Page 57 - The Track Of The Jew Through The Ages - Alfred Rosenberg

Alfred Rosenberg

abuse, to pelt him with stones and filth, and to allow him no peace
in his house. D'Acosta wrote in his defence a book in which he
denied the immortality of the soul since he did not find such a belief
in Moses, and since there there was only reference to a corporeal
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and temporal future. The rabbis accused Uriel of being an
"Epicurean" and attacker of the Christian religion. He was
consequently imprisoned but released after payment of a fine and
confiscation of his books.
The persecutions on the part of the Jews however did not
stop and, broken down by a fifteen year long torment and isolation
from his racial comrades, he decided to make peace and yielded. As
the agreement was to be concluded his nephew accused him of not
conscientiously following all the food regulations. This aroused a
new bitter hatred in the community, his possessions were kept from
him, his marriage blocked and, when further the rumour went round
that he had dissuaded two Christians who wanted to convert to
Judaism, the fury of the Jews knew no bounds.

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Let it be mentioned here that the Jews' belief in resurrection is of a completely
materialistic sort. Not only will only the Jews be resurrected, which is the view of
all teachers, but the dead will crawl through subterranean hells to Canaan to rise
there. Salomon Jarchi writes in his commentary on Genesis 27:29 that Jacob wished
to be buried in Canaan because he had foreseen that the dust in Egypt would turn
to lice or because those who die outside Canaan could not be revived except through
difficult rolling underground. - And the Targum or the Chaldaic translation of the
Cant 8:5 says: "When the dead live again, the Mount of Olives will split and all the
dead Israelites will come out of it, even the just who died in prison will come
through the path of the hells beneath the earth and emerge from the Mount of
Olives". That is what the words of God mean: "Behold, I shall open your graves
and will take you, my people, out of them and bring you into the land of Israel
(Ezek 37:12-13)." - These lunatic thoughts are expressed, for example, in Tractate
Kethuboth, fol.l 11a: Rabbi Ilai: "The dead roll in the earth up to the land of Israel
and live there again". There Rabbi Abba Sala the Great asked him: "But the rolling
will cause the righteous pain?" To which Abaii said: "Hollows will be made for
them in the earth".
[Solomon ben Isaac Jarchi (1104-1180) was a rabbi who was born and died in
France though he travelled extensively and met Maimonides in Egypt. Among his
several commentaries were those on the Pentateuch, which were translated into
German by F. Breithaupt in 1710.]
[The Targum is an Aramaic translation ofthe Hebrew Bible dating from the Second
Temple period (5 1 6 B.C.-70 A.D.)]
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