The Financial Crisis = Bad For Jews
October 10th 2008 12:03 pm
As many of you know, the US, and much of the Western civilized world is going through disastrous financial crises. I believe the situation has a number of implications for Jews, and by looking into history, we can learn a lot about what to expect, and hopefully make wise decisions based on what we learn.
The Great Depression
First, the crisis from my view: Call me crazy, but I saw this coming for months. I knew the US was taking a nose dive of magnitude proportions. I looked around me, read/watched what the media was saying, and talked to many Americans from different walks of life. When your commander in chief hasn’t got much of a background of sophistication, your country is irresponsibly allocating hundreds of billions of dollars a year for a war with no clear end in sight, and the most powerfully rich in the country care only for themselves (ie. Enron, Sub-prime crisis, Walmart employment practices), what are the likely outcomes? Many comparisons are being made to the Great Depression of 1929. While that period of time is great to read about, I think we’re dealing with a bit of a different situation this time around. For one, the global economy that exists in 2008 simply did not in 1929. I believe we can look to a few other times in history for insight:
In Jewish history, the Jews have done best in societies with stable governing bodies, a stable population, and stable economic markets. After the destruction of the 2nd temple, 90% of Jews lived in Babylonia (modern day Iraq) from the year 70 CE until some point in the century of 1000 CE. There, the Romans allowed Jews an autonomous governing body led by a Nasi and Reish Gelusa (a prince, and head of exile, called the exilarch in English). Here, the Jews fared quite well, as we see they had a very stable governing body.
Jews then began to emigrate to Spain (and soon after to France) due largely to economic issues which I won’t go into here. There, Jews experienced a “Golden Age” where Jews became the heads of the banking system, leaders of the Spanish military, leading physicians, poets, and even ran the finances for the Spanish government. That period of Jewish history ended in disaster in the 1400’s with the Spanish Inquisition, and ultimately in 1492, when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella decreed that all Jews leave Spain immediately (the Alhambra decree).
From Spain, Jews emigrated largely to Germany and Eastern Europe (Poland, Lithuania, Russia), and portions to Turkey, Palestine, and other areas. The Western European Jew excelled greatly in the British empire and in Germany, while the Eastern European Jews were by large forced to live in Jewish ghettos (see the Pale of Settlement).
The Cossack rebellion of Ukraine in 1648 - 1649, referred to by Jews as Tach V’Tat (Hebrew for the Jewish years 5408 - 5409) utterly destroyed Jews. Another example of how uprising led to disaster for the Jews. I recommend reading about it (unless you don’t want nightmares).
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Jews of Russia were absolutely destroyed by Czarist decrees, and later by the communist revolution, led by the Bolshevicks and Menshevicks. This is a perfect example of how instability affected Jews, as the Russian Civil War claimed over 100,000 Jewish lives. Fast forward to modern day Germany, where not 2 generations ago, as a result of extreme economic and political upheaval, Jews, who were considered part of the German aristocrat, were marched into cattle cars, and transported into mass slave labor and killing camps, destroying millions of Jews.
Why do I bring all these up? We are living in very historic times here in America. America is going through a turmoil of which we have seen only the beginnings of, and due to the global economy that exists, the entire Western world is being hit because of it. As Jews, we need to keep our eyes open for a few things:
In times of trouble, many Jews dealt with the problems by becoming so to speak “more Catholic than the pope.” In Spain, a prominent leader of the Spanish Inquisition was Tomas de Torquemada - a Jew. In 1832 Torquemada’s tomb was ransacked, and his bones stolen and burned.
In Russia, the Yevsektsiya was the Jewish communist faction that took upon them the responsibility of destroying the Jewish religion (as well as all religions). They felt they could be more communist than the Bolshevicks, and would obviously be rewarded for such. They made sure people lit fires in their homes on the Shabbat, they checked Jewish babies for circumsition, they waited at shuls to ensure they were not being used for Torah study. They were eventually executed entirely by the Bolshevicks.
In Germany, the Judenrat were the Jews that represented the Jewish ghettos and slave labor camps. The Germans forced them to enforce Jewish slave labor, and other horrific brutalities. They felt at the very least, they and their families were be spared. They were wrong.
There are many other examples of this in Jewish history (read up on Moses Mendelssohn and Edwin Montagu for 2 such examples).
That brings us to America. Last week, Jon Stewart slammed Jews in Congress for not coming into work on Rosh Hashana to be able to re-vote on the bailout plan. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge Jon Stewart fan, but I saw his anti-Jewish rant as unfortunate. Now go look at October 9th’s New York Times. The front page ran a huge article that continued to an entire sub-page about how much of the financial crisis is the fault of Alan Greenspan. If that isn’t enough, watch these videos, which point out high profile Jews of yesteryear like Rockefeller and Rothschild as having been robbing America blind from day 1: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_14910.cfm
My advice: Let’s not act more American than Americans, and forsake our heritage and traditions (or as they said in Germany, “We are Germans of the Mosaic Persuasion”).
