Never Again! A Program for Survival

by Meir Kahane

Includes a detailed discussion of the philosophy of the JDL, and relates the history of Jewish oppression and the need to fight back. A must read for anyone concerned with justice and the fight against oppression. From the back cover of Never Will Jews once again meekly submit or will they stand and fight? This is the question that Rabbi Meir Kahane asks the American Jewish community in a book controversial and explosive for what it dares to say as The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Soul On Ice were for their defiant and passionate messages. Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League, shows how the older generation of American Jewry has abandoned and betrayed their fellow Jews, their personal heritage, and their children's identities in their rush for respectability and assimilation. He details how the dormant tiger of anti-Semitism is once again rousing itself and stalking the land. And he vividly describes what is being done and must be done to re-assert Jewish pride and power, so that Jews will answer with one voice when asked again go to the slaughter - Never Again!

Genres: Judaism, Jewish, Nonfiction

287 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

American-Israeli Orthodox rabbi and founder of the Jewish Defense League and the Israeli Kach party.

Kahane and his organisations are considered to be jewish extremists and his Israeli Party "Kach" was banned in 1994 in Israel after it was linked to anti-arab terrorist attacks.

In 1990 Kahane was shot after giving a speech urging Jewish-Americans to emigrate to Israel. Some of his supporters claim he was the first victim of Al-Qaida.

The Jewish Defense League is still an active organisation.

Reviews

[Yair Ben-Zvi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meir Kahane was not, is not, and probably never will be a man or a figure for whom it is 'easy' to talk about. Even after death the man's name and legacy still court antagonism, worship, or just plain befuddlement. Of course, this is predicated on the assumption that you know the 'situation' into which Kahane inserted himself and made a part of his (and our collective Jewish) history.

First, a little background. I came to this text as the son of a man who was on a first name basis with the Rabbi and held him in the highest of regards....that is until he wrongfully accused my father of theft for which my father was later exonerated though with nary an admission of error on the part of the rabbi...but I digress. I was raised in a very politically and, yes, even culturally Zionistic home where, among other things, one of the most frequent topics of discussion was Israel and to an equal extant, our people. Kahane in these conversations was something of a Malcolm X for us (or more me specifically) as what he said seemed to make a lot of sense vis a vis Jews around the world getting up off their asses to confront and, yes, even fight against their antisemitic oppressors. Considering that Kahane directly (and all Jews I can say) grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust, only added urgency to his message.

However, it needs be stated that Kahane was neither right about everything nor was he a saint. He was a man with some good ideas about Jewish strength that unfortunately undermined himself by filling his organization with the exact worst kind of person. And this was roughly around the time my father, in a somewhat more Brooklyn way, told the Rabbi he'll see him in Jerusalem. It is because of this that, similar to the aforesaid Malcolm X, I divide Kahane's career into two halves; the first half is before he made aliyah to Israel and the latter, well, is when he landed and generally began to alienate all of those cooler heads that might have tempered him and his message just enough to make it palatable for those willing to listen.

But time and history only move in one direction and, sadly, Kahane was gunned down by a contrapuntal example of the very extremism he was advocating. Like Malcolm X, the rabbi was well aware of his probably fate.

Enough preamble though, as to the text itself I'll say it's very good, rock solid even. As a bit of an odd duck in terms of Judaism (born in Jerusalem, raised in America, though never feeling distinctly connected in either sphere) I found Kahane's declarative statements to his people to stand up and fight back bracing, humbling, and more than a little educational. Yes, we as a Jewish people need strength and that strength can only really manifest itself in unity and understanding among our brethren. But Kahane's stance, of non-compromising right wing conservatism (with more than a little religious fundamentalism thrown in) is where he began to lose me. There is no room for compromise or negotiation with a Kahane and, to put it reductively but truthfully, you were either with him or against him. And unlike the Autobiography of Malcolm X wherein we see the ideologue change and adapt and evolve (as did his views) with Kahane we have only the monolith of his irascible un-changeability. In a sense, Kahane became less human and less a role model for me when he refused (strategically I'm sure) to countenance even the shadow of doubt or questioning regarding his beliefs. Some might say I'm asking for Kahane to be weak but no I was simply asking him to be a man and realize that, unlike God, sometimes you have to admit when you were wrong and learn from that.

But he was, is, and forever shall be an important man. And I do believe that, despite his numerous faults, Kahane had a love for his people and only wanted what was best for them (as he understood it). Was he a great man? No. But to paraphrase Star Trek, he was a man. And as such he's worthy of knowing and learning from. Just not unquestioningly.

[Cwn_annwn_13 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kahane was a right wing Jewish Rabbi that founded the JDL and ended up getting assassinated in New York after giving a speech. Allegedly he was killed by Muslims, although I don't think they were never were able to prove who it was exactly that killed him.

