Trudy Gold
Failed and False Messiahs and “Other Zions”

Trudy Gold | Failed and False Messiahs and “Other Zions” | 05.17.22

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- Well, good afternoon everyone and I hope everybody’s well. Today I’m looking at an interesting concept in really as far as the whole programme is concerned, I’ve called it False and Failed Messiahs and Other Zions. It’s important to remember that in that long history of the Jewish people, there have been so many responses to tragedy and having looked with you at the Khmelnytsky massacres. And then out of that, of course, came the extraordinary Shabbetai Zevi Movement and Jacob Frank, it gives you a notion of what happens in a religious perspective when people are in the depths of despair. With such a long history, there have been many individuals, many movements that have looked at the Jewish people and tried to come up for solutions without very strange, stubborn stiff necked tribe. Now what I’m going to do now, I’m going back to the time of the second temple because Messiah, let’s be quite careful about this Messiah in Hebrew means anointed one. There is no notion of divinity and the anointed king, the Mašíaḥ, there is no discussion of it at all in the Hebrew Bible. It doesn’t really come up as a concept until the time really of the occupation by Greece and Rome, when the Jewish kingdom is under the rule of pagans who are trying to break Judaism.

So… we can pour together those beliefs, the pre-history of the Messiah. You can see it in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Samuel. Remember, those of you who know your Bible will know that Samuel is the prophet who does agree to give the Jews a king. And in the Book of Samuel, the anointing of David and David and his descendants are lords. The Lord’s anointed. So all besides to come should be of the House of David. After the collapse of the Davidic Kingdom. If you, those again, those of you who know your Bible will know that after the death of David’s son Solomon, the kingdom divided into two. And there was this dream, and you see it in the Book of Amos, the book of Ezekiel, the book of Isaiah, that one day the house of David would be restored and with rule with righteousness over the whole of Israel. The book of Isaiah emphasises the qualities of a future king. The foundation of the Messiahs throne must be justice. He will sense, he will know all the wrongs of the world and he will right them. But it’s in the second temple period as I said, that it really comes to the fore, and it doesn’t take much to use your historic imagination to know what was actually going on on under Roman rule. It was an incredibly harsh rule. Jews were divided up into various sets, they were being oppressed, or Judaism itself was being oppressed by the Romans. And it’s then that you really see, begin to see different concepts of the Messiah.

Now what is important is that in Judaism the concept of salvation is more important than the Messiah. And in the book of Tobit, what is laid down there that the salvation of Jerusalem and the return of the diaspora to Jerusalem, and the conversion of all the nations is more important. The Messiah isn’t mentioned. Now, the other point I have to make is that there were other areas that are considered at this period. There are two figures. One is Ben David, son of David, another is Ben Yosef who will be the forerunner of the Messiah. There’s another concept, it’s known as Ben Adam, the son of man. Messiah no longer symbolises the wanted new age, but is actually an individual who will bring together, who will bring the new age. So you have all these concepts. Think back to what we discussed when I looked at the Khmelnytsky massacre. When a people are so destroyed and so ravaged, what hope can there be? And out of that kind of terrible ferment comes ideas of salvation. Now, I’m not going to discuss Christianity today because we’ve already discussed it with Helen and I’ve been discussing with her how we can take it further. And she and I have agreed that we will discuss this together at more depth. Because suffice to say, if you read the first Matthew, Mark and Luke’s gospels, what you can say is that Christianity actually starts as a messianic Jewish sect and Jesus teachings in Matthew and Mark and Luke are totally acceptable in terms of second temporal Judaism. Now why wasn’t Jesus, Joshua accepted as Messiah? The other point to make about Mašíaḥ is that by the time you get to the Council of Nicaea in 325, Jesus is no longer a Messiah figure in Jewish terms because divinity, he has become a divine figure. And there is no scope for divinity in terms of a human being as far as Judaism is concerned.

All you have to think of is the first commandment, I am the Lord thy God that brought me out of the land of Egypt. Thou shall have no other gods before me. So basically the taking on of divinity of the Jesus Messiah figure meant that for Judaism you have a total parting of the ways and what Christianity as it developed. And remember, Jesus was the most successful religious figure in history. If you think about it, his followers, I want to be very careful here. His followers create the largest religion the world has ever known. And today it is still the largest religion. More people are Christian than any other group. Ironically, the second largest is Islam. And there is a belief that by about the year 2050, Islam will just overtake Christianity. And again, you can make the case that the roots of Islam are also in Judaism. So the Jewish people who at the moment are about 14 million in the world, they nevertheless, their belief system gave birth to two of the most important religions in the world. So as far as the Jews are concerned, the Messiah has not yet come because the Messianic age has not yet come. Why? Because as far as Judaism is concerned, and this is developed, the coming of the Messiah is associated with important events, the return of the Jews to their land, the rebuilding of the temple, and a messianic age that will bring in an age of peace. The coming of the Mašíaḥ means that the world will come to its senses. You know that extraordinary passage, “The lions will lie down with the lambs”, “The swords will be turned into ploughshares”.

