The Pete Quiñones Show - Pete Reads 'Jewish History, Jewish Religion' by Israel Shahak Part 4

Episode Date: June 21, 2024

47 MinutesPG-13Pete continues reading of Israel Shahak's 1994 book, "Jewish History, Jewish Religion - The Weight of Three-Thousand Years." In this episode he covers the first half of chapter 4.Antelope Hill - Promo code "peteq" for 5% off - https://antelopehillpublishing.com/FoxnSons Coffee - Promo code "peter" for 18% off - https://www.foxnsons.com/Jewish History, Jewish ReligionVIP Summit 3-Truth To Freedom - Autonomy w/ Richard GroveSupport Pete on His WebsitePete's PatreonPete's Substack Pete's SubscribestarPete's GUMROADPete's VenmoPete's Buy Me a CoffeePete on FacebookPete on TwitterBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-pete-quinones-show--6071361/support.

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Those people who love going out shopping for Black Friday deals, they're mad, aren't they? Like, proper mad. Brenda wants a television and she's prepared to fight for it, if you ask me. It's the fastest way to a meltdown. Me, I just prepare the fastest way to get stuff, and it doesn't get faster than Appliances Delivered. top brand appliances, top brand electricals, and if it's online, it's in stock, with next day delivery in greater Dublin. Appliances Delivered.aE, part of expert electrical, see it, buy it, get it tomorrow. Or you know, fight branda. I want to welcome everyone back to part four of my reading of Jewish history, Jewish religion, the weight of 3,000 years, by Israel Shahak.

I want to remind you that about Thomas and mine. movie reviews, free man beyond the wall.com, four slash movies, two movies so far, near dark, and taxi driver. And we also set it up so that you can sign up for a year and you don't have to worry about going through the hassle of paying for the movies as they come out. You just get a subscription for a year. Also, my partnership with NLUPL publishing. If you go to NL uphill, order anything on the site, put in promo code PQ, all lowercase. You get 5% off your order. All right. Let's get going. This is, I think I said last time that this was a longer, the last chapter was a longer chapter and I might split it up. This one is

already split up, but this is a long chapter. I'm going to split it up. I'm going to stop it on a what might be called a cliffhanger. All right. Let's get to this. Chapter 4. The Weight of History. A great deal of nonsense has been written in the attempt to provide a social or mystical interpretation of Jewry or Judaism as a whole.

This cannot be done for the social structure of the Jewish people and the ideological structure of Judaism have changed profoundly through the ages. four major phases can be distinguished. One, the phase of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah until the destruction of the First Temple, 587 BC, and the Babylonian exile. Much of the Old Testament is concerned with this period, although most major books of the Old Testament, including the Pentateuch, as we know it, were actually composed after that date. socially these ancient Jewish kingdoms were quite similar to the neighboring kingdoms of Palestine and Syria, and, as a careful reading of the prophets reveals, the similarity extended to the religious cults practiced by the great majority of the people. The ideas that were to become typical of later Judaism, including in particular ethnic segregationism and monotheistic exclusivism,

were at this stage confined to small circles of priests and prophets whose social influence depended on royal support. The phase of the dual centers, Palestine and Mesopotamia, from the first return from Babylon 537 BC, until about AD 500, until about AD 500, it is characterized by the existence of these two autonomous Jewish societies, both based primarily on agriculture on which the Jewish religion, as previously elaborated in priestly and scribble circles, was imposed by the force and authority of the Persian Empire. The Old Testament Book of Ezra contains an account of the activities of Ezra the priest, a ready scribe in the law of Moses, who was empowered by King Artaxerxes I of the first of Persia to set magistrates and judges over the Jews of Palestine, so that whosoever will not do the law of thy God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him,

whether it be unto death or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. And in the book of Nehemiah, cupbearer to King Ardazerxes, who was appointed Persian governor of Judea with even greater powers, we see to what extent foreign, nowadays one would say imperialist, coercion, was instrumental in imposing the Jewish religion, with lasting results. In both centers, Jewish autonomy persisted during most of this period, and deviations for religious orthodoxy were repressed.