This was Kahane's first book. Some of this is reasonable Jewish nationalism, some of it not so reasonable. There is quite a bit of stereotypical Jew whining and fingerpointing in this although very little of it is directed towards whites or "Nazis". He directs a lot of venom toward blacks and Arabs, but he mainly concentrates on the Jewish establishment and their obsession with assimilating and "melting" all the races together. Kahane is to be admired for fighting the world elites (and they aren't all Jews) psychotic obsession with wiping out all cultural and racial distinctions by blending us all together and he seemed to be sticking up for working class Jews. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty I dislike about Kahane, but like I said before, he had some admirable traits.

[Steven H · Rating 3 out of 5]

A CONTROVERSIAL FIGURE EXPRESSES CONTROVERSIAL VIEWS ON MANY SUBJECTS

Meir Kahane (1932-1990) was an American-born Orthodox rabbi, who was a cofounder of the Jewish Defense League (JDL), and in 1971 co-founded Kach, an Israeli political party; in 1984, he became a one-term member of the Knesset. He was assassinated in November 1990.

He wrote in the Dedication to this 1971 book, “We, the generation of the Holocaust… have witnessed a revival of Jewish pride and self-respect. We behold an awakening of Jewish Identity. Above all, we see a different Jew arising from the ashes and decay of Auschwitz… Jews have grown sick unto death of suffering and martyrdom… Jews … have dropped the Christian concepts inherited in the Exile and … no longer turn the other cheek… They are Jews who prefer peace but who will now fight and win. To the members of the Jewish Defense League… this book is dedicated. They are the real heroes of the new Jewish phenomenon.”

He notes that in 1939, a ship of 930 Jews were escaping Nazi Germany and had visas to enter Cuba; but “Under a wave of anti-Semitism… Havana insisted that the visas were illegal… Home to Hitler went the 930. And the American Jewish brothers and sisters? What were they doing?... Surely those organizations and leaders, who in years to come would surge forward on behalf of the civil rights movement… would climb the barricades on behalf of their fellow Jews who faced the specter of death?... The silence is deafening. The record is obscenely empty of any vigorous sacrifice on the part of those Jewish leaders who are supposed to lead us…” (Pg. 5-7)

He adds, “Two years before the war came to an end, Jewish organizations knew… that a holocaust was raging… There are… only two groups who continue to maintain that they knew nothing of the death camps… The Germans there and some Jewish leaders here. They are both liars.” (Pg. 11-12) He continues, “Imagine all … the prestigious and respectable leaders and rabbis demanding: Bomb the rail lines and save our brothers or we shall not move! Surely, the bombers would have been sent out; without a doubt the railroads would have been blasted and the cattle cars with their pitiful cargoes stopped.” (Pg. 16)

He observes, “I know Jews who cannot sleep because of their concern for humanity and who give of their days and nights for their fellow human beings, but Jewish suffering leaves them strangely apathetic.” (Pg. 15) “We must ask why our Jewish leadership failed to act, because that same leadership still shepherds us… we must learn from the past because we may be repeating it again… in the case of Soviet Jewry.” (Pg. 19) But he also admits, “There is little doubt that if they opened the gates of the Soviet Union tomorrow, and allowed all Jews to leave, the majority might very well stay… By our silence for half-a-century we gave the Soviet Union fifty years to assimilate, integrate, amalgamate, and dissolve these Jews.” (Pg. 25)

He notes, “We have Jewish funds for basketball and basket weaving and all sorts of vapid foolishness, but for Jewish education---the one thing that will stop the cancer of Jewish alienation, intermarriage, and assimilation---we can find little or no funds.” (Pg. 37) He goes on, “What Jewish leader has decreed that his group will set aside funds for safety patrols so that the people of the neighborhood can have the means to make their streets …safe[?]… What Jewish organization has made the safety of Jewish bodies… and property the … recipient of large sums of money? None. And we have an obligation to ask WHY?” (Pg. 43)

Later, he suggests, “The briefest perusal reveals a common denominator:… All are designed to replace intense and powerful Jewish pride and nationalism with their very antithesis, the principle of MELT. To ‘melt’ means to ignore differences and to integrate with those about you… All the Jewish drives for ecumenism were meant to show how little difference there was between religions; they also diluted the particularism of their own faith. What the Jew originally set out to do was to prove to the gentile that a Jew was no different than anyone else. In the end, he succeeded in convincing himself.” (Pg. 63-64)

He states, “the American Jewish parents sit trying to understand … Why it is that their child refuses to go to the synagogue services they frequent so faithfully three times a year[?]… Jewishness leaves their child apathetic---and worse… he see[s] nothing wrong in intermarriage and in assimilation… Not only is he not emotionally involved with Israel but he marches, instead, for all sorts of strange causes named… Angola and Mozambique… The number of Jews who have lost their children, in this manner, is staggering… a generation is being lost to the Jewish people.” (Pg. 114-115)

He argues, “We Jews are obsessed with love… the compulsive need to have the world, the non-Jew, love us. It is a product of the centuries of … exile---in which sufferings, persecutions, and holocausts engendered within us fears, insecurities, and inferiority complexes… we desperately need reassurance.” (Pg. 134-135)

