Believe It Or Not

Can you guess who wrote this on Jerusalem and its population in 1854?

“sedentary population numbers about 15,500 souls, of whom 4,000 are Mussulmans [Muslims] and 8,000 Jews.” He goes on to say that “the Mussulmans, forming about a quarter of the whole, consisting of Turks, Arabs, and Moors, are, of course, the masters in every respect.”

“Nothing equals the misery and the suffering of the Jews of Jerusalem, inhabiting the most filthy quarter of the town, called hareth-el-yahoud . . . between the Zion and the Moriah . . . [They are] the constant objects of Mussulman oppression and intolerance, insulted by the Greeks, persecuted by the Latins [Catholics], and living only on the scanty alms transmitted by their European brethren.”

If you guess the antisemitic Karl Marx, I’d call you crazy, except you are correct.

To anyone familiar with Marx’s venomous portrait of Judaism in his early essay “On the Jewish Question,” not to speak of his many uncomplimentary comments about individual Jews (fellow socialists such as Ferdinand Lassalle included), his words here will come as a surprise. That the only place in all of Marx’s writings in which he expresses some empathy for Jews refers to the Jews of Jerusalem awaiting the Messiah is, at least, rather extraordinary.

Not only that, but his account further proves Jews have been the majority in Jerusalem since at least 1854!

Read the whole thing.

17 thoughts on “Believe It Or Not”

  1. Jim from Iowa

    Believe it or not, I’m walking on air. And it’s not about the thoughts of the pre-eminent socialist thinker in the mid-ninteenth century. It’s about the Israeli government reforming itself early in the 21st Century (without the help of that pesky electorate). Makin’ the moves to do big things. Promote social justice. Make peace with the Arabs. Reinvigorate the economic well-being across all strata of society. Or else it’s not any of these things. It’s maybe just politicians being politicians. Trying to avoid a crushing defeat at the polls or fighting off internal party rivals. I can’t really tell.

    1. Jim from Iowa says:
      May 8, 2012 at 6:57 pm

      I can’t really tell.

      That sums you up rather accurately in less than 5 words.

      1. Jim from Iowa

        Hey, I’m talkin’ to you! What’s the problem? Why no reply? Is it because

        a. I swerved a little off topic?

        b. It’s approaching 1:00 am in Israel?

        c. You don’t talk about Fight Club?

    2. “It’s about the Israeli government reforming itself early in the 21st Century (without the help of that pesky electorate). Makin’ the moves to do big things.”

      Physician, heal thyself.

      “Promote social justice.”

      None other than your country demonstrates what a folly pursuing this so-called “social justice” would be. Having ridden on the crest of the prosperity on Reagan’s policies for two decades after his presidency, yet now all this is gone in a clap of “social justice” thunder and trillions of dollars in debt, one would have to be insane to go the same route.

      “Make peace with the Arabs.”

      No, they must make peace with us. We’re neither the land-stealing interlopers nor the bloodthirsty savages here. They owe us, we don’t owe them. They’re the ones who need to build trust; we’ve done our bit, and we got nothing but more of their imperialist aggression in return.

      A land-for-peace deal is due: The Arabs give us land, we give them peace.

      “Reinvigorate the economic well-being across all strata of society.”

      OK with me, but Marxist “spread-the-wealth” fiscal policies that disincentivize the private sector—the key to economic well-being—are not the way to go at it. See above.

      You’re not walking on air, you’re building sandcastles on it. Hippie dreamers and their dreams would be so amusing if only there weren’t such dire consequences to attempts at realizing those dreams.

      1. Jim from Iowa

        So what’s it all about, Alfie? Is the formation of this broad-based unification government about doing big things or is it just self-preservation manuevering to avoid bad political outcomes? As an American who reads many sources in the Israeli press on this issue, I honestly do not know. If you believe Arutz Sheva, Bibi was afraid of Moshe Feiglin. If you believe Ha’aretz, it was a way for Bibi to stick it to the Left. If you believe the Times of Israel, it really is about preparing for a strike on Iran and the resulting regional war that would come thereafter.

        1. Jim from Iowa says:
          May 8, 2012 at 10:28 pm

          If you believe Arutz Sheva, Bibi was afraid of Moshe Feiglin

          So, too, says Ynet, the papers and the morning news.

          But you’re a one-line parrot.

          1. Jim from Iowa

            And you pout like a little girly man. Say what you think, Shy Guy. Don’t hide behind some dense op-ed piece from some nobody no one ever heard of. If an American can really judge such things from a distant perspective, far from the pulsating Israeli electorate’s outspoken take on this not insignificant event, I would say Israelis think this is political opportunism but slightly more than half hope it will actually accomplish something. What do you think is happening right now in your country?

            1. Um, folks who live in a very distant country from yours, who grew up in your country, are trying over and over again on this site to tell you that your blinkered vision of what’s happening based on the NYTimes (my favorite paper back in my childhood), CNN, NBC, Huffpoo and the like, is totally misleading and often blatantly wrong, sometimes even intentionally.

              So keep on not listening.

              1. Jim from Iowa

                OK, you actually seemed to be speaking out of some conviction when discussing those nutty Rabin assassination conspiracy theories. On this Netanyahu-Mofaz deal, you look like a quivering tower of jello, afraid of its own quivering shadow. What are you afraid of? That you might be wrong about something? Believe me, it wouldn’t be the first time.

                  1. Jim from Iowa

                    Are you kidding me? Can you possibly be serious? Are you just pulling my leg? You’re putting me on right? That’s the funniest thing I think I’ve ever heard in my life. I’ve got to hand it to you, Shy Guy, when you’re funny, you’re funny. hahahahahaha I can’t stop laughing hahahahaha.

  2. I recently subscribed to The Jewish Review of Books and I’m glad I did and I recommend it to other posters on this blog. And by the way, Karl Marx is famous for saying, “I am not a Marxist!”

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