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Title: What We Demand of Modern Jewry
Source:
The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History, pp. 278-
URL Source: [None]
Published: Sep 19, 1879
Author: Adolf Stoecker
Post Date: 2006-06-30 17:43:43 by bluegrass
Ping List: *New History*
Keywords: None
Views: 422
Comments: 18
(portions of a speech that was delivered at the Christian Social Workers' party rally of September 19, 1879) ...We do not believe the end of the German spirit to be so near. Peoples as well as individuals can be reborn. Germany, and Berlin too, will recover and rid themselves of the foreign spirit. But there are symptoms of the presence of a disease: our national body is plagued by social abuses, and social hostility never exists without reason. Christians as well as Jews should be seriously concerned lest this enmity turn into hatred. For the rumbling of a far-off thunderstorm can already be heard. It is strange indeed that the Jewish liberal press does not have the courage to answer the charges of its attackers. Usually it invents a scandal, even if there is none. It sharpens its poisonous pen by writing about the sermons in our churches and the discussions in our church meetings; but it hushes up the Jewish question and does everything to prevent its readers from hearing even a whisper from these unpleasant voices. It pretends to despise its enemies and to consider them unworthy of an answer. It would be better to learn from the enemy, to recognize one's own defects, and work together toward the social reconciliation which we need so badly. It is in this light that I intend to deal with the Jewish question, in the spirit of Christian love, but also with complete social truthfulness.... I do indeed consider modern Jewry a great danger to German national life. By this I mean neither the religion of the orthodox nor the enlightenment of the reformed. Orthodox Judaism, this ossification of the Law, the Old Testament without a temple, without priests, without sacrifice, without a Messiah, is neither attractive nor dangerous to the children of the nineteenth century. It is a form of religion which is dead at its very core, a low form of revelation, an outlived spirit, still venerable but set at nought by Christ and no longer holding any truth for the present. Reformed Judaism is of even less religious significance. It is neither Judaism nor Christianity, but a pitiful remnant of the Age of Enlightenment. Its ideas did not originate on Jewish soil but in a wretched period of the Christian church, a period long since over-come by the church itself. Both factions boast, of course, that the Jews are the bearers of the loftiest religious and moral ideals for mankind and the world and that it is the mission of Jewry, now and in the future, to maintain those ideals, to develop and spread them. On this point the Jewish press, from right to left, stands united.... Here we wish to make our request. We ask: please, be a little more modest! We do not deny that Israel carried the knowledge of the one nd only God through ancient times like a sacred flame until Christ came and brought the more perfect faith, the richer conception of God, and the higher truth. But it is a historic fact that the people of Israel time and again relapsed into the grossest idolatry, that God was able to suppress apostasy for short periods only by sending outstanding personalities. It is God's grace rather than Israel's merit that the doctrine of the one God has been preserved for mankind. It is just as indubitable that the ideas of freedom of religion, of tolerance in the modern sense, do not fit into the character of the Old Testament. Whoever violated the Sabbath was stoned, the priests of Baal were slaughtered. This was inherent in the Jewish legal institutions and we we are far from blaming the Old Testament for it. But it is quite out of order when Jews claim as their own ideas which were historically altogether unknown to their religion. And furthermore they are quite aware of the fact that they had a caste of priests — certainly the opposite of equality; that they had slavery — certainly the opposite of freedom; that they indulged in polygamy — certainly the opposite of ideal family life. Only Teutonic-Christian life put an end to these abuses. It is true, Israel had an enlightened economic legislation, social forms of property ownership, the prohibition of usury, and the greatest charity toward the poor. But we have only to mention these things to realize the fearful chasm between the Old Testament and modern Jewry. It was German law alone that protected the concept of common property, the Christian church alone that decreed the prohibition of usury; it is precisely here that the faults and sins of modern Jewry are plainly revealed. Even if we presume for once that this lofty mission really is Israel's permanent task, who, then, are those thinkers and poets, who, inspired by the divine spirit, preach, praise and honor the living God? Perhaps the editers of the Tageblatt?2 Or the scholars of the Kladderadatsch?3 Where is the school of the prophets of the Holy Spirit which trains young men for their world mission? Where are the missionary posts? Where are the missionaries? Perhaps at the stock exchanges of Berlin, Vienna and Paris? Alas, the Jews should not be told such foolishness. For