Max I. Dimont OTHER BOOKS BY MAX I. DIMONT Appointment in Jerusalem The Indestructible Jews JEWS, GOD, AND The Jews in America The Amazing Adventures of the Jewish People JEWS, GOD, AND HISTORY HISTORY REVISED AND UPDATED EDITION REVISED AND UPDATED EDI- Max I. Dimont TION A MENTOR BOOK A MENTOR BOOK 1 2 A CIVILIZATION IS BORN, REACHES ITS MATURITY, Jews in America, The Amazing Adventures of the Jewish People, AND, DIES. THIS IS THE PATTERN OF HISTORY. SO IT and Appointment in Jerusalem, was born in Helsinki, Finland, WAS WITH THE BABYLONIANS, THE PERSIANS, THE RO- and came to the United States in 1930. He taught himself English MANS. WHY NOT THE JEWS? by reading Shakespeare's plays, the Bible, and American plays How have the Jews survived throughout four thousand years translated into Finnish. After serving in intelligence with the U.S. of human history? Why has this small' band of people continued Army during World War II, he worked in public relations and to exert such influence on so many civilizations? From their employee relations for Edison Brothers Stores in St. Louis. Fol- ranks have come Moses, Christ, Spinoza, Marx, Freud, Einstein. lowing the first publication of his bestselling Jews, God, and What is the vitality that flames among the Jewish people, con- History, he lectured extensively on Jewish history throughout the trary to every historical precedent? United States, Canada, South Africa, Brazil, and Finland until his Max Dimont asks and answers these questions in his en - death in 1992. grossing, trenchant survey, now completely revised and updated. Dimont examines Hebrew history from the nomad forefather Ab- raham, who went forth from the city of Ur, to the modern state of Israel. "Done with warmth and vitality. Written for laymen by a scholarly layman who has a passion for his theme. " -Max Lerner "By far the liveliest popular history of the Jewish people that I have ever read. In many ways, a strikingly original synthesis of Jewish history." -Richard B. Mor- ris, author of The Forging of the Union, 1781-1789 and Witnesses at the Creation "More interesting than the facts Dimont has collected, much of it based on recent archeological discoveries, is the fascinating reasoning of a bright and unorthodox mind. " San Francisco Sunday Chronicle "A book of life and hope. There are few greater docu - ments to the vitality and perseverance of Man than this history of the Jews." -St. Louis Post-Dispatch MAX I. DIMONT, author of The Indestructible Jews, The 3 4 MENTOR Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books USA Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England This book is respectfully dedicated Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia to my late father, Hyman Dimont, Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, a humanist in the great Talmudic tradition Canada M4V 3B2 who early taught me to cherish the proverb Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, of Solomon: "To know wisdom and instruction; New Zealand to comprehend the words of understanding; Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: to receive the discipline of wisdom, justice, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England and right, and equity." Published by Mentor, an imprint of Dutton Signet, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc. First Signet Printing, May, 1964 First Mentor Printing (Revised and Updated Edition), April, 1994 10 9 8 7 6 5 Copyright © Max Dimont, 1962 Copyright renewed Max Di- mont, 1990 Copyright © Ethel Dimont, 1994 Ali rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. @) REGISTERED TRADEMARK MARCA REGISTRADA Printed in the United States of America BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE AT QUANTITY DISCOUNTS WHEN USED TO PROMOTE PRODUCTS OR SER. VICES. FOR INFORMATION PLEASE WRITE TO PREMIUM MAR- KETING DIVISION, PENGUIN BOOKS USA INC., 375 HUD- SON STREET, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10014. If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher and neither the author nor the pub - lisher has received any payment for this "stripped book." 5 6 THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT..........................................156 Table of Contents IV: THE INVISIBLE WORLD OF THE TALMUD ............170 HERE'S WHEN IT HAPPENED .........................................171 PREFACE ..................................................................................11 TALMUDIC PERIOD 500 B.C. TO 1700 A.D. ........................171 IT HAPPENED ONLY ONCE IN HISTORY! .......................15 GROWTH OF THE TALMUD...................................................172 I: THE PORTABLE GOD ........................................................26 MISHNA ENDS AND GEMARA BEGINS.................................172 HERE'S WHEN