- Today's Israeli Atmosphere:
-
- On Oct. 26, 04, The Knesset will decide the fate of Gaza...it
thinks. After withdrawal was voted down twice by his own party, Sharon
will keep on looking for a way to make his plan, at least, carry the remotest
vestiges of democratic legitimacy. The difference in the vote will be the
14 Arab seats, which means that the country's enemies will determine Gaza's
fate.
-
- Sharon is turning down the idea of a national mandate
on the withdrawal and I'm glad. This saves us watching the oppression of
the Labor Zionist media, as it bombards the public with lurid anti-settler
images. And it saves us the Labor Zionists springing violent sting operations
aimed at smearing the religious, Right or anyone who would not support
the withdrawal. One possible sting would be a repeat of the Rabin murder,
only this time the patsy would aim at Sharon.
-
- The change in atmosphere from a facade of liberalism
to genuine fascism is nearly complete. One example: I have a marvelous
marketing tool. I sell my books at appropriate political demonstrations.
It works like a charm every time and the media and Shabak mostly ignore
me. This year Channel One news broadcast some of the items from my table,
stopping just short of calling the police to arrest this inciter. Then,
for the full length of the rally, I had a Shabak agent dressed as a "settler"
sit beside me, disrupting my sales until I told him to "shut your
mouth."
-
- And the "service" photographed me all evening.
Next rally, I'm taking a camera to photograph the agents. Then I'll publicize
the shots to help identify the spies in our midsts.
-
-
- Reactions To The New Book
- By Barry Chamish
-
- It had been three years since Save Israel!, my last
book. I had forgotten the immediate reaction that comes with a new publication.
It has only been two weeks since my new book, Shabtai Tzvi, Labor Zionism
And The Holocaust, has been in the hands of people, and look at the reader
reaction already!
-
- It was a late night call from a woman who finished
the book that day. "How did you miss the murder of Samir Nakash?"
she demanded to know.
-
- My reaction was yours. "Who?" I asked.
-
- "Nakash exposed the biggest secret of Iraqi
Jewry in a film called Forget Baghdad. He claimed that in the late 1940s,
Labor Zionists had bribed the Iraqi President to ignite pogroms and force
the Jews to flee to Israel. He explained that, at the time, Zionism was
marginal amongst Iraqi Jews. In fact, communism was the strongest political
force. So almost no one was interested in making aliyah to Israel. That
would change with a few trumped up charges against Jews, a few pogroms
and a few public hangings. The payoff was great; the Iraqi leadership confiscated
all Jewish properties and assets and earned billions of dollars in today's
terms.
-
- "Three months after the film was released,
Nakash was dead. And I don't believe it was natural death. Your book finally
exposed some of the secret wars being fought against Sephardic communities,
but you barely scraped the service.
-
- "You think taking away the land from Gush
Katif is something new? Look what the Labor Zionists did to my people,
the Bucharim. We came from Buchara in the 1880s, not out of Zionism, it
didn't exist then, but out of pure love of Israel. We acquired land because
we were there before the Zionists and in the 1920s, they stole it from
us. The British raised municipal taxes so high, that the Bucharim were
forced to sell their land. The Labor Zionists didn't want Orthodox Jews
owning anything. The land they stole is half the real estate of downtown
Jerusalem today, and the Central Bus Station in Tel Aviv. We should be
the aristocrats of Israel, but we were impoverished by the British and
the Jewish Agency."
-
- We discussed an issue many readers of the new
book find unsettling. What was the role of Rabbi Avraham Kook in changing
the religious status quo of Jerusalem? Kook was tied to Lord Balfour and
Chaim Weizmann. During World War 1, he was in London holding meetings with
them. After the war, the British Mandate "approved" Ha Rav Kook
as the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. Under his watch, the lootings took place.
But did he sanction them?
-
- One reader decided to examine the issue and
determine if Rabbi Kook was Sabbataian. The following passage is a bit
lengthy but it's important. Can you determine HaRav Kook's attitude to
Shabtai Tzvi from it?
-
-
- Rav Kook on Sabbatianism from
- 'Post Sabbatian Sabbatianism'
-
- By Bezalel Naor
-
- Spring Valley, NY: Orot, 1999)
- softcover 224 pp ISBN 0-9674512-1-3
- 19.95 + $5.00 S&H within USA
-
- Available from:
- Orot, Inc. PO Box 155
- Spring Valley, NY 10977
- make checks payable to "Orot Inc".
-
- Between the two world wars, there roamed the streets
of Jerusalem a man who made a nuisance of himself, pestering the populace
that he was the Messiah.
-
- Finally the "Messiah was brought to the Chief Rabbi
of Jerusalem. Rav Kook asked to meet with the deranged man alone. After
a few moments with Rav Kook, the "Messiah never again boasted his
claim.