it is their ominous fate that, having failed Christ, they have lost their divine course, have abandoned their sublime mission. Confronted with the Lord's sharp-edged alternative — "Thou canst not serve both God and Mammon" — they now worship the idol of gold, having forsaken the path of God.... And in spite of this truth, in spite of their utter lack of religious creativeness, they stick to their delusion of being a religious power. The truth is that modern Jewry is most certainly a power against religion; a power which bitterly fights Christianity everywhere, uproots Christian faith as well as national feeling in the people, in their stead offering them nothing but the idolatrous admiration of Jewry such as it is, with no other content but its self-admiration.... The question is: What shall be done? We believe that Jews and Christians must try to establish a proper relationship with each other. There is no other way. Hatred of the Jews is already flaring up here and there, and this is repugnant to the Gospels. If modern Jewry continues to use the power of capital and the power of the press to bring misfortune to the nation, a final catastrophe is unavoidable. Israel must renounce its ambition to become the master of Germany. It should renounce its arrogant claim that Judaism is the religion of the future, when it is so clearly that of the past. Let not foolish Christians continue to strengthen the self-conceit of this people. Jewish orthodoxy with its circumcision is decrepit, while reformed Judaism is not a Jewish religion at all. Once Israel has realized this, it will quietly forget its alleged mission and stop trying to rob of their Christianity people who offer it hospitality and civil rights. The Jewish press must become more tolerant — that is the first prerequisite for improving the situation. The social abuses which are caused by Jewry must be eradicated by wise legislation. It will not be easy to curb Jewish capital. Only thoroughgoing legislation can bring it about. The mortgage system in real estate should be abolished and property should be inalienable and unmortgageable; the credit system should be reorganized to protect the businessman against the arbitrary power of big capital. There must be new stock and stock-exchange regulations; reintroduction of the denominational census so as to find out the disproportion between Jewish capital and Christian labor; limitation of appointments of Jewish judges in proportion to the size of the population; removal of Jewish teachers from our grammar schools, and in addition the strengthening of the Christian-Germanic spirit — are the means to put a stop to the encroachment of Jewry on Germanic life, this worst kind of usury. Either we succeed in this and Germany will rise again, or the cancer from which we suffer will spread further. In that event our whole future is threatened and the German spirit will become Judaized. The German economy will become impoverished. These are our slogans: A return to a Germanic rule in law and business, a return to the Christian faith. May every man do his duty, and God will help us. NOTES 1. Adolf Stoecker (1835-1909), German preacher and politician. Imperial court chaplain from 1874, Stoecker was a member of the Prussian diet from 1879 to 1898. In 1881 he was elected to the Reichstag where he served (except from 1893 to 1898) until 1908. In 1878 he founded the Christian Social Workers' party, renamed Christian Social party in 1881. Through his party Stoecker created a mass movement of discontented artisans and small shop owners, who were later joined by members of the conservative educated classes. He was a powerful demagogue who knew how to channel discontent into "anti-Semitism". His speeches paved the way for the rampant anti-Semitic movement in Berlin in the early 1880s which spread to provincial cities and the countryside. The above is the text of a speech that was delivered at the Christian Social Workers' party rally of September 19, 1879. 2. Berliner Tageblatt was a Berlin daily owned by « Jews and had a large proportion of Jews on of staff. 3. Kladderadatsch was a weekly of political satire; founded in 1848.
What We Demand of Modern Jewry
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#1. To: Lady X, noone222, Yertle Turtle, christine, Zipporah, robin, Zoroaster, BTP Holdings, Mind_Virus, Brian S, Jethro Tull, Tauzero, Bub, mugwort, Peetie Wheatstraw, HOUNDDAWG, Uncle Bill, Dakmar, Flintlock, tom007, aristeides, Eoghan, Diana, Horse (#0)
Same ol', same ol'. Are we ever going to learn?
Don't re-elect anyone, not even your mama.
Adolph nailed this one, among many others.
Bump to that. But multiculturalism -- a form of altruism, and a maladaptive form in that it is universalist -- does not work. Make no mistake, reconciliation here means a change in the pecking order. That change can be done humanely, or not, and requires either a leap of faith or resignation from the demoted.
lol, rotsa ruck
Quit bogarting that peace, Herbert!
Calling for equitable treatment in the economic realm is perceived as "TERRORISM!" by the usual suspects.
Don't re-elect anyone, not even your mama.
It works for Tribalists and their tools-of-the-week. It doesn't work for the majority. The change in the pecking order is coming whether anyone likes it or not. It always does.
Don't re-elect anyone, not even your mama.
