Der Stürmer

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Jewish Invention Myths: Anthropology

Source: https://www.renegadetribune.com/jewish-invention-myths-anthropology/

by Karl Radl

Our next ‘jewish invention’ myth is the claim by Daniel Zar that jews ‘invented the subject of anthropology’ or more specifically so-called ‘modern anthropology’.

Zar writes specifically credits jewish anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss as the ‘father of modern anthropology’ (1) which simply shows that Zar knows nothing about anthropology as it is a discipline that started out as a single entity – rather like psychology – and has subsequently split into multiple and often mutually exclusive sub-fields that often contradict each other but may be broadly split between cultural anthropology and physical anthropology.

Cultural anthropology is broadly a branch of sociology that doesn’t want to engage in the hard data mining aspect of sociology, while physical anthropology is broadly an applied version of human biology, genetics and forensic medicine. The two broad groupings within anthropology couldn’t be more different with cultural anthropology being dominated by jews and the political left almost from the very beginning (2) and physical anthropology being dominated by the political right from the very beginning. (3)

Anthropology developed from the earlier discipline of ethnology in the 1850s and 1860s in Europe in and around the time of the co-discovery of evolution by the British naturalists Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in the 1850s. The French doctor Paul Broca is broadly considered the founder of physical anthropology in 1859, while the German psychologist and philosopher Theodor Waitz is broadly considered the founder of cultural anthropology in the same year with the publication of the first volume of his six volume ‘Die Anthropologie der Naturvolker’ (‘The Anthropology of Primitive Peoples’).

This was formalized in 1863 when British explorer and linguist Sir Richard Francis Burton and speech therapist James Hunt formed the ‘Anthropological Society of London’, while Hunt published one of the first anthropological treatises in English titled ‘The Negro’s Place in Nature’ arguing for the reality of racial differences. Burton and Hunt’s society was subsequently absorbed into the ‘Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland’ upon its founding in 1871. (4)

The point being that jews have absolutely nothing to do with the invention of ‘modern anthropology’ let alone anthropology as a discipline and they subsequently perverted and twisted the discipline of anthropology to support pre-determined Marxist conclusions. (5) All Claude Levi-Strauss did for anthropology was to repackage the ideas of his fellow member of the tribe (and founding father of many academic anthropology departments in the United States) Franz Boas into a new form called ‘Structuralist Anthropology’ in the mid to late 1940s that doesn’t propose or suggest anything that anthropologists and ethnologists hadn’t been doing for nearly a century at that point (6) but rather created a system for leftists in anthropology – who were often jewish (for example ‘Ashley Montagu’ [Israel Ehrenberg] and one of the founders of Afrocentrism Melville Herskowits) – (7) to use to better promote their nonsense claims that ‘race didn’t matter’ and that ‘we all bleed red so therefore we are all the same’ which still dominate most mainstream political and intellectual thought to this day.

In essence jews didn’t ‘invent’ anthropology but rather they utterly corrupted it into the nonsensical rotten word salad of an intellectual discipline that it still largely is to this day.

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References

(1) https://www.historyandheadlines.com/10-great-jewish-contributions-mankind/

(2) Cf. Gary Bullert, 2009, ‘Franz Boas as Citizen-Scientist: Gramscian-Marxist Influence on American Anthropology’, The Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 208-243; also see Roger Pearson, 1997, ‘Race, Intelligence and Bias in Academe’, 2nd Edition, Scott-Townsend: Washington D.C.

(3) Cf. Conway Zirkle, 1959, ‘Evolution, Marxian Biology, and the Social Scene’, 1^st Edition, University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia and Carleton Putnam, 1961, ‘Race and Reason: A Yankee View’, 1^st Edition, Public Affairs Press: Washington D.C.

(4) Much of this is covered in some detail – albeit pejoratively – in Dane Kennedy, 2007, ‘The Highly Civilized Man: Richard Burton and the Victorian World’, 1^st Edition, Harvard University Press: Cambridge, and Frank McLynn, 1991, ‘From the Sierras to the Pampas: Richard Burton’s Travels in the Americas 1860-1869’, 1st Edition, Century: London

(5) Cf. Bullert, Op. Cit.; Pearson, Op. Cit.; Zirkle, Op. Cit.; for how this has impacted society ever since cf. Frank Ellis, 2001, ‘Race, Marxism and the “Deconstruction” of the United Kingdom’, The Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 694-718 in addition to Frank Ellis, 2006, ‘Marxism, Multiculturalism, and Free Speech’, Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies Monograph Series No. 31, Council for Social and Economic Studies: Washington D.C.