Exceptions to this rule occurred when the religious aristocracy itself got infected with Hellenistic ideas from 300 to 166 BC, and again under Herod the Great and his successors, from 50 BC to 8070. or when it was split in reaction to new developments, for example, the division between the two great parties, the Pharisees, and the Sadduceans, which emerged in about 140 BC. However, the moment any one-party triumph that used a coercive machinery of the Jewish autonomy or, for a short period, independence, to impose its own religious views on all the Jews in both censors. during most of this time, especially after the collapse of the Persian Empire and until about 80,200, the Jews outside the two centers were free from Jewish religious coercion. Among the papyri preserved in Elephantine in Upper Egypt, there is a letter dating from 419 BC

containing the text of an edict by King Darius II of Persia, which instructs the Jews of Egypt as to details of the observance of Passover. But the Hellenistic kingdoms, The Roman Empire and early Roman Empire did not bother with such things. The freedom that Hellenistic Jews enjoyed outside Palestine allowed the creation of a Jewish literature written in Greek, which was subsequently rejected in toto by Judaism and whose remains were preserved by Christianity. The very rise of Christianity was possible

because of the relative freedom of the Jewish communities outside the two centers. The experience of the Apostle Paul is significant. In Corinth, when the local Jewish community accused Paul of heresy, the Roman governor Gowdiot dismissed the case at once, refusing to be a judge of such matters. But in Judea, the governor Festus felt obliged to take legal cognizance of a purely religious internal Jewish dispute. This tolerance came to an end in about 80,200 when the Jewish religion, as meanwhile elaborated and involved in Palestine, was imposed by the Roman authority. upon all the Jews of the empire. The phase which we have defined as classical Judaism and which will be discussed below. The modern phase characterized by the breakdown of the totalitarian Jewish community in its power

and by attempts to reimpose it of whose Zionism is the most important. This phase begins in Holland in the 17th century, in France and Austria, excluding Hungary, in the late 18th century, in most other European countries, in the middle of the 19th century, and in some Islamic countries in the 20th century. This is in parentheses. The Jews of Yemen were still living in the medieval classical phase in 1948. Something concerning these developments will be said later on. Between the second phase and the third, that of classical Judaism, there is a gap of several

centuries in which our present knowledge of Jews and Jewish society is very slight, and the scant information we do have is all derived from external non-Jewish sorts. In the countries of Latin Christendom, we have absolutely no Jewish literary records until the middle of the 10th century. Internal Jewish information, mostly from religious literature, becomes more abundant only in the 11th and particularly the 12th century. Before that, we are wholly dependent first on Roman and then on Christian evidence. In the Islamic countries, the information gap is not quite so big. Still, very little is known about Jewish society before AD 800 and about the changes it must have undergone during the three preceding centuries. I probably should have thrown a trigger warning in there for Solis Scrippsura people.

He's obviously not. He obviously thinks that books of the Old Testament were written at different times than some people were even talking. in seminary. Although I was taught textual criticism in seminary, so a lot of this just doesn't cause me agita. New heading, major features of classical Judaism. Let us therefore ignore those dark ages, and for the sake of convenience, begin with the two centuries 1,000 to 1,200, for which abundant information is available from both internal and external sources on all the important Jewish centers, east and west. Classical Judaism, which is clearly discernible in this period, has undergone very few changes since then, and in the guise of Orthodox Judaism, is still a

powerful force today. How can that classical Judaism be characterized, and what are the social differences distinguishing it from earlier phases of Judaism? I believe that there are three such major features. One, classical Jewish society has no peasants, and in that it in this, it differs profoundly from earlier Jewish societies in the two centers, Palestine and Mesopotamia. It is difficult for us in modern times to understand what this means. We have to make an effort to imagine what serfdom was like, the enormous difference in literacy, let alone education, between village and town throughout the period, the incomparably greater freedom enjoyed by all the small minority who were not peasants in order to realize that during the whole of the

classical period, the Jews, in spite of all the persecutions to which they were subjected, formed an integral part of the privileged classes. Jewish historiography, especially in English, is misleading on this point in as much as it tends to focus on Jewish poverty and anti-Jewish discrimination. Both were real enough at times, but the poorest Jewish craftsman, peddler, landlord-steward, or petty cleric were immeasurally. better off than a serf. This was particularly true in those European countries where serfdom persisted into the 19th century, whether in a partial or extreme form, Prussia, Austria, including Hungary,

Poland and the Polish lands taken by Russia. And it is not without significance that prior to the beginning of the Jewish migration of modern times, around 1880, a large majority of all Jews were living in those areas and that their most important social function there was to mediate the oppression of the peasants on behalf of the nobility and the crown. Everywhere, classical Judaism developed hatred and contempt for agriculture as an occupation and for peasants as a class, even more than for other Gentiles, a hatred of which I know no parallel in other societies. This is immediately apparent to anyone who is familiar with the Yiddish or Hebrew literature of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Most East European Jewish socialists, that is, members of experience, members of exclusively or predominantly Jewish parties and factions are guilty of never pointing out this fact. Indeed, many were themselves tainted with a ferocious anti-peasant attitude inherited from classical Judaism. Of course, Zionist socialists were the worst in this respect, but others, such as the Bund, were not much better. A typical example is there a opposition to the formation of peasant cooperatives promoted by the Catholic clergy on the ground, that this was an act of anti-Semitism. This attitude is by no means dead even now. It could be seen very clearly in the racist views