Did you even read the piece?
Don't re-elect anyone, not even your mama.
I started to, until I shouted FUCK YOU to those who demand I apologise for being upper working class.
Quit bogarting that peace, Herbert!
Don't re-elect anyone, not even your mama.
I've pointed out easily a hunbred times that US citizens could completly replace HouseOfReps every two years but choose not to. A third of Senate could theoretically be replaced this November too, but political animals vote ten and twnty times, drowning out us honest folk.
Quit bogarting that peace, Herbert!
For some reason, my message was lost when posted. Here was the original: Besides the voices in your head, who demands that? ; )
Don't re-elect anyone, not even your mama.
Everyone at AEI.
Quit bogarting that peace, Herbert!
They're just mad because you don't give them your money. I don't know how you ticked off the voices in your head however. The rest of the article is worth it. If you finished it, it would really annoy the people at AEI.
Don't re-elect anyone, not even your mama.
"....Here we wish to make our request. We ask: please, be a little more modest! We do not deny that Israel carried the knowledge of the one nd only God through ancient times like a sacred flame until Christ came and brought the more perfect faith, the richer conception of God, and the higher truth. But it is a historic fact that the people of Israel time and again relapsed into the grossest idolatry, that God was able to suppress apostasy for short periods only by sending outstanding personalities. It is God's grace rather than Israel's merit that the doctrine of the one God has been preserved for mankind. It is just as indubitable that the ideas of freedom of religion, of tolerance in the modern sense, do not fit into the character of the Old Testament. Whoever violated the Sabbath was stoned, the priests of Baal were slaughtered. This was inherent in the Jewish legal institutions and we we are far from blaming the Old Testament for it. But it is quite out of order when Jews claim as their own ideas which were historically altogether unknown to their religion. And furthermore they are quite aware of the fact that they had a caste of priests — certainly the opposite of equality; that they had slavery — certainly the opposite of freedom; that they indulged in polygamy — certainly the opposite of ideal family life. Only Teutonic-Christian life put an end to these abuses. It is true, Israel had an enlightened economic legislation, social forms of property ownership, the prohibition of usury, and the greatest charity toward the poor. But we have only to mention these things to realize the fearful chasm between the Old Testament and modern Jewry. It was German law alone that protected the concept of common property, the Christian church alone that decreed the prohibition of usury; it is precisely here that the faults and sins of modern Jewry are plainly revealed. Even if we presume for once that this lofty mission really is Israel's permanent task, who, then, are those thinkers and poets, who, inspired by the divine spirit, preach, praise and honor the living God? Perhaps the editers of the Tageblatt?2 Or the scholars of the Kladderadatsch?3 Where is the school of the prophets of the Holy Spirit which trains young men for their world mission? Where are the missionary posts? Where are the missionaries? Perhaps at the stock exchanges of Berlin, Vienna and Paris? Alas, the Jews should not be told such foolishness. For it is their ominous fate that, having failed Christ, they have lost their divine course, have abandoned their sublime mission. Confronted with the Lord's sharp-edged alternative — "Thou canst not serve both God and Mammon" — they now worship the idol of gold, having forsaken the path of God.... And in spite of this truth, in spite of their utter lack of religious creativeness, they stick to their delusion of being a religious power. The truth is that modern Jewry is most certainly a power against religion; a power which bitterly fights Christianity everywhere, uproots Christian faith as well as national feeling in the people, in their stead offering them nothing but the idolatrous admiration of Jewry such as it is, with no other content but its self-admiration.... The question is: What shall be done? We believe that Jews and Christians must try to establish a proper relationship with each other. There is no other way. Hatred of the Jews is already flaring up here and there, and this is repugnant to the Gospels. If modern Jewry continues to use the power of capital and the power of the press to bring misfortune to the nation, a final catastrophe is unavoidable. Israel must renounce its ambition to become the master of Germany. It should renounce its arrogant claim that Judaism is the religion of the future, when it is so clearly that of the past. ..... Let not foolish Christians continue to strengthen the self-conceit of this people. Jewish orthodoxy with its circumcision is decrepit, while reformed Judaism is not a Jewish religion at all. Once Israel has realized this, it will quietly forget its alleged mission and stop trying to rob of their Christianity people who offer it hospitality and civil rights. The Jewish press must become more tolerant — that is the first prerequisite for improving the situation. The social abuses which are caused by Jewry must be eradicated by wise legislation. It will not be easy to curb Jewish capital. Only thoroughgoing legislation can bring it about. The mortgage system in real estate should be abolished and property should be inalienable and unmortgageable; the credit system should be reorganized to protect the businessman against the arbitrary power of big capital. There must be new stock and stock-exchange regulations; reintroduction of the denominational census so as to find out the disproportion between Jewish capital and Christian labor; limitation of appointments of Jewish judges in proportion to the size of the population; removal of Jewish teachers from our grammar schools, and in addition the strengthening of the Christian-Germanic spirit — are the means to put a stop to the encroachment of Jewry on Germanic life, this worst kind of usury....." Such eloquence! So prophetic! We need more pastors telling the truth like this. No conspiracy? No plot? No AGENDA? Why, then, does history keep repeating itself??
