Reviews for 3-Minute Discourses on Kabbalah by Leading Jewish Scholars

The average rating for 3-Minute Discourses on Kabbalah by Leading Jewish Scholars based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-03-15 00:00:00 Willena Robey This book might become the death knell for religion If this book were mandatory for politicians, there could be one outcome only: recognition of religion as the single biggest threat to mankind and prohibition thereof. With what is going down in the Middle East, in Africa, and in Asia, It should be obvious to everybody today that religious freedom - whether abused and misinterpreted or not - has provided for millennia of perpetual religious disasters. These are prescribed in the religious texts for the pretense of bringing about a new world 'peace' under the laws of whichever mad religious dictator has the upper hand. Jews under a messiah, just as a sorry example by the author, must 'drive the crisis to a head,' knowing that it leads to their ultimate destruction since their undertaking can but fail. Religion is not only a threat to others, it is also suicidal to the believing community itself, and it will eventually be criminalized (again) in all civilized societies. This is perhaps the first book of this genre on my bookshelf by a Jewish author that does not scream of a hidden Jewish agenda. The author's anti-messianic stance is apparent throughout, and he dismisses all as charlatans. It is this bias that allows for identification of the scriptural problem of Messianism. He bluntly says: "At this point, we can say without equivocation that all Jewish messiahs are dead. The fact of their deaths is the proof of their failure." He is not concerned about offending Christians and Muslims. Although the author's contributions are rather weak, often stating the obvious from the primary texts, I have actually learned a lot even though this is my field of expertise. This is not to say that the author does not have his brilliant moments, but overall, his narrative is sloppy and sometimes incomprehensible, in particular for those that are not deeply invested in the field. There are such major lapses in providing the reader with insight that this book is suitable for experts only. The prerequisites are enormous, and the author leaves it to his students to fill in education gaps. Not that the author were not capable. He clearly demonstrates fluency in interpretation of Biblical texts and the key to its mysteries, the Gematria, but only when convenient. Without these insights to what the stories really mean, the unsuspecting reader can often make absolutely nothing of the primary texts. However, for the expert, Lenowitz opens a can of worms with paradigm changing dimensions. With the author's injections of interpretation and decoded Gematria versions, the primary evidence becomes crystal clear, so much so that it belongs in to the base collection (and study requirement) of every aspiring historian and politician. It almost seems that whoever misses out on this collection of texts lacks a key to understanding the history of the world. This is how important the messiahs are. The book deserves five stars for its primary evidence alone. The problem of any religio-historic view in isolation is that it reveals very little about the actual impact on civilization. A history of Christianity without the history of the Jews and Islam combined (and the others that were affected) is comparable to ignoring evolution when claiming Creationism. While the author largely ignores it wherever possible, the primary evidence provides for an astonishing context for those enlightened with more than a limited world-view. For example, one of the book's messiah characters, David Reubeni, was a contemporary of Martin Luther, who not only happens to be the author of the worst anti-Semitic smears the world has ever seen but who is also the founder of the Protestant Church. He, Luther, is a spiritual father of Adolf Hitler, and he ultimately provided for the religious justifications for the Holocaust. Were Reubeni injected into the treatment of Luther (and vice versa), far greater understanding can be achieved than with Lenowitz's insular approach. In fact, the latter is useless. For example, Lenowitz's primary evidence how the Catholic Church in Rome and Pope Clement VII (and his immediate predecessors) were under the influence of Jewish preachers is astonishing. It fits into the time when the pope was accused by Luther and others of corruption - in particular under Reubeni who was represented in the Vatican. I would have liked the author to dig just a little deeper as to the extent of this apparent subversion of another religion that may have triggered Luther's anti-Semitic response. If that is so, Reubeni was ultimately a spark for the breakup of the Catholic Church and the successive religious wars and persecutions of the Jews that spanned over one hundred years. This is how important Lenowitz's primary evidence is. The matter-of-fact explanation of the cycle of violence "grandeur-Messiah-revolt-war-destruction-compassion-grandeur" serves for an eye-opening foundation why Jews had been hated and persecuted throughout history. The 'grandeur' is a circular response to the compassionate preferential treatment of Jews by the Christian or Muslim hosts after their (repeated) destruction, and it is nothing less than the claim to world domination: the King of the Jews is also the king of the world. There are lessons to be learned here for Jews, non-Jews, and non-believers alike that may just be as important as acquiring wisdom for preventing future religious disasters and holocausts. Never mind (the author does not say so) that the same insane idea to gain world leadership is at play in Islam and Christianity since their foundation - and still is today in Judaism also. The primary evidence demonstrates (where accessible) how the internal view changes from glorifying messianic heroes in the hopes of Israel's redemption to finally rejecting them as false in the aftermath of persecutions that routinely follow in the wake of the (prescribed) failure. It is mindboggling how the Jewish messiahs were not some rogue figures with