(6) For example, cf. Kennedy, Op. Cit.

(7) On the jewish origins of Afrocentrism please see my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/martin-bernal-and-melville-herskowits

Sunday, August 30, 2026

The World is Waiting for You White Men!

Thursday, August 27, 2026

Jews in America – Part I

„We have the Israelis coming to us for equipment. We can say we can’t possibly get the Congress to support a program like this. And they say don’t worry about the Congress. We will take care of the Congress. This is somebody from another country, but they can do it. They own, you know, the banks in this country. The newspapers. Just look at where the Jewish money is.“ (General George S. Brown)

„Now, just think, to accuse me of such a crime. Think of it! I, who have for twenty-five years single- handed struggled against the invasion of the Russian Government into American money markets, and to this day stave them off. Think of it! Who, as I, have been foremost in the past for agitation and insisted to the President of the United States; as some of you must know, that our treaty with Russia must be abrogated.“ (New York Times, June 5, 1916. Articles entitled, Jacob Schiff Quits Jewish Movements.“

„The guidance and control of America has gravitated into the hands of those least worthy of trusteeship. One of their most notable achievements, has been the making of ‘male prostitutes’ who do the dirty work for them [Jews]. A ‘male prostitute’ is a male who offers the facilities of his anatomy from the neck up, to anyone who is willing to pay the price, exactly as a female prostitute of the same species offers her body from the waist down. Thousands of these ‘pseudo-Christian ‘male prostitutes – male prostitutes are circulating in all walks of life, pandering to evil propaganda for monetary profit and political power.“ (Facts Are Facts, by Benjamin Freedman).

„Do not let the forces of evil take over to make this a Christian America.“ (Senator Howard Metzenbaum, 11/6/86)

„Although a Republican, the former Governor has a sincere regard for President Roosevelt and his politics. He referred to the ‘Jewish ancestry’ of the President, explaining how he is a descendent of the Rossocampo family expelled from Spain in 1620. Seeking safety in Germany, Holland and other countries, members of the family, he said, changed their name to Rosenberg, Rosenbaum, Rosenblum, Rosenvelt and Rosenthal. The Rosenvelts in North Holland finally became Roosevelt, soon becoming apostates with the first generation and other following suit until, in the fourth generation, a little storekeeper by the name of Jacobus Roosevelt was the only one who remained true to his Jewish Faith. It is because of this Jewish ancestry, Former Governor Osborn said, that President Roosevelt has the trend of economic safety (?) in his veins.“ (Chase S. Osborn, 1934 at St. Petersburg, Florida, The Times Newspaper).

„The Jews are a Distinct Nationality regardless of where they live, their station in life or their shades of belief, and his clarion call to all the Jews in the world to ‘organize, organize, organize,’ until every Jew in America must stand up and be counted - counted with us - or prove himself, wittingly or unwittingly, of the few who are against their own people.“ (From and address delivered in June, 1915, before the Eastern Council of the Central Conference of Reform Rabbis, by Justice Louis D. Brandeis).

„But either Europe will be recognized on a revolutionary basis or it will not survive. Once the sovereign State is no longer recognized, once international laws control and limit the sovereignty of the States, the way will be paved for real safeguards of citizens’ rights and of the rights of minority groups. The whole conception of majorities and minorities may get a different aspect...You are not only the strongest Jewry of the world numerically, not only the most powerful Jewry of the world politically, socially and economically...The same applies to American Jewry within the more limited field of its possibilities and tasks, if it will be dominated by the feeling of solidarity with European Jewry, realizing that its future is linked up with the future of European Jewry because we are one people.“ (In an address of Dr. Nahum Goldmann, a British Rabbi, Chairman of the Administrative Committee of the World Jewish Congress, reported in the New York Times, February 11, 1940).