This is the coming of the Messiah. It will be an age of peace and the whole world will be redeemed. This is the notion Christianity believes and remember the Christ, Mašíaḥ in Christianity, Christos is the Greek for Mašíaḥ but divine. So there’s a huge difference here. Christianity is awaiting the second coming of the Messiah, and that’s also going to be important in our story. Now the there was, so at the time of Jesus, we know that there were a few Messianic figures, this is actually talked about in the Dead Sea Scrolls. And the most important, as far as the Jews are concerned is a man called Simon bar Kokhba. Now if you can, if you think back between 66 and 70 of the common era, in the end, the Jews do revolt against the Romans is an absolute blood bath. And Jerusalem is destroyed and the Jews going to exile. It’s the most terrible, terrible time. Then there are Jewish revolts around the Roman Empire. There’s a terrible revolt in Cyprus. There is a revolt on the North African coast where Jews actually revolt against Roman rule. Now if in 132 to 135, there is another revolt, the revolt of the Simon bar Kokhba. Now what do we know about Simon bar Kokhba? Even his name is different. This is 132 to 135. The sources, the Talmud mentions him. He’s mentioned in the Midrash, his last name. There are different versions of it. Ben Kosiba, Bar Koziba it’s probably during the revolt as a reference to a verse in the Bible referring to the Mašíaḥ as a star. And it was fitting and because he was meant to be descended from the Davidic dynasty.

Now, every Mašíaḥ that we’re going to see in Jewish history claims descend or his followers rather claim that he is descended from the Jewish tradition. Now what happened was in 130 Hadrian came to Judea, the Emperor Hadrian, he ordered the rebuilding of Jerusalem. He wanted a… it was a pagan city. It was to be called Aelia Capitolina. It was to have an altar, a pagan altar dedicated to Jupiter. And of course, Hadrian the emperor was the priest of Jupiter. This was a huge blow because the intellectual class in Jerusalem, not all the Jews had been expelled. They still believed that Hadrian, Hadrian had once pledged to rebuild Jerusalem and they had believed that he would do what he said he would do. But he then issued another decree, prohibiting circumcision. Now, the Revolt Bar Kokhba’s Revolt was actually supported by the great Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Akiva proclaims Bar Kokhba, Mašíaḥ. Now, Rabbi Akiva was the most outstanding teacher of Judaism of his age. He called Bar Kokhba, “God’s anointed”. And he said, “A star has come from Jacob”. Now and under, obviously he was charismatic and the people were desperate. You see, this is the total undercutting of Judaism. What does it mean to be a Jew? Is it a national idea? Is it a religious idea? Now the national, the country mainly is lost. You have a still, you have a settlement. The religion is now under threat.

So under his leadership, thousands flock to him. And the rebellion begins in 132 of the common era. Now we know that at first Bar Kokhba had considerable success against the Romans. He took Jerusalem and an altar was built on Temple Mount. And it’s at this time that Hadrian sends in a very experienced commander, he refuses to meet the Jews in battle. This is when they really fought like tigers. He harassed their forces. He was a brilliant tactician. He really, he managed to attack one group, then another group. He also adopted a scorched earth policy. He prevented any supplies reaching the Jews. And within two years, he’d managed to drive the rebels out of Jerusalem. And it’s at this stage that Bar Kokhba was forced to shut himself with a considerable reduced army in a fortified town of Betar to the south of Jerusalem. Have we got echoes here of Jewish history? He held up for quite a few weeks but spies, traitors showed the Romans the secret way, and the Jews were totally destroyed. The figures are extraordinary, but figures are often exaggerated. But what we do know is it was the end of any real sense of Jewish revolt. And the slave markets were absolutely glutted with Jews. Many of them were just massacred, but others were taken into slavery to the slave markets of the Roman Empire and the foundations of Aelia Capitolina, the Roman city was actually laid on the ninth of and Jews are banned from the city. So this is really the beginning of the weeping and wailing for Zion.

Hadrian didn’t just be forbid circumcision. He also forbade Shabbat observance, the fixing of the Jewish calendar. He forbade the meeting of The Beit Din anyone who was found studying Torah was killed. And amongst them was the great Rabbi Akiva. He was 80 years old. He was actually flayed alive as he died, he proclaimed the Shamar. And gradually though the Romans do relax their prohibitions. And I’m going to read to you now from a historian called Grazel. He said, “For a long time the Jews were destined to be a kingdom not of this earth. The scholars and Rabbis of the period between Ben Zakkai and Judah, the Prince, are known as the period of the Tannaim. The binding ties Jewish life…” This is terribly important. “Changed from national institutions like a land and government to religious institutions like the synagogue and regulation of daily life. It was then that the achievements of the religious leaders over more than 500 years were crystallised into rules of conduct. These rules were summed up in the Mishnah by Judah, the Prince. The Jews now had their portable homeland. So you see what happens. Now, I want to refer quickly to a motif that I’ve often discussed with you. If you think about it, Bar Kokhba failed, his revolt failed, the zealots, it’s over. And it’s interesting because there was another Jew, Ben Zakkai, who had had himself smuggled out of Jerusalem in a coffin. And he had begged the emperor of the time, Vespasian, sorry, the general, he prophesied that he would become the the emperor.

And he begged him, he said, "Let me have a study centre”. And if you want to understand Jewish history, really it is the clash between Bar Kokhba and Ben Zakkai because you can make the case that the rabbonim deliberately excised messianism because messianism led to what? It led to revolution, it led to revolt, and it led to the destruction of the Jewish people. So consequently, what happens is you have a people now who are going to be encased in a wall of law, which they need to be encased in to withstand the horrors of the diaspora. But don’t forget, why do they survive in the diaspora? Because they have the portable homeland. And as we’ve already begun to discuss, if you think about it, Christianity was incredibly hostile to the Jew. Let’s be careful Joshua of Nazareth. That’s a very complicated story. But the people who worshipped in his name become incredibly hostile to the Jews. They’re pushed into artificial trades and occupations. They are scattered throughout the whole of the Roman Empire. But ironically, the trades and professions and their tradition of learning is going to keep them as a people for 2000 years without a land, which in itself is an extraordinary story. But within the diaspora, the story of what I told you last week, although I didn’t do it in detail because Lynn Julius did it so brilliantly a while back, when we actually looked at Sabbatai Zevi, who claimed messiahship at a time of huge horror. And we looked also at Jacob Frank, who really was a false messiah.

