Much like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rabbi
Wise never said either of these things.
Almost two years ago I published an article entitled Some
call it Marxism I call it Judaism,
which I've now renamed Judaism
is communism, a phrase used by
Marxist-Kabbalist New Yorker, Dr.
Harry Waton.
The reason for doing this, is that
it was brought to my attention a
while back—although it slipped my
mind until this week—that the quote
"Some call it Marxism I call it
Judaism" is almost certainly fake. I
was correctly informed, that the
leader of the American Nazi Party,
George Lincoln Rockwell, had quoted
it (or a variation of it) in an
interview with Playboy magazine
(published in their April 1966
edition), but had been unable to
authenticate it afterwards, despite
be given the opportunity by the
journalist. The following is from
the interview:
PLAYBOY: The views of The Morning Freiheit certainly can't be said to reflect those of most American Jews, Commander. Can you give a specific example of a pro-Marxist statement by any recognized spokesman for American Jewry?
ROCKWELL: Just one? That's easy. Let's take a statement made by Rabbi Stephen Wise; he's one of the leading spokesmen for American Jewry.
PLAYBOY: He died in 1949.
ROCKWELL: Well, before he died, he wrote, "Some call it communism; I call it Judaism." That's a direct quote. I'd say that's putting it pretty unequivocally, wouldn't you?
PLAYBOY: Can you produce proof of that statement?
ROCKWELL: Certainly. I'll send it to you.
[The proof has not arrived, nor was Commander Rockwell able to tell us the name of the publication in which the alleged statement appeared. An official at Manhattan's Hebrew Union College, where Rabbi Wise's entire works are kept in archive, later said that no such statement appears anywhere in the late rabbi's writings. Rabbi Edward Kline, Wise's successor at New York's Free Synagogue, told us further that no such quote appears in any of Wise's speeches; nor could he, as a lifelong foe of communism, said Kline, have been capable of making such a remark. Confronted with this evidence, Rockwell later retracted the allegation. -Ed]
Rabbi Edward Kline (Playboy's source),
who was himself calling
for world
government in 1950, was hand picked
by Rabbi Stephen Wise as his
successor. But Kline's assertion
that Wise was a "lifelong foe of
communism", is a complete and utter
lie. Wise addressed the 2,000+
delegates and guests at Fifth Annual
Conference of the Jewish Council for
Russian War Relief in May 1946.
Present was the Council's president,
Lewis Levin, a devoted communist,
and a member of Rabbi Wise's World
Jewish Congress. Also present was
Russian-Jew and Soviet propagandist,
Elia Ehrenburg. During his speech,
Wise stated:
"As a Jew I want Jews to do all they can, and more than they can, for the Soviet Union and its peoples,"
But back to the Some
call it Marxism/Communism, I call it
Judaism quote.
Unlike George Lincoln Rockwell, I
have an internet search engine to
help me discover the history of this
quote.
A few of the early-ish uses of this quote I have found, do not cite a source for it, for example; former-governor of Oklahoma, William H. Murrary in his 1951 book Adam & Cain.
A few of the early-ish uses of this quote I have found, do not cite a source for it, for example; former-governor of Oklahoma, William H. Murrary in his 1951 book Adam & Cain.
The earliest publication which I can
find, which does cite a source for
the quote, is the 1950s (possibly
1951) eight page pamphlet, published
in London, entitled Cardinal
Minszenty (see
also & the actual Cardinal
Minszenty), by a Lieutenant
Hillary Cotter R.N. This is almost
certainly Lieutenant Hilary James
Coughtrie Cotter (1918 - 1997), who,
according to this genealogical peerage site,
served with Royal Navy during World
War II, was stationed in British
Somaliland during
1949-1950, and also spent time at
Cold Water Air
Force Base in
Alberta, Canada.
Cotter's source for the quote is
"The American Bulletin, 15th May,
1935". Later sources which feature
the quote, also often cite "The
American Bulletin", (examples,
although some cite a different
date).
Just a glance at the masthead of the American
Bulletin, hammers home the point
that it's not anything even
approaching a reliable source. Some
of the issues of this publication
from 1935 and 1936 can be viewed on
this website,
but unfortunately not the May 15th
or May 5th, 1935 editions, the two
cited for the origin of the "Some
call it Marxism/communism I call it
Judaism." quote.
So I apologise to the late Rabbi
Wise for claiming he said "Some call
it Marxism I call it Judaism",
because it's virtually certain, he
never did say that. Although, as
previously mentioned, it's
one-hundred-percent certain, he did
say: "As a Jew I want Jews to do all
they can, and more than they can,
for the Soviet Union and its
peoples".
(Update: Oct 16,
2012: A 1955 magazine attributes
the quote to a different Rabbi Wise,
Isaac M. Wise).