The US pulled out of the 1929 depression by selling arms to Britain, France, and Russia during WW II, and later by the employment that joining the war added to the American economy. Let us hope they have a different plan in mind this time.
Tags: Add new tag, jew, Jewish
David responded on 10 Oct 2008 at 12:54 pm #
I disagree, I feel that people are enlightened enough at this point that no one but the hicks in middle america will seriously be anti-jew because of the economy.
Dani Koesterich responded on 10 Oct 2008 at 1:00 pm #
I wish I could agree, but Germany was the most “enlightened” country in all of Europe in the 1930’s. Frenchmen, who began the era of enlightenment under Napoleon in the 18th century, and who chanted “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” later chanted “Better Hitler than Bloom” in response to a Jew running to head the Popular Front party coalition. And they still hadn’t fully recovered from the Dreyfus affair. The enlightenment was thought to be the ticket out for Jews, but what they didn’t realize was that although it rarely officially supported religious anti-semitism, it was the harbinger of racial anti-semitism which has perpetrated far greater disasters for the Jews.
David (a different one) responded on 10 Oct 2008 at 2:36 pm #
Dude,
Stop being so freaking pessimistic about the situation. Have faith and be optimistic. Things are no better in Israel. Israel is the only country nowadays where Jews are lynched for being Jews.
yoni lautman responded on 10 Oct 2008 at 5:12 pm #
David,
I dont know if you have any relatives that survived the holocaust but if you do or know of any ask them one simple question…..why didnt you all just leave when you saw it getting bad?? their answer will be “because we didnt think it would reach that point and once we saw it was too late”
the point is this, its their optimism that got them caught there in the first place. I trade stocks for a hedge fund so I am interacting with people all over the country on a daily basis though message boards and you should see some the things people are writing. EVERYTHING is blaming the jews for this melt down. Most people call the bail out the ” jew-out” they are saying that this is the way jews work, they take over companies build them up and then let them fall as they profit the whole way.
besides that there is an old saying that history repeats itself….look at our history like dani said every land we have ever been in has flourished because we were there and then at a drop of hat when things go bad the jew is always the escape goat.
my point is this….do i think there will be another holocaust..no because israel will never allow it.but dont close your eyes to the fact we as a people have always been hated throughout time and will continue to be hated until mashiach comes. its been the history of our people and we cant ignore it any longer.
besides that the whole country will be blaming us for iran… pay attention to the signs and if you look honestly you will see everything dani is saying is FACT
Zach responded on 11 Oct 2008 at 3:11 pm #
I’d have to agree with Yoni on this one. I would never say there will be a holocaust or holocaust-esque event in America, however, I ask this (to the David’s out there):
What do you think the situation of American Jewry will be like in 10 years? 20 years? 50? 100?
Frankly, I think America Jewry in 100 years will be millions of headstones with stars of David. Not because of any holocaust. None will have been murdered. I think they will simply leave. One, because I don’t think America’s gonna be the shit forever, and the Jews will have all assimilated or left. Maybe not even in 100 years, then in 150. I know I won’t be alive by then, but I do know that I don’t wont my great-grandkids to be Stan and Crystal Reich from Bumblefuck, Utah who don’t know why Yom Kippur is a day on their multi-cultural calander. I know my great-grandkids are all going to be Jewish and speak the language the world was created it. That’s badass. (if it wasn’t clear, I live in Israel).
Dani…See you soon.
(Don’t forget to bring a towel).
Katie Lawrence responded on 15 Dec 2008 at 4:58 pm #
Okay, okay, I’m half Jewish. I grew up believing the Jews were unfairly persecuted, so I’m just saying…
It actually IS a bunch of Jews behind the financial crisis. Madoff, others behind the inflated hedge funds, countles scams. As a half Jew, I will say there are some signs of a lack of loyalty, regard for what may be refered to as the “host country.”
Furthermore, sometimes Jews can be critical, self-imporant and offensive people. Maybe Jews could be a bit more self-aware rather than playing the victim card everytime.
I certainly do not believe we should die. But I don’t have this problem: I am open about my heritage and nobody ever accuses me of ripping people off. But I have felt ripped off by Jews myself. And certainly lied to and cut down. There are reasons for things. Jews are not people’
s favorite scapegoat. This is not the case and I am proof of it. The fact is I reluctantly have begun to question Jews myself. Having watched my father, gone to school with countless Jews, been barked at by them, subtly cut down, directly lied to for money…
Newsflash.
Sato responded on 07 Mar 2009 at 1:57 pm #
My questions are:
1. Who are International Bankers?
2. Who founded the quasi-private Federal Reserve Board (Bank of England, and various other European central banks/financial institutions)?
3. Who funded the Germans during WWII?
Only a handful of Italians are mafia. So we don’t blame all Italians for their crimes. Likewise, only handful of Jews are in banking and media industry. But aren’t majority of International Bankers are of Jewish origin? How about media (i.e. propagand machines)? And the International Bankers wreck havoc in global economy while the media hides the truth. Isn’t that so?
What these bankers do are far more dangerous to humanity than mafias.
I don’t try to be a bigot. But wouldn’t all these facts say something at a
ll?