Meet Michael Rodkinson

You have probably never heard of Michael L Rodkinson.

That’s OK. I also hadn’t until about three days ago.

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That’s when I was actually reading through Antelmann’s TO ELIMINATE THE OPIATE again, Volumes I and II, after a reader reminded me about them.

And that’s where (in Volume 2), I found a whole bunch of information about another scion of Chabad, who was also an extremely dodgy character, one MICHAEL L. RODKINSON.

Who was actually born MICHAEL LEVI FRUMKIN.

This guy:

He’s the half brother of ISRAEL DOV FRUMKIN – the guy we’ve learned a load about in connection with CHARIDEE and CORRUPTION in the HOLY LAND.

RODKINSON is also the maternal grandson of Aaron HaLevi ben Moses (Hurwitz) of Starosely.

You may not have heard of R’ AARON, but he was SHNEUR ZALMAN of LIADI’s leading student.

There was a war of succession after the ALTER REBBE passed away, and ‘official history’ tells us it was won by the Alter Rebbe’s son, Dov Ber, who then became Chabad’s Mitteler Rebbe.

Oh, and Dov Ber is the brother of MOSHE SHNEURI, who we’re told then went all ‘xtian’, just to get back at his family for not making him the next Rebbe.

 

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HERE is AARON of STAROSELYE’s English Wiki page.

Here’s a snippet:

He was one of the most enthusiastic and steadfast disciples of the kabbalist Shneur Zalman of Liadi, rabbi of Liozna and Liadi, and studied under him until he had acquired a full knowledge of his mystic lore.

He urged Rabbi Shneur Zalman to publish his work, Tanya (Slavita, 1796); and when the latter was imprisoned by a royal decree in 1798, Aaron traveled from town to town to collect money from his master’s followers, to ransom him, or at least to bribe the jailer and the prison warders to allow them to see Rabbi Shneur Zalman.

After the latter’s death in 1812, Aaron took up his residence as rabbi at Staroselye, and many flocked to him to have the Law explained in accordance with the teachings of his master.

These formed a school known as the Hasidim of Staroselye.

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R AARON was a very serious student of Chabad philosophy.

His works are still being quoted by some of the biggest ‘names’ in Chabad today.

So, perhaps you will be shocked to learn that MICHAEL FRUMKIN / RODKINSON, AHARON of STAROSELYE’s maternal grandson – was apparently also a xtian missionary.

Or at the very least, working for missionaries, and also, notorious anti-semites, in their attempts to convert Jews.

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Let’s quote a bit from ANTELMANN’s Volume II, of TO ELIMINATE THE OPIATE:

 

Until the first comprehensive English translation of the Talmud by Soncino  Press appeared (1935-1952); a non- comprehensive translation by M.L. Rodkinson was the only one in existence.

Most scholars utilizing his works were  unaware that he was a sinister personality whose primary efforts to render portions of the Talmud into English was for the purpose of disinformation and  for providing grist for anti-Semitic attacks on Jewry via careful distortion of  selected words and mis-translation of Talmudic passages, and facilitating their  use out of context.

…  Joseph Bloch’s My Reminiscences (Arno Press, New York, 1973) exposes Rodkinson’s intrigues.

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Antelmann continues:

Rodkinson lived a Frankist existence. He changed religions,  forged passports and was chased by the police for fraud and forgery.

His real  name was M.L. Frumkin, but he used many aliases. Rodkinson edited a Hebrew  paper called HaChozeh whose purpose was to convert Jews to Christianity.

One  of Rodkinson’s Hebrew works reiterated the insidious “Blood Libel” that Jews  utilized Christian blood to bake matzot for Passover.

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It’s not just Antelmann who speaks about the base character of Rodkinson, although for sure, Antelmann is on the charif end of the spectrum, and connects Rodkinson back to the missionising work and anti-semitic plots of the Frankists that no-one else touches with a barge pole.

But blogs like On the Main Line, in the post below, also point out there were many problems with Rodkinson’s translation of the Talmud:

On the Main Line: The literary scoundrel. Some notes on Rodkinson’s Talmud translation.

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Let’s return to Antelmann.

In TO ELIMINATE THE OPIATE VOLUME II, he explains how RODKINSON provided the raw material used by notorious anti-semites like AUGUST ROHLING.

ROHLING was an Austrian catholic theologian who publically accused the Jews of using ‘blood in their matzahs’ etc (based on the sources provided to him by RODKINSON….)

Rohling was apparently one of the people who influenced one A. Hitler…

(But at this stage, honestly, who knows what was really going on with Hitler, and whether he wasn’t just another ‘puppet’ put on the international stage by the Evils pulling the strings from the back room.)

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Here’s a snippet from the JTA archive about AUGUST ROHLING, where it explains how after Rohling had published pamphlets quoting the Zohar and other texts to ‘prove’ his blood libels against the Jews (that had been provided to him by Rodkinson), Rabbi Bloch decided to publically challenge him:

Dr Josef S. Bloch … accused Rohling of ignorance and of forgery of the texts. Rohling sued Bloch for libel, but withdrew the suit at the last moment.

