideologies are so extreme and that the Western press has been so cowardly about exposing them, that Shahak has provided a valuable service in making them known.

His analysis of anti-Semitism in Europe, while articulated by other historians, is not widely known. His position is that many of the anti-Jewish uprisings were motivated less by irrational hatred than by the fact that Jews were caught in power conflicts between the powerful and the powerless. This, of course, does not make those uprisings less tragic, but it does make them understandable in historical terms.

In spite of my disagreements with some aspects of the book, it is an important work. However, the reader should recognize that Judaism has more diversity of opinion within it than is apparent from this book.

Prof. Shahak is a Jew who taught at a major university in Israel. Here is provides a nuanced Jewish view on history and religion and show how the Jewish mentality leads everywhere to antisemitism. I cannot praise him enough for the honesty and courage he shows in the chapters on Jewish orthodoxy and especially on the Jewish laws against non-Jews. These abominable things are at the core of Judaism, and this gem of a book will be an eye-opener for many. It will also help understanding the many hardships the Palestinian people have been suffering since their country was invaded in the 2nd half of the 20th century.

I think that the world would be great if all Jews were as virtuous as Shahak is, and there would be much less antisemitism. Another good book by a Jewish author is Prof. Lindemann's Esau's Tears : Modern Anti-Semitism and the Rise of the Jews. I can also recommend the books by Kevin B. MacDonald and Michael Hoffman's Judaism's Strange Gods.

This carefully written and documented volume should be essential reading for every journalist, scholar, and politician concerned with the past and present events in the Middle East. It clearly and concisely demonstrates that the sources of the interminable conflict are rooted in ancient fundamentalism.