The Riddle of the Jew's Success
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Sombart says with respect to the “Thora” of Israel: “ The commands and prohibitions of God contained therein must be observed most strictly by the pious man; whether great or small; whether they appear sensible or senseless to him; they are to be fulfilled in the strictest sense of the word, just as they stand, for the simple reason that they are the command of God.”
Thus, common sense and individual reflection, individual moral feeling and conscience are excluded — of necessity — in order to equip Jewdom for the particular task, which has been assigned to it as its world mission: viz. to ruin the other nations morally and physically, and to seize their possessions.
The Jewish nation is the soulless tool of an abstract idea, which has been exalted even to Divinity, and whose ultimate aim is the plundering and annihilation of honest mankind. The driving force in this struggle is the hatred of mankind, a disposition hostile to life, the evil spirit.
From a superficial point of view, that is to say the point of view of all those to whom the essence of true religion is unknown, the Jewish doctrine may certainly appear as a model religion because it concerns itself with the lowest functions of life (for instance, with one’s behaviour in the w.c.), and represents all such precepts as direct commands from God.
Moreover, the Jewish language possesses a peculiar pathos, a fact to which Goethe has already called attention, and readily avails itself of extravagant expressions. But we must not be led astray by the highsounding words. It is frequently the case in ordinary life that the person, who has the richest vocabulary and the most touching phrases at his disposal, has a cold heart, whilst another, whose soul is almost choked with overpowering emotion, is unable to utter a word.
[Page 190] Both the written and the spoken language of the Jews use occasionally extravagant expressions for what is actually base, worldly, and even immoral, and by this means the semblance of religiousness is aroused, where, in reality, nothing of that nature exists. On the other side, blind obedience raises itself, which slavishly follows the letter of the law, which constitutes the might of the business managers of this “religion,” namely the Rabbis. And thus it is intelligible if the apparent piety of the Jews appears exemplary to priests, who are greedy of power.
In reality, the Hebrews have borrowed many devout words from the religions of older and more deeply-feeling nations, in order to act as a cloak to their selfish and worldly aspirations. When a comparatively honest Hebrew, like Dr. Jacob Fromer, maintains that in Jewdom everything is ethical,* all that he means to say is: everything therein is regarded from a practical point of view: for the conception of morality is foreign to this man also. I should feel inclined to believe that the Hebrew meant Art when he said Ethics, so as to give to all bargains and transactions, even of the lowest description, a decent appearance, and to invest the same with a mantle of piety, although the pretence could not be extended beyond representing that the transaction in question lay within the province of God. For instance, a Hebrew, who was about to rob a man, actually went so far as to clothe his intention in the following words:
“My Lord God, thou hast given thy servant power over the goods of the stranger, and see, I hasten to execute thy divine Will.” — In this manner the Hebrew has introduced an element of untruthfulness and hypocrisy into the life of mankind, that is devoid of all naturalness and morality, and which is intended to detach the rest of humanity from any dependence on Nature and common sense. And this hostile principle works with amazing results, and is, at this moment, steadily and irresistibly dragging mankind down that stairway of degeneration prepared for it by the Jew.
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* See Dr. Jacob Fromer: “Das Wesen des Judentums” (The Essence of Jewdom). The author has been fiercely attacked by many of his coreligionists on account of his frank and frequent criticisms.
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[Page 191] One may say: Jewdom is an attempt to tear the existence of mankind apart from Nature, and to mould it into a kind of calculating and exact comprehension. This is what is understood by the much-praised “Intellectuality” of Hebrewdom. To say no more about it, a life without dependence upon Nature cannot continue for any length of time; and just as the Hebrew with his disintegrating intellect has never succeeded in maintaining a state of his own, has never succeeded in creating an independent, self-contained, and self-supporting society and culture, so does he convey the spirit of disintegration into the midst of those nations, who believe in culture. From whatever point he is regarded, the Hebrew displays the features of the parasite. He does not derive his means of existence directly from Nature — from the soil — but only by means of an intermediary system of living, the essential members of which he sucks dry. But it is the custom of the parasite, if not checked, to entirely consume the juices and energy of its host, and then, if it is unable to migrate to a fresh source of sustenance, it perishes together with the host.
Accordingly there is little that can be regarded as rational in the nature of the parasite, but there is, on the contrary, a blind and greedy stupidity, which finally destroys the foundation of the parasite’s own existence. The Jews, therefore, are not, as Sombart is of opinion, “rationalists,” but short-sighted beings, wanting in sensibility, and nothing better than spongers.
His aversion to everything natural does not allow the Hebrew to feel any unfeigned pleasure in the simple expressions of Nature. A lovely flower, the song of a bird, are meaningless to him; he is scarcely aware of them.* Human emotions, such as affection, and sympathy with other beings, which would impede his cold and calculated pursuit of what is advantageous, appear to him mere folly. The Talmudic doctrine has no room for such. Rabbinism is a stern schooling for the Jewish soul, which finds its counterpart, perhaps, only in the arts, principles and practices of the Jesuits.
