Reuven Firestone

A Masterpiece – in Progaganda

Given the ominous title of the book, I anticipated a truly illuminating read. Instead, a few pages into the introduction of the book, I felt like a betrayed target of an agenda. The book is well researched with a broad range of contemporary and historical sources that are unidimensionally assessed. Does Firestone, himself a Rabbi, not know that the Rabbinic sources had been repeatedly redacted after the facts in support of the very agenda that he advocates – Judaic quietism and secularism that turned into fundamentalism because of the extremism directed toward the homeland? Having said that, his oratory is so good and his line of argument so well laid out that uncritical readers and followers of Judaism will happily nod off what is being suggested. For a more critical audience, this book has deep prerequisites into the history of the greater context at each junction. He covers all ends so well that he can shield criticism from almost any direction by pointing at some side remarks further down his work even though he does not give the issue its appropriate importance. It is almost water tight.

The author talks a lot about secular Zionism, secular Neomessianism, a secular Jewish state, or secular Judaism. ‘Secularism’ attempts to separate church from state and to provide freedom FROM religion induced by governments. To be sure, there are varying degrees of zealotry or perhaps even cultural Judaism with members that show little interest in the technicalities of the faith; but ‘secular Judaism’ in the mouth of a Rabbi seems a little bit off. ‘Secularism’ is a concept that was and is strongly advocated by (minority) religions in order to protect themselves from governments that intend to restrict the power of religious parties. In consequence, the approach helps maintaining parallel religious legal systems that ought to be fully submitted to common law (the handling of the pedophilia scandals in Christianity and Judaism are cases in point).

As genetic evidence has brought forth, Judaism is not a race but a religion to and from which one can convert. If a Jew becomes a Muslim, he forfeits being a Jew. A Jewish state that is afraid of being undermined by Palestinian religious thought and needs thus to purify its land from them is nothing other than a religious state – and a totalitarian one at that. Hence, the separation of Judaism from the Torah is like amputating the all beloved Pope Francis from the Catholic Church. While what this author proclaims in half-truths or outright misrepresentations makes so much sense, it neither lines up with the reality of modernity, nor with history, or with human nature, and not with the mechanism of religion. The author is learned, experienced, and certainly not blindfolded, which makes his work an excellent material for students of – well – propaganda. Firestone is the best of this genre that I have read so far, but there is no academic merit for his inquisition into Holy Wars in Judaism, whatsoever.

The book starts out with a chapter called Holy War in the Bible, yet, Firestone never spells out for the reader what the Biblical sources are and is content in throwing a couple references in from late Deuteronomy sources for his audience to help itself. He purposefully ignores the early and superseeding book of Genesis where it clearly lays out the promise to Abraham (Genesis 15:18–21). All the author says is that it is not clear what the Promised Land is, but Genesis essentially lays out the trans-Euphrates territories of Neo-Babylonia (which creates a paradox between history and the Bible). Other than saying that this land is larger than the current borders, he refrains from laying open the implications of what that really means. Firestone cannot have missed that the Promised Land encompasses everything from south-eastern Turkey, down the Euphrates region, the northern Arab Peninsula, the Sinai, and all of the Levant, including all of Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Later in the book, the author acknowledges that there is an eternal mandate to conquer this land, all of it, never to give back an inch, and to purify it from every non-Jewish soul (not just the Canaanites as the author claims), but he does not let the reader know that the Torah mandates to not enter any agreements with anyone living on the Promised Land (Exodus 34:15–16). The Biblical strategy is all out in an eternal holy war to reconquer the Promised Land. But Firestone does not say so. Why then treat the topic?

Firestone advocates that Judaism had turned quietist after the Third Jewish-Roman War and that modern proponents of Holy War are essentially extremists and reactionist victims of the Zeitgeist that had brought violence against the Jews as if in self-defence. While his intention is commendable – we all want peace and have the unending Biblical bloodshed in the Middle East up to our noses – it is not history.

In his second chapter, Firestone sets out to explain Jewish Holy War in practice and gets right into the Maccabean Revolt. While he never explains the bigger political context or comes to the bottom of an untraceable independence of the Jewish state (i.e. indicating failed holy wars), it is of particular importance to him to explore the festival of Hanukkah in detail. This festival commemorates the (re)dedication of the temple (for the Maccabees). As Firestone observes, the festival comes after the fact. However, on the surface the Greeks were thrown out of the temple. But de facto, the Sadducees under Jesus of the Oniad Dynasty had to flee Jerusalem for seven decades. What the Biblical motivations of a holy war by the Maccabees may have been and how Daniel fits in – being far removed in Susa – remains unaddressed. Was the Maccabean Revolt perhaps an internal holy war? Students need only to take a map and bring along some elementary historic knowledge to figure out that Jerusalem constitutes the geographical pivot between Greece, Egypt, and Persia. There is little wonder that the Holy City is the center of conflict since then. By consulting numismatic evidence, a different story emerges, one of shifting alliances and internal strife. Instead, Firestone repeats long held opinions that help little in understanding Holy War in Judaism. He is not bothered by hard evidence.

From the third chapter and following, the author claims that the Third Jewish-Roman War (ending in 135 AD) was the last armed Jewish conflict and that Jewish quietism then ruled. However, Rabbinic Judaism eventually brought forth rules of war, including rules for pre-emptive strikes. Firestone seems to not care for the reasoning or the practicality in history in a supposed environment of being silent. All Judaic religions claim the high road of peace while history tells a different story. The secret is that peace only applies to themselves. Everyone else does not deserve to live. Also, he is generous in ignoring a long list of messianic aspirants that translate in nothing other than many failed attempts to reconquer the Promised Land in perpetual holy wars. Moreover, Firestone ignores the role of Rabbinic Judaism in the rise of Islam and its related Holy War – Jihad. For example, there was a rededication of the Temple by Nehemiah ben Hushiel in 614 AD. In other words, those that would not end in the colours of the modern Rabbinic Judaism would simply be left behind by Firestone as not worthy as being Jewish. With this approach, the discussion is rendered futile. Bringing in Maimonides as a Rabbinic thinker that would throw his shadows into modernity, the author forgets to explore why the twelfth century historian might have thought differently, except for a superficial biographical run-down. Maimonides shows how a more or less aggressive stance of Judaism underlies the Zeitgeist, an important point that Firestone carries through to his conclusions.