I mean, his ideas were a twisting of Judaism because one of the ideas is, when the Mašíaḥ comes, there will be no need anymore for observance because the Mašíaḥ will fulfil everything. But I want to have a look at a few other instances. So could we look at the, please? Could we have a look at the slides now, if you don’t mind? Yes. And I’d like to look with you at the first slide. Now, this comes from Martin Gilbert’s brilliant book. I’ve said this to you many times, it’s Jewish history in maps and you really do need it in, and I’m going to make it as big as possible on my screen. You do really need it on in your bookshelves, particularly if you have children and grandchildren. And don’t forget the quote of Isaiah Berlin, The story of the Jews: Too much history, not enough geography. Now this is his quote. “In times of persecution, uncertainty, or extreme poverty, many Jews turn for relief to false Messiahs, many of whom offered to bring them back to Jerusalem. In many cases, few details survive about these men. In some cases, even their names are not known.” Now I’m going to talk briefly about one that was known and his name was David Alroy. Now the reason we note about David Alroy, can we go on please? Yeah. Now we know about David Alroy because of an extraordinary individual called Benjamin of Tudela. Now he came from Spain. He lived in Islamic Spain between 1130 and 1147 and a hundred years before Marco Polo, he wrote down his story of the people he met on his travels, their customs, of course, as a Jew, he writes down about the Jews, but he also talks about all sorts of other people. And we know that he visited over 300 cities and he also talked about the land of China. So just, and it is he who is going to give us evidence of David Alroy that is going to lead Benjamin Disraeli to write a novel about him.

So let us have a look at the travels of Benjamin of Tudela, a hundred years before Marco Polo comes out of Spain, goes to Italy, takes ship to Italy, he travels through Spain, then he takes ship to the East, Alexandria, Cairo, Damascus, Jerusalem. He goes out to Baghdad. If you think he goes right into the desert, do you see? He’s on the borders of the… There’s the Euphrates. When he goes to Constantinople, he’s on the borders of the Black Sea. So that is the travels of Benjamin of Tudela and he is terribly important, not just for Jewish history. He’s important for all sorts of history because he tells the stories. And many sources use Benjamin of Tudela. Now… And can we see the next slide, please? David Alroy, David Alroy, the wonders tale of David Alroy, which was, and you can see here, it’s a translation and it is under the, as you see forgotten books, the Benjamin Disraeli, who himself was a fantasist and a dreamer, except the point about Disraeli is he managed to persuade the whole of England to move into his fantasies. This story of David Alroy really did attract him. We don’t know that much about him. All we know is the stories we have from Benjamin of Tudela. And we know that he was, his mission as Mašíaḥ was about 1160. We know he was born in what is present day Iraq as Menahem ben Solomon. He studied Torah and Talmud under Hasdai the Exilarch, and Ali, the head of the academy in Baghdad. He’s in, if you think about it, this is the most important academy. He was very well versed also in Muslim literature, and he was known as a magician. Many of the false messiahs that we’re going to see in mediaeval times are also known as magicians. And he was born at a time of terrible chaos.

This is the other notion, messiahship, people only claim messiahship when the world is in chaos and there’s a time of total chaos. Why? Because the Christian Crusades had weakened the authority of the Sultans in Asia Minor and in Persia and were many defiant chieftons who’d set up rival states all over the place. And Alroy led an uprising against the, against a group of Sunnis. He felt that they were oppressing the Jews and he caught, that they were oppressing the Jews because whenever there’s trouble in both Islam and Christianity, who became the ideal scapegoat, the Jews, because they are the only non-Muslim or non-Christian minority actually settled. This is important. And he called upon the oppressed community to actually follow him to Jerusalem and he would be their leader. He would free them from Islam. And he did receive a lot of support because Jews were living under such oppressed circumstances. He sent letters to Jews in other towns, Mossel, Baghdad, proclaiming that he had the divine mission. He takes the name David Alroy. And he said, “I am the awaited Messiah.” And he decides to attack the citadel of his native town. And he directs his followers to hide weapons under their garments because they’re going into the town, to Study Town. That’s the supposed reason. And as far as we know from the legend, remember this is a legend that is picked up by Benjamin of Tudela. It seems that they went into the town, there was a huge battle and Alroy and his followers were defeated and exiled. However, what we also know is that many communities went on to believe that he was the Messiah. And he’s not just mentioned by Benjamin of Tudela he’s also mentioned by Arab writers. Arabs were also, it’s interesting, who is keeping these ideas alive?

