500,000 anti-Semitic Books Mailed To Jewish-Americans
Bruce Wilson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Tue Dec 25, 2007 at 12:47:34 PM EST
If you were one of the half million or so Jewish Americans who received "Let My People Go: The Struggle Of The American Jew To Come Home To Israel" in the mail the first thing you probably would have noticed would have been the cover of the book, which features a somewhat crude drawing of  a man in a business suit, with a briefcase, straining against numerous ropes tying him to a  signpost which reads "Wall Street". There are so many of these ropes that it's quite obvious the man will never be able to break them simply by straining. If you had bothered to read the book, rather than simply tossing it in the trash, you'd have found no ambiguity ; the book says the the man on the cover is supposed to be Jewish, and it's hard to escape the implication that "Let My People Go" begins, and quite noisily so, with the premise that Jews, as a people, are bound to materialism, selfish and greedy.
The book was in English, not German, but otherwise recipients might have wondered if they were staring at a piece of 1930's era anti-Jewish propaganda, commissioned by the Third Reich, that had become somehow displaced in time, thrust into our era by a freak temporal anomaly, a wormhole or sinister wrinkle in time, because the picture on the front cover of "Let My People Go..." suggests that Jews, perhaps more so than any other ethnic group, are bound, against all their best efforts or intentions, to money.  The book goes on to ask why the greatest concentration of Jews in any urban area on Earth can be found in New York City, which Tom Hess claims may be the World center of "hedonism and perversion". He even seems to invoke the myth of Jewish ritual sacrifice.

By Tom Hess's own reporting, in 2004 his ministry, the Jerusalem House Of Prayer, sent "Let My People Go! - The Struggle Of The American Jew To Return To Israel" to about 550,000 Jewish-Americans and, per Hess's account, perhaps 800,000 copies of the book - urging Jews everywhere around the globe to return to Israel before they are annihilated in a rising wave of anti-Jewish hatred Hess predicts - have gone put since the book was first published in 1987.

Did the myth of the "greedy, materialistic Jew" die with the Third Reich ? Of course not. The cultural trope is alive and well, thanks in part to Christian Zionism. Neo-Nazi groups could never get away with sending hundreds of thousands of pieces of anti-Jewish literature through the US mail. Christian Zionists can apparently do so with impunity, and cost of mailing their literature - if sent out by registered 501c(3) nonprofit organizations - can be federally subsidized.

Whether by accident or by intent, "Let My People Go!..." is packed with many of the most vicious and pervasive anti-Jewish slurs to ever have been coined.

For example, on page 32 of his book Tom Hess seems to invoke the Medieval myth that Jews sacrifice children to the Devil. Discussing the legalization of abortion in America, he writes:

"There is so much blood on American soil it is a miracle that we have not already been destroyed as a nation! Many secular, reform, and conservative Jews have encouraged abortion despite the fact that the killing of their future generations will affect [sic] the future of the Jewish people. There is little difference between child sacrifice in the Old Testament and abortions today."

"There is little difference... " - the tone of that assertion fits quite readily with the pseudo-sociological narrative that accompanied the soundtrack of one the most notorious pieces of propaganda ever filmed, The Eternal Jew.

In his discussion of abortion, Hess does not mention Gentiles who, by most accounts, are reported to also engage in the practice of abortion. By likening Jewish abortion to "child sacrifice in the Old Testament" Tom Hess evokes the obvious - those Jewish women so heartless as to have their own children, the future Jewish generation, ripped from their wombs... and to whom do they sacrifice those children ? Moloch ? Satan ? From the myth of Jewish ritual child sacrifice, it is only a short hop to the legend that Jews have vestigial horns atop their heads.

The idea that Jews embody singular, singularly repugnant traits becomes increasingly distinct as one reads the book. On page 53, we learn that York York City may incarnate the most extreme sins of our age, and on page 55 readers encounter the terrible truth that NYC has the greatest concentration of Jews on Earth !.

What are reasonable readers to conclude ?

"The two characteristics that most exemplify Babylon in Revelation are materialism and hedonism. New York City is not only the leading city in the world regarding money and materialism (with the World Money Market centered there) but also may be the leading  city in the world regarding perversion and hedonism.  

New York City and America are the heart of Babylon today..."["Let My People Go! - The Struggle Of The American Jew To Return Home To Israel", "New Millennium" Seventh Edition, 2004, by Tom Hess,  P.53]

Tom Hess's book makes no attempt to factually substantiate those claims. Turning the page of Hess's strange book, mailed unsolicited to hundreds of thousands of Jewish Americans in 2004, we're confronted - on page 55  - with the following:

"Why are there more Jews in New York City than in any city in the world and more Jews in American than any nation in the world?"