held by many Jewish dissidents in the USSR regarding the Russian people and also in the lack of discussion of this background by so many Jewish socialists, such as Isaac Deutsche. The whole racist propaganda on the theme of the supposed superiority of Jewish morality and intellect in which many Jewish socialist were prominent is bound up with a lack of sensitivity

for the suffering of that major part of humanity who were especially oppressed during the last thousand years. The peasants. Ready for huge savings? We'll mark your calendars from November 28th to 30th because the Liddle Newbridge Warehouse sale is back. We're talking thousands of your favorite Liddle items

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There's so much rugby on Sports Extra from Sky They've asked me to read the whole lad at the same speed I usually use for the legal bit at the end Here goes This winter sports extra is jam-packed with rugby For the first time we've got every Champions Cup match exclusively live Plus action from the URC, the Challenge Cup and much more. That's the URC and all the best European rugby

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ginnestorehouse.com. Get the facts. Be drinkaware. Visit drinkaware.com. Two. Classical Jewish society was particularly dependent on kings or on nobles with royal powers. In the next chapter, we discussed various Jewish laws directed against Gentiles, and in particular laws which command Jews to revile Gentiles and refrain from praising them or their customs. These laws allow one and only one exception, a Gentile king, or a locally powerful magnate in Hebrew parrits or Yiddish prudence. A king is praised and prayed for, and he is obeyed not only in most civil matters, but also in some religious ones. As we shall see Jewish doctors, who are in general forbidden to save the lives of ordinary Gentiles and the

Sabbath are commanded to do their utmost in healing magnets and rulers. This partly explains why kings and noblemen, popes, and bishops often employed Jewish physicians. But not only physicians, Jewish tax and custom collectors, or in Eastern Europe, bailiffs of manners could be depended upon to do their utmost for the king or baron in a way that a Christian could not always be. The legal status of a Jewish community in the period of classical Judaism was normally based on a privilege, a charter granted by a king or prince, or in Poland after the 16th century by a powerful nobleman to the Jewish community and conferring on it the rights of autonomy, that is, investing the rabbis with the power to dictate to the other Jews. An important part of such privileges going as far back as the late Roman Empire is the creation of a Jewish clerical estate, which, exactly like the Christian clergy in medieval times, is exempt from paying taxes to the sovereign and is allowed to impose taxes on the people under its control, the Jews, for its own benefit.

Again, Solzheneson outlines this in 200 years together. It does a very good job of it. It is interesting to note that this deal between the late Roman Empire and the rabbis' antedates, but at least 100 years the very similar privileges granted by Constantine the Great and his successors to the Christian clergy. From about 8,200 until the early 5th century, the legal position of jury in the Roman Empire was as follows. A hereditary Jewish patriarch, residing in Tiberius and Palestine, was recognized both as a high dignitary in the official hierarchy of the empire and as supreme chief of all the Jews in the empire. As a Roman official, the patriarch was virulistress of the same high official class, which included the consuls, the top military commanders of the empire, and the chief ministers around the throne, the sacred consistory, and was outranked only by the imperial family. In fact, the illustrious patriarch, as he is invariably styled in imperial decrees, outranked the provisional governor of Palestine.

Emperor Theodosius I, the first, the great, a pious and orthodox Christian, executed his governor of Palestine for insulting the Jewish patriarch. At the same time, all the rabbis who had to be designated by the patriarch, were freed from the most oppressive Roman taxes and received many official privileges, such as exemption from serving on town councils, which was also one of the privileges later granted to the Christian clergy. In addition, the Patriarch was empowered to tax the Jews and to discipline them by imposing fines, flogging, and other punishments. He used this power in order to suppress Jewish heresies and, as we know from the Talmud, to persecute Jewish preachers who accused him of taxing the Jewish poor for his personal benefit.