Jews and Arabs, a mathematician and a historian called , who was also an histor… He also writes about it. And we know of another writer who was the son of a Rabbi from Morocco who actually embraced Islam after evidently he had a dream. So the Sultan and the… According to the second source, the Sultan threatens to kill all the Jews in the empire unless Alroy surrendered. And what happens is that he’s begged to surrender his messianic dream. And in the end, of course he’s executed. But what do we know about him? Very very little, except that there’s still the idea of Messianic claimants are very, very important when times are very hard. Can we go on please? And I think the point about Alroy, what made him more interesting was of course, that Benjamin Disraeli wrote about him. And I think that is for me, fascinating that Benjamin Disraeli, the “Jewish Prime Minister” in inverted commas, he goes back to those periods in Jewish history, the Messianic dream. He’s such a fascinating case study. Anyway, another important figure is David Reuveni. Now have a look at his dates and you can of course tell me what is going on at this period. Because after the destruction of the second temple, what is the worst disaster to really face the Jewish people?

Well, you can talk about the Crusades, but let’s talk about the expulsion from Spain in 1492 and then the expulsion from Portugal in 1497. And not only that, remember thousands and thousands of Jews had stayed behind in Spain and later in Portugal and converted the conversos or their pejorative term, Marranos. And also remember that it also coincides with the age of discovery. So Converso are really wandering the world now, still many practising their Judaism in secret, but being persecuted by the Inquisition. If you remember, the Inquisition had no say over Jews per se, only over the converso. So David Reuveni, we know quite a bit about him. He was born in Saudi, what is now Saudi Arabia in Kibar. He was an adventurer and he kept a diary. The main source of information about him is his diary and letters mainly written in Hebrew. He was also a bit of a fantasist. So we can’t take the diary as an accurate account of his life. Now his story is fascinating because he claimed to be the son of the King Solomon and a brother of King Joseph, who ruled the lost tribes of Ruben and Gad and half Manassa in the desert, hence the name Reuveni. He comes from the tribe of Ruben, and other times he claims dissent from the tribe of Judah. And he even compiled a pedigree tracing himself back to King David.

Scholars disagree about his origins, although there is some evidence that he was sephardi and he had lived in the land of Israel. So he had knowledge of the land and he had very good knowledge of the holy places. It seems he was also connected to the sages of Jerusalem and the yeshiva there and particularly the famous Kabbalist, Abraham ben Eliezer Halevi, although there is no real Jewish settlement in the land, Jews could live there at this stage. It’s a very different concept. It’s a mitzvah to live in the Holy Land, but not to create a settlement in the Holy Land. I would go as far as to say that the notion of the return, because it had left such terror, it led to so much tragedy with Bar Kokhba. The feeling was that yes, remember we are living in a religious worldview. Jews can go and study in Jerusalem, but we’re not talking about reclaiming the land for the Jewish people. So… And in his diary, it records his travels in the east, and according to him, he was captured by Arabs taken to Alexandria redeemed by the Jewish community. He travels to Jerusalem Savat and it’s in fact that he the centre of Kabbala, that he claims himself a Reubenite.

And this is where he says, “I am the king of the lost tribes”. He appears in Venice in 1523. And according to contemporary accounts, he was about 40. He claimed to be the commander-in-chief of his brother’s army and requested that Jews aid him on a mission to the Pope. And it’s at this stage that some wealthy Jews, including the daughter-in-law of the great Isaac Abravanel, gave him financial support. This is a time, remember when the conversos and her father-in-law, Abravanel, Isaac Abravanel, had been the Jews, the Jew who’d led the Jews from Spain. And in his writings, the bitterness and the tragedy of what had happened. So his family were obviously affected by it. Anyway, he has quite a bit of support. And also in the Christian world, there was the belief that the coming of the.. That for Jesus’ coming there has to be a forerunner. And remember, the Christian world is waiting for the second coming of Jesus. So it all ties up with Christian religiosity. So he comes to Rome on a white horse, and he was actually greeted by cardinals, which strengthens his position with Romes Jews. He had an audience with Pope Clement the seventh. And he actually proposes a treaty between the Christian world against the Muslims. And he also suggests that the Jews could then arrange all the free passage of spices. And according to his diary, he requests that the Pope give him letters to Charles the fifth, of course, the Holy Roman emperor, the most powerful man in the world. And also France is the first, the King of France, recommending that they help him. And this of course puts you into English history with Henry VII. He also asked for a letter to the mythical Prester John in Ethiopia.

But it seems his real purpose, he wants to get to Portugal. Now, Clement does want an anti Turkish alliance. And after a year, he does give him letters, one to the king of Portugal and another one to the king, to the Ethiopian King. So you see, we’re not dealing with rationality here, we’re dealing with romance, we’re dealing with fantasy. We’re re also dealing with faith. He did, he received support, not just from the Abravanel family, but also from Daniel Vital of Pitzer, Pitzer, one of the richest Jews in Italy. And Ben Vinita sent him a silk banner embroidered with the 10 Commandments and he carried these banners with him. He had a whole troop now, and he makes a huge impression. And he goes to Portugal where he’s received by the King, official ambassador and he’s acclaimed by the conversos. All of a sudden, the King of Portugal realised that he has a real problem. And it becomes even more complicated when another converso, a man called Solomon Molkho, who has a very, very important post. He’s actually secretary to the high court of appeals. He meets Reuveni and he who was claim, as I said, he’s representing the lost tribes. He was so enthralled, he circumcises himself, Molkho, he’s actually rejected.