-
- Sometime later Rav Kook revealed what produced such a
wondrous effect. "I told him: 'The truth is, there is a spark of Messiah
in every Jew. You obviously have received an especially large endowment.
But the quality of the spark is such that it works only as long as one
does not speak of it to others.'"
-
- Unlike many Orthodox thinkers, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen
Kook did not shy away from the subject of Sabbatianism. His published works
reveal a more than fleeting interest in the entire Sabbatian phenomenon,
from the initial impetus of Messianic activity surrounding the person of
Shabbetai Zevi, to the Hayyon and Emden-Eybeschütz controversies,
to that Polish offshoot of Sabbatianism, Frankism. This interest extends
to both the external, historical, as well as internal, philosophical and
psychological aspects. Rav Kook is even willing to rebut the author of
Or la-Yesharim s comparison of Herzlian political Zionism to Sabbatianism.
-
- In one of his earliest published essays, Derekh ha-Tehiyah,
which translates into English as, "The Way of Renascence, Rav Kook
casts all human history, and specifically Jewish history, as a tug of war
between the forces of learning and intellect on the one hand and the currents
of psyche and charisma on the other. In general, Rav Kook views the various
pseudomessianic movements that plagued the Jewish People in exile, and
Shabbetai Zevi and Jacob Frank in particular, as eruptions of the soulful
side of the collective Jewish personality. He refers to Zevi and Frank
en passant as he attempts to put Hasidism in perspective:
-
- Hasidism too came out of the demand of the psychic current
that lay dormant. After the unsuccessful attempt of the latest false Messiah,
Shabbetai Zevi, who lowered the psychic current to the level of insanity
and wicked intoxication, and that culminated in all of its apostasy in
the semi-official false Messiah Frank and his entourage"after all
these, there was great apprehension lest the nation totally revile any
vestige remaining to it of the hidden power of the living psychic currents,
and revert to repetition of the letters and observance of the deeds, the
commandments and the customs with a bent back and broken heart. (If that
were the case) eventually the nation would not be able to survive for lack
of freshness and upliftment of the soul.
-
- This thing was felt by the great personality of the fathers
of Hasidism, in which the godly psychic current was alive.
-
- The approach to Sabbatianism is ambivalent. It may best
be summed up by the advice of the Talmud regarding renegade Jews: "Push
away with the left hand and bring close with the right. Condemnatory of
the excesses of Sabbatianism, the mental instability of its founder, and
the self-imposed apostasy (nokhriyut ) of his spiritual grandson Frank,
Rav Kook at once acknowledges the kernel of redeeming value in all this
lunacy"a hankering for vital, existential, as opposed to rote, religion.
-
- This "ambidexterity will be Rav Kook,s approach
to various chapters in Jewish history, whether it be the Christianity of
Jesus of Nazareth, the pantheism of Baruch Spinoza7, or the Zionism of
Theodore Herzl. Those who have criticized Chief Rabbi Kook for his support
of and involvement in the Zionist movement, have too often failed to notice
that the posture vis-`a-vis Zionism is but the most recent application
of Rav Kook,s historical method.
-
- Convinced of the essential godliness of the Jewish People,
he is forever seeking to glean meaning from the aberrant and absurd. This
posture of attempting to uncover hidden good in the ostensibly evil, is
itself reminiscent of Sabbatian theology, thus exposing Rav Kook to unfair
attack, when in truth, this paradoxical outlook precedes Sabbatianism,
having its source in Zoharic and Lurianic Kabbalah.
-
- Rabbi Kook is definitely no Sabbatian9. He points out
to his correspondent Samuel Alexandrov the folly of considering the present
decrepit world order the future of which it is said, "The commandments
will be null in the future10, citing as an example of this fool,s paradise
the experiments of the Sabbatians "sunk into the depth of evil.
-
- He is not loath to point out to Rabbi Yahia Kafah of
San,a that the book he quotes from,,Oz le-Elohim by Nehemiah Hiyya Hayyon,
is an heretical work by a Sabbatian.
-
- It is also not beyond Rav Kook to display empathy and
understanding for Rabbi Jacob Emden,s disparagements of certain passages
in Zohar, motivated as Emden was by the desire to undercut the Sabbatians,
who to a large degree based themselves on Zohar.
-
- And while on the subject of Emden,s untiring campaign
against crypto-Sabbatians, let us mention that Rav Kook, when pressed by
his personal secretary Simon Glitzenstein, revealed what he knew (or thought
he knew) of R. Jonathan Eybeschütz,s youthful ensnarement by the Sabbatian
heresiarch Löbele Prossnitz.