Author Tom Hess provides no answer for that alleged riddle, even though the answer is quite mundane and widely-known :

There are more Jews in New York City than anywhere in America because New York City was long the central immigration route into the United States. There are more Jews in America because The United States had, for a time, liberal immigration policies that allowed Jews-- who were fleeing the terrible Russian and Eastern European pogroms of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries --to become American citizens.




Display:
If they are "American" Jews - why 'go home to Israel?' Granted "Norwegian-American" doesn't have the same religious overtones.

by ecoflame on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 12:34:10 PM EST
To imply "American" Jews are Jews first, Americans second.

Or even not really fully American.

by Bruce Wilson on Fri Dec 28, 2007 at 06:26:52 PM EST
Parent

Using the word "home" as in "going home to Israel" certainly does imply that a Jew's "home" is nowhere else.  Semantics as these are an echo of the Nazi state's use of "Non-Aryan Christians," also implying that certain races may be Christian, but they are non-Aryans first: a dangerous ethic which is also theologically reprehensible.
Can a Jew be at "home" in America?  I should certainly hope so.

by Steven D. Martin on Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 06:19:03 AM EST
Parent
I'm trying to wrap my head around them all.

I've come to see Kittel as very important in this - how can someone who might have been even called a philo-semite flip so radically and turn towards such extreme hatred ?

I now see the answer in theological terms. Susannah Heschel put her finger on it ; racism is at base a theological argument.

by Bruce Wilson on Fri Jan 04, 2008 at 09:54:22 PM EST
Parent





A few weeks ago we got a "free" book that turned out to be very anti Roman Catholic.

These people are going out of their way to offend people.

When I tried to report the book, I was told that unless there were calls for violence in it, it was protected by free speech.

by ArchaeoBob on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 03:04:27 PM EST

Somebody spent a considerable amount of money on this.

Even though such speech is constitutionally protected I'd think that , based on the ADL's mission statement, the organization should be concerned with Hess's book.

by Bruce Wilson on Thu Dec 27, 2007 at 09:23:14 AM EST
Parent



This post on mailing of 500,000 anti-Semitic Books to Jewish Americans proved to be a really good one. Actually this a very good and non-violent idea. Hats off for this great idea. Thank you so much for sharing the post!

clip on man buns

by dona on Tue Dec 15, 2015 at 11:32:58 PM EST


This is really  a sad thing that the people are not able to go their home Israel. Being a good reader I always follow cheap college essay writing service for more articles. Reading this story made my eyes wet.

by bernard on Sun Feb 07, 2016 at 11:54:54 AM EST


WWW Talk To Action


Cognitive Dissonance & Dominionism Denial
There is new research on why people are averse to hearing or learning about the views of ideological opponents. Based on evaluation of five......
By Frederick Clarkson (375 comments)
Will the Air Force Do Anything To Rein In Its Dynamic Duo of Gay-Bashing, Misogynistic Bloggers?
"I always get nervous when I see female pastors/chaplains. Here is why everyone should as well: "First, women are not called to be pastors,......
By Chris Rodda (203 comments)
The Legacy of Big Oil
The media is ablaze with the upcoming publication of David Grann's book, Killers of the Flower Moon. The shocking non fiction account of the......
By wilkyjr (111 comments)
Gimme That Old Time Dominionism Denial
Over the years, I have written a great deal here and in other venues about the explicitly theocratic movement called dominionism -- which has......
By Frederick Clarkson (101 comments)
History Advisor to Members of Congress Completely Twists Jefferson's Words to Support Muslim Ban
Pseudo-historian David Barton, best known for his misquoting of our country's founders to promote the notion that America was founded as a Christian nation,......
By Chris Rodda (113 comments)
"Christian Fighter Pilot" Calls First Lesbian Air Force Academy Commandant a Liar
In a new post on his "Christian Fighter Pilot" blog titled "BGen Kristin Goodwin and the USAFA Honor Code," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan......
By Chris Rodda (144 comments)
Catholic Right Leader Unapologetic about Call for 'Death to Liberal Professors' -- UPDATED
Today, Donald Trump appointed C-FAM Executive Vice President Lisa Correnti to the US Delegation To UN Commission On Status Of Women. (C-FAM is a......
By Frederick Clarkson (126 comments)
Controlling Information
     Yesterday I listened to Russ Limbaugh.  Rush advised listeners it would be best that they not listen to CNN,MSNBC, ABC, CBS and......
By wilkyjr (118 comments)
Is Bannon Fifth-Columning the Pope?
In December 2016 I wrote about how White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who likes to flash his Catholic credentials when it comes to......
By Frank Cocozzelli (251 comments)
Ross Douthat's Hackery on the Seemingly Incongruous Alliance of Bannon & Burke
Conservative Catholic writer Ross Douthat has dissembled again. This time, in a February 15, 2017 New York Times op-ed titled The Trump Era's Catholic......
By Frank Cocozzelli (65 comments)
`So-Called Patriots' Attack The Rule Of Law
Every so often, right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan lurches out of the far-right fever swamp where he has resided for the past 50 years to......
By Rob Boston (161 comments)
Bad Faith from Focus on the Family
Here is one from the archives, Feb 12, 2011, that serves as a reminder of how deeply disingenuous people can be. Appeals to seek......
By Frederick Clarkson (177 comments)
The Legacy of George Wallace
"One need not accept any of those views to agree that they had appealed to real concerns of real people, not to mindless, unreasoning......
By wilkyjr (70 comments)
Betsy DeVos's Mudsill View of Public Education
My Talk to Action colleague Rachel Tabachnick has been doing yeoman's work in explaining Betsy DeVos's long-term strategy for decimating universal public education. If......
By Frank Cocozzelli (80 comments)
Prince and DeVos Families at Intersection of Radical Free Market Privatizers and Religious Right
This post from 2011 surfaces important information about President-Elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. -- FC Erik Prince, Brother of Betsy......
By Rachel Tabachnick (218 comments)