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* Heinrich Heine’s classification of plants, as those which one eats, and those which one cannot eat, is an excellent instance of the Jewish perception of nature.
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[Page 192] Everything is calculated and adapted with the object of making the pupil the hard tool of another’s will. A good heart and a gentle disposition must not be tolerated, because these would prejudice the object and purpose of trade. Sombart calls the Jewish doctrine a:
“Mechanism of means to carry out a purpose.” Certainly a great deal of what is contained in the Rabbinical Writings sounds very fine and virtuous; especially the unceasing zeal manifested towards unchastity, which even goes so far as to spurn womankind and all natural pleasure derived from the senses:
“Let not thine eyes lust after women, turn a deaf ear to their voice, avert thy gaze from their form.
Thou shalt not even look upon the garment of a woman with approval!” And so it continues in the same strain; but how does all this agree with what is actually practised? From time immemorial up to the present day the Hebrews are known to us as the most shameless pursuers of women. And anyone who undertook to write a history of Jewish unchastity, would have to extend it into countless volumes. If the Rabbis of the Talmud are so zealous in warning their people against unchastity, the principal cause for this would appear to be fear regarding their own peculiar weakness. Even Sombart admits that, in the case of the Jews, we have to deal with a people strongly disposed towards sexual excesses, whom Tacitus has already described as a “projectissima ad libidinem gens.” Just as the Hebrew is unnatural in everything else, so is he unnatural in this respect; his sexual inclinations and desires exceed all usual bounds and are quite without restraint.
The separation or shutting-off of the Jews.
We will now return to the affinity between the Jewish religion and Capitalism. Sombart also allows that the object of the Jewish doctrine is: to conduct a life, contrary to Nature or alongside nature, in order to develop an economic system, which likewise builds itself up alongside nature and in defiance of it. And, he is of the opinion that the religion of the Jews must be the means
of accomplishing this.
[Page 193] “ In order that Capitalism could develop, it was first of all necessary that all the bones in the body of the industrious and forceful, but neutral man should be broken, that a specific psychology or mechanism of the soul, equipped solely from the intellect, should be substituted in the place of the original and natural life, and that a subversion, as it were, of all the values of life should be introduced. The ‘homo capitalisticus’ is the artificial and artful creation, which finally emerges from this subversion.”
One is now entitled to ask: what was then the motive for such an extraordinary object? What natural man could entertain the desire to renounce and subvert all his natural inclinations?
Here it is not the case as Sombart thinks, and is generally believed, of the Hebrew being the product of a cunningly thought-out doctrine of life, but rather as follows: the strange doctrine arises from, or is the product of the Hebrew himself, and his attitude towards honourable society. The conjecture holds good that Jewdom originated amongst the expelled elements of the ancient, civilised, oriental nations,* and one must bear in mind the Tschandala of the Indians, composed of the degenerates and criminals excluded from the honourable castes, in order to find an enlightening explanation of the peculiarity of Hebrew mentality. Those who had been expelled, despised by all the other castes, revenged themselves by deriding and reversing all moral conceptions. What was sacred to others, they made a mockery of; they praised, on the contrary, those attributes and dispositions which other people despised. “Amongst these people everything is profane, which is sacred in our eyes; and, on the other hand, what appears abominable to us is permissible to them”, thus characterises Tacitus the Jews. In reality the very essence of Jewishness is a subversion of all the views of moral humanity.
Whether it happens unconsciously or is undertaken deliberately, it still remains a fact that the Hebrews, in their nomenclature, reverse the names of many things; thus, for example, those who have been expelled, they call “the chosen”.
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* See Fritsch: “Handbuch der Judenfrage” (Handbook of the Jewish Question.) 27th Edition page 236, and “Origin and Essence of Jewdom”, “Jahwe or Jehovah Book”, second edition pages 176— 193.
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[Page 194] Out of this compulsory segregation — the Tschandala were not allowed to dwell amongst the honourable castes — they established, in the course of time, a voluntary separation; and finally raised their segregation to the status of law, and in their turn — like the gipsies and the wandering people of the Middle Ages — looked down with contempt upon all who stood outside their circle, that is to say, upon all honest people.
The seclusion of the Jews from the rest of humanity, to which it is customary to refer as if it were the result of some cruel despotism, has always been voluntary; they were not driven into the Ghetto, but united of their own free will to form it, in order to practise their own peculiar customs without interruption, and also because their law forbids contact with the rest of mankind. It was therefore an advance on the part of the public authorities, when they allowed the Hebrews to erect separate quarters for the Jews. Many Jewish historians admit this frankly, and also the proved fact that it is precisely the Ghetto life, which is mainly responsible for preserving the Jewish national existence. Sombart says:
“ The Jews themselves created the Ghetto, which originally, from the non-Jewish point of view, was to be regarded as a concession or privilege, and not the consequence of a hostile attitude. They wished to live apart because they regarded themselves as superior to the common people surrounding them; because they felt themselves the chosen — the priestly people Their disposition, which is hostile to every foreign element, their tendency towards seclusion, extend far back into the ages.”
