What an utterly worthless article. Somebody was wrong once in criticizing the Talmud. So what? Some people have been right in criticizing the Talmud. That's much more important.
<<< The second example comes from the USA, again from an English translation of a book by
Maimonides. Apart from his work on the codification of the Talmud, he was also a
philosopher and his Guide to the Perplexed is justly considered to be the greatest work of
Jewish religious philosophy and is widely read and used even today. Unfortunately, in
addition to his attitude towards non-Jews generally and Christians in particular,
Maimonides was also an anti-Black racist. Towards the end of the Guide, in a crucial
chapter (book III, chapter 51) he discusses how various sections of humanity can attain the
supreme religious value, the true worship of God. Among those who are incapable of even
approaching this are:
"Some of the Turks [i.e., the Mongol race] and the nomads in the North, and the
Blacks and the nomads in the South, and those who resemble them in our climates.
And their nature is like the nature of mute animals, and according to my opinion they
are not on the level of human beings, and their level among existing things is below
that of a man and above that of a monkey, because they have the image and the
resemblance of a man more than a monkey does."
Now, what does one do with such a passage in a most important and necessary work of
Judaism? Face the truth and its consequences? God forbid! Admit (as so many Christian
scholars, for example, have done in similar circumstances) that a very important Jewish
authority held also rabid anti-Black views, and by this admission make an attempt at
self-education in real humanity? Perish the thought. I can almost imagine Jewish scholars
in the USA consulting among themselves, 'What is to be done?' - for the book had to be
translated, due to the decline in the knowledge of Hebrew among American Jews. Whether
by consultation or by individual inspiration, a happy solution' was found: in the popular
American translation of the Guide by one Friedlander, first published as far back as 1925
and since then reprinted in many editions, including several in paperback, the Hebrew word
Kushi,,:, which means Blacks, was simply transliterated and appears as 'Kushites', a word
which means nothing to those who have no knowledge of Hebrew, or to whom an obliging
rabbi will not give an oral explanation.22 During all these years, not a word has been said
to point out the initial deception or the social facts underlying its continuation - and this
throughout the excitement of Martin Luther King's campaigns, which were supported by so
many rabbis, not to mention other Jewish figures, some of whom must have been aware of
the anti-Black racist attitude which forms part of their Jewish heritage.23 >>>
The bold part is my idea of mindless, hateful, and irrational, and is very reminiscent of Nazi propaganda.
abbc.com
Tom |
