Judaism's Strange Gods [Paperback]

Michael Hoffman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2000

In this scholarly and deeply considered work, the author documents his provocative thesis that Judaism is not the religion of the Old Testament, but the newly formalized belief system of the Pharisees, which arose in Babylon with the commitment of the formerly oral “tradition of the elders” to writing, in the wake of the crucifixion of Israel’s Messiah and the destruction of the Temple.

Basing his findings on authoritative Judaic sources, Hoffman demonstrates that Judaism is a man-made religion of tradition and superstition, which represents the institutionalized nullification of Biblical law and doctrine.

Liberating the reader from the accumulated shackles of decades of misinformation, this book shows that Judaism’s God is not the God of Israel, but the strange gods of Talmud and Kabbalah, and the racial self-worship they inculcate.

Making a relentless case with massive documentation and a lapidary attention to detail, Judaism’s Strange Gods constitutes a shocking and original revelation about a subject we thought we knew only too well.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael A. Hoffman II was educated at the State University of New York at Oswego. He is a former reporter for the New York bureau of the Associated Press and the author of several books, including Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare and The Great Holocaust Trial.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Independent History & Research Co (August 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970378408
• ISBN-13: 978-0970378408
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #727,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Hoffman is a New York native and a former reporter for the Associated Press. He studied under Faiz Abu-Jaber and Richard Funk at the State University of New York at Oswego. Hoffman is the author of seven books of history. In addition, he has written the introductions to modern reprints of "The Traditions of the Jews" by Johann Andreas Eisenmenger, and "The Talmud Tested" by Alexander McCaul, D.D.

Hoffman is the executive editor of the bulletin, "Revisionist History," which is published six times a year. He is married and resides in north Idaho.

Hoffman writes:

The gatekeepers are determined to demonize this writer with stigmas such as "holocaust denier" and "anti-semite." These scurrilous libels are devices for intimidating potential readers, colleagues and supporters, and limiting the exchange of knowledge between a scholar and fellow truth-seekers. My authentic views are as follows: Judaic people suffered severe and unconscionable persecution during World War II, including mass murder at the hands of the Nazis. I deplore these crimes and the criminal Nazi ideology which inspired and directed them. At the same time, it is necessary to have the courage to point out the many parallels between Nazi ideology and the Israeli Zionist ideology which is engaged in the on-going dispossession and murder of Palestinians.

Concerning "anti-semitism": this phrase is supposed to denote racial loathing of Judaic persons, but is often employed to stigmatize those who dare to offer a narrative of Judaism which challenges the rabbinic narrative, or who dissent from the received opinion concerning Israeli actions in Palestine. Radical Judaic dissent from Talmudism and Zionism has largely been excluded from consideration. Consider that Norman Finkelstein and Noam Chomsky are routinely accused of being "anti-semitic." This pseudo-scientific phrase is employed in many cases merely in order to gain advantage over political rivals. My work is based on love and not hatred. My targets are ideologies and theologies, not people.

I will not be silenced. I have as much right to question and investigate Judaism, or any other "ism," as anyone has to question Catholicism. Knowledge is not advanced by submitting to special immunities for one particular media-favored creed. It is not anti-Italian to point out iniquity in Renaissance or modern Catholicism; nor is it anti-Judaic to discover turpitude in the rabbinic Talmudic theology. If contemporary Catholicism is a form of oppression, then it is a liberating act to free Italians from its grasp. If contemporary Orthodox Judaism is a form of oppression, then it is a liberating act to free Judaic persons from Talmudic supremacy and tyrannical micro-management of their daily lives.

My work transcends tribal atavisms and resentments. For example, in "Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare" I sought to deconstruct the command ideology of the Cryptocracy, while exploring an epistemology capable of inspiring higher consciousness by decoding the esoteric manipulation of thought patterns and the 'group mind' which impede our ability to transcend humanity's perpetual squabbles and simian warfare.

In the book "They Were White and They Were Slaves" I studied anew the circumstances surrounding so-called 'white indentured servitude' and discovered the prevalence of a far more onerous chattel enslavement of seventeenth century whites in America, and the dehumanized status of poor whites over the next two centuries.

In my latest work, "Usury in Christendom: The Mortal Sin that Was and Now is Not," I argue that during the Renaissance, gentile usurers gained firm purchase inside the Roman Church by scapegoating rival Judaic usurers. I also demonstrate that early Puritans, far from being the stereotypical skinflints and shylocks of legend, denounced and opposed usury, even as Renaissance Catholic popes and prelates were granting permission for it and benefiting from its proceeds.