Readers might like to skip the first eight chapters and jump right into modernity about half way down the book. This is where it gets informative, even excellent, if one can keep an eye open that this is a lopsided account from a highly selective Rabbinic point of view. Strangely, this is also the point where one might think that the author could not possibly add anything of value and be tempted to put the book down. Instead, if readers ever get this far, the book becomes fascinating, even for the well informed and even though the author perceivably runs out of steam. At the end, both author and reader are thoroughly exhausted.

Firestone attempts to position modern Zionism from about the late eighteenth century as a secular movement. Given that Zionism cannot be detached from the Promised Land, it is evident that the author’s view of “secular” must be distorted. Imagine an unarmed person sleeping in a den full of hungry lions. We can certainly detect such a stunt as extreme – likewise is Zionism, and one need only study Muslim tradition to find the sources of bottomless hatred against the Jew. It is also interesting how the author brushes over the spring of Zionism during a phase of European liberalism where a Jew would be able to rise and partake in civilization as any other human being. But he does not tell us that the Rabbis refused to have their folks integrated in fear of losing its paying members to liberalism and local nationalism. He then presents a host of uninteresting opinions pro and contra colonizing parts of the Promised Land. As a Rabbi, he could have provided much more insight to the inner workings of his elite clan. Certainly, the Zionist Rabbis would not have openly communicated their religious intentions for fear of being stopped in their tracks – it is the very notion of quietism. The idea that Zionists came with peace and brotherhood with the Arabs in mind, as the author claims, is absurd. Instead they arrived with a religious agenda of cleansing the land from non-Jewish elements, knowingly entering the lions’ den.

Firestone portrays Britain and the United Nations and its predecessor organizations on the camp of the non-supporters that had worked against the interests of the Jewish people. However, he does not detail this other side except from his Rabbinic point of view.

Judaism and its many sectarian offshoots (including Christianity and Islam) are not controlling the world today by having silently prayed unto a wall in the homes of the believers. It is so successful because it was loud, argumentative, aggressive, and militant throughout history. Martyrs are like billboards, and bloodshed leads to choosing sides. Israel’s population is about 0.1% of the world, yet, we cannot escape the discussion. Why? Certainly not because Israel is or started out as quietist. I hand it to Netanyahu that his bullying strategy is very successful. His Holy War is so effective, indeed, that the Palestinian oppression almost becomes muted even though they remain cuddled together in refugee camps. This is what happens when the wolf (with a nuclear arsenal) cries out: look, there is a wolf crossing the red line of building a nuclear arsenal!

We all want peace. With the internal and external conflicts of Judaic sects, the way to help achieve this through the scientific community is to build a solid knowledge base about the true mechanisms of religions and their holy wars. Once we know what the problem is, we can correct the trajectory of history by regulating the industry of religion, by taxing and by disarming it. Firestone does not contribute a dot to this. Instead, this book attests to a sorry state of the science of history. Parroting expedient and convenient Judaic events does not help in the understanding of holy wars. The book amounts to nothing more than propaganda on 300 pages of opinions and selective Talmudic sources (that are also opinions).

The Jewish people do not need to apologize for the history of their fathers, not even for their wars, Zionist land grabs, and aggressions against the Palestinians, and moderns do not need to apologize to the Jews. It is just history, and Israel is here to stay. While we need to work harder to better the world for all of humanity, we all can be proud of what we have achieved. The Jews in particular. We are where we are, and we need to find solutions from where we can move on and collaborate. However, continuing to refuse to collaborate or to finding a solution with the Palestinians and to come to terms with Israel’s neighbors has to stop here. Shaping the present falls into the responsibility of our generation. No guidance is given here by Firestone except for the stance that the land is his – all of it.

Some of the author’s worst are the circular arguments about the will of God. Since God is an imaginary tribal affair, the divinity cannot have made any promises; the high-priests made those promises for themselves. By their own standards, the god of the Israelites has made a final imaginary departure over 2000 years ago and the chain of prophecy has long stopped. There can be no argument in a learned society of the twenty-first century (let alone in the high sphere of world politics) that this same imaginary god has now annulled the authority of foreign rule over the Promised Land. Indeed, Israel will find peace once the ideas of this god are buried and life is being lived as human beings rather than as subjects of a parasitic religious elite that pretends the existence of an imaginary being that provides the fuel for its power.

For a thinking readership this book might be an insult and could accomplish the opposite of what it intends: Firestone’s approach fosters distrust. While this is a perfect five-star study for propaganda, this is not a work worthy of academia, and I am tempted to ask for my money back!… (mere)

This volume presumes some knowledge of interfaith studies, and, in that sense, some knowledge of how Judaism differs from Christianity, but it is not just for Jews. Instead, this volume is probably the best concise overview of Islam available in English.

While one may differ with the judgments of the author here and there, he is unfailingly balanced and at least references all major contrary opinions. One cannot do everything in roughly 250 pages [plus a glossary of Arabic terms, a bibliography for further reading, a table of biblical and koranic references and a good index], but this volume covers more territory better and more clearly than any other comparable volume.

The author is a scholar of the best sort and should be congratulated on his achievement.… (mere)