We know from Jewish sources that the tax-exempt rabbis used excommunication and other means within their power to enhance their religious hegemony of the Patriarch. We also hear, mostly indirectly, of the hate and scorn that many of the Jewish peasants and urban poor in Palestine had for the rabbis, as well as of the contempt of the rabbis for the Jewish poor, usually expressed as contempt for the ignorance. Nevertheless, this typical colonial arrangement continued, as it was backed by the might of the Roman Empire. Similar arrangements existed within each country during the whole period of classical Judaism. Their social effects on the Jewish communities differed, however, according to the size of each community. Where there were few Jews, there was normally little social differentiation within the community, which tended to be composed of rich and middle-class Jews, most of whom had considerable rabbinical Talmudic education. But in countries where the number of Jews increased, and a big class of Jewish poor appeared, the same cleavage as the one described above manifested itself, and we observed the rabbinical class, in alliance with the Jewish rich, oppressing the Jewish poor in its own interests as well as the

interests of the state, that is, of the crown and the nobility. Huh. Huh, what does that sound like? This was, in particular, the situation in pre-1795 Poland. The specific circumstances of Polish Jewry will be outlined below. Here I only want to point out that because of the formation of a large Jewish community in that country, a deep cleavage between the Jewish upper class, the rabbis and the rich, and the Jewish masses developed there from the 18th century and continued throughout the 19th century.

So long as the Jewish community had power over its members, the incipient revolts of the poor, who had to bear the main brunt of taxation, were suppressed by the combined force of the naked coercion of Jewish self-rule and religious sanction. Because of all this, throughout the classical period, as well as in modern, times, the rabbis were the most loyal, not to say, zealous supporters of the powers that be. And the more reactionary of the regime, the more rabbinical support it had. Three, the Society of Classical Judaism is in total opposition to the surrounding non-Jewish society except the king or the nobles when they take over the state.

This is amply illustrated in Chapter 5. The consequences of these three social features taken together go a long way towards explaining the history of classical Jewish communities, both in Christian and in Muslim countries. The positions of the Jews is particularly favorable under strong regimes which have retained a feudal character and in which national consciousness, even at a rudimentary level, has not yet begun to develop. nationalism is, I think if you look at the 20th century, you will see that they consider nationalism to be a danger. They do everything. I mean, look, you can't even call yourself a nationalist now. I mean, not even talk about putting white in front of it.

Just calling yourself a nationalist. It's become... almost criminal. It is even more favorable in countries such as pre-1975, Poland, or in the Iberian kingdoms before the latter half of the 15th century, where the formation of a nationally based powerful feudal monarchy was temporarily or permanently arrested. In fact, classical Judaism flourishes best under strong regimes, which are disassociated from most classes in society,

and in such regimes Jews fulfill one of the functions of the middle class, but in a permanently dependent form. For this reason, they are opposed not only by the peasantry, whose opposition is then unimportant, except for the occasion and rare popular revolt, but more importantly, by the non-Jewish middle class, which was on the rise in Europe, and by the plebeian part of the clergy,

and they are protected by the upper clergy and the nobility. But in those countries where feudal anarchy, having been curbed, the nobility enters into partnership with the king and with at least part of the bourgeoisie to rule the state, which assumes a national or proto-national form, the position of the Jews deteriorates. If you're thinking about Spain, you'd be right. The general scheme valid for Muslim and Christian countries alike will now be illustrated briefly by a few examples. Here's a few examples. New heading.

England, France, and Italy. Since the first period of Jewish residents in England was so brief and coincided with the development of the English national feudal monarchy, the country can serve as the best illustration of the above scheme. Jews were brought over to England by William the Conqueror as part of the French-speaking Norman ruling class with the primary duty of granting loans to those lords, spiritual and spiritual and temporal, who were otherwise unable to pay their feudal dues, which were particularly heavy in England and more rigorously exacted in that period than in other European monarchy. Their greatest royal patron was Henry II, and the Magna Carta marked the beginning of their

decline, which continued during the conflict of the Barons with Henry III. The temporary resolution of this conflict by Edward I was the formation of Parliament and of ordinary and fixed taxation was accompanied by the expulsion of the Jews. Similarly, in France, the Jews flourished during the formation of the strong feudal principalities in the 11th and 12th centuries, including the royal domain, and their best protector among the Capitian kings was Louis the 7th, notwithstanding his deep and sincere Christian piety. At that time, the Jews of France counted themselves as knights in Hebrew Parisham and the leading Jewish authority in France, Rabinut-Tam, warns them to never,

never to accept an invitation by a feudal lord to settle on his domain, unless they are accorded privileges similar to those of other knights. The decline in their position begins with Philip II Augustus, originator of the political and military alliance of the crown, with the rising urban commune community and plummet under Philip IV. the handsome who convoked the first estates general for the whole of France in order to gain support against the Pope. The final expulsion of Jews from the whole of France is closely bound up with the firm establishment of the Crown's rights of taxation and the national character of the monarchy. He's teaching here. Have you recently purchased a new vehicle

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today and see if upgrading your car is the right prescription for you. There's so much rugby on Sports Exter from Sky. They've asked me to read the whole lad at the same speed I usually use for the legal bit

at the end. Here goes. This winter sports extra is jam-packed with rugby. For the first time we've got every Champions Cup match exclusively live, plus action from the URC, the Challenge Cup and much more. thus the URC and all the best European rugby all in the same place. Get more exclusively live tournaments than ever before on Sports Extra. Jam-packed with rugby. Phew, that is a lot of rugby.