-
- Abutting all this, Rav Kook knows the mysterious light,
the pathetic, yet unredeemed sparks that beckon to us from fallen Messiahs.
-
- . . . mysteries of Torah that as a result of their influence
on those who delved into them without the proper preparation, have come
to be rejected and abused. From this very light of life, from which improper
influences produce world catastrophe and peril"precisely from it,
will sprout eternal salvation.
-
- Alter B.Z. Metzger, English translator of Orot ha-Teshuvah,
correctly caught the veiled reference to Shabbetai Zevi and Frank, who
in distorting the teachings of the Kabbalah, caused them to be reviled
by a good portion of Jewry. But Rav Kook reassures us that these teachings
need not produce the excesses of which Zevi, Frank and their followers
were guilty. The potential for turning the elixir of life into poison,
exists on every level of Torah understanding. All depends on the spiritual
preparation (or lack thereof) of those involved in its study.
-
- Perhaps the most startling of all Rav Kook,s statements
concerning the would-be Messiahs, is the one occurring in the ill-fated
Arpilei Tohar 18 (and later in the more widely circulated Orot 19):
- . . . the fetuses who stood to be Messiahs but fell,
were trapped and broken. Their sparks were scattered and seek a living,
enduring correction (tikkun) in the foundation of David, King of Israel,
"the breath of our nostrils, the anointed (meshiah) of God.
-
- While it is not at all clear that Rav Kook includes in
his list of Messiahs-in-potentia the likes of Shabbetai Zevi, perhaps reserving
this distinction for a Bar Kochba revered by Rabbi Akiba, this does not
dull the daring of the thought. That the child born after so many miscarriages
(bar niflei) will encompass in his soul the souls of his stillborn brothers,
is truly remarkable. There is a poetic justice here. None of the unsuccessful
Messiahs, attempts at redemption were in vein; all contribute in some sense
to the final Redemption.
-
- Finally, for Rav Kook as for"mutatis mutandis"Sabbatians,
"the light of Moses and "the light of Messiah are antithetical,
being united only at the root of their souls in the "supernal splendor
of Adam (zihara ila,ah de-adam ha-rishon). Though Messiah himself is not
portrayed by Rav Kook as abrogating Mosaic law, the entire phenomenon of
Messianism is painted in distinctly antinomian tones. Whereas Torah requires
an attitude of shamefacedness and humility, Messiah thrives paradoxically
on shamelessness, chutzpah. And Rav Kook is quite explicit as to what the
chutzpah consists of: Sexuality, fleshliness, and forsaking Torah. As alarming
as all this is, it is well within kabbalistic tradition that again, predates
Shabbetai Zevi. One may find in MaHaRaL of Prague and SheLaH, and needless
to say, in Zohar, similar expressions of the extralegal origins of Messiah,
conceived from the less than immaculate unions of Lot and his daughters,
Jacob and Tamar, Boaz and Ruth the Moabitess, David and Bathsheba, and
Solomon and Na,amah the Amonitess. Yet there is a clarity and profundity
of thought in Rav Kook,s pitting the two traditions, Mosaic and Messianic,
against one another.
-
- What puts Rav Kook decisively beyond the reaches of Sabbatian
thought, is his formulation of a future in which, "once again the
'supernal splendor of Adam' will shine through the gathering of the two
luminaries that are one, Moses and Messiah. Unlike the Sabbatian who revels
in the antinomianism of Messianism, Rav Kook,s ideal is the reunification
of two traditions that have grown apart, the legal tradition of Moses and
the extralegal tradition of Messiah.
-
- Whatever his view on Shabtai Tzvi, HaRav Kook
devoted much thought to the man and the issue. He knew a great deal more
about the roots of Labor Zionism than was previously understood. The passage
reveals a man too torn between the good of Judaism and the evil of Sabbataianism,
and too willing to be understanding of the latter.
-
- Onto another controversial religious issue. A few
years back I spoke at the famous 770 headquarters of the Chabad movement
in Brooklyn. There were 700 people to hear me and a good ten, maybe twenty
of them were provocateurs trying to violently stop the lecture. First they
spread rumors throughout the crowd, then unplugged the video projector.
In the end, the lecture succeeded because too many fine people wanted to
hear me. But I told them, "You had better stay on guard. Your Chabad
movement is really infiltrated." Most seemed to know it and many took
me aside and told me of suspicious events that took place, even the intended
murder of one of their Rav's bodyguards.
-
- I mention this because, the new book inspired
still another powerful observation from the late night caller:
-
- "Look how they got to Chabad in Sydney.