grandiose ideas but chosen ones that were sent and instructed by the highest authorities of the Jews, the Sanhedrin and the Exilarch - again, in particular Reubeni. The evidence shows the mechanisms in unprecedented clarity how religious organizations are masterminds in organized crime against mankind. There are exceptions, where this is not apparent in the evidence, but it is astonishing that the author claims the contrary in the end. It rather seems that one could make the proposition that there must be an uninterrupted chain of messiahs, or perhaps even multiple messiahs from differing sects, who are guided by their masters from behind the veil. It is quite simple: The Torah provides the Jews with an eternal mandate to reconquer the Promised Land. Only when the land of Israel exists is the Messiah not necessary (i.e. with the wave of compassionate preferential treatment of the Jews since after the Holocaust). It took Jewry 2000 years to get to this point (with a main intermezzo in the seventh century and several other short-lived attempts). Lenowitz dismisses the modern Lubavitcher Rebbe as an after-the-fact imposter. But the mandate stands to conquer all of the Promised Land, inch-by-inch, and that is just about everything east of the Euphrates River. There are fundamental issues with the author's approach. For example, Lenowitz views the Davidic requirement to the Messiah as static and the Levite linage as excluded. That may have been so before the Temple's destruction. However, since Qumran, we know that there was the Messiah of David with the sword and the Messiah of the Levites with the word. The author sees the two as king and spirit, but does not seem to recognize their significance. Perhaps, he does not want to acknowledge a view that competes with his sect's. The continuation of this practice evolves through Islam, and a hint of its beginnings can be found in the two linages of the Messiah Jesus that attempt to reconcile David and the Levites. The author's observation that Jesus may have suggested that Judaism could be reducible to the Shema (Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one) should have led to at least an afterthought that the Shema also happens to provide for the foundation of the Bismillah (There is only one God), believed to be the credo of early Muslims. That there was no messiah until the first century should put some serious questions into the heads of researchers about the historicity of Judaism in general, but the author is not bothered by the larger picture. He is excused since, well, there were no messiahs, and the treatment would carry the book's scope way beyond its limits. But while he proclaims the failure of all messiahs and bluntly declares prophesies as after-the-fact fabrications, when it comes to his assessment of Jesus, the author presents no primary evidence at all but entirely relies on the known Gospels that happen to foretell the Temple's destruction. It obviously does not add up, but no paid researcher seems to dare asking any questions. Lenowitz could have gotten away by simply ignoring Jesus and rely more on the book of Isiah instead. Even though its accepted dating could be off by over a century, the fundamentals are there, not in the Gospels. Also, for some reason, Lenowitz thinks that it is ridiculous that a Muslim king could crown the Messiah and work hand-in-hand with him for the redemption. Does he not have a copy of Benjamin of Tudela on his bookshelf? Under Abbasid Islamic rule, the iron rod of David (i.e. the Davidic Messiah with the sword) ruled indeed in tandem with the caliph who was worshiped almost like a god (i.e. the Levitic Messiah with the word). The author should have refrained from using the term 'quietist philosophy'. Sometimes it is just better to bite your tongue (i.e. be quietist) than to come across as hypocritical. After reading The Jewish Messiahs, it should be apparent that there is no such philosophy - certainly to Lenowitz. Instead of this unsubstantiated claim that does not withstand the author's own scrutiny, his frank assessment of the Polish Frankist movement would have deserved stronger condemnation of the group's machinations. As if Reubeni was not plenty to swallow, the members of the group were working together to subvert the entire society with the goal to 'unify' its religions and to finally topple their host nation. All said, this man, Lenowitz, might just be one of the few that could actually bring about radical change in the way we assess (religious) history. I can only hope for Lenowitz to embrace his prospect for a Nobel Prize of Peace if he expands on this work of his - whether the religious establishment likes it or not. A work like 'The Jewish Messiahs in the Greater Historical Context' will change everything, and since the author is now retired, he should have plenty of time at his hand to write. But it will come at a hefty price for him: he will need to watch his back. The 'truth' will liberate civilizations from the yoke of religious oppression and sectarian violence. A.J. Deus Social Economics of Religious Terrorism ajdeus.org - June 3, 2015

Review # 2 was written on 2013-02-04 00:00:00 Dorren Stiang Thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I value the work the author put into researching and writing it. The myth that the Nazis were anti-christian, pagan, or even atheist is far too common even among educated people. On the whole, the author provides strong evidence that the Nazi regime was either Christian or at least highly supportive of Christianity. The issues were far more with the contradictions of protestantism and Catholicism than Christianity itself. Many members also had problems with the institutions of Christianity, but not the religion itself. There was a pagan faction with Nazism, but its influence is highly exaggerated. There was absolutely no Atheist faction. Hitler's Table Talks are often used as definitive proof that Hitler was not Christian, but closer examination shows this is far less clear. While he did heavily criticize Christianity at times, he also still highly praised Jesus as a warrior against Jewish Materialism. Overall, excellent history. Highly recommend.