„To you, Mr. President (Franklin D. Roosevelt), we say: Neither you nor any of your (Jewish) Roosevelt ancestors has ever fought in any war for America, notwithstanding they have lived in and off New York City, since Colonial days, as big merchants and money-changers. We tell you we want to live and be happy, to delve, to work, to succeed, to fail, to fall, to rise, to know the uses of adversity, to ‘treat the blows of circumstance,’ to have our homes, however humble; to provide for our wives and children, to rear our sons, to aid and comfort our sick, poor and helpless without regard to race, creed or color, to serve Christ and country free from Europe’s incessant strife, to seek the pathways of the just, to do our bit for humanity and America, and to defend our native land to the last drop of blood; but we and our posterity demand freedom from tribal wars on foreign soil and the right to have our say as to whether we die on the Rhine and become Europe’s cannon fodder. We deny your right by sly parallel understandings and secret negotiations, aided by press, radio, war-mongers, fellow travelers and foreign scum, who have become our arrogant, demanding guests, to traffic in our blood, birthright and security. ‘Lord, God of Hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget - lest we forget.’„ (Cincinnatus, War! War! War!, p. 8)

„Well, we have the leverage in the sense that we supply all the wherewithal...or a major part of the wherewithal to finance or to pay for everything Israel does. We don’t have any leverage in the sense that Israel controls the Senate. The Senate is at least...a subservient, in my opinion, much too much. We should be more concerned about the United States’ interest, rather than doing the bidding of Israel. This is a most unusual development.“ (Senator William J. Fulbright).

But almost always conversion on these terms was only outward and false. Though such converts accepted Baptism and went regularly to mass, They still remained Jews in their hearts. They were called Marranos, ‘Accursed Ones,’ and there were perhaps a hundred thousand of them. Often they possessed enormous wealth. Their daughters married into the noblest families, even into the blood royal, and their sons sometimes entered the Church and rose to the highest offices. It is said that even one of the popes (Pope Leo X, Pope Clement VII was just two of them, as related in Philip II, William Thomas Walsh) was of this Marrano stock.“ (A Program for the Jews and Humanity, Rabbi Harry Waton, p. 234-235).

„The great majority of the Senate of the United States...somewhere around 80 percent...are completely in support of Israel, anything Israel wants. This has been demonstrated time and again, and this has made it difficult.“ (Senator William J. Fulbright)

„Our major vice of old, as of today, is parasitism. We are a people of vultures living on the labor and the good nature of the rest of the world...What a sorry spectacle the Jews makes on this continent which he pretends to have enriched! Not only does he fail to contribute any glamor [culture and art] to the scene. He does not even contribute man-power. He does not dig wells, plough fields, forge skyscrapers, lay bricks, cut out trenches, spin wheels, bake dough, fell trees, pack tin cans, sweep streets, heave coal, fire furnaces, weave cloth, dig subways, raise ramparts, wall floods, rivet bridges, hinge gates, or fight fires...Towards the man-power of America, Jewry contributes only that which it catches in its own sweatshops, as in so many rat traps - set by itself. It seems to be part of the Jew’s unwritten code that he should never work. Unless something happens to change his vision, I venture to add that he never will, either...I cannot find anything of value that the Jews have created in their 250 years residence on the American continent.“ (Samuel Roth, Jews Must Live, The Golden Hind Press, New York (1934), pp. 56, 101, 108).

„It was Marxist Jews who were behind the anti-white ‘civil rights’ movement in America to breakdown the natural barrier between the white and colored races. It was the Jew Joel Spingarn who had founded and headed the ‘National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’ in 1909. After his death his son Arthur headed the NAACP until 1965. The Vice President was another Jew, Rabbi Solomon. In 1965 another Jew, Kevie Kaplan, took over the organization. Two longstanding Jewish lawyers for the NAACP were Andrew D. Weinberger and Jack Greenberg.“ (Weinberger and Greenberg had filed briefs of amici curiae in the U.S. Supreme Court, on behalf of the NAACP, to strike down a Virginia statute which prohibited interracial marriages, in the case of Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1(1967). Two Jewish lawyers, Benard S. Cohen and Philip J. Hirschkop argued the case for the appellants (the interracial couple). The Virginia law was held to violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The Jews won!). (Charles A. Weisman, Who is Esau-Edom, p. 107).

„Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (read that Jewish influence), I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens, the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican Government. But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, and excessive dislike of another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real Patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests. Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?“ (Washington’s Farewell Address).

„The citizens of the United States cherish sentiments the most friendly in favor of liberty and happiness...beyond the Atlantic. In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy to do so. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries...“ (President James Monroe).

