A commenter, known as “latte island”, brought “The Ashkenazi Revolution” to my attention a while back. The book was published in Israel in 1964 and was banned there – or, at least, suppressed and condemned. Today, it is almost impossible to find, having been relegated to the dustbin of history and obscurity. Note that I said almost impossible to find – for I have found it and I have purchased it. It was not easy to find and it did not come cheap either.
I intend to translate all 256 pages of it. This will be a mammoth task and very time-consuming. Since I am not a wealthy man, my intention is to publish the translation in PDF format and ask for a modest donation to offset some of the costs of this project. Upon receipt of the donation (which I think should be $20 or so) I’ll send the file via email. I do not expect to be reimbursed for my time, just for the expense of the book itself. It was $157 including shipping.
Here are the headings for the 14 chapters:
1) The Jewish concept of time and space
2) The community of peoples in the Land of Canaan
3) Birth and exile
4) The community of peoples in exile
5) The undermining of the Roman world and the Ashkenazi question
6) The new Hebrew literature
7) Herzl and the new Hebrew literature
8) Exile on exhibition
9) The oppressive rule of the literary mandarins
10) Ashkenaz and Sepharad in the nation of Israel
11) Two peoples
12) The strategic goal of the leaders of Sepharad
13) The false world and the triumph of the achievers
14) The Ashkenazi revolution
It is my understanding that the reason this book was so unpopular was that it was viewed as the epitome of the oppression of Sephardic/Oriental Jews in Israel. This is what Meyrav Wurmser has to say about it:
One of the worst examples of the anti-Mizrahi discrimination involves The Ashkenazi Revolution published in 1964 by writer Kalman Katzenelson in which the author argues that the Mizrahim suffer from irreversible genetic inferiority that endangers the superiority of the Ashkenazi-Zionist state. He called for the establishment of an apartheid regime that, among other limitations, would abolish their political rights. He also objected to mixed marriages and demanded the prohibition of the Hebrew language because it resembled Arabic too greatly. Instead he demanded that Yiddish become the national language because of its supreme Germanic origins. His book was a bestseller until Ben-Gurion banned it.
Regular readers of this blog should already know that, when it comes to the State of Israel versus Oriental Jewry, I am on the side of Oriental Jewry. Of course, there are some features of Oriental Jewish culture that we could do without: a lack of respect for the rule of law, littering and smoking all go hand in hand with the Arab world in general. But just as the Arabs (flaws and all) are heirs to the wonderful Arabic language, so too are Oriental Jews heirs to some of the more authentic and ancient features of Judaism. Aside from this, there is much to admire in their various cultures and much to admire among the actual people. So let it not be said that my goal is to attack Oriental Jews. Rather, my goal is to make this controversial work available to a wider audience so that each of us can judge it on its own merits. I also feel that it is important from a historical point of view.
How long will it take to finish this project? My guess is several months. I have a Hebrew/English dictionary that is almost 4 inches thick. It will be getting a lot of use; there will be difficult sections. Most likely, I’ll have to go back and revise some of them over time.
Get a paypal account and I’m in to help support you.
I agree with you on siding with Oriental Jewry. (Furthermore I don’t see the value of a people with a diasporic philosophy and diasporic capitalist culture holding a landed state that they lack the population to hold – and where the landholding sentiments are somewhat contrary to those held by the diasporic cult. Landholding is a highly expensive, hierarchical and sacrificial social problem.)
Thank you Curt. There’s a donate button on the right side of the blog, under the “Top Rated” list.
JAY you can also put it on lulu.com, they allow people to self-publish and sell e-books there.
I’m not sure if I read this from you or read it somewhere else but I remember reading that secular ashkenazi jews took sephardic jewish children from their families and put them in boarding schools in an effort to train them to not be religious.
You might have read it elsewhere, but I have posted on this topic:
http://jewamongyou.wordpress.com/2010/03/07/on-eagles-talons/
Thanks for the suggestion; I might publish it there as well.