Later on [Rohling] greeted the appearance of Zionism as a solution of the Jewish question.

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TO ELIMINATE THE OPIATE brings a lot of information about Rodkinson’s role in all of this.

Here’s some of it:

Having finished off Rohling, Rabbi Bloch proceeded to expose Rodkinson as Rohling’s supplier of material for anti-Jewish literature in a very ingenious manner, without risking any legal tangles with him.

Using a pseudonym, Kolbo,  he wrote an article in the Jewish tabloid Neuzeit that appeared on November  20, 1885, under the heading “The Third in the League”.

Rabbi Bloch suggested without mentioning Rodkinson’s name that in addition to Rohling and  his known colleague, apostate Justis Aron Briman, there was a third party….

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Antelmann continues:

Accordingly, Viennese  Jewry dropped “R” like a hot potato. When Rodkinson realized what was  happening, he began a propaganda campaign on his own behalf that included  several thousand copies of a pamphlet in his defense, to get him back into the  graces of Austrian Jewry….

The Vienna Frankists reprinted and widely circulated this item.

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Simultaneously,  they began to put in place a special Hebrew printing office that was supposed  to be under “R”s supervision. All the machines and type were in place when Rodkinson was apprehended by the authorities.

A police report dated March  9, 18828 indicated he was arrested for fraud under a warrant of capture issued  by the Saint Petersburg Criminal Court. Pursuant to his capture, the daily  Viennese Press was replete with stories of Rodkinson’s criminal past and his  affiliation with Rohling.

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The Freemason-Frankists have been using the same tactics over and over again, for a very long time – including the mass-production of propaganda which is then flooded all over the Jewish community, to sway public opinion and distort the truth.

Don’t forget, as well as being the maternal grandson of the Chabad devotee R AHARON of STAROSELYE and apparently a xtian missionary working for proto-nazis like ROHLING, Rodkinson is also the half brother of one of THE most prominent ‘leaders of the yishuv’ in Eretz Yisrael at this time, ISRAEL DOV FRUMKIN.

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Doesn’t this strike you as something to pay attention to?

That so very many ‘Chabad luminaries’ seem to be so closely connected to ‘political zionism’ and the State of Israel, to ‘xtian missionising’, and to Frankist-Freemasons?

And that’s just from the crumbs of the real story that they haven’t managed to totally hide away?

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When he wasn’t smearing the Jewish community with blood libels, RODKINSON was apparently also publishing books of stories about the Baal Shem Tov.

I am still trying to figure out how all this is meant to go together.

The National Library Archives in Jerusalem, online HERE, has a whole bunch of books attributed to RODKINSON, and also, about him.

This is the next one on my reading list:

מיכאל הנהפך לסמואל : … : פרומקין היה שמו ושם משפחתו … ראדקינסזאהן בשנותו … על שם אמו … / מחברת ראשונה – מאת יוסף כהן צדק | Book | כהן צדק, יוסף בן אהרן, 1827-1903 | The National Library of Israel (nli.org.il)

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Barely a day goes past at the moment, where I’m not reading more anti-semitic stories and comments, or hearing about more anti-semitic podcasts getting a wide hearing.

The time when the good guys in the Jewish community – which is most of us – could just put our heads in the sand and ignore what’s going on with all this are over.

We need to understand how our community got hijacked by people who were probably never real Jews, and / or if they ever were real Jews, they sold themselves out to the devil, literally, a very long time ago.

We need to do that birur.

We need to start asking some very hard questions – especially, about the people and organisations who have been ‘leading us’ for the last 2-300 years.

And I would put Chabad at the very top of that list.

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That will do for today.

I am still working on the next tranche of the story about the Frankist backers of the ‘SAINT SIMON’ project to create a new religion, that would replace God with ‘science’ (and Isaac Newton….).

God forbid.

It’s taking longer than expected to put together, as I keep coming across new bits of information, and keeping a handle on it all is kind of challenging.

But BH, if Hashem wants the story ‘out there’, He’ll help me to boil it down to manageable proportions.

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As soon as I post this up, I am heading to Meah Shearim, to celebrate Rebbe Nachman’s hiloula down in Meah Shearim, with Shuvu Banim and Rav Berland.

Last year, it was such a flat, depressing, disturbing event.

There was such a heavy vibe, and the Rav seemed what you’d almost call ‘depressed’. Clearly, because he knew what was about to hit us all a few short days later.

I am really hoping that this year, things will be totally different.

I know it looks and feels really dark at the moment, for so many different reasons.

But I read Kohelet today, and King Shlomo tells us clearly, that even though God has tremendous patience, and that the punishment for evil is not immediate, in order to enable free choice – evil is inevitably always punished.