„Their (Europe’s - Jewish) mutual jealousies, their balance of power, their complicated alliances, their forms and principles of government are all foreign to us. They are nations of eternal war. All their energies are expended in the destruction of the labor, property, and lives of their people. On our part never had a people so favorable a chance of trying the opposite system, of peace and fraternity with mankind, and the direction of all our means and faculties to the purposes of improvement instead of destruction...And the system of government which shall keep us afloat amidst the wreck of the world will be immortalized in history. I am so far from believing that our reputation will be tarnished by our not having mixed in the made contests of the rest of the world that, setting aside the ravings of pepper-pot politicians, of whom there are enough in every age and country,, I believe it will place us high on the scale of wisdom to have preserved our country tranquil and prosperous during a contest which prostrated the honor, power, independence, laws, and property of every country on the other side of the Atlantic.“ (President Thomas Jefferson)

„The political system of the United States is essentially extra-European. To stand in firm and cautious independence of all entanglement in the European system has been a cardinal point of their policy under every administration of their government from the peace of 1783 to this day...Every year’s experience rivets it more deeply in the principles and opinions of the nation.“ (President John Quincy Adams).

„We must realize that our party’s most powerful weapon is racial tension. By pounding into the consciousness of the dark races, that for centuries they have been oppressed by whites, we can mold them into the program of the Communist Party. In America, we aim for several victories. While inflaming the Negro minorities against the whites, we will instill in the whites a guilt complex for their supposed exploitation of the Negroes. We will aid the Blacks to rise to prominence in every walk of life and in the world of sports and entertainment. With this prestige,, the Negro will be able to intermarry with the whites and will begin the process which will deliver America to our cause.“ (Jewish Playwright Israel Cohen, A Radical Program For The Twentieth Century. Also entered into the Congressional Record on June 7, 1957, by Rep. Thomas Abernathy).

„Which are you first, a Jew or an American? A Jew.“ (David Ben Gurion)

„...This weakness of the President [Roosevelt] frequently results in failure on the part of the White House to report all the facts to the Senate and the Congress; its [The Administration] description of the prevailing situation is not always absolutely correct and in conformity with the truth...When I lived in America, I learned that Jewish personalities – most of them rich donors for the parties – had easy access to the President. They used to contact him over the head of the Foreign Secretary and the representative at the United Nations and other officials. They were often in a position to alter the entire political line by a single telephone conversation...Stephen Wise...occupied a unique position, not only within American Jewry, but also generally in America...He was a close friend of Wilson...he was also an intimate friend of Roosevelt and had permanent access to him, a factor which naturally affected his relations to other members of the American Administration...Directly after this, the President’s car stopped in front of the veranda, and before we could exchange greetings, Roosevelt remarked: ‘How interesting! Sam Roseman, Stephen Wise and Nahum Goldman are sitting there discussing what order they should give the President of the United States. Just imagine what amount of money the Nazis would pay to obtain a photo of this scene.’ We began to stammer to the effect that there was an urgent message from Europe to be discussed by us, which Rosenman would submit to him on Monday. Roosevelt dismissed him with the words: ‘This is quite all right, on Monday I shall hear from Sam what I have to do,’ and he drove on.“ (USA, Europe, Israel, Nahum Goldmann, pp. 53, 66-67, 116).

„No sooner was the President’s statement made...than a Jewish deputation came down from New York and in two days ‘fixed’ the two houses [of Congress] so that the President had to renounce the idea.“ (As recorded by Sir Harold Spring-Rice, former British Ambassador to the U.S. in reference to a proposed treaty with Czarist Russia, favored by the President)

„The present program of palliative relief must give way to a program of fundamental reconstruction. American democracy must be socialized by subjecting industrial production and distribution to the will of the People’s Congress. The first step is to abolish the federal veto and to enlarge the express powers of the national government through immediate constitutional amendment. A gradual march in the direction of socialization will follow.“ (Rabbi Victor Eppstein, Opinion April, 1937)

„I am not an American citizen of Jewish faith. I am a Jew. I have been an American for sixty-three years, but I have been a Jew for 4 000 years.“ (Rabbi Stephen S. Wise)

„When the conspirators get ready to take over the United States they will use fluoridated water and vaccines to change people’s attitudes and loyalties and make them docile, apathetic, unconcerned and groggy. According to their own writings and the means they have already confessedly employed, the conspirators have deliberately planned and developed methods to mentally deteriorate, morally debase, and completely enslave the masses. They will prepare vaccines containing drugs that will completely change people. Secret Communist plans for conquering America were adopted in 1914 and published in 1953. These plans called for compulsory vaccination with vaccines containing change agent drugs. They also plan on using disease germs, fluoridation and vaccinations to weaken the people and reduce the population.“ (Impact of Science on Society, by Bertrand Russell)

