legendary Jewish scholars Moses Maimonides, is a man who The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Religion refers to as "the symbol of the pure and orthodox faith," spewing racist themes in his Guide to the Perplexed:
"The Negroes found in the remote South, and those who resemble them from among them that are with us in these climes. The status of those is like that of irrational animals. To my mind they do not have the rank of men, but have among the beings a rank lower than the rank of man but higher than the rank of apes. For they have the external shape and lineaments of a man and a faculty of discernment that is superior to that of the apes."
http://www.blacksandjews.com/Jews_and_Slavery.html
2006-07-29 12:32:35 · 27 answers · asked by Biomimetik 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Ignorance persists throughout the ages. Nothing new.
2006-07-29 12:36:48 · answer #1 · answered by Miss Anthrope 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
I don't think this is the standard belief among Jewish people. I do however, know kind of where the basic IDEA came from. I'm not saying I agree, just that I know how the rumor got started. The Bible talks about how Cain, after murdering his brother, was given a mark or sign so that no one would, in turn, murder Cain. He became a wanderer on the Earth. (Genesis chapter 4) Now, somewhere, people got the bright idea that the mark God left on Cain was black skin. Thus, those with black skin are his desendents and are not righteous like the desendants of Abel (those with white skin). So, that's where that general idea came from. Again, I do not believe that this is the common belief among the Jewish people.
2006-07-29 12:43:07 · answer #2 · answered by puppyraiser8 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The truth? Everyone back then thought that. Such writings are to be found in every single aspect of literature of the time period. It wasn't until white america made it so that the world even thought of blacks as human. We invented that attitude and changed the world for the better with it.
To pull out a writing by a jew like that and imply that jews think this way (no jews today think that way) or that they were somehow different than anyone else back then in their thinking, is dishonest in the extreme.
Actually it's a form of blood libel.....one of the most racist things a person can engage in. Next you will tell us that jews drink the blood of little muslim children.
Shame on you.
2006-07-29 12:42:54 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Did you know that there are thousands of Black Jews? Israel sent planes to airlift endangered Ethiopian Jews out of Ethiopia and into Israel. The Ethiopian Jews are Black and have been practicing Judaism for thousands of years. They are called Falashas. Of course, Jews are humans. Humans are imperfect creatures. Humans seem to be the only animals that have magical beliefs or religion. Just as there are many languages and many cultures, there are many religions, sects, and individual variations and interpretations of religions. No one is 100% right all the time or 100% wrong all the time. One person, who may be very much respected for many things, usually also has many faults. There are Blacks who hate Jews and Jews who hate Blacks and Black Jews who hate Black Muslims and White Jews who love Black Jews and all kinds of weirdnesses. Let's just accept the fact that we are a bunch of confused, frightened, hopeful people who might just be able to get along with each other if we could start looking at people as people instead of as whatever race, religion, or country they are from. Why would anyone hate anyone else when they have never even met him or her? Humans are not rational. Sad, but true.
2006-07-29 20:20:18 · answer #4 · answered by puravidaphotos 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I sense an agenda here. Could you point out from Scripture where any of the Jewish patriarchs said anything remotely racist? Did you know Moses' wife was an Ethiopian?
2006-07-29 12:51:44 · answer #5 · answered by BrotherMichael 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I just learned about Maimonides and his racist views yesterday. I am converting to Judaism, see my blog if you like. It really hurts that he felt this way, because his writings are so famous. What Maimonides said so long ago is evident in the attitudes of many Jews today. Its sad. We all are children of G-d. We all have a soul, and no one soul is better than another.
2006-07-29 22:55:09 · answer #6 · answered by LAGrrl 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Do you get the idea that you're the only one that knows this information and the only one who cares? Where do you get this stuff......oh I see the site, oh well excuse me one other person knows about it............If you want to be angry, be angry, but try to be angry about something that matters, nobody even knows who these people are and here they have you all worked up............White people have always been called apes, thru evolution, so? Just ignore things that you don't agree with, and move on.
2006-07-29 12:39:43 · answer #7 · answered by trainer53 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Jews don't believe that black humans are apes. Racists like you believe that. Maimonides was saying that all humans were greater than apes. Don't confuse Maimonide's love of humanity with racism.
2006-07-29 12:37:58 · answer #8 · answered by Nowhere Man 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is because you are looking historic things. Like most of the bible and other religeous documents, things are written out of lack of knowledge. Remember the world is flat and the sun goes around the earth.
2006-07-29 12:39:56 · answer #9 · answered by mr_e_mn007 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This might be the psychotic view of one person who happens to be a Jew, but it is not the view of Judaism as a whole. If it were, how do you explain the existence of Ethiopian Jews, who are in fact quite black?
2006-07-29 12:39:55 · answer #10 · answered by Elvismom 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Moses believed in evolution.
2006-07-29 12:37:56 · answer #11 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