And then at the, at first, but then he soaks himself in Talmud and Torah. And basically the whole movement is becoming, the king is becoming very, very, very suspicious. And but the point about, and in the end of course he is imprisoned and Molkho was burnt at the stake. Now, what is important about this tale? I’ll tell you what’s important about this tale. He is, they are the first to actually move the notion of messiahship into a political field. This is the notion of the Messiah actually bringing the Jews back to create their own kingdom. Now, it’s a very so, and it also, but to me, what these kind of stories illustrate more than anything else was that in times of terrible trouble, the Jew, there were elements within the Jewish community that were going to turn to the esoteric, the dream and really looking for some kind of salvation. There were other false messiahs. If you go, if you actually look at the Martin Gilbert’s Atlas, he says he thinks they’re about 16. Some of them, we only know their names, but it’s important to remember they come to the fore at periods of terrible crisis and unrest for the Jewish community. That’s why Sabbatai Zvi was so important. That’s why Jacob Frank was so important.

But now I want to turn to the modern world and look at, and I’m going to begin, and I will be doing this in another presentation. I want to look at other Zions because this is another fascinating story. How do you solve the problem of the Jews? And we are going to see that some Jews and also some Christians get very involved in trying to solve the problem of homelessness of the Jewish people at times of great, great stress. Can we please have a look at the next map, if you don’t mind? Thank you. Yeah. Another one of Martin Gilbert’s great maps. I want you to turn to the American side of the map now. And I want you to turn to a man who I think is one of the most fascinating in Jewish history of the 19th century. His name is Mordecai Noah. His dates come. Should we have a look at his pic? I’d like you to have a look at this first. There you see Mordecai Noah. A good looking man, wasn’t he? He’s going to become sheriff of New York. When he finally becomes sheriff, there’s a wonderful quote where people who opposed his position said, “How is it that a Jew will now have the power to hang a Christian?”

And he said, “Isn’t it shame that a Christian will have to be hanged?” But let’s go back to the map, now. I’m going to give a quote now from a wonderful book on Mordecai Noah by Jonathan Sarna. Grand Island sits in Niagara River, between Buffalo, New York and Canada. On a pedestal of the Grand Island Town Hall is the cornerstone engraved with Shama and the following inscription, “A city of refuge for Jews, founded by Mordecai Manuel Noah. Tizri, 5886 September 1825 in the 50th year of American Independence. Now, what was it that made this man who we’re going to see is going to become probably the most important political figure in the Jewish world in 19th century America. And also there are, he’s born in 1785, 11 years after the American Declaration of Independence. There are only a very small number of Jews in America at this period. Most historians say between 2000 and 3000. This is before of course, the great influx after 1881. But this is a man who is going to be imbued with the dream of helping his brethren. And he’s a very complicated individual. So I thought it was really worth our while spending a bit of time on him.

So, who was he? One of his mother’s ancestors was Dr. Samuel Nunez, who was a converso, who escaped the inquisition and fled to the states, fled to Savannah. You’ve got to remember that the Inquisition is a device that goes right on into the 18th, 19th century. The last Jew, the last converso to be burnt at the stake was in Mexico in 1748. So the device follows the Jews or the Converso to America. These are in the main wealthy, they’ve left, they are living as Spanish or Portuguese Christians, and many of them are under threat from the Inquisition. And they become traders and his family. Where do they go? They go to Savannah and he’s born then to, on one side the family are Sephardi and the other German Jewish. His father Manuel, served in the Revolutionary Wars and contributed largely to the war app effort. Not only was he a soldier, but financially he was a wealthy merchant. So he helps the revolutionary cause. Noah’s mother died when he was 10 years old. He went, he goes to live with his maternal grandfather, who was a great patriot of America, but he was also very proud of his Jewish heritage. And what happens to him, he is a very loved, very self-confident man. He’s from, from his family. He studies law in Charleston. He decides on a political career, remember he’s got money. And then journalist, he’s a great patriot for America.

He writes articles in the Charleston newspaper advocating the war with England in 1812. And he believed passionately in the notion of liberty in America. And when he was only 26 years old, he actually petitioned the Secretary of State for a consular position. His quote was, "To prove to foreign powers that our government is not regulated by religious distinction.” He’s a proud Jew. He comes from a converso background. What he wants to be is a Jew who stands in America along with other people. And evidently George Washington was at his parents’ wedding. And in he was appointed consult to Riga in 1811, he declines but in 1813, he’s appointed the American consult to Junis. And what had happened was a group of American sailors had been captured by pirates. And why did pirates capture foreign nationals? Because they would then ransom them. And Mordecai Noah no was charged with obtaining their release, which he does. But he costed, he cost them far more money than the Americans were prepared to stay. And the Secretary of State at the time, Monroe, recalled him mainly because and what Monroe said was, “His religion was an obstacle to the exercise of his consular function.” And Noah is absolutely furious.

And remember, think where we are. It’s the 1820s. What is going on in the world? And sorry, it is the 18 teens. What is going on in the world out there? If you think about Jews in Europe, if you think about what’s going to be happening in Eastern Europe, which of course we’ll be turning to. If you think what’s happening even in England where Jews are slowly, slowly gaining acceptance, but they have no rights in Europe itself, in the main, they’re in ghettos, you’d have the Napoleonic wars, but then even the Rothchild, even Rothchild lived in the ghetto. So that’s the importance. And here you have a man who’s been brought up by his father in the dream of Thomas Jefferson and his grandfather. And what he dreams of is to be a free Jew in a free America. He tries to get a satisfactory answer from the White House. He managed to get letters from John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison supporting church state separation and toleration, one of the whole motifs of America. Remember the great divide. And it’s rather sad when you think about what’s going on at the moment, is it not? Because if you think of people like Thomas Jefferson, there must be complete separation of church and state power. There will be no state religion in America. And he got support also from an important Jewish, an important, another important Sephardi Jew, Isaac Harvey, who was also a newspaper editor and an important playwright and wealthy. And he said, “Jews are by no means to be considered as a religious sect tolerated by the government.”

