Excerpts from a long letter from Benjamin Freedman (left) to David Goldstein, LL.D.
dated October 10, 1954. Freedman (1890-1984) had been part of the American Zionist inner
circle but, like Goldstein, converted to Christianity. The complete letter appeared in a
pamphlet entitled "Facts are Facts."
(Excerpts by Henry Makow)
The utterance by the Christian clergy which confuses Christians the most is the
constantly repeated utterance that "Jesus was a Jew." ... That misrepresentation
and distortion of an incontestable historic fact is uttered by the Christian clergy upon
the slightest pretext....
Jesus Christ was not a so-called or self-styled "Jew". During His lifetime
Jesus was known as a "Judean" by His contemporaries and not as a
"Jew", and Jesus referred to Himself as a "Judean" and not as a
"Jew".
...Except for His few followers at that time in Judea, all other Judeans abhorred
Jesus and detested His teachings and the things for which He stood.
At the time of the Crucifixion of Jesus Pontius Pilate was the administrator in Judea for
the Roman Empire. As far as he was concerned officially or personally, the
inhabitants of Judea were "Judeans" and not so- called "Jews" as
they have been styled since the 18th century. In the time of Pontius Pilate, there was
no religious, racial or national group in Judea known as "Jews" nor had there
been any group so identified anywhere else in the world prior to that time.
Pontius Pilate expressed little interest as the administrator of the Roman Empire
officially or personally in the wide variety of forms of religious worship then practiced
in Judea. These forms of religious worship extended from phallic worship and other forms
of idolatry to the emerging spiritual philosophy of an eternal, omnipotent and invisible
Divine deity, the emerging Yahve (Jehovah) concept which predated Abraham of Bible fame by
approximately 2000 years. ...
As I have explained, when the word "Jew" was first introduced into the
English language in the 18th century, its one and only implication, inference and innuendo
was "Judean". However during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries a
well-organized and well- financed international "pressure group" created a
so-called "secondary meaning" for the word "Jew" among the English-
speaking peoples of the world. This so-called "secondary meaning" for the word
"Jew" bears no relation whatsoever to the 18th century original connotation of
the word "Jew". It is a misrepresentation.
... The United States Supreme Court has recognized the
"secondary meaning" of words. The highest court in the land has established as
basic law that "secondary meanings" can acquire priority rights to the use of
any dictionary word. Well-planned and well-financed world-wide publicity through every
available media by well-organized groups of so-called or self-styled "Jews" for
three centuries has created a "secondary meaning" for the word "Jew"
which has completely "blacked out" the original and correct meaning of the word
"Jew". There can be no doubt about that.
There is not a person in the whole English-speaking world today who
regards a "Jew" as a "Judean" in the literal sense of the word. That
was the correct and only meaning in the 18th century. The generally accepted
"secondary meaning" of the word "Jew" today with practically no
exceptions is made up of four almost universally-believed theories. These four theories
are that a so- called or self-styled "Jew" is (1) a person who today professes
the form of religious worship known as "Judaism", (2) a person who claims to
belong to a racial group associated with the ancient Semites, (3) a person directly the
descendant of an ancient nation which thrived in Palestine in Bible history, (4) a person
blessed by Divine intentional design with certain superior cultural characteristics denied
to other racial, religious or national groups, all rolled into one.
The present generally accepted "secondary meaning" of the
word "Jew" is fundamentally responsible for the confusion in the minds of
Christians regarding elementary tenets of the Christian faith. It is likewise responsible
today to a very great extent for the dilution of the devotion of countless Christians for
their Christian faith. The implications, inferences and innuendos of the word
"Jew" today, to the preponderant majority of intelligent and informed
Christians, is contradictory and in complete conflict with incontestable historic fact. Christians
who cannot be fooled any longer are suspect of the Christian clergy who continue to
repeat, and repeat, and repeat ad nauseam their pet theme song "Jesus was a
Jew". It actually now approaches a psychosis.
Countless Christians know today that they were "brainwashed"
by the Christian clergy on the subject "Jesus was a Jew". ..
Countless intelligent and informed Christians no longer accept
unchallenged assertions by the Christian clergy that Jesus in His lifetime was a Member of
a group in Judea which practiced a religious form of worship then which is today called
"Judaism", or that Jesus in His lifetime here on earth was a Member of the
racial group which today includes the preponderant majority of all so- called or
self-styled "Jews" in the world, or that the so-called or self-styled
"Jews" throughout the world today are the lineal descendants of the nation in
Judea of which Jesus was a national in His lifetime here on earth, or that the cultural
characteristics of so- called or self-styled "Jews" throughout the world today
correspond with the cultural characteristics of Jesus during His lifetime here on earth
and His teachings while He was here on earth for a brief stay. Christians will no longer
believe that the race, religion, nationality and culture of Jesus and the race, religion,
nationality and culture of so-called or self-styled "Jews" today or their
ancestors have a common origin or character.
The resentment by Christians is more ominous than the Christian clergy
suspect. Under existing conditions the Christian clergy will find that ignorance is not
bliss, nor wisdom folly. Christians everywhere today are seeking to learn the authentic
relationship between the so-called or self-styled "Jews" through-out the world
today and the "Judeans" who populated "Judea" before, during and after
the time of Jesus. Christians now insist that they be told correctly by the Christian
clergy about the racial, religious, national and cultural background of the so-called or
self-styled "Jews" throughout the world today and the basis for associating
these backgrounds with the racial, religious, national and cultural background of Jesus in
His lifetime in Judea. The intelligent and informed Christian are alerted to the exploded
myth that the so- called or self-styled "Jews" throughout the world today are
the direct descendants of the "Judeans" amongst whom Jesus lived during His
lifetime here on earth.
Christians are becoming more and more aware day by day of all the economic and political
advantages accruing to the so-called or self- styled "Jews" as a direct result
of their success in making Christians believe that "Jesus was a Jew" in the
"secondary meaning" they have created for the 18th century word "Jew".
The so-called or self-styled "Jews" throughout the world today represent
themselves to Christians as "Jews" only in the "secondary meaning" of
the word "Jew". They seek to thereby prove their kinship with Jesus. They
emphasize this fiction to Christians constantly. That fable is fast fading and losing its
former grip upon the imaginations of Christians.
To allege that "Jesus was a Jew" in the sense that during His
lifetime Jesus professed and practiced the form of religious worship known and practiced
under the modern name of "Judaism" is false and fiction of the most blasphemous
nature.
If to be a so- called or self-styled "Jew" then or now the practice of
"Judaism" was a requirement, then Jesus certainly was not a so-called
"Jew". Jesus abhorred and denounced the form of religious worship practiced in
Judea in His lifetime and which is known and practiced today under its new name
"Judaism". That religious belief was then known as "Pharisaism". The
Christian clergy learned that in their theological seminary days but they have never made
any attempt to make that clear to Christians.
Tomorrow- "Pharisaism"
"The best way to control the opposition is to lead it." - Lenin
The difference between the Jewish soul
... and the soul of all the Gentiles ... is greater and deeper than the difference between
the soul of a man and the soul of an animal. — Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook
(1865-1935)