There are so many "untruths" in this article! It's literally laughable!
Ben Franklin wanting a Jew in any emblem representing the United States, any Congressman moving for Hebrew to the the National language,......(There are a host more, I just don't have time to disprove them) are all outright nonsense and revisionist history. On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 10:12 PM, plainolamerican <[email protected]>wrote: > Nah ... > --- > Yeah ... > > example: > The creation of the United States of America represented a unique > event in world history. Founded as a modern republic, it was rooted in > the Bible, and one of its earliest tenets was religious tolerance. Of > course, this was because many of the earliest pilgrims who settled the > "New England" of America in early 17th century were Puritan refugees > escaping religious persecutions in Europe. > > These Puritans viewed their emigration from England as a virtual re- > enactment of the Exodus. To them, England was Egypt, the king was the > Pharaoh, the Atlantic Ocean was the Red Sea, America was the Land of > Israel, and the Indians were the ancient Canaanites. The Puritans were > the new Israelites, entering into a new covenant with God in a new > Promised Land. > > Thanksgiving - first celebrated in 1621, a year after the Mayflower > landed - was initially conceived as a day parallel to the Jewish Day > of Atonement, Yom Kippur; it was to be a day of fasting, introspection > and prayer. Writes Gabriel Sivan in The Bible and Civilization: > > No Christian community in history identified more with the People > of the Book than did the early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay > Colony, who believed their own lives to be a literal reenactment of > the biblical drama of the Hebrew nation... these ?migr? Puritans > dramatized their own situation as the righteous remnant of the Church > corrupted by the "Babylonian woe" and saw themselves as instruments of > Divine Providence, a people chosen to build their new commonwealth on > the Covenant entered into at Mount Sinai.1 > > Previously, during the Puritan Revolution in England (which took place > between 1642 and 1648), some Puritan extremists had even sought to > replace English Common Law with biblical laws of the Old Testament, > but were prevented from doing so. In America, however, there was far > more freedom to experiment with the use of biblical law in the legal > codes of the colonies, and this was exactly what the pilgrims set out > to do. > > The earliest legislation of the colonies of New England was all > determined by the Bible. For example, at the first assembly of New > Haven in 1639, John Davenport clearly emphasized the primacy of the > Bible as the legal and moral foundation of the colony: > > "Scriptures do hold forth a perfect rule for the direction and > government of all men in all duties which they are to perform to God > and men as well as in the government of families and commonwealth as > in matters of the Church... the Word of God shall be the only rule to > be attended unto in organizing the affairs of government in this > plantation."2 > > Subsequently, the New Haven legislators adopted a legal code - the > Code of 1655 - which contained some 79 statutes, half of which > included biblical references, virtually all from the Hebrew Bible. The > Plymouth Colony had a similar law code as did the Massachusetts > assembly, which, in 1641 adopted the so-called Capital Laws of New > England based almost entirely on Mosaic law. > > Of course, without a Jewish Oral Tradition, which helped the Jews > understand the Bible, the Puritans were left to their own devices and > tended toward a literal interpretation. This led in some instances to > a stricter, more fundamentalist observance than Judaism had ever seen. > > Jewish Symbolism in America > > The Hebrew Bible also played a central role in the founding of various > educational institutions including Harvard, Yale, William and Mary, > Rutgers, Princeton, Brown, King's College (later to be known as > Columbia), Johns Hopkins, Dartmouth etc. In virtually all of these > colleges, Bible studies were required and some even adopted some > Hebrew word or phrase as part of their official emblem or seal. > Beneath the banner containing the Latin Lux et Veritas, the Yale seal > shows an open book with the Hebrew Urim V'Timum, a part of the > breastplate of the High Priest in the days of the Temple. The Columbia > seal has the Hebrew name for God at the top center, with the Hebrew > name for one of the angels on a banner toward the middle. Dartmouth > uses the Hebrew words meaning "God Almighty" in a triangle in the > upper center of its seal. > > So popular was the Hebrew language in the late 17th and early 18th > centuries that Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Brown, Princeton, Johns > Hopkins, and the University of Pennsylvania taught courses in Hebrew - > all the more remarkable because no university in England at the time > offered such - and students had the option of delivering