Get Sports Extra on Sky for 15 euro a month for 12 months. Search Sports Extra. New Sports Extra customers only. Standard pressing applies after 12 months for the terms apply. On the many days of Christmas the Guinness Storehouse brings to thee a visit filled with festivity. Experience a story of Ireland's most iconic beer in a stunning Christmas setting at the Guinness Storehouse.

Enjoy seven floors of interactive exhibitions and finish your visit with breathtaking views of Dublin City from the home of Guinness. Live entertainment, great memories and the gravity bar. My goodness is Christmas at the Guinness Storehouse. Book now at Guinness Storehouse.com. Get the facts. Be Drinkaware. Visit drinkaware.com. Similar examples can be given from other European countries where Jews were living during the period. Reserving Christian, Spain, and Poland for a more detailed discussion, we remark that in Italy,

where many city-states had a Republican form of government, the same regularity is discernible. Jews flourished, especially in the papal states, in the twin feudal kingdoms of Sicily and Naples, until their expulsion on Spanish orders, circa 1500, and in the feudal enclaves of Piedmont. But in the great commercial and independent cities, such as Florence, their number was small, and their social role unimportant. new heading the muslim world the same general scheme applies to jewish communities during the classical period in muslim countries as well except for the important fact that expulsions of jews being contrary to Islamic law was virtually unknown there uh what wait a minute what what what i mean are we gonna is he lying is he a liar what i thought i thought muslims ever since ever since

Muhammad, when they see a Jew, they just kill them. This is weird. If you, if you're just listening to this, I'm being facetious. I know all this. Medieval Catholic canon law, on the other hand, neither forbids, neither commands nor forbids such expulsion. Jewish communities flourished in the famous but socially misinterpreted Jewish golden age in Muslim countries under regimes, which were particularly disassociated from the great majority of the people they ruled, and whose power rested on nothing but naked force and a mercenary army. The best example is Muslim Spain, where the very real Jewish golden age of Hebrew poetry, grammar, philosophy, etc., begins precisely with the fall of the Spanish Umayad Caliphate after the death of de facto ruler Al-Mansur in 2002 and the establishment

of the numerous Taifa kingdoms, all based on naked force. The rise of the famous Jewish commander-in-chief and prime minister of the kingdom of Grenada, Samuel the chief, Schmul Hanagid, he died in 1056, who was also one of the greatest Hebrew poets of all ages, was based primarily on the fact that the kingdom which he served was a tyranny of a rather small Berber military force over the Arabic-speaking inhabitants. Berbers or Northern Africans.

A similar situation obtained in the other Taifa Arab-Spanish kingdoms. The position of the Jews declined somewhat with the establishment of the Almoravid regime, 1086 to 90, and became quite precarious under the strong and popular Almohad regime after 1147, when, as a result of persecutions, the Jews migrated to the Christian Spanish kingdoms for the power the kings was still very slight. Similar observations can be made regarding the states of the Muslim East. The first state in which the Jewish community reached a position of important political influence was the Fatimid Empire, especially after the conquest of Egypt in 1969, because it was based

on the rule of an Ishmaelishite religious minority. The same phenomenon can be observed in the Selkuk states, in the Seljuk states, based on feudal-type armies, mercenaries, and increasingly unslave troops, Mamloks, and in their successor states. The favor of Saladin to the Jewish communities, first in Egypt, than in other parts of the expanding empire, was based not only on his real personal qualities of tolerance, charity, and deep political wisdom, but equally on his rise to power as a rebellious commander of mercenaries, freshly arrived in Egypt, and then as usurper of the power. of the dynasty, which he and his father and uncle before him had served.