Already, at a very remote period, they were forbidden to contract mixed marriages with other nations; and the Old Testament is full of outbursts of contempt for the surrounding nations — Edom and the Canaanites. The reproach, so often raised by people prone to sentimentality, that the Jews have become what they are, in consequence of the scorn and exclusion which they have experienced from the other nations, is thus quite beside the mark. It was far more a case of the Jews excluding themselves from other nations; they regarded, themselves as a peculiarity, high above all other peoples upon whom they looked down disdainfully. “The Jews desired and were obliged to live thus in accordance with their destiny, which was their religion,” is the opinion of Sombart.
[Page 195] The economic nations have often approached the Jews with goodwill and trust: they — the Jews — enjoyed, during the Middle Ages, not only all rights, but often actual privileges, particularly under the government of the crosier (compare page 20 and following). A bishop, named Hausmann, built a well-fortified town, especially for the Jews, at Speyer in the 11th century, from which they used to undertake veritable pillaging excursions into the surrounding country, without anyone being able to intercept them. They were not obliged to restore any stolen property, which might be found amongst them, or could, at any rate, charge any price which they liked to set upon the same.
“ The important consequence of this segregation and concentration of the Jewish population, which were effected by religion, as far as the economic life was concerned, was just that foreignness of which we have already recognised the importance: namely that all traffic of the Jews, as soon as they emerged from the Ghetto, was a traffic with foreigners.”
In such a strain writes Sombart. Foreigners or strangers, are, as we have learned from our examination of the Talmudic writings (Section V), outlaws, beasts, fit material for exploitation. In the case of such strangers, usury was not only allowed, but ordered to take precedence of every thing else, and if there are perhaps passages in the Talmudic writings, which seem to teach the contrary, these are only variegations customary in Rabbinical Jewdom, which are intended to obscure the real sense. Even Sombart concedes this much:
“ I am inclined to think that a great part of these discussions serve the exclusive purpose of obscuring, by all kinds of sophistry, the extraordinarily clearly defined situation, which has been created by the Thora.”
[Page 196] Thus, according to the Jewish doctrine, you may practise usury at the expense of the foreigner (5 Moses 23, 20); and plainly stated, the larger the amount of undeserved wealth, which the Hebrew amasses during his life, the greater the complacency with which he looks back on that past life; for, by so doing, he has rendered his God supreme service — that God, Jahwe, who so ardently desires the spoliation and extirpation of all the other nations of the world.
“ Whilst the pious Christian”, continues Sombart, “who has practised usury, is seized with agonies of remorse on his deathbed, and is ready, before the end comes, to divest himself of all his property because he, at this moment, regards it as unjustly acquired, and it weighs upon his soul; the pious Jew, on the contrary, in the evening of his life, surveys with gratification the well-filled trunks and chests, crammed with Zechins, which he has succeeded, throughout his long life, in squeezing out of the wretched Christians. This is a spectacle upon which his pious heart can regale itself with the utmost satisfaction, for every groschen which lies there is, as it were, an offering laid before his God.” (Sombart page 287).
Sombart is of the opinion that only ignorance or malice could deny that the position of the foreigner, as far as Jewish justice is concerned, is an exceptional position, and that the obligations and responsibilities of the Jew refer always and only to the “neighbour” i.e., to the Jewish racial companion.
And he adds: “ But the fundamental idea, that you should have less consideration for the stranger than for the racial companion, has not altered from the time of the Thora until the present day.”
This is a most important admission, and can always be brought forward as a challenge to those people, who are of the opinion that the Jewish doctrine is, at the present day, no longer efficacious, and that the Talmu
d contains views, which have been overcome. By these very words, Sombart at the same time, contradicts his opinion expressed above, that the Talmud doctrine has altered in the course of the centuries.
“ This completely vague perception: that you are not committing any sin, and that it is permissible in the course of business with a stranger to tell him that odd is even, became firmly established wherever that formal Rabbinism developed out of a study of the Talmud, which was the case in many districts of Eastern Europe. (Sombart page 289).”
Even the Jewish historian, Graetz, who otherwise certainly cannot be regarded as impartial, confesses that: “ Distortion and perversion, the trickiness of the lawyer, affectation of wit and precipitate rejection of whatever might not be included in his range of vision, are the essential features of the Polish Jew. Honesty, and a sound mode of thinking have deserted him, as well as simplicity, and a desire for and an appreciation of truth.”
[Page 197] We certainly are of opinion that, so far as moral negligence in the case of the Jew is concerned, it is not a question of the loss and disappearance of moral qualities, but is, on the contrary, to be attributed to a primitive and hereditary defect; for we discover this trait, not merely since the origin of the Talmud, but already even in The Old Testament. One need only call attention to the treacherous behaviour of the sons of Jacob, who persuaded the honest Hevites to undergo circumcision, and then attacked and slew them while suffering from the effects of the operation. (1. Moses 34).