He asserts, “When all else has been tried and has failed and when the cries of a Jewish brother in distress have not abated, the Jew is morally allowed---nay, compelled---to turn to violence as a last resort. Failure to do so … is a shameful and tragic retreat from a difficult obligation to save a fellow Jew through any and all means.” (Pg. 145) He continues, “Had more Jews known how to fight, more Jews would have lived. Had Jews been able to cast the fear of retaliation into the hearts of Polish East European peasants, fewer would have been turned over to the Germans. Had Jewish fighters possessed Jewish guns and known how to use them, more Germans would have gone to an early grave… History will judge them all---both those who called for the gun and those who condemned it.” (Pg. 155-156)

He states, “Violence is always a bad and a sad thing… But violence is, sometimes, necessary to survive, and when all else has failed, the one who eschews violence for self-destruction and suicide is a fool---and a most un-Jewish one at that.” (Pg. 159)

He says, “Israel came into being because it never came out of being. Israel came back to life because it never died. It was the Jewish State in the days of Joshua… it was the Jewish State when Assyrians and Moabites and Edomites and Philistines and Babylonians and Persians and Hellenes and Romans drifted through history and passed out of it again. It remained Jewish because Jews never left it and there was never a time when Jewish communities did not remain in Zion.” (Pg. 173)

He observes, “The night having descended on Europe, Dachau and Auschwitz and Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen and Treblinka and Majdanek could surface unashamedly. The cattle cars bearing the Jews rolled into the camps, and the superb German efficiency converted their cargoes into dust with increasing efficiency. The beautiful world, about whom we are told to give a damn, yawned at the sight, and a third of [our] people left this earth, post haste.” (Pg. 181)

He comments, “We believe with perfect faith that the Jewish people is indestructible. A people which has suffered the cruelty, the oppression, and the holocausts of the great, long night of exile which has descended for so many centuries upon it and which, nevertheless, survived each and every time one of its more powerful enemies, cannot be destroyed.” (Pg. 190)

He outlines: “The beginning of Jewish wisdom, sanity, and existence begins with the understanding that to be Jewish and to exist as a Jew is a thing devoutly to be desired. It begins with a proud affirmation of … that deep and profound pride in Jewishness and a genuine belief that Jewishness is beautiful… It begins with deep introspection of the ways in which we have been guided by those who call themselves Jewish leaders… It begins with an end to the aimless search for identity and the casting about for roots… It begins with a thirsty drinking from the well of Jewish knowledge, history, and tradition… It begins with a genuine commitment to Jewish nationalism and self-interest… It begins with a new philosophy arising from the mounds of corpses at Auschwitz and Treblinka, from the ashes and decay of the pogroms…. It begins with a rejection of false values and unreal goals… It begins with Hadar---Jewish pride and nationalism… Above all it begins with … the love for each and every Jew.” (Pg. 211-213)

He argues, “At a time when the American Jewish community is the largest and most influential in the world… this American Jewish community has fallen lower than perhaps any other in recent times… If moral bankruptcy deserves pity… then no Jewish community in the world today … deserves more compassion from Heaven than does American Jewry. I know how much resentment the above statements will arouse. No one---no organization, no public body---has authorized me to make such an indictment and to publish such a characterization of American Jewry… But I do not believe that there exists the person who can disprove the basic fact I am pointing to… [That] American Jewry has… made no effort to do… its elementary duty toward the millions of Jews who are captive and doomed to die in Europe!” (Pg. 221-222)

He suggests, “We must … postulate a program for physical Jewish survival in the exile… If the ultimate threat to Jewish survival comes from the existence of powerful extremist groups… it is imperative that the Jew mount a massive and total war on these groups and their existence. The Jew will never be able to stand up to the total strength of the state should its apparatus fall into the hands of the Haters.” (Pg. 255)

He concludes, “This is an outrageous book and much of what is written in it will disturb and infuriate many people. No matter. Men whose lives are carefully built about satisfying other people and who fear to speak out … are hardly men, while those who insist on others agreeing with them are hardly worth concerning ourselves about.” (Pg. 283)

This book was written before Kahane moved to Israel, so it is free of the animus towards Arabs and Palestinians that mars his later writings.

[McGullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was honestly shocked with how little he touches the Israeli-Arab issue and his later opinions. The book mainly criticizes Jewish leaders who bow to antisemites and get a high off being the sympathy of the world. This is a book for strong Jews who can think independently and leave the herd logic behind. This comes from a Jewish leftist Zionist who is very critical of late bearded theocratic Kahane. This is an amazing book which will turn your velt upside down.

[V · Rating 1 out of 5]

So much hate on the pages of this book. Why? Should have focused on the ideas in the latter portion, Jewish pride, values, etc.

[Kareem Maijeens · Rating 1 out of 5]

satanic and evil