My non-conforming research and writing do not fit simplistic Left/Right political or denominational categories, and because I violate taboos enforced by hysterical partisans, my name and reputation have been unfairly blackened. Truth-seekers with the curiosity and good will to look beyond the libelous opprobrium put forth by self-appointed thought police, will encounter in my writing, challenges to the consensus across a broad spectrum of revisionist history, Christian exegesis and Fortean epistemology.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

302 of 370 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Debunking Orthodox Judaism : not for fundamentalists! October 18, 2001

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Having been raised in Orthodox Judaism I can credit most of his critic. Debunking Judaism has been such a taboo for decades that the only recent book that has a little bit of this is was Prof. Shahak's Jewish History, Jewish Religion. I had actually been waiting for a book like Hoffman's for years.
Readers will learn many things that are sprayed over many books difficult to find and that they would probably never get. Hoffman's has made the compilation nobody else dared to write. For example the talmudic interpretations of the passage over Noah's Son Ham and how they were used to justify slavery and racism of blacks.

What may anger even more Orthodox Jews and fundamentalist Christians is Hoffman's contention that Orthodox Judaism is in noway the religion of the Tanakh (Old Testament), but that its theology, structure, etc. are based on the Mishnah and the rabbis' interpretations of the Mishnah.
Actually one just has to read the introduction to Prof. Neusner's The Mishnah : A New Translation to see Hoffman's point vindicated, or other books by Prof. Neusner such as Rabbinic Judaism : Structure and System.
The only thing orthodox Judaism has in common with the religion of the Hebrews is the holy feasts. But this also Reform Judaism has, with the advantage that it does not have some the latter theological superstitions.

The bad point with this book is Hoffman's resentment against "Jews" -- he should rather speak of orthodox Jews. On the other hand I can understand the resentment he may feel when seeing his fellow Christians (the book is written for Christians, BTW, but I found this to be no problem) interpret the Old Testament in the "light" of the Talmud or believe that Orthodox Judaism is to be equated with the religion of the Old Testament.

All in all, a unique book filling in a big gap -- and I hope more books in the future will dare debunk orthodox Judaism. And a book that is religiously politically incorrect : not for the religious fundamentalists!

83 of 101 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Controversial but highly enlightening September 25, 2000

By Konrad Stryker

Format:Paperback

I got a first edition copy of this book direct from the publisher earlier this month and I was surprised and glad to see Amazon.com put it up on their site during banned books week. This is a controversial but highly enlightening book. Even though the author regards Judaism as a post-first century AD novelty and usurpation, he's pro-Jewish, he wants to free Jews from Judaism (and Christians from being chained to it). The book jacket says the author went to college in NY and worked in New York for the AP as a reporter. With a name like Hoffman and maybe being a New York native, I wonder if he's a Jew?

Issues of ethnicity and the predictable charges of hate aside, it's a great read for the massive scholarship and rare info. In a book of 144 pages there's a large amount of unusual information and quotations from rabbis and Israeli historians and professors that I've never encountered anywhere before.

The main idea is that Judaism is the religion of the Pharisees and that it's against not only Christ but the Old Testament too! He has reams of material from the Talmud and other holy books of Judaism showing that it's these works that take priority over the Bible and that they adapt and misinterpret the Bible so much that they end up blotting the Bible out.

The book takes Christians out of their sense of being step-children and puts them at the front and center as THE continuation of the Israelites (I Peter 2:9), contrary to Judaism and the "Khazars" (the author says the people we think of as being descendants of Abraham are really "Khazars" from east Europe). The section that prodded me the most is in a footnote on p. 97 analyzing the good fig tree and the evil fig tree (Matthew 21:19). It basically asks, "Who really are the grafted-on converts?" The answer surprised me!

We tend to think we have this topic down pat and then we divide up on opposite sides and then it's a stand-off going nowhere. But with this book there's a new angle introduced and hard to find facts. Christians and Jews with an open mind should read it because it solves a lot of problems. It lifted burdens off me and made me think from a new angle, which is quite a bit to get out of a book.

104 of 130 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read October 2, 2000

By Stan Hargus

Format:Paperback

"Judaism's Strange Gods" is a must-read for anyone who is not content with the carefully controlled opinion and news that we are fed. If you wish to understand why there exists so much illogic and capriciousness in public policy, and why there is such a nasty undercurrent in today's "entertainment," you must read "Judaism's Strange Gods." If you are a Christian, you must read "Judaism's Strange Gods." Using mainly Jewish sources, Mr. Hoffman reveals the basis of problematic Jewish attitudes and behavior. Almost all of today's Jews are adherents of a religion that would better be called "rabbinism." Rabbinic Judaism is not the religion of the Old Testament Israelites, but is a man-made belief system based on the Talmud and other associated man-made rules. Cleanly and beautifully written in the best tradition of logical exposition, "Judaism's Strange Gods" will lift confusion from your mind. Interested? You must read this book!