commencement > speeches in Hebrew, Latin or Greek.3 > > Many of the Founding Fathers of America were products of these > universities - for example, Thomas Jefferson attended William and > Mary, James Madison - Princeton, Alexander Hamilton - King's College. > Thus, we can be sure that a majority of these political leaders were > not only well acquainted with the contents of the Bible, but also had > some working knowledge of Hebrew. Notes Abraham Katsch in The Biblical > Heritage of American Democracy: > > At the time of the American Revolution, the interest in the > knowledge of Hebrew was so widespread as to allow the circulation of > the story that "certain members of Congress proposed that the use of > English be formally prohibited in the United States, and Hebrew > substituted for it."4 > > Their biblical education colored the American founders' attitude > toward not only religion and ethics, but most significantly, politics. > We see them adopting the biblical motifs of the Puritans for political > reasons. For example, the struggle of the ancient Hebrews against the > wicked Pharaoh came to embody the struggle of the colonists against > English tyranny. Numerous examples can be found which clearly > illustrate to what a significant extent the political struggles of the > colonies were identified with the ancient Hebrews: > > The first design for the official seal of the United States > recommended by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in > 1776 depicted the Jews crossing the Red Sea. The motto around the seal > read: "Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God." > The inscription on the Liberty Bell at Independence Hall in > Philadelphia was a direct quote from the Book of Leviticus "Proclaim > liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."5 > Patriotic speeches and publications during the period of the > struggle for independence were often infused with biblical quotations. > > The basic framework of America clearly reflects the influence of the > Bible and power of Jewish ideas in shaping the political development > of America. Nowhere is this more evident than in the opening sentences > of the Declaration of Independence: > > We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created > equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable > rights, that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of > happiness. > > While these words echo the ideas of the Enlightenment, without a doubt > the concept that these rights come from God is of biblical origin. > > This and the other documents of early America make it clear that the > concept of a God-given standard of morality is a central pillar of > American democracy. The motto IN GOD WE TRUST first appeared on U.S. > currency in 1864 and in 1956 an Act of Congress (largely passed as a > counterforce to Godlessness of communism) made it the official motto > of the United States. > > Many more things can be said about the Jewish influence on the values > of America, but this is, after all, a crash course. We next turn to > the Jews themselves. > > Early American Jews > > The history of Jews in America begins before the United States was an > independent country. > > The first Jews arrived in America with Columbus in 1492, and we also > know that Jews newly-converted to Christianity were among the first > Spaniards to arrive in Mexico with Conquistador Hernando Cortez in > 1519. In fact, so many Jewish conversos came to Mexico that the > Spanish made a rule precluding anyone who could not prove Catholic > ancestry for four generations back from migrating there. Needless to > say, the Inquisition soon followed to make sure these Jewish conversos > were not really heretics, and burnings at the stake became a regular > feature of life in Mexico City. > > As for North America, the recorded Jewish history there begins in 1654 > with the arrival in New Amsterdam (later to be known as New York) of > 23 Jewish refugees from Recife, Brazil (where the Dutch had just lost > their possessions to the Portuguese). New Amsterdam was also a Dutch > possession, but the governor, Peter Stuyvesant, did not want the Jews > there. Writes Arthur Hertzberg in The Jews in America: > > Two weeks after they landed, Stuyvesant heard the complaint from > the local merchants and from the Church that "the Jews who had arrived > would nearly all like to remain here." Stuyvesant decided to chase > them out. Using the usual formulas of religious invective - he called > the Jews "repugnant," "deceitful," and "enemies and blasphemers of > Christ" - Stuyvesant recommended to his directors... "to require them > in a friendly way to depart."6 > > The only reasons the Jews were not turned away was that the Dutch West > Indian Company, which was heavily depended on Jewish investments, > blocked it. > > By 1776 and the War of Independence, there were an estimated 2,000 > (mostly Sephardic) Jews (men, women and children) living in America, > yet - though their numbers were relatively small - their contribution > to the cause