The "Jewish Question" and the "Final Solution."

There is a problem today among conservatives that simply has to be addressed.

Let's get something out of the way here: other than the fact I used two phrases very synonymous with antisemitism in my blog to get views for this article, I am not antisemitic. I never was, and no Catholic can be in light of the teachings of the Church - yes, even going back to the Middle Ages. You simply cannot be the violent antisemitic a lot of Traditional Catholics shamefully are. The mere fact that there are Catholics in the world who actually fawn after Nazism and the Fascist states of the 20th century shows a desperate need for some form of modern touchstone back to their heritage (even if its a poor one) and a serious lack of serious historical knowledge.

So if I'm not about to start spouting antisemitic canards and praising Nazism, what am I writing about here? A while back in December a news article crossed my desk concerning the State of Israel's decision to pay for abortions as part of its healthcare for all its citizens. Just yesterday evening, another crossed my desk; a commentary on the complete lack of response from, "the Right" concerning Israel's decision to pay for abortions. This was something I had noticed; in fact, I didn't get the first article from LifeSiteNews or any conservative news group, but from a leftist news group (I like to keep tabs on the ones that like to spew libel in the direction of the Catholic Church).

The article makes a vital point: why aren't we talking about this? It's a big deal, and it should send a big red flag up to lots of people. I'm going to talk about the ins and outs of why below.

Some Things You Should Know

First off, Israel is a secular state. It is not a religious one. Judaism is not the state religion of the country. In fact according to census data Orthodox Jews barely make up 20% of the country. Even then, the most conservative groups make up even less than that. That means Zionists aren't even the majority in the country. About 55% identify as, "traditional" (whatever that means) while 20% identify as secular. That means that most Jews that live in the State of Israel aren't all neo-Biblical Crusaders claiming they have a divine mandate to the State of Israel. Which is a good sign, as theologically speaking they don't have a right to it anymore.

Morning Prayer in Hurva Synagogue, Jerusalem. For how much Protestants fawn over them, there sure are a lot of icons in their synagogues.

So what does that mean? That means that for most of the Jewish people, they're there because it's their ancestral homeland and they think that they deserve the right to live there. Which would be, archaeologically speaking, correct; the problem is that the communities in the historical and archaeological field will never come to a consensus on this because it's a politically charged issue. In fact the State of Israel has banned archaeological digs around most of the country for fear that some other finding will send one side or the other into a violent tizzy. It's as if one side or the other things an archaeological finding will cause a massive shift in alliances and strength that will lead to one side or the other losing. As if any of the politics surrounding the State of Israel had anything to do with morals and less to do with the long-term goal of getting at the oil fields in the Middle East and Israel itself.

What's my opinion? If the Jewish People can keep their homeland with Blood and Iron, we should let them. The Six-Day War should've proved to everyone involved that the Jewish People were not going to give up without a fight. They have no interest in being scattered again and at the mercy of others who do not care for them. If they can keep pulling that off, do the politics really matter? Not really.

Israeli Paratroopers Brigade dig in during the 1956 Sinai War

The Theological Aspect

There are a whole lot of Americans - mostly Conservative Protestants - who are Zionists. They believe, according to their Bible, that the Jews have a, "God-given Right" to their homeland. Unfortunately the Theology just doesn't add up that way, but considering Protestantism is its own religion at this point independent of Authentic Christianity (Catholicism) I'm not going to waste time arguing it here and there are numerous sources on the subject that you can find. But the common point that most of them all converge on is Revelations where it speaks of the temple being rebuilt and the Temple Mount being a sign of the Apocalypse. Then of course there is the Battle of Armageddon where, "Israel back is to the wall." Then Christ comes and saves the day.

The distinct problem with this, again, goes back to Protestantism divorcing historical understanding from the Gospels and the Bible in general. Most of the original epistles and Apocalypse itself was written in code to keep people who would do the religion harm from being able to find out too much. On top of that, the theological understanding was that Jesus was the Messiah, whether or not the Religious Authorities of Israel liked it. The fact they didn't sign off on him doesn't mean anything. Facts are facts. So, logically speaking, the Christian Religion is the continuation of the Jewish Faith as seen in the Old Testament.  They aren't two different things. What about the Rabbinic Judaism of today, you ask? Well, it's not an authentic continuation.

The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem, by David Roberts (1850).

The Torah and even the Bible lays out the foundation for the Jewish Religion. They are required to offer sacrifice, they can only set up altars in specific places (the principle of which being in Jerusalem). To carry out the rites of the Jewish Religion, you needed the Levitic Priesthood. These were the basic things needed for the Old Testament Jewish Religion. Rome decimated all of these things.

