The Talmud Quotes
The Talmud is a Jewish legal and ethical collection; Henry Ford was a well known anti-Semite of the time.
The Torah, the first 5 Books of the Bible, are the statement of Jewish law. The Talmud is a compendium of commentary on Jewish Law—–reflecting the views of a number of learned Rabbis of old. In a sense, they are much like legal opinions from many different judges. They are disparate views and often contradict on another. Few if any other religions, have an official document like it. Other religions key documents are prescriptive, and where there are occasional contradictions , effort is made to rationalize. However Judaism has the strong religious tradition of dissent from singular dogma. Different Jewish sects and groups differ in what in the Talmud they follow, and Reform Jews, the largest group in America, assume a continuing discussion of the Talmud with the ancient Rabbis having no more weight in their opinions that modern thinkers—–theologians, philosophers, and others.
In September of 2005 a Danish Newspaper published some political cartoons showing the hypocrisy of some Muslims who use Islam to justify murder of innocents and terrorism. Months later, in January of 2006 many in the Middle East protested vehemently and Muslim riots broke out because the Prophet Muhammad's visage was depicted against Islamic tradition. Many Muslim nations started a boycott against Denmark. Many Muslim leaders claimed that insulting religion was an “abuse” of freedom of speech including those from nations which regularly publish material that is virulent against Christians and Jews.
The Talmud is the commentary on the Biblical Books of Moses (The Torah) by the most learned scholars and rabbis in history.
The reason that this anti-Semitic quotation is notable is that it ties Judaism to Freemasonry. The latter group trace their origins to the masons who built Solomon’s Temple. Unlike most organizations in Medieval Europe, the Masons would accept Jews and there were some Jewish Lodges. While Masonic Lodges were primarily Protestant in composition, these lodges were often composed of the middle and upper classes. Many Catholics in Europe saw Masons as nefarious, as did many Protestants in America (There was an Anti-Masonic Party in the 19th century.) The secrecy of Masonic rituals and often membership engendered much suspicion and provided conspiracy theorists with a natural target. Paulescu, a classic conspiracy theorist, conflated the Masons with the Jews. The Talmud is the ancient Jewish Rabbinical Commentary on the Old Testament and elaborates and acts as a legal and administrative guide to the commandments of God in the Bible. A Kahal was a counsel of Jews who in a Christian or Muslim country were given the authority to supervise a Jewish Community. While it is true that the Masons have secret rituals, the Talmud is the most circulated text (after the Bible itself) amongst Jews and has never been secret. And the Kahal was generally as open or closed as any other local government within a kingdom or empire.