was significant. For example, in Charleston, South > Carolina, almost every adult Jewish male fought on the side of > freedom. In Georgia, the first patriot to be killed was a Jew (Francis > Salvador). And additionally, the Jews provided significant financing > to the patriots. > > The most important of the financiers was Haym Salomon who lent a great > deal of money to the Continental Congress. In the last days of the > war, Salomon advanced the American government $200,000. He was never > paid back and died bankrupt. > > President George Washington remembered the Jewish contribution when > the first synagogue opened in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1790. (It was > called the Touro Synagogue and it was Sephardic.) He sent this letter, > dated August 17, 1790: > > "May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in the land > continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of the other inhabitants. > While everyone shall sit safely under his own vine and fig-tree and > there shall be none to make him afraid." > > Note the reference to the "vine and fig-tree." That unique phrase is a > reference to the words of Prophet Micah, prophesying the Messianic > utopia: > > But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of > the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the > mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall > flow to it. And many nations shall come, and say, "Come, and let us go > up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, > and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths, for > Torah shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from > Jerusalem." > > And He shall judge between many peoples and shall decide > concerning far away strong nations; and they shall beat their swords > into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not > lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more. But > they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; and > none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Master of Legions > has spoken it.7 > > This was an interesting choice of words on the part of Washington, > but, as noted above, it is not surprising in light of the enormous > influence that the Hebrew Bible had on the pilgrims and on the > founding fathers of the new nation. > > It must be noted however that some of the other founding fathers were > a bit more ambivalent about the Jews than was Washington. > > John Adams, who said some highly complimentary things about the Jews,8 > also noted that "it is very hard work to love most of them." And he > looked forward to the day when "the asperities and peculiarities of > their character" would be worn away, and they would become "liberal > Unitarian Christians." > > Thomas Jefferson thought Jews needed more secular learning so that > "they will become equal object of respect and favor," implying that > without such learning they could not expect to be respected. Writes > Arthur Hertzberg in The Jews in America: > > Jefferson was thus expressing the view of the mainstream of the > Enlightenment, that all men could attain equal place in society, but > the "entrance fee" was that they should adopt the ways and the outlook > of the "enlightened." Jefferson did not consider that a Yiddish- > speaking Jew who knew the Talmud was equal in usefulness to society > with a classically trained thinker like himself.9 > > This idea that there was freedom for you in America as long as you > were not "too Jewish," kept most Jews away. Until 1820, the Jewish > population of America was only about 6,000! > > This changed in the 1830s when Reform German Jews, who had scrapped > traditional Judaism and were not "too Jewish," began to arrive. The > great migrations of poor, oppressed Jews from Eastern Europe would > follow near the turn of the century. But before we take up that story, > we must look to see what was happening to the Jews of Europe. > > Watch a 3-minute video: "America's Biblical Values" with Rabbi Ken > Spiro > > http://www.jewishpathways.com/class/jews-and-founding-america > > On Aug 7, 10:15 am, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: > > Nah ... most Government schools teach the Big Government, US White Hat > version of history which typically bears only kernels to reality. > > One of the reasons why SEPARATING the Government from schools should be > the primary goal of anyone seeking to restore liberty. > > Regard$, > > --MJ > > In our government-controlled schools we are taught that Lincoln was our > greatest president because his war ended slavery and saved the Union. As > usual, the other side of the story -- the side that reflects poorly on the > government -- somehow gets lost. -- Richard J. Maybury, The Abe Lincoln > HoaxAt 11:10 AM 8/7/2012, you wrote:American students are alarmingly > > ignorant about U.S. history and world events. > > --- > > according to jewish history revisionists > > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. > -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