When Titus sacked Jerusalem after a long and bloody siege, the sack of the city was devastating. Arguably the most violent and terrible since Carthage. Not only was the Temple leveled (the Jewish Religion and the Zealot faction being the principle source of the revolt) but all of the religious leaders of Israel were killed; the High Priest, and everyone below who was in the city. On top of the massive amounts of civilian casualties. The Jewish Religion had been annihilated and the Romans did not put up with it anymore. It had caused enough problems, and quite clearly the usual policy of religious tolerance with respect to the Roman Pantheon and other gods wasn't going to work.

So where did Rabbinic Judaism we see today come from? Well, the Jewish people weren't going to simply accept the Messiah and think maybe their entire religion being decimated like never before was a sign of something. So you had one Rabban Gamaliel, a surviving Pharisee, start the Rabbis up and running. The synagogues became the center of Jewish life instead of the temples, the Talmud was codified to form the structure for the new religion, and it continued. Simply put, there was nothing else to do; their religion was destroyed but they were not about to give up on it.

The Talmud would go on to become controversial for certain texts that referred to Jesus and Mary in very unflattering terms, and by unflattering I mean accusing Mary of being a prostitute who slept around and that Jesus was the product of one of her relations with a long-time customer who was a Roman Soldier, that Jesus was a sorcerer, and that he died by hanging. I plan to learn Hebrew to read one myself to discover if there is truth in these allegations outside of actual antisemitic propaganda; this is just what I've been told. Saint Louis IX ordered every Talmud in France to be burned after he discovered the blasphemy written in its pages, so I assume there is some credence to it.

So in short the Jews don't have a right to their homeland from a religious standpoint, the majority of them don't see it from a religious point of view anyway, and those who are don't even follow authentic Judaism but instead something cooked up by a few surviving Pharisees and their followers. Agreeing to any of these points or professing them does not make you antisemitic. It does not mean you are or have to be OK with the systematic slaughter of an entire group of people to believe this. It is documented present-day and past historical fact. No amount of guilt-tripping or hurt feelings changes facts. Get it, got it? Good.

It's a bit ridiculous, painting the State of Israel as some Neo-Kingdom of Israel state that's a modernized version of what Christians are familiar with from the Bible. It doesn't fit the reality. If you want to be straight, if it really was an authentic Jewish state in the fashion of its ancestors, it never would've allowed any other religion but Judaism, but at present they pursue a policy of religious tolerance. Argue that one away.

So what is the, "Jewish Question" you refer to, then?

The Jewish Question I refer to is the question of what do we do, even if we think historically speaking the Jews can claim a right to their homeland and they have every right to defend it and keep it if they can, when the Jewish State okays something that is patently wrong? This isn't the first thing that could get Conservatives upset. The State of Israel has had a unisex military for years, with women in combat roles alongside the men. Do you think just because their Jews they won't have the same problems the US military is having with integrating women? Fat chance; more like they're not going to air their dirty laundry like the US loves to do. Even if we think, considering the current political landscape, we're better off having the Jewish State there than an Islamic one, what do we do when we see them do wrong?

The "Final Solution."

Isaiah's Lips Anointed with Fire.

The answer is quite simple, actually. We must do what the Prophets did in the days of old, when Israel was a kingdom and it was a religious state: we must rebuke the evil we see done. The State of Israel will only be beneficial and succeed in its aim so long as they steer clear of the kind of policies they are pursuing. Let's look at the mere temporal aspect of government-funded abortions for women: Israel is already a small country surrounded by larger enemies. They need every man they can get on the walls in the event the enemy attack. China, the largest country in the world, had to get more lax on their infamous, "One Child Policy" because in spite of their still large population they had a labor shortage. Why? Too many old people who couldn't work and not enough young people who could or would. It's a problem Israel will inevitably be faced with. I know many Catholics are unamused with Israel's tendency to turn a blind eye to vandalism of Christian places, and I am too. But let's look at it factually: whatever passive aggressive gestures the Israeli government ignores, it will not be as bad as what would happen if Islam conquered the region. That day may come closer and closer if Israel does not accept the Messiah, or if they raise the wrath of God up further by going down the road they're heading. The worst part is that this time it won't be some dramatic, biblical chastisement; as Romans says, they will be the architect of their own undoing, because vice makes a people weaker and weaker until they are unable to resist and fall from within and have none to blame but themselves.

Is Nazism still wrong? Yes. Is antisemitism still wrong? Yes. Did the Holocaust happen? Yes. Are the Jewish people operating on a hive-mind with the master plan of creating a Jewish Theocracy where they are the Master Race? No, and I think even if you did think that the statistics I've shown can prove that most Jews wouldn't even entertain the idea of that. Have Jews been on the side of the enemies of the Church or aided them in the past? Yes; certain periods in the history of the Iberian Reconquista show that, but the political climate has obviously changed and we must change to accept at least that. Adapt and Overcome; that is how we will make it through this, and it is the only way the State of Israel can hope to survive. But if their allies and friends don't start calling out what they're doing in regards to abortion and anything else that takes place, it will come back to make us look bad before man, and more importantly before God.