I don't know. I think it's a little bit like an encyclopedia or a buffet where you go to a restaurant and take whatever you want. I think all of them are interesting.
By: Elliot Resnick, Jewish Press Staff Reporter
Date: Wednesday, August 24 2011
Copyright ©2011 JewishPress.com.
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Friday, 26 August 2011
3,500 PAGES OF VINTAGE KAHANE ON AMAZON
"I am not disappointed with the people who disagree with me. I am disappointed with the people whoagree with me, but are too mired in their apathy and inability to escape their tiny lives."
Thus wrote Rabbi Meir Kahane, one of the most controversial Jewish figures in the 20th century - founder of the Jewish Defense League and Kach. This particular quote comes from one of his books, some of which are available online. The numerous articles, however, that he wrote for The Jewish Press over a 30-year period have been largely inaccessible - until now.
David Fein, a New York native who first encountered Rabbi Kahane in college in the early 1980s, spent over 15 years making trips to the New York Public Library, viewing old Rabbi Kahane articles on microfilm, and compiling those he thought most representative of his weltanschauung. The result is Beyond Words: Selected Writings of Rabbi Meir Kahane, 1960-1990- seven volumes' worth of material with over 3,500 pages.
The Jewish Press recently spoke with Fein.
The Jewish Press: What made you decide to embark on this project?
Fein: I had the privilege of meeting Rabbi Kahane and knowing him for a short few years, and I felt that I had to do this. Otherwise his works would've been lost.
How did you meet Rabbi Kahane?
I was 19 years old at the University of Pennsylvania and, at the time, the name JDL and Rabbi Meir Kahane meant nothing to me. But I had a roommate who was Jewish and one day he said, "David, Rabbi Kahane is on campus. I think you should go see him." I said, "Why?" He said, "I just think you should." Well, I respected his opinion, so I went.
And I was incredibly impressed by Rabbi Kahane's sincerity and self-sacrifice. I thought some of the things he talked about were a little bit scary - like throwing out the Arabs from Israel - but compared to the typical university lecturer, he was fantastic.
A few years later, I think I wrote him a letter to the Knesset [where he was an MK from 1984-1988] and some of his people here in the United States responded. And then I sort of got a little bit involved for a few years until his tragic death.
Some people like to speculate that had he not been murdered, Rabbi Kahane today would either be the prime minister of Israel - or locked up in an Israeli jail.
I basically agree with that.
In volume six of Beyond Words, on pages 42-43, there is a chart of an election poll that was taken by the newspaper Hadashot in 1988. In that poll, Kach came in number three behind Labor and Likud. But then Kach was banned from running for Knesset [due to its call for expelling all Arabs from Israel]. They basically stole an election from him, and unfortunately the people did not rise up.
In your introduction to Beyond Words, you state that Rabbi Kahane often quoted the Shakespearian line, "The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves." What about this quote did Rabbi Kahane like?
Jews complain about the gentiles, [but Rabbi Kahane believed] that the problem is not the gentiles; it's the Jews. We are the cause of our own problems - our own lack of honesty with ourselves and with our religion. We are the barrier to our own redemption. If we would do what we should do, then the redemption would come.
You also write that two decades "after Kahane's death, history has vindicated his foresight. Conditions have deteriorated for the Jews, and life in Israel has become drastically less secure. [Rabbi Kahane] wrote: 'We are not a free people in our land, but, rather, a terrified people.' "
Yes, that's true. It's not the Jews who terrify or oppress the Arabs. It's the Arabs who oppress the Jews. The Arabs aren't afraid to go anywhere in Israel. Jews are constantly worried: "Can I go here? Is anyone behind me? Anybody with a knife?" Arabs aren't worried about anything. They go anywhere they want. Arabs, I'm sure, come to the beach in Tel Aviv. How many Jews go to the beach in Gaza?
You know, it's been 21 years since Rabbi Kahane's death, but honestly, little or nothing in these books really seems old or not relevant anymore.
Beyond Words is seven volumes, all of which are available on Amazon.com. If someone just wanted to buy one volume, which one would you recommend?
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