I was only there three months but it was eerie. I had dinner with a prominent
religious family there and on the wall was a picture of a notorious Sabbataian,
Yonathan Iveshitz. I'd never seen that in any Jewish home, anywhere. That
week, Hanan Ashrawi came to Sydney to be awarded a peace prize. Same week,
the principle backer of Chabad's two schools, the Gutnik family, had a
sibling battle over money, bills for the Chabad schools were frozen and
the police came and shut them down. The community wanted to save at least
the girl's school and the condition was that it accept a Reform woman principal.
Chabad gave in but the arrangement didn't work, how could it, and the girl's
school was shut down too. It looks like Chabad has lots of enemies from
within in Sydney."
-
- On October 1, I gave a speech at a conference
in Italy. A fellow lecturer was the distinguished German writer Michael
Hesemann. We had a lively dinner discussion and I gave him my new book
and the audio CD of the same name. Here was his reaction to the CD:
-
- Dear Barry,
-
- It was a pleasure to see you again in Italy!
-
- Thanks for your CD and book. I could not resist to listen
to your lecture on my way back over the Alps, when, after crossing the
Swiss border, the radio programme went bad.
-
- Your lecture is highly interesting and I think that I
might have found a highly interesting correlation.
- As I told you, I just published a book called "Hitlers
Religion", outlining the occult background of the murderous Nazi ideology.
Like Shabtaism, Hitlerism is purely satanic: It denied compassion, love,
life and promoted cruelty, hate and murder. It was a religion of death
- the sheer evil.
-
- Well, where did it come from? Who discovered Hitler?
Who made him the German evil messiah?
- One man: Rudolf von Sebottendorff, founder of the "Thule
Society" which had a political branch, the German Workers Party (DAP),
which was later renamed in "National Socialist German Workers (or
Labour) Party". It was already in existence when they found Hitler,
recruited him because of his rhetoric skills and fanaticism.
-
- Sebottendorff, a born German, went to Turkey as a young
man and indeed became a Turkish citizen. He got interested in occultism
and was initiated by an old Jew of the Termudi family in Bursa/Turkey.
This old Jew knew the Kabbala, collected alchemistic and Rosicrucian writings.
When he died, he bequeathed his library to Sebottendorff. Sebottendorff
joined the Turkish Freemasonary. His lodge supported the revolution of
the "Young Turks" under Kemal Ataturk.
-
- When he returned to Germany, he was an antisemite and
co-founder of the "Teutonic Order" ("Germanenorden"),
of which the Thule Society was a branch.
-
- So in this man we have a link between Turkey, Turkish
Jews, Young Turks, German Antisemites and the Nazis. You were right: It
all begun in Turkey. May I assume that Sebottendorffs old teacher, Mr.
Termudi, was a Sabbataian?
-
- Give me your opinion!
- Greetings from Germany,
-
- Shalom,
Mike
-
- end
-
- Michael Hesemann's response inspired me. My two
hour CD, also called Shabtai Tzvi, Labor Zionism And The Holocaust, is
the natural companion for the book of the same name. Let me try an experiment
until the next article. I'll offer both in one package for $30. or 80 shekels
to anyone who writes me at chamish@netvision.net.il
-
- And now the announcement my Israeli readers have
all been waiting for: This year's conference, called REINVESTIGATING THE
RABIN MURDER will be held at Bet Agron, on Agron St. in Jerusalem on Wed.
Nov. 3. The English program will be from 4-6 with presentations by me and
Yaacov Verker. Please arrive at 3:30 so we can start on time.
-
- The Hebrew program will include half hour
speeches by Adir Zik, Dr. David Chayen and Prof. Hillel Weiss, all moderated
by Prof. Aryeh Zaritsky. New will be a presentation by Prof. Uri Milstein
on Rabin's character and how it led to his downfall.
-
- At precisely 8:00 I will give my 90 minute
lecture in Hebrew. At 9:30, a distinguished panel of objective and Left
wing jurists will discuss if they now believe there was a murder conspiracy
from within his own party which killed Yitzhak Rabin.
-
- Agreeing to sit on this jury so far are: Yoni
Ariel, Editor, Ma'ariv International, Dr. Ephraim Rausch, a physician and
expert on hypnosis and mind control, and Prof. Michael Harseger, the historian
who first proposed the conspiracy, but speculated that the murderers were
from the Right. We'll see if we can't get him to admit they was not.
-
- FINALLY: This year, NO ADMISSION CHARGE. You can show
up without booking, but space is limited to 100 people per session. To
assure a place, write rb@rb.org.il or call Yaacov Verker at 050 5205591.
-
- As always, my books Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin, Israel
Betrayed, The Last Days Of Israel. and Save Israel!, as well as my videos
and CDS, The Dirty Secrets Of Oslo, and Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin are
available by writing me at chamish@netvision.net.il
|