Jewish Disloyalty 1812 Rakeffet

The Rav: The World Of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (Volume 2), by Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff. 1999

Insights Into Bribery, Jewish Disloyalty to Poland in 1812, Pitfalls of Jewish-Christian Dialogue, and Residual Talmudic Antigoyism

The Rav was Rabbi Joseph Baer Soloveitchik (1903-1993). This book is a collection of biographical information, religious messages, photographs, and much more. The first part of the book includes a very helpful, and detailed, Soloveitchik family genealogy. This makes it much easier to keep track of the various personages discussed in the book.

This work includes interesting information going back two centuries—to Russian-ruled eastern Poland, and into the present. I later touch on some of this.

JEWS BRIBE RUSSIAN OFFICIALS: WHAT DOES CHRONIC BRIBERY DO?

Some unmentioned historical background is in order. In the 1905 Russian revolution, many, if not most, of the revolutionaries, were Jews.

In 1959, the Rav related the account a Jewish youth, from Brisk, who was responsible for the killing the Russian governor-general, of Warsaw, with a bomb. Reb Chaim led a massive campaign in 1906, among the Jews, to raise a large amount of money to bribe a Russian official to free the boy. It worked.

This prompted the Rav to comment, (quote) He [Rev Chaim] knew that in Russia bribes worked wonders. Jews could not survive without this magical policy of bribing officials. (unquote). (p. 234).

The long-term consequences of bribery must be factored. It is one thing to resort to bribery in the face of desperate circumstances and unreasonable government officials. It is quite another to make bribery a way of life, or to use it to excuse criminal Jewish behavior. Such conduct can only contribute to the notion of Jews as corrupters and manipulators of societies. It also can make Jewish-friendly gentile officials suspected of being on the “take” from the Jews.

JEWS, TSARIST RUSSIA, AND NAPOLEON. JEWISH DISLOYALTY TO POLAND IN 1812

A selection in this book (pp. 255-258), from the Rav, and stated in 1976, offers a snapshot of history of the early 19th century. [This was shortly after the Partitions of Poland. The Poles were fighting for Napoleon in hopes that his victory would lead to a resurrected Polish state.]

Reb Levi Yitzhak suggested that anything that lessened the tsar’s yoke was beneficial to the Jews. In contrast, Rev Schneur Zalman warned that, (quote) “A victory for Napoleon would open the gates to the spirit of assimilation which was then engulfing Western Europe.” (unquote). (p. 257). The Jews sided with the Russians against Napoleon. In fact, the Rav’s article focuses on Jewish espionage on behalf of the Russian forces.

[It is obvious, from the foregoing, that Jewish conduct, whether to be pro-Napoleon or anti-Napoleon, was being governed by narrow self-interest, and that the Jews had no regard for Poland—the very nation that had freely welcomed them and given them refuge centuries ago. Is it any wonder that later Poles (notably the Endeks) generally did not consider Jews part of the Polish nation?]

THE RAV IN POLAND: DRAFT DODGING

Poles have often complained of Jews evading military service to Poland. This book provides one such example.

The Rav was born in Poland in 1903 (p. 21), and lived much of his early life there. The Rav entered the Free Polish University in 1924. Later, he went to the University of Berlin. This was, in part, to avoid the possibility of being drafted into the Polish Army. (p. 26, pp. 68-69).

JEWS AND THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL: THE PITFALLS OF DIALOGUE

Around 1960, the Rav was invited to a Jewish-Catholic dialogue, as part of ecumenical activities, as part of Vatican II. He called for mutual respect between religions, and suggested that Christians and Jews make common cause against secularism, materialism, and atheism. (p. 49).

However, he declined to participate in the dialogue itself, pointing to the distinctiveness of both religions, and the fact that one religion should not be equated or merged with the other. In addition, one religion should not be viewed against the backdrop of the other religion. (p. 50).

[Ironically, this actually happened, but probably not in the way that the Rav had feared. Many Catholics nowadays refer to Jews as the “elder brothers” of Christians, effectively making Judaism the backdrop of Christianity, and, in a sense, blurring the distinction between Catholicism and Judaism.]

AMERICAN JEWS AND “GETTING AHEAD”

The Rav maintained that the Jew yearns for holiness. Nevertheless, this did not prevent him from uttering this scathing critique of America’s Jews, (quote) Thus, we were confronted with his continual amazement at the contrast between how the “modern Jew dedicates vast emotional resources, talents, and ingenuity to acquire material possessions.” This same Jew who “shuts out the spiritual values of Judaism through a selective dullness, insensitivity, a numbness to all things holy” (12.05). “The American Jew,” the Rav observed, “follows a philosophy which has equated religion with making Jewish life more comfortable and convenient.” (12.06). (unquote). (p. xxx).

[Not a few Christian preachers have made the same complaints about American Christians.]

THE SHOAH AND CONTINUED BELIEF IN GOD

Unlike those Jews who rejected God because He allowed the Holocaust to happen, the Rav did not. He considered the ways of God beyond human understanding (Exodus 15:11), and called on Jews to retain their faith in God despite their doubts and inner conflicts. (p. 171).

JEWS, ANTIGOYISM, AND THE MODERN INTERPRETATION OF THE TALMUD

According to standard Talmud apologetics, certain controversial verses, on Jews and gentiles, had been abandoned or reinterpreted by Jews many centuries ago. Moreover, they had applied only to ancient pagan peoples in the first place. Finally, deviations from this understanding are limited to extremists, such as Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in Israel.

Information in this book contradicts the foregoing sweeping exculpatory assertions. It turns out that “old” interpretations of the Talmud, and that in just the Rav’s lineage, not only existed, but had done so among very influential rabbis, and moreover had persisted at least to fairly recent times. In terms of background, “The Vilna Gaon” refers to R. Elijah ben Solomon Zalman (1720-1797). R. Chaim Volozhin (1749-1821) was his student. [Vilna is also called Wilno and Vilnius.]

In 1994, the Rav had this to say to his Talmud class, (quote) The rabbis stated “that the Holy One, blessed by He, stipulated with the Works of Creation that they would only continue to exist if Israel accepted the Torah. If not, He would turn the Works of Creation back into emptiness and formlessness” [SHABBAT 88a]. The Vilna Gaon held that the world would only endure if the Jews did not just accept the Torah but continued to constantly study the Torah. The Vilna Gaon’s student, Rev Chaim Vozhiner, later incorporated these ideas into his NEFESH HA-HAYYIM [Fourth Gate, chap. 11, p. 4d]. (unquote). (p. 164).

To re-affirm the value of Torah study is one thing: To make the world’s very existence contingent upon the behavior of the Jews, is quite another. It is plain to see that the old Talmudic Jewish supremacist theme, about the world created for the sake of the Jews, was not only being quoted, but was also being applied to the present, if only metaphorically. [Note that a racist metaphor is still racist.]