But perhaps the best Islamic example is the state where the Jews' position was better than anywhere else in the east since the fall of the ancient Persian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, particularly during its heyday in the 16th century. As is well known, the Ottoman regime was based initially on a most complete exclusion of the Turks themselves, not to mention other Muslims by birth, from positions of political power and from the most important part of the army, the Janissary Corps, both of which were manned by the Sultan's Christian-born slaves, abducted in childhood, and educated in special schools. Until the end of the 16th century, no freeborn Turk could become a january or hold any

important government office. In such a regime, the role of the Jews in their sphere was quite analogous to that of the Janissaries and theirs. Thus, the position of the Jews was best under a regime, which was politically most disassociated from the peoples it ruled. Can you think of a regime right now that is completely disassociated from the people it rules? Like the whole West, right? With the admission of the Turks themselves, as well as some other Muslim people, such as the Albanians, to the ruling class of the Ottoman Empire, the position of the Jews declines. However, this decline was not very sharp because of the continuing arbitrariness or non-national character of the Ottoman regime. This point is very important, in my opinion, because the relatively good situation of Jews under Islam in general,

and under certain Islamic regimes in particular, is used by many Palestinian and other Arab propagandists in a very ignorant, albeit perhaps well-meaning way. First, they generalize and reduce serious questions of politics and history to mere slogans. Granted that the position of the Jews was, on average, much better under Islam than under Christianity, the important questions ask is, under what regimes was it better or worse? We have seen where such an analysis leads. But secondly, and more importantly, in a pre-modern state, a better position of the Jewish community normally entailed a greater degree of tyranny exercised within this community by the rabbis against other Jews. To give one example,

certainly the figure of Saladin is one which, considering his period, inspires profound respect. But together with this respect, I for one cannot forget that the enhanced privileges he granted to the Jewish community of Egypt and his appointment of Maimonides as their chief, Nagid, immediately unleashed severe religious persecution of Jewish sinners by the rabbis. For instance, Jewish priests, supposedly descendants of the ancient priests who had served in the temple, are forbidden to marry not only prostitutes, but also divorcees. This latter prohibition, which has always caused difficulties, was infringed during the anarchy under the last Fatimid rulers, circa 1130 to 80, by such priests who, contrary to Jewish religious law, were married to Jewish divorcees in Islamic courts, which are nominally empowered to marry non-Muslims. the greater tolerance towards the Jews instituted by Saladin upon his ascension to power enabled Mamonides to issue orders to the rabbinical courts in Egypt to seize all Jews who had gone through such forbidden marriages

and have them flogged until they agreed to divorce their wives similarly in the Ottoman Empire the powers of the rabbinical courts were very great and consequently most pernicious Therefore, the position of the Jews in Muslim countries in the past should never be used as a political argument in contemporary or future contexts. New heading, Christian Spain. I have left to the last the discussion of the two centuries where the position of the Jewish community and the internal development of classical Judaism were most important. Christian Spain, or rather the Iberian Peninsula, including Portugal, and pre-17, Poland. Politically, the position of the Jews in the Christian Spanish kingdoms was the highest ever attained by Jews in any country, except some of the Taifos and under the Fatimids, before the 19th century. Many Jews served officially as treasurer's generals to the kings of

Castile, regional, and general tax collectors, diplomats representing their kings in foreign courts, both Muslim and Christian, even outside Spain, courtiers, and advisors to rulers and great nobleman. And in no other country except Poland, the Jewish community wield such great legal powers over the Jews, or used them so widely and publicly, including the power to inflict capital punishment. From the 11th century, the persecution of Kariads, a heretical Jewish sect, by flogging them to death if unrepated. was common in Castile. Jewish women who cohabitated with Gentiles had their noses cut off by rabbis who explained that in this way she will lose her beauty and her non-Jewish lover will come to hate her.

Jews who had the effrontery to attack a rabbinical judge had their hands cut off. Adulterers were imprisoned after being made to run the gauntlet through the Jewish quarter. In religious disputes, those thought to be heretics had their tongues cut out. Historically, all this was associated with feudal anarchy and with the attempt of a few strong kings to rule through sheer force disregarding the parliamentary institutions, the Cortez, which had already come into existence. In this struggle, not only the political and financial power of the Jews, but also their military power, at least in the most important kingdom, Castile, was very significant. One example will suffice. Both feudal misgovernment and Jewish political, influence in Castile reached their peak under Pedro I, justly nicknamed the Cruel. The Jewish communities of Toledo, Burgos, and many other cities, served practically as his

garrisons in the long civil war between him and his half-brother. Henry of Trastomara, who after his victory became Henry II, the same Pedro I, gave the Jews of Castile the right to establish a countrywide inquisition against Jewish religious deviance more than 100 years before the establishment of the more famous Catholic Holy Inquisition. Have you recently purchased a new vehicle from Frankenstein Volkswagen? If so, you may be at risk for an exciting condition known as New Car Joy. Symptoms may include spontaneous smiling, sudden increases in confidence and uncontrollable urges to take the scenic route. If you experience any of these symptoms, don't worry. The

only known treatment is enjoying your new vehicle. Side effects may also include great value and exceptional customer service. Talk to a friendly professional at Frank Heen Voguegne today and see if upgrading your car is the right prescription for you. There's so much rugby on Sports Exter from Sky. They've asked me to read the whole lad at the same speed I usually use for the legal bit at the end. Here goes. This winter sports extra is jam-packed with rugby.