Only in a hypocritical sense.
Humans are the same rotten lot we've always been.
In non-sequential, unmarked ballots.
I wonder how many times my childhood cat friend "Flower" has voted for the current gay republican mayor of the town I grew up in?
Quit bogarting that peace, Herbert!
It is strange indeed that the Jewish liberal press does not have the courage to answer the charges of its attackers. Usually it invents a scandal, even if there is none. It sharpens its poisonous pen by writing about the sermons in our churches and the discussions in our church meetings; but it hushes up the Jewish question and does everything to prevent its readers from hearing even a whisper from these unpleasant voices. It pretends to despise its enemies and to consider them unworthy of an answer.
#2. To: bluegrass (#0)
The mortgage system in real estate should be abolished and property should be inalienable and unmortgageable; the credit system should be reorganized to protect the businessman against the arbitrary power of big capital.
#3. To: bluegrass (#0)
It would be better to learn from the enemy, to recognize one's own defects, and work together toward the social reconciliation which we need so badly.
Where matters are decided... by a majority vote, the decision on each matter is the will of the majority. But it is also possible that the majority of individual voters may find themselves voting in the minority, and thus defeated, on a majority of political issues... certain techniques of tyranny are possible even though every voted measure wins the support and desire of a majority... Such tyranny will be able to claim "democratic support" for its measures, though the majority of the population are made worse off by the measures carried out. -- G.E.M. Anscombe
#4. To: bluegrass (#0)
What We Demand of Modern Jewry
#5. To: lodwick (#2)
The mortgage system in real estate should be abolished and property should be inalienable and unmortgageable; the credit system should be reorganized to protect the businessman against the arbitrary power of big capital.
#6. To: Tauzero (#3)
But multiculturalism -- a form of altruism, and a maladaptive form in that it is universalist -- does not work.
#7. To: Dakmar (#4)
rotsa ruck
#8. To: bluegrass (#7)
Did you even read the piece?
#9. To: Dakmar (#8)
#10. To: bluegrass (#9)
#11. To: Dakmar (#8)
those who demand I apologise for being upper working class.
#12. To: bluegrass (#11)
Besides the voices in your head, who demands that? ; )
#13. To: Dakmar (#12)
AEI
#14. To: bluegrass (#0)
#15. To: bluegrass (#6)
It works for Tribalists
Where matters are decided... by a majority vote, the decision on each matter is the will of the majority. But it is also possible that the majority of individual voters may find themselves voting in the minority, and thus defeated, on a majority of political issues... certain techniques of tyranny are possible even though every voted measure wins the support and desire of a majority... Such tyranny will be able to claim "democratic support" for its measures, though the majority of the population are made worse off by the measures carried out. -- G.E.M. Anscombe
#16. To: AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt (#14)
Why, then, does history keep repeating itself??
Where matters are decided... by a majority vote, the decision on each matter is the will of the majority. But it is also possible that the majority of individual voters may find themselves voting in the minority, and thus defeated, on a majority of political issues... certain techniques of tyranny are possible even though every voted measure wins the support and desire of a majority... Such tyranny will be able to claim "democratic support" for its measures, though the majority of the population are made worse off by the measures carried out. -- G.E.M. Anscombe
#17. To: Dakmar (#10)
political animals vote ten and twnty times,
Where matters are decided... by a majority vote, the decision on each matter is the will of the majority. But it is also possible that the majority of individual voters may find themselves voting in the minority, and thus defeated, on a majority of political issues... certain techniques of tyranny are possible even though every voted measure wins the support and desire of a majority... Such tyranny will be able to claim "democratic support" for its measures, though the majority of the population are made worse off by the measures carried out. -- G.E.M. Anscombe
#18. To: Tauzero (#17)
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