Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel

Rating:
Summary: Very Informative and Honest
Review: "We realize that by criticizing Jewish fundamentalism we are criticizing a part of the past that we love. We wish that members of every human grouping would criticize their own past, even before criticizing others. This, we further believe, would lead to a better understanding between human groups and would be followed, perhaps, slowly and hesitantly, by better treatment of minorities." -authors.

Far from being anti-Semitic, a label being thrown around carelessly these days which is most unfortunate. Shahak (himself a Jew) takes pains to separate fundamentalists from secular and traditional Jews. He further differentiates between groups under the fundamentalist influence. This book gives the reader a rare look of what happens in rabbinical circles and what is printed in Hebrew press that the rest of the world doesn't get to see. I wish MEMRI would be more altruistic and translate some of the Hebrew press. The major threat is that these groups pose a threat to Israel's democracy, and are major deterents to peace in the region. Without a doubt, Palestinian Muslim fundamentalists are equally to blame, however this book focuses (as the title indicates) solely on Jewish fundamentalism. A very eye-opening book and a bit frightening for lovers of peace and democracy. The complexity of Jewish society and culture is absolutely incredible. This book was clearly written for academics, NOT anti-Semites looking for "ammunition" with which to spew their hatred. I only wish there was a book written by Muslims that was as open and honest in their criticism of Islamic fundamentalists as this book is of Jewish fundamentalists. One certainly learns that broad generalizations of culture groups is wrong and non-representive. Shahak details the history and development of events leading up to Rabin's assasination, the massacre committed by Baruch Goldstein, and more. The book also details the rise of the Haredim in Israel and how political influence is won and lost in the Knesset. When an orthodox Jewish friend of mine told me how cruel Jews can be to other Jews, I had no idea how serious he was until I read this book. It is saddening to read. An excellent book recommended to those who are reading to learn of another perspective, not for those looking to increase their anti-Semitic hate. The information in this book could easily be taken out of context; the beauty of this book is that it provides everything IN context so that the reader understands the severity of the problem of fundamentalism without drawing the incorrect conclusion that Jews are somehow racist. Truly an incredible read.

Rating:
Summary: Slurs and falsehoods
Review: "When the sacred months are over slay the idolaters wherever you find them." Koran 9:5

"Oh, Allah, annihilate the Jews and their supporters." April 2002 sermon by Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi, a Palestinian Authority Imam.

It would be simple to compile a lengthy book filled with similar quotations, thereby "proving" that Islam is a murderous, hate-filled religion. Such a book would, of course, be grossly unfair, but it would be no more unfair than "Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel" by Norton Mezvinsky and Israel Shakak.

Mezvinsky is professor of history at Central Connecticut State College. He teaches the lone course offered by Central Connecticut in Jewish history, as well as two courses on contemporary Middle Eastern politics. Shahak is deceased.

Mezvinsky claims that his focuses in this book on Jewish fundamentalists, is because they threaten to take power in Israel as Islamic Fundamentalists did in Iran. This should concern Americans, he says, because Israel is "a powerful state... that wields great influence in the United States." The threat that fundamentalists pose to Israeli democracy is similar in Mezvinsky's view, to our domestic situation in which "Christian fundamentalism (is) a real threat to democracy in the United States."

It escapes Mezvinsky that Jewish and Christian fundamentalists, unlike Islamists, are peaceful groups and are but tiny fractions of the populations they live in while Islamists in many places are a large and growing segments of theirs. The truth is that in the United States as well as Israel, fundamentalists who espouse replacing democracy with theocracy constitute only a tiny voiceless fringe and bear no resemblance to the looming menace portrayed in "Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel."

In Mezvinsky's view, the threat posed by observant Jews goes beyond their impending destruction of democracy, because he holds that Judaism is an evil faith. Judaism, a religion of racism "comparable to the worst form of anti-Semitism" has produced adherents so immoral that they believe "the blood of non-Jews has no intrinsic value." he says blithely. Furthermore, "Jews killing non-Jews does not constitute murder according to the Jewish religion and the killing of innocent Arabs for reasons of revenge is a Jewish virtue." This is the stuff that makes this book dangerous and is comparable to much of the anti-semitic stuff coming out of the Middle East media today.