„The non-Europeanization of America is heartening news of an almost transcendental quality.“ (Ben Wattenberg, Jewish ‘philosopher,’ in The Good News, The Bad News, p. 84)

Monday, August 24, 2026

The Jewish Origins of Usury

Source: https://www.renegadetribune.com/the-jewish-origins-of-usury/

by Karl Radl

One of the most hated practices in history is that of usury and many people associate the invention (or at least major exponents) of usury with the jews. (1) Traditionally this has been poohpoohed by jewish and philo-Semitic historians and writers with various methods of obfuscation being used with the most common being the claim that ‘non-jews were engaging in but the jews outlawed’ and that ‘non-jews blamed it on jews when they were in fact doing it just as much if not more than the jews’. These arguments against the idea that jews as a group often engaged in usury are beyond the scope of this article and I will address these separately.

However, the argument that is probably the most used is the claim that the jews ‘didn’t invent usury’ and ‘were the first to regulate it’.

The argument goes that usury existed before the jews first appear onto the stage of history and usually the Code of Hammurabi (c. 1775 B.C.) is bought up as an example of usury being legislated against before jews appear in history.

The problem with this argument is that it completely mischaracterizes the nature of laws on interest that came before the Biblical prohibitions and especially Deuteronomy 23:19-20 which states that:

‘When you lend money, food, or anything else to another Israelite, you are not allowed to charge interest. You can charge a foreigner interest. But if you charge other Israelites interest, the Lord your God will not let you be successful in the land you are about to take.’ (2)

Since the bland statement in Deuteronomy that interest cannot be charged to an Israelite (= jew) but can be charged to a foreigner (= non-jew) is completely unique in the history of interest rates in the ancient/classical world. (3)

Further – as Robert Maloney is careful to note – while some of the discussions of ancient texts as regards legislation around interest rates and creditor/debtor ‘are often not clear’. (4) The fact remains that strict limitations were put on rates of interest as well as the treatment of creditors and debtors in the ancient Near East and only ancient Israel had any kind of blanket ban on taking interest. (5)

The first direct mention of the charging of interest occurs in the Laws of Eshnunna during the Old Babylonian period and date to shortly before the Code of Hammurabi.

Where laws 18a to 21 state that:

‘18A. Per 1 shekel (of silver) he will add one sixth of a shekel and 6 grains as interest; per 1 kor (of barley) he will add 1 (pan) and 4 seah of barley as interest.

19. The man who gives (a loan) in terms of his retake shall make (the debtor) pay on the threshing floor.5

20. If a man lends out money to the amount recorded, but has the corresponding amount of barley set down to his credit, he shall at harvest time obtain the barley and its interest, (namely) 1 (pan) (and) 4 seah per 1 kor.

21. If a man lends out money in terms of its initial (amount), he shall obtain the silver and its interest, (namely) one sixth (of a shekel) and 6 grains per 1 shekel.’ (6)

These laws only covered the period between seedtime and harvest and were a way to allow farmers in Mesopotamia to have sufficient funds to purchase seed and/or tools (7) by giving them fixed interest rate loans that were then repayable after the harvest was gathered. (8)

They also allowed the debtor to repay the loan the following year should the harvest fail which is also restated in the Code of Hammurabi, (9) while also protecting the creditor against non-repayment by the borrower as well as fraud. (10)

Different localities and regions did use different fixed interest rates (11) and the temples of the various Mesopotamian deities often acted as loan agents and were generally more forgiving of debtors. (12)

The successor of the Laws of Eshnunna; the Code of Hammurabi also includes the addition of legal clauses defending debtors against creditors manipulating their accounts to their advantage (13) such as using light counter-weights when giving out a loan and heavy counter-weights when receiving repayment (i.e., loaning less than agreed but receiving more than agreed) to substantially increase their profits, which the Written Torah (Leviticus 19:33-36 and Deuteronomy 25:13-15) and the Tanakh (Micah 6:10-11) refer to Israelites doing to their debtors as well. (14)

What Maloney is getting at here is that the Mesopotamians were simply standardizing rates of interests and the laws around what creditors and debtors could (and could not) do and were not proscribing interest as much as they were creating commercial mechanisms to benefit their economies to allow them to overcome the bad years as well as prevent any individual injustice or exploitation. (15)

In essence then the Mesopotamians didn’t create usury, but rather regulated interest rates and creditor/debtor rights so that their economies were flexible and robust while also ensuring that a debtor’s position was as lenient as possible without being permissive.