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We are at, or approaching, the tipping point.

God is still in charge of every tiny little thing that occurs in the world.

And especially, in Eretz Yisrael.

So, moadim l’simcha, dear reader.

And we’ll pick this story up again, after the chag.

 

 

7 replies
  1. AK
    AK says:

    In relation to your mention of Chabad being connected to political Zionism, the 3rd president of Israel was Zalman Shazar- originally born Shneur Zalman Rubashov who originally came from a Chabad family.

    Chag Sameach.

    Reply
    • Rivka Levy
      Rivka Levy says:

      The Alter Rebbe’s great grandson, CHAIM TZVI SHNEERSON, was the first person on record calling for a ‘Jewish State’ (while he hung out with a bunch of US presidents and spoke to big conferences of xtian zionists….)

      The list of ‘Chabad luminaries’ with fingers in the political zionism pie is really, really long.

      The Alter Rebbe himself comes from a marrano family – descendant of ‘Baruch Portugaler’, who apparently owned some big estates.

      At a time when ‘Jews’ actually couldn’t own big estates….

      It’s a whole mess.
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      You can see a picture of the tombstone of ‘Baruch’, or rather ‘Yisrael Baruch’, the father of the Alter Rebbe here:

      https://theantitzemach.blogspot.com/2013/01/new-revelations-about-alter-rebbes.html

      There’s a whole interesting discussion in the comments, about how what’s written on the tombstone clashes with ‘official Chabad genealogy’.

      Not least, that ‘Yisrael Baruch’ is the son of Avraham on the tombstone – as all converts were called….

      Reply
  2. Anonymous Brazil
    Anonymous Brazil says:

    Allow me to add my two cents:

    If there were a bond between Zionists and Chabad, I believe it would be beneficial and would not have led to years and years of anti-Jewish measures and legislation in the Zionist State.

    Even Revisionist Zionism, which later gave rise to some branches such as religious Zionists, is still seen as antagonistic to the ‘democratic’ character of Israel.

    These family ties are interesting but do not explain the basis, which is that the Enlightenment phenomenon unfortunately swept through European Jewish communities, and unless I am mistaken, as some people may think, not all Jews were versed and literate in the Torah at that time, thus being susceptible to the most varied social and cultural movements in force in an oppressive society. In addition to Zionism, any socialist, anarchist, feminist, communist or libertarian movement had prominent Jews among its thinkers and organizers. And of course, many of these Jews came from shtetls or even from wealthy families.

    I remember reading a shiur by Rabbi Eliezer Berland in which he said that if Leon Trotsky had not refused to go to the Yeshiva he would have been greater than the Chazon Ish. This was due to his true genius in his field of social transformation. My father is a Trotskyist communist, for example, who are more radicalized but I would say more genius than the Stalinists. But without getting too lost, I think I made myself clear… the yichus does not interfere in this case. I do not believe that there is any manipulation on the part of rabbinical dynasties to take some kind of power.

    Reply
    • Rivka Levy
      Rivka Levy says:

      Thanks for the comment, and the very measured, balanced tone of it.

      If you haven’t already, perhaps have a look at this:

      https://www.academia.edu/1316532/Leadership_in_the_Habad_Movement

      It’s not the ‘yichus’ per se – the Rebbe’s younger brother, Aryeh Leib, was a radical communist-anarchist for example, kind of proving your point – but the argument is not that people from all backgrounds can ‘fall’ to wherever they fall to.

      That’s true.

      The argument, the problem, the ‘fact’ is more that the same small group of people are ALWAYS in power, and ALWAYS manipulating the Jewish community to retain that power, regardless of how they dress or behave externally.

      Like all good mafias, there are different ways of ‘doing business’, and different Dons who want to expand their turf and be the biggest mafioso on the block, and that leads to warfare between the different mafias.

      But at their root, it’s still ‘governance’ by mafia families, who have agendas that are all about maintaining their power and control and honor (and assets….) and not doing what is best for the people around them, and under them.

      Some of the individual mafiosos have a more spiritual bent, and a more spiritual agenda to gain ‘control’, it’s true.

      But that doesn’t mean they aren’t still mafiosos. Who are working for themselves, and their own agendas, and their own ‘honor’ (and assets….) and not for what is best for the Jewish people, fundamentally.

      The really good people in these families walk out of the ‘corridors of power’ as fast as they can, and try to ‘disappear’.

      Reply
    • האיש
      האיש says:

      REMEMBER COVID ? MASKS ? ETC ? SO WHO WAS IT THAT WAS TELLING THE PEOPLE TO DO WHAT ?
      PLEASE CONTINUE TO BELIEVE ” I do not believe that there is any manipulation on the part of rabbinical dynasties to take some kind of power.”
      DO NOT THINK, THEY WILL BE TELLING YOU AGAIN, OR ARE THEY TELLING YOU SOMETHING NOW ?

      Reply

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