Page 202 - The Track Of The Jew Through The Ages - Alfred Rosenberg

The Track of the Jew through the Ages

expresses itself not only instinctively but also finds its conscious
imprint in writing. Enough has been written about the literature of
the ancient times, I should just like to point briefly to the promise
that they will be able to devour all peoples whom God would hand
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over to the Jews, that princesses would be their nurses, that all
silver and gold would one day belong to them, that all would fall at
their feet to lick the dust thereof, and that the Jews would suck milk
from the heathen and the breasts of queens would suckle them. 431 I
do not wish to go closer into all that.
But these old thoughts were never forgotten. Over and over
again emerges the unbridled greed for rule of this world as a principal
"legitimate" claim. The Holy One spoke to the Israelites: "You have
made me the sole ruler of the world, so I shall make you the sole
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rulers in this world".
If in any country Jews attained influential positions, if the
position of the Jewish community consequently developed in a
brilliant manner, this power was often seen as the first sign of the
coming world-rulership.
Thus did the Jews, for example, live under Leo X 433 in such
an intoxication that they inquired in Jerusalem if the signs of an
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imminent salvation were not manifest. Thus did a David Reubeni
appear in Rome with the very exciting news that, under the command
of his brother, a great army stood assembled which now only need
armaments in order to conquer the Holy Land. He betrayed though
his speeches not only the Jews but also the Pope who provided him
with recommendations.
David travelled through Italy celebrated like a king. Then
431
ha 60:9.
432
Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chagigah, fol.3a,b.
433
[Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici (1475-1521) became Pope Leo X in 1513.]
434
[David Reubeni (1490-1535/1541) was a Jewish mystic with messianic claims
who was probably born in Afghanistan and travelled to Europe with promises of
an alliance of the Jews of the East against the Ottoman Empire. But he was arrested
by the Inquisition around 1532 and put to death.]
435
[Sabbatai Zevi (1626-1676) was a rabbi and kabbalist born in Smyrna (Izmir)
who, from 1648, claimed that he was the Messiah. Despite a considerable following
of "Sabbateans", he was forced by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet IV to convert to
Islam in 1666.]
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