SeedofJapheth
It’s not that simple. Many Yemenite women were being forced into polygamous marriages and though the State of Israel had done away with polygamy, many Yemenites still held on to the idealogy of the old country.
Jewamongyou
I have no problem with race realism and am quite fatigued by insane political correctness myself, but why are you so preoccupied with blacks and Africa? And why do you have so much admiration for Middle Eastern society and culture (including Sephardim and Mizrahim?) I have the utmost respect for Persians and Persian jews but the rest of the middle east is quite backwards including certain jewish communities. The Ashkenazi zionists noticed that even though they outlawed polygamy and Pedophilia, it was so ingrained in Sephardic and Mizrahi culture. And Sephardic and Mizrahi culture is very patriarcal. North African would beat their wives and tie them up for hours if she did something they disapproved of. Say what you will about the Ashkenazim but they had to transform the entire culture. I am sick and tired of Ashkenazim being portrayed as the big bad guy who oppress the poor dark skinned Sephardim and Mizrahim. It’s the whole blame whitey game all over again. Of course the ultra PC leftists have adopted the S&M “cause” because it serves their agenda.
Well, I did mention that Oriental Jewish culture was not perfect. The main reason, I’ll admit, that I admire them in general is that I counted myself among them for years. While in Israel, for all practical purposes, I was Yemenite. What you say about North Africans is true. You’ve got me there. Moroccans in particular have a reputation for criminality and violence. I never did associate with them much and there was a certain amount of friction between them and the (more gentle) Yemenites. But there were two major societies among Moroccans, the mostly urban, and white, Sephardic ones and the mostly rural, and brown, Oriental ones. The white ones tended to be more cultured; they were the “blue-bloods” so to speak.
Your accusation of pedophilia needs to be qualified. We’re not talking about perverts molesting unsuspecting children in the playground. Rather, I assume you’re talking about the custom of early marriage. If this is what you mean by “pedophilia”, then you’d have to consider practically the entire world “pedophiles” – for this was the norm almost everywhere until recently.
As for polygamy, unless you’re talking about forced marriages, what’s the problem? I don’t think the practice was so widespread that many young Jewish men could not find a wife.
When a minority/immigrant culture has dangerous flaws, it is the duty of the host people to address those specific flaws. Not to destroy the entire culture. Especially in this case; the Oriental Jews were strongly pressured, perhaps even forced, into immigrating. All sorts of dirty tricks were used in order to get them to Israel.
But, when all is said and done, the proof is in the pudding – after all, I am translating a book which will probably bolster your opinion. We’ll see what he has to say…
Jewamongyou in Sephardic society, the wealthy men got to choose whatever and (in Yemen) however many women they wanted. Often men in their twenties chose to marry preteen girls. I never claimed you said they were perfect just that the ultra PC leftissts have adopted the “S&M” pet cause so they can trash the Ashkenazim (whitey) and it would not be wise to follow them.
I know you had a bad experience with blacks at your school, but why do you single them out? IK have found certain elements of Africana that I admire such as the music (negro spirituals early twentieth century African baritones and Soul music,-not gangsta rap) and good food and wines (particularly among the Ethiopians in Israel try Ethiopian Honey Wine sometime if you go to Israel. I am not naive, members of my family were active in the anti apartheid movement but they still were victims of multiple thefts and violent attacks by South African blacks.
Awesome! I’ll contribute to this project after I pay off some other things. I don’t see this as Ashkenazi vs. Oriental, although it was that at the time. For me, it’s free speech, and also a righting of the wrong of official Zionist suppression of my own people, the Ashkenazim. Yiddish-speaking culture was destroyed, first by the Nazis, then by the Zionists.
When I was trying to find more about Katzenelson, I read that a Mizrahi named Samy Smooha (sp.), who is a well-known Israeli academic and political figure, held an anti-Ashkenazi demonstration at the grave of Katzenelson. This is the type of thing no one should ever do.