Those who claim ‘usury is the taking of any interest’ will no doubt object that this is still usury, but it is worth pointing out that this absolutist definition is very late and comes from the high medieval era (e.g., Saint Anselm of Canterbury in the eleventh century) and usury has long truly referred to disproportionate/exploitative rates of interest not ‘any interest’ as we can see in the example of ancient and classical Greece where high rates of interests were charged but almost always on commercial ventures with a strong link to risk (i.e., if you were borrowing the money for a speculative commercial voyage to bring say olive oil from Sicily to Athens then your interest rate would be much higher than if you were borrowing the money to buy seed grain for your family farm for example) with the maximum chargeable interest rate being 100 percent. (16)

In addition, the ancient and classical Greeks enforced numerous legal and non-legal (e.g., social) restrictions against charging these highest rates of interest so that they were rarely used and only then in extraordinarily risky ventures with appropriate safeguards to the debtors as well as the creditors. (17)

Again the Greeks were not engaging in usury but rather using a form of early risk analysis to set interest rates on commercial loans with stipulated rights for creditors and protections for debtors in the case of disaster or non-payment not loaning money to say the citizens and farmers in the Bavarian market town of Deggendorf and then once the crop failed trying to move in to take control of the entire town’s assets and lands as jews did in 1338 A.D. (18)

Similarly to ancient and classical Greece; early Rome had a problem with the social consequences of interest-bearing loans between creditors and debtors since in Roman law of the time creditors could enslave the debtors in order to pay off the debt before 449-451 B.C. (19) as a kind of precursor to the European debtors’ prisons of the early modern to the Victorian era. However circa 449-451 B.C that changed with the issuance of the Law of Twelve Tables which did precisely what the Mesopotamian legal codes before it had done and regulated the amount of interest that could be charged (a maximum of 8 to 10 percent) on any loan between a creditor and debtor. (20)

This was then reaffirmed by the Lex Duillia Menenia in 357 B.C. (21) and a further law of 347 B.C. reduced the maximum allowed rate of interest to just over 4 percent from the previous 5 percent. (22) While the Lex Genucia of 342 B.C. prohibited the charging of any interest on loans altogether. (23)

Naturally Roman creditors sought to get around this and in so doing started to lend money through non-Roman intermediaries. (24) Thus, to remedy this; the Lex Cornelia in 88 B.C. returned the rate of interest to that of the Law of Twelve Tables (i.e., between 8-10%). (25) While a further revision of the Roman legal code – the Lex Valeria in 86 B.C. – introduced further protections for debtors by allowing bankrupts to pay off their debts by paying back one quarter of what they owed their creditors (26) in a measure that harked back to the earlier Mesopotamian law codes as well as earlier Greek counter-measures against malicious and predatory creditor practices.

From then on common Roman rates of interest were set at between 6-12 percent for centuries until the rise of the Eastern Roman Empire to prominence in the form of Byzantium. (27)

We can thus see from the foregoing summary that there was no other precedent for usury or exploitative interest taking in the ancient or classical world other than that stated in Deuteronomy 23:19-20, which remember states:

This – as Kirschenbaum points out – (29) is completely unique in the ancient and classical world which completely bans the charging of any interest whatsoever when the creditor and debtor are both jewish – (30) indeed jews are strongly encouraged to lend money to other jews at no interest whatsoever – (31) but when the creditor is jewish and the debtor non-jewish then it is not only permissible for the jewish creditor to charge the non-jewish debtor interest but also exorbitant rates of interest.

Since jewish religious law (halakha) makes no distinction between legal/reasonable interest and illegal/exorbitant interest in either the Biblical law or the Talmuds (32) and jews view interest being charged against borrowers – even harsh (i.e., usurious rates of) interest – as inherently fair and moral because it isn’t their money and they ‘freely entered into the contract’ (33) even if they were forced to do so (i.e., a legal fiction to justify immoral practices that could have been written by twentieth century jews like Ludwig von Mises).

