In my opinion, much of what is written within Rabbi Antelman's works is both logical and is backed, in most cases, but facts.
alot of guilt by association.
The references in the sufi chapter are all to one book. (fair enough, but it could lead to some narrow view, and he thinks he knows LOADS about sufism. And the book he refers to is a pop culture kind of book STILL, it's a popular accurate book and I asked some sufis about some of the things there, some quotes from sufi gurus, they couldn't refute it. (The stuff like "to the pagan I am as a pagan, e.t.c." winning people over and stuff, a bit like Paul, but Sufism sees itself as a container)
I think he was right to say that Sufism predated islam, and saw it as a container, and they probably had to adopt it to survive. Sufis might agree on that.
But because of his guilt by association thing he puts all sufis in the evil bag. He thinks Sheikh Palazzi is a bad guy, he is clearly wrong there and can get to faulty conclusions. Sheikh Palazzi wrote somewhere online that the bektashi are heterodox, just as there are heterodox movements within the jewish people. He is against this.
There are faults, as with most books, but many pluses too. I enjoyed following through his books and the main books he referenced. His find of Moses Mendelssohn's ordination certificate was huge, and it condemns Eibeschutz.
One of his most outrageous facts was not documented well..
He wrote that Hitler's something(father? father's father?) was jewish, and 9 months before hitler was born, it was purim, to the date. Sabbateans would have an orgy on purim. So he said Hitler was conceived on purim. (something like that anyway, there may have been a 3 months somewhere). He said that Hitler's birth is recorded in rabbinical records.. I emailed him about it, he hadn't copied it, but he said he and Rabbi (Dubovik?) "of betar", witnessed it.
So, I didn't bother to remember it clearly.. It wasn't well documented.
He is more organised than Chamish, but that's not hard.
And he does provide references. And given the claims that he makes, that is really big..
They are good references. They are to authoritative books , and he doesn't twist them. He uses them accurately.
In the beginning of vol 1 or 2 he provides a really interesting picture of the family that Rabbi Yaakov Emden came from, a great rabbinical family, and some sabbatean families, and then how a branch of the great rabbinical family was subverted, and Karl Marx was produced. Then he shows that Rabbi Meir Kahane was from this great rabbinical family, (not subverted of course). His reference there was "The Golden Chain". I wasn't able to get that book though.
I did enjoy going through the books he referenced often. I mentioned one already.
I got the Quigley one but it was huge and not that interesting for me.
Shabbati Zvi did exist with many followers, one being Jacob Frank who headed the Frankists. Like Chaim founded JTF or Kahane JDL, all these other movements did have agendas and many followers and still do.
Different place, different time period.
But yes, Jacob Frank , it seems, was a Sabbatean theologically, and I guess he certainly identified as such. wouldn't suprise me.. I never studied him much but it seems to be the case.
<snip>
Also, in my opinion, I feel Chamish cannot be dismissed out of hand, however, one cannot take Chamish verbatim because I've personally found that he tends to not check his facts but seek out logical but unsubstantiated coincidences. I believe his work "Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin?" is his best work and only real work that can be taken very seriously. However, the rest are piecemeal of fact and fantasy due to, in my opinion and others, that Chamish went insane after the death of his son.
I think his book "who murdered yitzchak rabin" is a nightmare to read like all his others.
The one that was just about possible to read was "Save Israel" , which he calls "his hamlet".
That had an index, which REALLY helps! I quite enjoyed it at times.
What I found very useful was the Video that accompanies the Rabin book. The video has KEY video evidence. (some now online, but some not online)..
And he explains fine in the video. It is a lecture to an audience. They understood what he was saying. And one can always pause it and contemplate, and try to make sense of it.
That video makes all the difference.
And with the Video and Book, The key thing next to the video, are Rabin's Xrays which he includes a copy of.
Really, the Rabin thing is NOT the key to chamish. It is not his only real work and it is not his most important thing. And it is not the goal.
Rabin was a launching pad to explain to people about the CFR, and Chamish did that very well.
He described them in one or two very well documented articles
His basic theory is, imo, true but Chamish tends to reach for things that just are not there or not true/factually correct... but cannot be dismissed out of hand because he does uncover and say many things that most others will not...
my two cents...
There is always the problem of what parts are true and have a good basis, and one doesn't always have time to look into it.
The CFR sruff was great.. The rabin stuff was great.
Look. He had a hunch about Daniel Pipes. Call it baseless, but he was right. He has a very creative detective like mind that is difficult to follow, and it's obvious that sometimes he has good sources that he doesn't divulge, and sometimes he just can't be bothered to say how he knows something. He really just enjoys the story. It's annoying, because for me at least, it's not enjoyable to wrap my head around it, and I don't want just juicy highlights , I want to see the basis for things.
He had his instincts on Pipes, and backed it up -afterwards-.
Essentially though, I would agree with your conclusion, that he does uncover things, it is always worth a read. But I don't take it as gospel either. Unless it is REALLY REALLY well documented. Sometimes googling some things he mentions brings up great references.
Chamish mentioned the CFR, and Antelman too.. I think Rabbi Antelman said that their annual report is available from the CFR headquarters in NY. And a membership list.
Googling brought this up (this is actually an interesting site.. though conspiracies aren't really my area, apart from a few things)
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread60689/pg1It has some interesting quotes from
The CFR?s Annual Report for July 1, 1993-June 30, 1994
How basically what is said in the mettings cannot be repeated.
Chamish has found alot of the material produced by the CFR to be very anti israel. The CFR is at a minimum, a very influential lobbying group. But more than that.. many former presidents and important people are members. And their membership list is a public thing.
Infact, there's something interesting on youtube with Ron Paul talking about the CFR. (of course, i'm not for Ron Paul after how Chaim has described him.. But that doesn't invalidate everything he says). That's just an interesting footnote. A presidential candidate that often mentioned the US constitution, that many patriotic americans quite liked, he is not a loony, and he he has gotten as far as he has, and he talks about it quite candidly. Doesn't prove anything but it's just interesting, I found that clip yesterday.
Topic: MUST READ FOR JEWS: E-Book "To Eliminate the Opiate" - Rabbi Marvin S. Antelman (Read 24994 times)