For the first time we've met every Champions Cup match exclusively live, plus action from the URC, the Challenge Cup and much more. Thus the URC and all the best European rugby all in the same place. Exclusively live tournaments that ever before on Sports Extra. Jam packed with rugby. Phew, that is a lot of rugby. Get Sports Extra on Sky for 15 euro a month for 12 months. Search Sports Extra.

New Sports Extra customers only. Standard Pressing applies after 12 months for the terms apply. On the many days of Christmas, the Guinness Storehouse brings to thee. A visit filled with festivity. Experience a story of Ireland's most iconic beer in a stunning Christmas setting at the Guinness Storehouse. Enjoy seven floors of interactive exhibitions and finish your visit with Brett taken views

of Dublin City from the home of Guinness. Live entertainment, great memories, and the gravity bar. My goodness, it's Christmas, at the Guinness Storehouse. Book now at ginnestorehouse.com. Get the facts, be drinkaware. Visit drinkaware.org. As in other Western European countries,

to gradually emergence of national consciousness around the monarchy and around Catholicism, which began under the House of Trostomara, and after ups and downs reached a culmination under the Catholic kings, Ferdinand, and Isabella, was accompanied first by a decline in the position of the Jews, then by popular movements and pressures against them,

and finally by their expulsion. On the whole, the Jews were defended by the nobility and upper clergy. It was the more plebeian sections of the church, particularly the mendicant orders involved in the life of the lower classes, which were hostile to them. The great enemies of the Jews, Torquamata, and Cardinal Zip, Zeminis were also great reformers of the Spanish Church, making it much less corrupt and much more dependent on the monarchy instead of being the preserve of the feudal aristocracy.

This is great. Poland, new heading, Poland. The old pre-1795 Poland, a feudal republic with an elective king, is a converse example. It illustrates how before the advent of the modern state, the position of the Jews was socially most important, and their internal autonomy greatest under a regime which was completely retarded to the point of utter degeneracy. Do I have to say it? Let me read that again?

The old pre-1795 Poland, a feudal republic with an elective king, is a converse example. It illustrates how before the advent of the modern state, the position of the Jews was socially most important, and their internal autonomy greater. under a regime which was completely retarded to the point of utter degeneracy. Due to many causes, medieval Poland lagged in its development behind countries like England and France. A strong feudal-type monarchy, yet without any parliamentary institutions, was formed there only in the 14th century, especially under Casimir the Great, 1333 to 70. Immediately after his death, changes of dynasty and other factors led to a very rapid development of the power

of the noble magnates, then also of the petty nobility, so that by 1572 the process of reduction of king to a figurehead and exclusion of all other non-noble estates from political power was virtually complete. In the following 200 years, the lack of government turned into an acknowledged anarchy to the point where a court decision in a case affecting a nobleman was only a legal license to wage a private war to enforce the verdict, for there was no other way to enforce it, and where feuds between great noble houses in the 18th century involved private armies numbering tens of thousands, much larger than the derisory forces of the official army of the Republic. Good old energy. The process was accompanied by a debasement in the position

of the Polish peasants, who had been free in the early Middle Ages, to the point of utter serfdom, hardly distinguishable from outright slavery and certainly the worst in Europe. The desire of nobleman in neighboring countries to enjoy the power of the Polish pan over his peasants, including the power of life and death without any right of appeal, was instrumental in the territorial expansion of Poland. The situation in the eastern lands of Poland, by Lerussia, and the Ukraine, colonized and settled by newly insurfed peasants, was worst of all. A small number of Jews, albeit in important positions, had apparently been living in Poland since the creation of the Polish state. A significant Jewish immigration into the country began in the 13th century and increased under Casimir the Great, with the decline of the Jewish position in Western and then in Central Europe.