They constitute a portion of the people they are in every respect, woven in, compacted with the citizens of the republic. Noah, at this stage, he moves to New York, he founded and edited another paper, and then he moves to another paper, the New York Enquirer. Very important playwright, full of patriotic fervour, four or five plays. He was quite a strong, ruthless individual. He would use the power of his papers to close other plays by playwrights he saw as rivals. And he was the first Jew to gain real political power because he’s elected sheriff of New York City and surveyor, quote of the city ports and a judge in general sessions. So he’s got real power. And this is a letter he writes, “Never will prospects for the restoration of the Jewish nation to their ancient rights and dominion, more brilliant than they are at present. There are 7 million Jews throughout the world possessing more wealth, activity, and influence and talents than anybody of people of their number on earth. They will march in triumphant numbers and possess themselves once more of Palestine and take their rank amongst the governments of the earth.” Let me read this to you again. It’s terribly important. And of course it’s so Zionism.

The term isn’t even coined till 1891. And we can’t really talk about Zionism for another 30, 40 years in Europe. “Never were prospects for the restoration of the Jewish nation to their ancient rights and dominion, more brilliant than they are at present. There are 7 million Jews throughout the world possessing more wealth, activity, influence and talent than any other body of people of their number on earth. They will march in triumphant numbers and possess themselves once more of Palestine and the rank amongst the governments of the earth.” But let me find you a temporary refuge. The Jews in Eastern Europe are already in serious trouble. The Zar has taken over the majority of Eastern European Jews. So as early and remember, he’s wealthy, he’s well connected. He’s from that Sephardi aristocracy who really do believe that the Jews are the lords of the earth, as did Benjamin Disraeli. In 1820, he begins negotiations to purchase land, which is, at this stage very undeveloped in temporary refuge. So if you have a look at the map, that’s where he wants it. You see, it’s on the Canadian border and it’s just by the Niagara Falls. It’s undeveloped. And also he thinks he can make money out of it. He’s a complicated character. He wanted to get, he’s going to buy that land and it’s going to be a refuge from Jews in trouble. And he’s going to attract Jewish finance from all over the Europe. And there’s also a lot of commercial benefits in it. And what about putting the Jews back on the land? What about setting up farmsteads?

And it took him five years to raise the money. He’s reminds me so much of Benjamin Disraeli, he’s part speculator, he’s part dreamer. And finally he has enough money on September the second, 1825, a thousands and thousands of Christians and a few Jews, a huge crowd. Remember, he is a playwright, not just a newspaper editor. He understands the medium of PR, the Jews returning to this, the Jews returning to this settlement, which he calls Ararat. Think of Noah’s Ark, Ararat. This is the beginning of a Jewish settlement. Eventually the dream will be Palestine. So you can imagine he’s a man who’s going to be sheriff of New York. He’s powerful. He’s probably the most, he’s politically the most important Jew in America. And what’s he doing? He’s establishing a Jewish colony. So think about the Christianity of individuals. This is interesting for them, the Christian world as well. So there’s a huge inaugural crowd and he employs the New York militia and he rented a huge church in Buffalo. Canons were fired. And an Indian chief called Red Jacket arrived by boat. Noah was speculating that the in Native American Indians were in fact, the lost tribes of Israel. And he makes a spectacular theatrical entrance. He’s dressed in the costume of Richard the Third. The Psalms are read in Hebrew.

This is a quote of Jonathan Sarna, “ in a Richard The Third costume, complete with gold medallion’s neck chain, all lent by the park theatre. Noah assumed his self-proclaimed role as judge of Israel.” And he then issues his proclamation to the Jews. It’s to be called Ararat. I’ve already told you that. The government of the Jewish nation under the auspices and protection of the United States of America. And he called on every Jew in the world to conch to be taxed, three sheckles to support the new Jewish nation. And for the Paris Consistory. Think about France under Napoleon. The establishment of the consistories, and he is to be, he’s elected as judge of Israel for four years in Ararat. But then the consist history should appoint the new judges. Now there’s a firestorm of protests, mainly from other Jews. They think he’s gone completely mad and also ridicule. But a lot of Christians, particularly those who believe in the second coming of the Mašíaḥ, they are supporters. His friend Isaac Kirby, who had had supported him in the past, he accused him of abrogating to himself the role of Messiah, who someday quote unquote, “Lead the Jewish people to New Jerusalem and not to New York.”

The Chief Rabbi of Paris completely ridiculed his clan. Look, this is big news in the Jewish world. And the point was the Jews didn’t come. So basically the plan was dropped. But Noah, what else, he wasn’t just a charlatan, you know, I think he was just a sort of dreamer character. He was supported many charities. He was one of the founders of New York University. It was he who projected the idea of a Jewish hospital to be called Mount Sinai, which doesn’t come into being until after his death. And he was also the benefactor of synagogues, Mikvah Israel in Philadelphia, Sheri Israel in New York. So he’s a paternalistic, he has a dream. But the problem was the Jews didn’t settle there. And he begins to realise that in the end, that the only hope for the Jewish people would be a settlement in Palestine.