Respect for Others? or Political Correctness?
The term "political correctness" as used by Conservatives and Republicans has often puzzled me: what exactly do they mean by it? After reading Chip Berlin's piece here-- http://www.talk2action.org/story/2016/7/21/04356/9417 I thought about what he explained......
MTOLincoln (253 comments)
Fear
What I'm feeling now is fear.  I swear that it seems my nightmares are coming true with this new "president".  I'm also frustrated because so many people are not connecting all the dots! I've......
ArchaeoBob (107 comments)
"America - love it or LEAVE!"
I've been hearing that and similar sentiments fairly frequently in the last few days - far FAR more often than ever before.  Hearing about "consequences for burning the flag (actions) from Trump is chilling!......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)
"Faked!" Meme
Keep your eyes and ears open for a possible move to try to discredit the people openly opposing Trump and the bigots, especially people who have experienced terrorism from the "Right"  (Christian Terrorism is......
ArchaeoBob (165 comments)
More aggressive proselytizing
My wife told me today of an experience she had this last week, where she was proselytized by a McDonald's employee while in the store. ......
ArchaeoBob (163 comments)
See if you recognize names on this list
This comes from the local newspaper, which was conservative before and took a hard right turn after it was sold. Hint: Sarah Palin's name is on it!  (It's also connected to Trump.) ......
ArchaeoBob (169 comments)
Unions: A Labor Day Discussion
This is a revision of an article which I posted on my personal board and also on Dailykos. I had an interesting discussion on a discussion board concerning Unions. I tried to piece it......
Xulon (180 comments)
Extremely obnoxious protesters at WitchsFest NYC: connected to NAR?
In July of this year, some extremely loud, obnoxious Christian-identified protesters showed up at WitchsFest, an annual Pagan street fair here in NYC.  Here's an account of the protest by Pagan writer Heather Greene......
Diane Vera (130 comments)
Capitalism and the Attack on the Imago Dei
I joined this site today, having been linked here by Crooksandliars' Blog Roundup. I thought I'd put up something I put up previously on my Wordpress blog and also at the DailyKos. As will......
Xulon (331 comments)
History of attitudes towards poverty and the churches.
Jesus is said to have stated that "The Poor will always be with you" and some Christians have used that to refuse to try to help the poor, because "they will always be with......
ArchaeoBob (149 comments)
Alternate economy medical treatment
Dogemperor wrote several times about the alternate economy structure that dominionists have built.  Well, it's actually made the news.  Pretty good article, although it doesn't get into how bad people could be (have been)......
ArchaeoBob (90 comments)
Evidence violence is more common than believed
Think I've been making things up about experiencing Christian Terrorism or exaggerating, or that it was an isolated incident?  I suggest you read this article (linked below in body), which is about our great......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)

More Diaries...




All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments, posts, stories, and all other content are owned by the authors. Everything else © 2005 Talk to Action, LLC.