Not very much is known about Polish Jewry in that period, but with the decline of the monarchy in the 16th century, particularly under Sigismund I the First the Old, Sigismund I the Old, and his son Sigismund II Augustus, Polish Jewry burst into social and political prominence, accompanied, as usual, with a much greater degree of autonomy. It was at this time that Poland's Jews were granted their greatest privileges, culminating in the establishment of the famous committee of four lands, a very effective autonomous Jewish organ of rule and jurisdiction over

all the Jews in Poland's four divisions. One of its many important functions was to collect all the taxes from Jews all over the country, deducting part of the yield for its own use and for the use of local Jewish communities and passing the rest on to the state treasury. Did this at Russia too, by the way. What was the social role of Polish Jewry from the beginning of the 16th century until 1795? With the decline of royal power, the king's usual role in relation to the Jews was rapidly taken over by the nobility, with lasting and tragic results both for the Jews themselves and for the common people of the Polish Republic. All over Poland, the nobles used Jews as their agents to undermine the commercial power of the

royal towns, which were weak in any case. Alone among the countries of Western Christendom, in Poland, a nobleman's property inside a royal town was exempt from town laws and guild regulations. In most cases, the nobles settled their Jewish clients, such properties, thus giving rise to a lasting conflict. The Jews were usually victorious in the sense that the towns could neither subjugate nor drive them off, but in the frequent popular riots, Jewish lives, and even more Jewish property, were lost. The nobles still got the profits. Similar or worse consequences followed from the frequent use of Jews as commercial agents of noblemen. They won exemption from most Polish tolls and tariffs to the loss of the native bourgeoisie.

But the most lasting and tragic results occurred in the eastern provinces of Poland, roughly the area east of the present border, including almost the whole of present Ukraine, and reaching up to the great Russian language frontier. Until 1667, the Polish border was far east of the Nepper, so that Poltava, for example, was inside Poland. In those wide territories, there were hardly any rural towns. The towns were established by nobles and belonged to them, and they were settled almost exclusively by Jews.

Until 1939, the population of many Polish towns east of the river Bug was as at least 90% Jewish, and this demographic phenomenon was even more pronounced in that area of Tsarist Russia, annexed from Poland, and known as the Jewish Pale. Outside the towns, very many Jews throughout Poland, but especially in the East, were employed as the direct supervisors and oppressors of the inserved peasantry, as bailiffs of whole manners invested with the landlord's full coercive powers, or as leasees of particular feudal monopolies such as the corn mill, the liquor still, and public house. With the right of armed search of peasant's houses for illicit stills or the bakery,

and as collectors of customary feudal dues of all kinds. In short, in Eastern Poland, under the rule of the nobles and of the feudalized church, formed exclusively from the nobility, the Jews were both the immediate exploiters of the peasantry and virtually the only town dwellers. No doubt most of the profit they extracted from the peasants was passed on to the landlords in one way or another. No doubt the oppression and subjugation of the Jews by the nobles were severe and the historical record tells many a harrowing tale of the hardship and humiliation inflicted by nobleman on their Jews. But as we have remarked, the peasants suffered

worse oppression at the hands of both landlords and Jews, and one may assume that, except in times of peasant uprisings, the full weight of the Jewish religious laws against Gentiles fell upon the peasants. As we'll be seen in the next chapter, these laws are suspended or mitigated in cases where it is feared that they might arouse dangerous hostility toward Jews. But, but the hostility of the peasants could be disregarded as ineffectual so long as the Jewish bailiff could shelter under the peace of a great lord. The situation stagnated under the advent of the modern state by which time Poland had been dismembered. Therefore, Poland was the only big country in Western Christendom from which the Jews were never expelled.

A new middle class could not arise out of the utterly enslaved peasantry, and the old bourgeoisie was geographically limited and commercially weak, and therefore powerless. Overall matters got steadily worse, but without any substantial change. Internal conditions within the Jewish community moved in a similar course. In the period of 1500s to 1595, one of the most superstitious written in the history of Judaism, Polish Jewry was the most superstitious and fanatic of all Jewish communities. The considerable power of the Jewish autonomy was used increasingly to stifference. all original and innovative thought to promote the most shameless exploitation of the Jewish poor by the Jewish rich in alliance with the rabbis,

and to justify the Jews' role in the oppression of the peasants in the service of the nobles. Here too, there was no way out except by liberation from the outside. Pre-1795 Poland, where the social role of the Jews was more important than in any other classical diaspora, illustrates better than any, any other country, the bankruptcy of classical Judaism. Going to stop right there because the second half of this chapter is going to take just as long to read. So I hope you're getting a lot out of this. I hope you're seeing the parallels. I hope you see that it's almost like he's talking to us.

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Standard Pressing applies after 12 months for the terms apply. On the many days of Christmas, the Guinness Storehouse brings to thee. A visit filled with festivity. Experience a story of Ireland's most iconic beer in a stunning Christmas setting at the Guinness Storehouse. Enjoy seven floors of interactive exhibitions and finish your visit with breathtaking views of Dublin City. from the home of Guinness.

Live entertainment, great memories, and the gravity bar. My goodness is Christmas at the Guinness Storehouse. Book now at ginnestorehouse.com. Get the facts. Be Drinkaware. Visit drinkaware.com.