So I wanted to bring him in because, and also what I’m going to do in a couple of weeks, I’m going to look at some of the other crazy notions like the setting up of a Jewish colony in Saskatchewan. And the Dutch West India company sets up, decides to set up a Jewish colony. I think to me the most bizarre, is a meeting in a Paris hotel between David Ben-Gurion and Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh in 1946, who they became very close friends. He actually suggested that perhaps that there could be a Jewish government in Vietnam until it was all sorted out with Palestine. So the story of the Jews, and what I think is so fascinating is the kind of attention that these stories get from the non-Jewish world. Because at the core of it all, you see Judaism is absolutely central to Christianity just as it’s central to Islam.

So on that note, I think I will stop there. There will be more stories of other Zions and should we have a look at the questions?

Q&A and Comments

Yeah. Irv says, “Tobit did not pass master it is apocryphal”. Yes.

Q: Elliot, “What are some of the most influential forms of support one can use to contradict the notion made by one’s Messianic Jewish friends that they found the long promise Mašíaḥ?” A: Okay, Elliot. “Or the Messianic province, or the Messianic promises talk about an era of peace, love and brotherhood.” That the coming of the Messiah, who in Judaism is not divine. Remember, it would lead to the return. The Messiah is a Jewish messiah and his aim is to save the Jews. It would leave the Jews back to their land and there will be peace and brotherhood throughout the whole world. So basically, from a Jewish point of view, Jesus if, and it’s very complicated and I want to use my words very, very carefully because we are talking about a world religion of love and charity. And I do not want to be disrespectful. And I think this is absolutely important. Christianity got over this problem by saying the benefits will come in the second coming of the Messiah. So as far as Jews are concerned, Elliot, all you’ve got to do is to tell them that if they look at the Messianic prophecies, yes, of course, that was what it was all about. To save the Jews.

“Tobit didn’t pass master it’s apocryphal”. Yes, I know. It’s one of the books of the apocrypha. The problem is, are we talking about logic, rationality or faith?

Q: Now Robert, “What evidence exists of the existence of Jews? Is that Jesus, is it ?” A: Robert, I am not going to answer that question. There are so many, many, many, many books written on it that I don’t really… I’m not going to answer your question. I would turn you to a library of a hundred books. And it depends who you’re going to read. If you want to take the totally Jewish view on it, read Hiim McAbee. But there are other writers who are much more conciliatory. But I think from what you are saying to me, read Hiim McAbee.

Q: Tim, “It is strange to think that these three religion all have the same roots and there’s been such a lot of tensions between them. Do I have, do you have any thoughts?” A: Yeah, I mean look, you have to go into psychology here. Judaism is the father religion. And the majority of Jews did not follow either Christianity or Islam. So if you want to be a Freudian, you have to destroy the Father. Also, the problem particularly with Christianity, and this has got nothing to do with the teachings of Yeshua of Nazareth, nothing to do with his teachings at all. But as it develops, particularly amongst the pagans who Christianize the notion grows of the day side, who is responsible for the killing of God? The Jews. Now even in the gospels, the executioners of the Romans because after all, crucifixion is a Roman method of execution. But the problem, remember the gospels are written, which means good news, it’s propaganda document. Propaganda is also a church word by the way, Catholic word from the Catholic church. You see the problem’s quite simple. You are writing under Roman rule, you are not going to blame the Romans. So you blame the Jews. We do know a lot about Pontius Pilate by the way.

Elliot, “We need to warn unsuspecting and uninformed Jews about an organisation whose goal is to convert Jews. The is supported by the American Dairy Association.” It’s… I love it. Jews are . You know, that’s the problem, isn’t it? Ironic humour. Lenny Bruce once wrote on a wall. “I admit it I killed him.” Oh, I’m not sure. Can somebody answer Elliot, please.

“It is my understanding that the Roman times is why Judaism now comes from a mother. I heard it was a lot of Jewish women at the time were raped. So it wasn’t…” Yeah, look, there’d be many of these stories. I would try and check that for you. Yes. “Worth mentioning…” This is from Ronnie, “That Hadrian changed the name of the country from Judea to the province of Syria Palaestina, based on the Greek use of the geographic term derived from Philistia.” Yes, of course, it was to really rub the Jewish noses into it because the Philistines were such enemies that they changed it to that. And interesting. The Arabs used the term greater Syria to that area. Palestine, the name comes into use in the Renaissance by Renaissance scholars. And it was used by Arabs in the 19th century. Arabs mainly Christian Arabs study in France.

Oh Jackie and Jack, lovely to hear from you. “At the time of Jesus 60% of the Jews lived around the medi and were certainly mobile.” Yeah. You see that’s another important point, Jonathan. We were outside, there was a big diaspora outside Judea. Remind us one more time of the Gilbert book, Jewish History Atlas Martin Gilbert. I’m going to hold it up for you. It’s terribly important. I think. I’ve always used it for teaching, particularly younger people.

Q: Julian, “It could be argued that the world is in chaos now. So do we have anyone claiming to be the Mašíaḥ?” A: Look in times of chaos and tragedy, people always look to esoteric dreams, don’t they?

“ Jews considered to be the worst enemies of Islam.” Mitzi, be careful. Look, there’s a lot of problems now. We will be having more lectures on this. It’s not quite like that. There were periods in Islamic history when Jews were far better treated than under Christianity, but it was under Islam. And the whole question is to strictly observant Islam can a Dimi which is a Jew or Christian, rule in the world, Dar al-Islam?

Q: Rocky, “It’s smart in Gilbert’s history atmos, why is Marranos a pejorative term?” A: Because it means swine, pig swine.

