Norton Mezvinsky part 1: Israel, Jewish supremacy, Judaism, Chabad Lubavitchers

NORTON MEZVINSKY part 1: Jewish fundamentalism, Jewish supremacy, etc. Never seen before, I interviewed professor Mezvinsky in about 2010 at Central Connecticut State University where he was a teacher, eventually for over 40 years. He died in 2022. Ardent free speech activist, he was Jewish and, according to one Jewish journalist, was "an academic known for his anti-Israel views...who has been labeled as anti-Zionist [and who] holds strong views questioning the right of Jews to a homeland in Israel". In this regard, and because of his ardent criticism of traditional Jewish religious beliefs, he was typified by many in the mainstream Jewish world as a “self-hating Jew.” Among his books was “Christian Zionism” and “Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel,” which he co-authored with Israel Shahak. (Shahak is famed as a Holocaust survivor, professor in Israel, prominent civil rights activist in Israel, and critic of Zionism and traditional Judaism, whose own book JEWISH HISTORY, JEWISH RELIGION was an expose about troubling details of traditional Jewish religious faith). As one Jewish supporter of Israel, Asaf Romirovsky, noted, “Mezvinsky and Shahak are prime examples of Jewish academics who throughout their careers questioned their own religion and the legitimacy of the state of Israel.” A local rabbi in Connecticut, Stephen Fuchs, once complained that Mezvinsky “has slanted the views of a whole generation of students about the Middle East. I am concerned that he has created a negative attitude towards Israel.” In later years, Mezvinsky was a co-founder and president of the International Council for Middle East Studies (ICMES). In this, part 1 of the interview, professor Mezvinsky addresses: secular Jews versus Orthodox Jews in Israel, controversies about conversion to Judaism in Israel, Judaism is not a proselytizing faith, Reform and Conservative branches of Judaism aren’t considered legitimate by Orthodox rabbis, about a third of Soviet immigrants to Israel weren’t Jewish, Rabbi Menachem Mendel and the Chabad Lubavitcher organization, Mezvinsky’s studies of Yiddish texts by Scheerson, the “complicated” variety of interpretation of religious texts by various Jewish strands, Mezvinsky’s discussion that he is a member of a Chabad congregation, Rabbi Schneerson’s assertion that Jews have a superior soul over non-Jews as willed by God (and the only people who can convert to Judaism have an innately Jewish soul), the general notion in broader, traditional Judaism of Jewish superiority over non-Jews -- including in traditional prayers, Chabad rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburg’s “extremist” views, is Yitzchak Ginsburg in good standing in the Chabad group?, dangers of Jewish and other faith’s fundamentalism, does antisemitism hold the Jewish community together?, etc. If you can help support this channel: https://www.givesendgo.com/GNDPM Also: https://www.givesendgo.com/GMRRD (or Zelle to [email protected])