If his portrayal of Judaism does not sound like the Jewish religion that you know, Mezvinsky has an explanation. Rabbis and scholars have been keeping the truth from us. They are "supreme hypocrites" who have hidden from other Jews "The actual fact that the cabbalistic texts, as opposed to talmudic literature, emphasize salvation only for Jews."

Mezvinsky, of course, misses two important points. The first is that the Kabbalah, like the Talmud, is not a single book but a veritable ocean of scholarship and commentary. In such an ocean, it is possible to find a quotation to prove almost any point, although even Mezvinsky has to admit that the evil he sought is not in the Talmud, but only in the Kabbalah.

The second point is that the Kabbalah, that vast sea of mystical lore and wisdom, is not normative Judaism. Kabbalah is for Jews an option and an acquired taste, like Sephardi music or Ashkenazi cooking. It is also, of course, a complex if chaotic body of thought that by no fair interpretation deserves Mezvinsky's epithet of "Jewish Nazism."

Beyond the malicious absurdity of its premise, Mezvinsky's work is riddled with undocumented slurs and falsehoods presented as fact.

* "No Orthodox rabbi" has criticized the posthumous glorification of Baruch Goldstein.

* "The Israeli government induced Jewish immigration from Iraq by bribing the government of Iraq to strip most Iraqi Jews of their citizenship and to confiscate their property."

* "Before the advent of the modern state, Jewish communities were mostly ruled by rabbis who employed arbitrary and cruel methods as bad as those employed by totalitarian regimes."

In Norton Mezvinsky, the state of Connecticut is paying the salary of a professor of Jewish history who has a limited understanding of that history and substitutes his bias for knowledge. Moreover, Mezvinsky is a professor of history who is unacquainted with "the arbitrary and cruel methods" employed by totalitarian regimes around the world, but that doesn't stop him from ascribing them to the subject he knows so little about.

Diana Muir is the winner of the 2001 Massachusetts Book Award, and a professional book reviewer for the Boston Globe and the Christian Science Monitor.

This review was published in the Connecticut Jewish Ledger in 2002.

Rating:
Summary: #1 on the List for Contemporary World Political Culture
Review: Add Kevin MacDonald's CULTURE OF CRITIQUE [1998] to Israel Shahak's ["IS" ]latest work, result = a genuine binary intellectual weapon. Such items can be hot to handle. Opening at random my copy of "JFII", I find a reference to an execution in the Spanish city of Alicena nearly a millennium ago "dictated by the need to explain to all Jews that the duty of killing a Jewish informer is more important than other religious considerations...Maimonides said that the obligation to kill both informers and heretics is a tradition that is applied in all cities of the west." [p.140] As Gore Vidal has rightly suggested, IS qualifies through his three recent titles as a sage roughly on par with the prophet Isaiah. Since the clique which IS so learnedly describes has managed to achieve a decisive degree of influence over the Gore-Clinton regime, the American reader will find the remarks herein striking home to quite an intimate degree. IMHO the single most important sentence in JFII = "since the inception of Israel the secret slogan of Israeli politicians was 'we shall conquer first the security apparatus and then the Knesset and government." [p.93] The phrase "security apparatus" can be better translated into plain, old-fashioned English as "the secret police". Students of recent politics will want to review the Oklahoma City bombing, that moment of salvation for Mr.Clinton & the C.I.A, in the light of JFII. I would describe the author as the insider's insider who, to the great benefit of the species at large, has opened the door at the top of his tower in order to get an essential breath of the fresh air of truth, that vitally inflamatory oxygen of the human spirit. So how long will the Sulzbergers' New York TIMES take to get around to reviewing Shahak?

Rating:
Summary: shoddy scholarship
Review: Allah, annihilate the Jews and their supporters.' April 2002 sermon by Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi, a Palestinian Authority Imam.

It would be simple to compile a lengthy book filled with similar quotations, thereby 'proving' that Islam is a murderous, hate-filled religion. Such a book would, of course, be grossly unfair, but it would be no more unfair than 'Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel' by Norton Mezvinsky and Israel Shakak.

Mezvinsky is professor of history at Central Connecticut State College. He teaches the lone course offered by Central Connecticut in Jewish history, as well as two courses on contemporary Middle Eastern politics. Shahak is deceased.