History is what it is, and if I ever go to Israel, of course I’ll regard all Jews who live there as my people, but allowing Ben-Gurion and other book-burners to have the last word is an outrage.
I know you’re doing this for principle rather than profit. Because it’s unlikely you’ll ever recoup for all the hours you’ll spend. But it would still be annoying to see someone abuse your efforts. So if you’re going to spend several months you may examine the copyright laws and look into protecting your translation.
If you simply sell it as a PDF then you may find that someone has bought a copy and freely distributing your translation on their personal website or one of those filesharing things.
You might look into doing a little desktop publishing or converting it to kindle. At least then someone would have to go to the hassle of typing it out again.
Lastly, I don’t mind fair criticism against anyone. Even when it’s harsh. And particularly when its true. Heck, I sometimes do it just to make a point. But I don’t particularly like it when someone does it out of malicious motives. I guess what I’m trying to say is that you should be prepared to see someone take your copy and quote passages for some cheap shots at “da joos”.
Thanks for the advice. Actually, I’ve already resigned myself to the fact that my work will be pirated. I’ll be content to get some compensation for my efforts and, of course, it’s not going to make me rich.
As for people using it to take cheap shots at “da joos”, I’m certain they already do it with this blog. The only way to avoid this would be for me to never write anything.
Yes, you should copyright the translation at least. Why not? You’ll get your name and blog out there.
Re: Gay State Girl. I don’t deny that some good things have come from blacks. In fact I’ve been known to enjoy some of their music as well. Some of my favorite music is Sudanese, for example. Also, I do enjoy Ethiopian food on occasion (it’s been a while) and I’ve even cited a black blogger or two (favorably) on this blog. But the whole world praises and worships blacks so why should I do the same? If schools, government and the MSM were honest about blacks, there would be less of a need for racialist blogs, like my own, to provide a counter-balance. If the MSM gave fair and adequate coverage of black on white crime, then I would not feel the need to harp on it so much.
Don’t translate it yet. It’s a huge amount of work and effort. You’ll likely give up in dismay not even one third of the way through.
Instead, scan it and publish it on the Net. You can OCR it if you have the software. But just jpeg images are fine. Others, if interested enough, will soon take up from there.
I just sent you $20 via Paypal to encourage you. I don’t expect anything in exchange.
Thank you pi. I hope you’re wrong about the translation. While I have been known, in the past, to give up on projects, it is more difficult to do so when others are depending on me and have contributed money to the project.
As for posting the original Hebrew, I might also do that. But most of the people who have an interest in it are not Hebrew speakers. So they would be disappointed. As for others taking it up, if anybody out there is willing to help, let them contact me. We’ll see how it goes…
Like this page! Pro-Yiddish, Pro-White, Pro-European!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/This-Is-Ashkenaz/790995750926210
I would like a copy of this PDF. I will Paypal you 20$
All you need to do is click on the link at the right of this blog, near the bottom. The Paypal donate button is directly below it and I thank you in advance.
How is the translating project of Ashkenazi Revolution coming along? I know some Sephardim in Israel who are interested as well. I was also searching for the book but did not find it as of yet. Do you know of any other copies for sale?
Ishaq
ishaqa777@hotmail.com
It was completed a long time ago. Look on the right of this blog page, directly above the “donate” button.
Contact me via email if you run into any tricky Hebrew phrases. I’m a native speaker, Israeli.
Thanks for your offer, but I was able to complete the translation a while ago. However… if you’re good with Yiddish, there were a couple of Yiddish phrases that I was not able to figure out.
What do you think about anti-Semites using your translation to attack Israel, reinforce the apartheid slur, and reinforce their saying, “see Ashkenazi Jews are even racist to their own kind”?
I’m not going to let anti-Semites limit my endeavors. It really doesn’t bother me.