IT HAPPENED ...........................................27 GEMARA ENDS; ERA OF TALMUD.......................................173 THE PAGAN PERIOD 2000 B.C. TO 300 B.C. .........................27 CODIFICATIONS BEGIN: ......................................................173 ONE THIRTEEN THE GRAND ILLUSION .....................................................29 THE "IVY LEAGUE" YESHIVAS ......................................174 TWO FOURTEEN THE RELUCTANT PROPHET .............................................36 BIBLIOSCLEROSIS OF THE TALMUD............................185 THREE V: MOHAMMED, ALLAH, AND JEHOVAH .....................196 JUDCES, KINCS, AND USURPERS ...................................50 HERE'S WHEN IT HAPPENED .........................................197 FOUR ISLAMIC PERIOD 500 A.D. TO 1500 A.D. ............................197 RELIGION IS PACKAGED ..................................................66 FIFTEEN II: THE AGE OF THE "APIKORSIM" .................................81 HISTORY TRAVELS TO MECCA .....................................198 HERE'S WHEN IT HAPPENED ...........................................82 SIXTEEN THE GRECO-ROMAN PERIOD 300 B.C. TO 300 A.D. ..........82 THE JEWISH RENAISSANCE IN MUFTI.........................206 FIVE SEVENTEEN THE BAITED PIN-UP CULTURE ........................................84 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE EWISH PROTESTANT RE- SIX VOLT ...................................................................................214 THE FIGHT THAT FAILED .................................................95 VI: THE PRINCE AND THE YELLOW STAR ..................221 SEVEN HERE'S WHEN IT HAPPENED .........................................222 ROME, CAESARISM, AND REBELLION ........................100 MEDIEVAL PERIOD EIGHT CHRISTIAN: 500 A.D. TO 1500 A.D. THE SEALED COFFIN ·.....................................................111 JEWISH: 500 A.D. TO 1800 A.D..............................................222 NINE EIGHTEEN THE CONOUERING WORD .............................................121 CRUSADES, RENAISSANCE, AND REFORMATION ....224 TEN The Age of Salvation ................................................................224 A NEW DEAL FOR DIASPORA ........................................130 The Age of More Salvation .......................................................230 III: MOSES, CHRIST, AND CAESAR..................................138 End of Salvation .......................................................................234 The Economics of Heresy .........................................................239 HERE'S WHEN IT HAPPENED .........................................139 Dynamics of Revolution ...........................................................244 WHEN CHRISTIANITY WAS BORN 100 B.C. TO 600 A.D.....139 NINETEEN ELEVEN CONCERTO FOR VIOLENCE ...........................................249 MESSIAH AND APOSTLE ................................................140 TWENTY TWELVE 7 8 THE YELLOW BADGE OF COURAGE ...........................263 After Six Day War: ...................................................................491 TWENTY-ONE War of Attrition:........................................................................492 THE GHETTO CAPITALIST ..............................................274 Yom Kippur War:.......................................................................493 TWENTY-TWO Gulf War....................................................................................497 KABALA AND KINNANHORRA .....................................288 Events Leading To Israeli-PLO Accord ...................................500 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................502 VII: ON THE HORNS OF MODERN "ISMS"....................308 GENERAL JEWISH HISTORY ..........................................502 HERE'S WHEN IT HAPPENED .........................................309 THE MODERN PERIOD..........................................................309 TOPICAL JEWISH HISTORY ............................................507 TWENTY-THREE GENERAL WORLD HISTORY...........................................512 ANATOMY OF EMANCIPATION .....................................311 RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS .....................................................514 The Westward Trail ...................................................................312 MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS ........................................516 From Ghetto to Baptismal Font ...............................................317 Index..........................................................................................521 Napoleonic Imperialism and Jewish Emancipation .................322 Serfs, Slavophiles, and Jews .....................................................330