Mezvinsky claims that his focuses in this book on Jewish fundamentalists, is because they threaten to take power in Israel as Islamic Fundamentalists did in Iran. This should concern Americans, he says, because Israel is 'a powerful state... that wields great influence in the United States.' The threat that fundamentalists pose to Israeli democracy is similar in Mezvinsky's view, to our domestic situation in which 'Christian fundamentalism (is) a real threat to democracy in the United States.'

It escapes Mezvinsky that Jewish and Christian fundamentalists, unlike Islamists, are peaceful groups and are but tiny fractions of the populations they live in while Islamists in many places are a large and growing segments of theirs. The truth is that in the United States as well as Israel, fundamentalists who espouse replacing democracy with theocracy constitute only a tiny voiceless fringe and bear no resemblance to the looming menace portrayed in 'Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel.'

In Mezvinsky's view, the threat posed by observant Jews goes beyond their impending destruction of democracy, because he holds that Judaism is an evil faith. Judaism, a religion of racism 'comparable to the worst form of anti-Semitism' has produced adherents so immoral that they believe 'the blood of non-Jews has no intrinsic value.' he says blithely. Furthermore, 'Jews killing non-Jews does not constitute murder according to the Jewish religion and the killing of innocent Arabs for reasons of revenge is a Jewish virtue.' This is the stuff that makes this book dangerous and is comparable to much of the anti-semitic stuff coming out of the Middle East media today.

If his portrayal of Judaism does not sound like the Jewish religion that you know, Mezvinsky has an explanation. Rabbis and scholars have been keeping the truth from us. They are 'supreme hypocrites' who have hidden from other Jews 'The actual fact that the cabbalistic texts, as opposed to talmudic literature, emphasize salvation only for Jews.'

Mezvinsky, of course, misses two important points. The first is that the Kabbalah, like the Talmud, is not a single book but a veritable ocean of scholarship and commentary. In such an ocean, it is possible to find a quotation to prove almost any point, although even Mezvinsky has to admit that the evil he sought is not in the Talmud, but only in the Kabbalah.

The second point is that the Kabbalah, that vast sea of mystical lore and wisdom, is not normative Judaism. Kabbalah is for Jews an option and an acquired taste, like Sephardi music or Ashkenazi cooking. It is also, of course, a complex if chaotic body of thought that by no fair interpretation deserves Mezvinsky's epithet of 'Jewish Nazism.'

Beyond the malicious absurdity of its premise, Mezvinsky's work is riddled with undocumented slurs and falsehoods presented as fact.

* 'No Orthodox rabbi' has criticized the posthumous glorification of Baruch Goldstein.

* 'The Israeli government induced Jewish immigration from Iraq by bribing the government of Iraq to strip most Iraqi Jews of their citizenship and to confiscate their property.'

* 'Before the advent of the modern state, Jewish communities were mostly ruled by rabbis who employed arbitrary and cruel methods as bad as those employed by totalitarian regimes.'

In Norton Mezvinsky, the state of Connecticut is paying the salary of a professor of Jewish history who has a limited understanding of that history and substitutes his bias for knowledge. Moreover, Mezvinsky is a professor of history who is unacquainted with 'the arbitrary and cruel methods' employed by totalitarian regimes around the world, but that doesn't stop him from ascribing them to the subject he knows so little about.

Diana Muir is the winner of the 2001 Massachusetts Book Award, and a professional book reviewer for the Boston Globe and the Christian Science Monitor.