Oh, Anita’s answered it. Thank you. And Smart Murano. Thank you. This is from Romaine. “You like the idea of searching for a home for the Jews.” Look, the British offered the Jews a home in El Laish. There was an extraordinary Christian Zionist called Lawrence Olifant, who I’m going to talk about in a couple of weeks. Who tried so hard to get the Jews learned in Palestine, but he was a Christian and he won and he was also very much an esoteric figure. And he thought it would hasten the coming of the Christian Messiah. Grand Island. Yeah, President Adams was behind. And the Mormons established a home in Utah, yes. Oh yes. Thank you Bob. The Jacob Frank book is the book of Jacob. And can I mention that on Thursday, Phil Rubenstein is going to be talking about the growth of Hasidism and the , and it’s clash with traditional orthodoxy. And when the Hasidic movement developed, many of those who criticised it said it was too like Christianity. We have always had these groups within Judaism and the quarrels, et cetera, et cetera. Jefferson was the era of the pirates. Islamic states would not accept Jews as ambassadors. Mitzi, if I’m there, was in Holland, the Dutch Centre, Jewish ambassador to Morocco. I know that Jacob Palacci. “Did Noah conceive of Grand Island as self-governing?” Yes, I believe he did. Maybe he thought it could be a little state. Who knows.

Q: How mentally sane with these false messiahs? A: Oh, what a question. Is anyone who is not rational all the time, insane? I want you to imagine when times are really, really bad and you look for something, look the bar shem toth. You can make the case that some of the great masters of fascism were worshipped and Schneerson, was considered Mašíaḥ by some of his followers. Be careful, Arlene. And you are obviously a very rational person. I have problems with this as well. I was brought up very much in under the ideas of rationality. But we are not just creatures of reason. We have creatures of faith and belief. And we, look, we’re in a different, we’re in a different era here.

This is from Serena, “The Jewish Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina has a fascinating exhibition. A part of the people about the early history of Jews in America.” Thank you very much, Serena.

Q: “Why do you think Hertzel was successful and Noah was not? Is it timing?” A: Ah, that is a brilliant question. Why was Hertzel so successful? Was Hertzel so successful? Now I’m really going to get you thinking here. If it hadn’t been for the Balfour Declaration, if it hadn’t been for the fact that you had coming to par, one of the worst monsters and enemies of the Jews in history, would enough Jews have gone to Palestine to create a Jewish state? You got to remember the majority of world Jewry were not Zionists. And not only that many of the religious were anti-Zionist. Why? Because only the Maia can lead the Jews back. So what can I say to you? It’s, do I think Hertz, was Hertzel or successful? Certainly, if you want to talk about irrationality and a dreamer, when he died, there were great talks about not publishing his diary. People will say he was mad. Said Max who himself could be accused of that. I’m getting some comments.

Q: “Why was there no antisemitism in no God that the Jews could be accused of?” A: Robert, I’ve always found that absolutely fascinating. Do you remember when I talked about the Radhanites and how the end of the road was Kaifeng? Well, a city of a million people on the contrary, they found Jews marginally interesting. And I’ll tell you something personal. When we was teaching in China, I had meetings with various ambassadors and an ambassador said to me, he didn’t understand anti-Semitism. And he stereotyped, he said, I don’t understand. Because Jews work hard. They look after their families and they look after their diaspora. And he was interested. That Chinese, there are more Chinese in London than there are Jews. Why don’t the Chinese and the diaspora look after the motherland. So it’s, they have a completely different stereotype. They think we’re all clever, by the way. So positive stereotype can be as dangerous as negative stereotype. So you see there’s no problem with the Jews and what happened to the Jews of China? Well they assimilate back to that terrible canna is anti-Semitism. The key to Jewish survival.

The best book on Modecai Noah is by Jonathan Sarna.

Q: “Should we as Jews support the Orthodox Christians who support Israel?” A: Oh Barry, please don’t take me down that line. Why do they support us so much? They are evangelicals. There is a belief that the Mašíaḥ cannot come again until the Jews are scattered to every corner of the world. Okay? Oh yes.

Aviva, “My religious cousin in Israel, told that many believed the Mašíaḥ was coming during the pandemic as the mask made people look like dogs. an indication of Mašíaḥ. That I don’t know about. Abigail. "Many Jews believe that the creation of the state of Israel is the beginning of the Messianic Era.” “Bar Khoziva was a derogatory name.” Can you give me more information on that please, Elieza? Now Abigail, of course there were a few sects in Israel like Neturei Karta, who are so anti-Israel because the Mašíaḥ hasn’t come. “Why No mention of the .” That’s what I said. That’s what I talked about cause I didn’t want to go too deep into it, Robert, but of course the whole notion of Dimi was established when the Conqueror Omar took Jerusalem from the Christians. Yes. And we will get into it.

Reuveni was a dwarf. Yeah. Yes. I remember the Warsaw Ghetto serious mention of Madagascar. Now who suggested Madagascar? This is a terrible story. It was first suggested by the French. The French were in the late thirties. There was terrible antisemitism in France and the French wanted to send Eastern European Jews to Madagascar. And it was an idea that was taken up by the Nazis and Eichmann. During the Civil War, Grant treated the Jews terribly. It was counter mounted by Lincoln after he became president, he was remorseful and even attended the inaugural of and donated $10.

Anyway, I think that’s it. Thank you. Okay, take care. Bye.