Rating:
Summary: Jewish fundamentalism exposed!
Review: As is well known, western media solely focuses on Islamic fundamentalism and totally ignores Jewish extremists. Shahak and Mezvinsky have written a "forbidden" book and for that they deserve praise. It is ironic that as soon as any criticism is directed at Jews, the author is called an anti-semitist. Needless to say, this is an extremely calculated strategy employed to escape and avoid constructive criticism. Shahak and Mezvinsky claim that Jewish fundamentalists believe that they are the chosen people, that they have the right to settle wherever they want and that they are superior to other people. Furthermore, according to Shahak and Mezvinsky, these Jewish extremists aim to create a state comprising of Jews only. All other religions are considered fallible and inferior. Judaism, on the other hand, is considered flawless and superior to all. How can anyone believe that they are the "chosen" people, that they are superior and omnipotent? This is extremely discriminatory! Another important point made by the authors is that there has never been any mention of Jewish fundamentalism in the American media. This is extremely unfair. Needless to say, the american media is more than ready to criticize Moslems. Any reasonable human being considers this unjust and discriminatory. The authors further assert that powerful Jewish lobbyists prevent this view of the Jews to be presented in the american media. After all, mainstream media is largely controlled by these Jewish elites. This is an important book that should be read by every American. Strongly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: An eye-opener
Review: Fascinating insights into the groups which are generally over-simplified into the "ultra-Orthodox" (itself a serious misnomer, since "Orthodoxy" isn't the issue at all). The authors explain the differences between the various fundamentalist factions and sub-factions (Haredim, Shas, NRP, Kookists, Gush Emunim, etc., etc... and the black vs. knit skullcaps), who often put more energy into battling each other and other Jews than they do against the Palestinians. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book is that it draws almost entirely on Israeli sources in Hebrew, rather than the self-censoring and often apologetic English-language press which attempts to put as good a light on things as possible, largely for the benefit of the diaspora. I was unaware, for example, of the extent of open rejoicing among fundamentalists (and many other Israelis) over the Patriarch's Cave massacre and the murder of Rabin; and the role of "magic amulets" in election campaigns. Alas, the book does not make one optimistic about the prospects for reaching peace through rational discussion.

Rating:
Summary: An eye-opener
Review: Fascinating insights into the groups which are generally over-simplified into the "ultra-Orthodox" (itself a serious misnomer, since "Orthodoxy" isn't the issue at all). The authors explain the differences between the various fundamentalist factions and sub-factions (Haredim, Shas, NRP, Kookists, Gush Emunim, etc., etc... and the black vs. knit skullcaps), who often put more energy into battling each other and other Jews than they do against the Palestinians. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book is that it draws almost entirely on Israeli sources in Hebrew, rather than the self-censoring and often apologetic English-language press which attempts to put as good a light on things as possible, largely for the benefit of the diaspora. I was unaware, for example, of the extent of open rejoicing among fundamentalists (and many other Israelis) over the Patriarch's Cave massacre and the murder of Rabin; and the role of "magic amulets" in election campaigns. Alas, the book does not make one optimistic about the prospects for reaching peace through rational discussion.

Rating:
Summary: detail on jewish fundamentalism
Review: I enjoyed this book. There is a tremendous amount of detail on the different Jewish fundamentalist political groups, the major one being Shas. Certain areas of the book interested me more than others. I felt the points on religiosity and fundamentalism were interesting. Another major point of my interest was the work on Baruch Goldstein. Shahak and Mezvinsky did an excellent job in substantiating that Baruch Goldstein was part of a larger Jewish fundamentalist movement that is accepted by Israel rather than a single crazy man.

Rating:
Summary: Good but....
Review: I felt it wasn't balanced enough. There are religious fanatics whereever you find organised religion, I don't think the majority of Israeli's feel the same way as the Haredim. In a sense, they are as much threatened by their religious extremism as Palestinians are because they would also be excluded from power in such a theocracy. However, the book is necessary because a lot of Jews are brought up to believe that Jews are incapable of inflicting the same sort of horrors that we faced in Europe and that Israel's blatant land grab is justified by our history. The teachings of Meir Kahane et al. prove that we are not exempt from the racism which made people like Hitler try to destroy us.

Rating:
Summary: You have got to be kidding
Review: I know little of Judaism and therefore must rely on the expertise of the writers to evaluate the book's worth. On that basis, the quality of the book must be uneven.

Mezvinsky was trained as a historian but his publication list is poor indeed. Most of his writing seems to be for popular magazines like the "Washington Report on Middle East Affairs." He has very few publications of a truly scholarly nature and many of those were collections of other people's work that he had edited. I have read a fair number of books written by scholars of the Middle East and can't remember a single one ever citing Mezvinsky's work.

There is nothing in Mezvinsky's list of publications that even remotely suggests that he has any expertise on Judaism as a religion.

Incidentally, years ago, Moshe Menuhin wrote a book entitled Jewish Critics of Zionism. In his book, he described Mezvinsky as a "clever but arrogant and presumptuous fellow."