As Kirschenbaum has pithily put it:

‘The Deuterominic double standard did not disturb the Jewish commentators.’ (34)

And then goes on to further explain

‘To Jewish commentators the verse presented no difficulties. The morality of the permission was clear: taking interest on loans is consistent with economic justice and with the rules of ethics. But if so, it may be asked, what need was there for Scripture to grant such permission? The answer: to intimate that when a Jew lend to a Jew on interest, he violates a positive as well as the negative injunction. In the Rabbinic interpretation of Scripture negative implications expressed in positive language (e.g., Unto a foreigner thou mayest lend upon interest) are technically positive commands, and added to negatively expressed commands (e.g., Thou shalt not lend upon interest to thy brother), render them more severe.’ (35)

In summary then in Deuteronomy 23:19-20 jews are positively ordered by their god Yahweh to go out and loan money to non-jews with any interest rate that the non-jew will accept (usurious or non-usurious) while are by contrast strongly forbidden from charging any interest on loans to fellow jews whatsoever and indeed positively commanded to make such loans. (36)

The rationale for this was explained by the prominent thirteenth century rabbinic commentator Rabbi David Kimhi as follows:

‘Not so regarding the relation between Israelite and Gentile. The Israelite is under no obligation to perform hesed with him and to lend him his money without, for they generally hate the Israelites.’ (37)

Put simply jews are positively commanded in Judaism to charge usurious rates of interests to non-jews because ‘non-jews hate jews’ therefore doing anything bad to them (such as charging them usurious rates of interest) is permissible because ‘they hate jews anyway so it doesn’t matter’.

Since we have to remember the Written Torah is ‘the primitive expression of an ethnocentric, pre-commercial clan’ (38) who had the ‘blood brotherhood morality of the Hebrew tribesmen.’ (39)

Thus, whenever we read Biblical provisions – and Christians have often attempted to universalize them incorrectly – (40) we should remember Hillel Gamoran bland statement in his article on Biblical law in 1971.

To wit:

‘That the interest law applied only among Israelites should not surprise us. In fact, it would be more surprising if it had included the foreigner, for most of the Bible’s laws protecting the poor were only for the Israelite poor, not for foreigners. The laws protecting the slave from harsh treatment, guarding the rights of the female slave, declaring that a slave must be freed on the seventh year, releasing from debts on the seventh year, and leaving the land’s growth on the seventh year to the poor all applied only to the Israelite. The law on interest, then, was part of a legal body which served to protect the poor among the Israelites.’ (41)

So yes jews did indeed invent usury and they have justified it ever since based on their dislike/hatred of non-jews.

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References

(1) For example: Montagu Frank Modder, 1960, ‘The Jew in the Literature of England: To the End of the 19^th Century’, 1^st Edition, The Jewish Publication Society of America: Philadelphia, p. 22 and Barnet Litvinoff, 1969, ‘A Peculiar People: Inside the Jewish World Today’, 1^st Edition, Weidenfeld and Nicolson: London, pp. 12-13

(2) Deut. 23:19-20 (CEV)

(3) Aaron Kirschenbaum, 1985, ‘Jewish and Christian Theories of Usury in the Middle Ages’, The Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 75, No. 3, p. 270, n. 3

(4) Robert Maloney, 1974, ‘Usury and Restrictions on Interest-Taking in the Ancient Near East’, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 1, p. 1

(5) Idem.

(6) Quoted in Ibid., p. 2

(7) Ibid., pp. 2-3

(8) Ibid., p. 3

(9) Ibid., pp. 4-9

(10) Ibid., p. 10

(11) Ibid., p. 5

(12) Ibid., p. 15

(13) Ibid., pp. 8-9

(14) Ibid., p. 9

(15) Ibid., pp. 11-12

(16) Robert Maloney, 1971, ‘Usury in Greek, Roman and Rabbinic Thought’, Traditio, Vol. 27, pp. 79-81

(17) Ibid., pp. 81-88

(18) On this please see my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/deggendorf-1338-the-anatomy-of-anti

(19) Maloney, ‘Usury in Greek’, Op. Cit., p. 88

(20) Ibid., p. 89

(21) Idem.

(22) Ibid., p. 90

(23) Idem.

(24) Ibid., p. 91

(25) Idem.

(26) Idem.

(27) Ibid., p. 92

(28) Deut. 23:19-20 (CEV)

(29) Kirschenbaum, Op. Cit., p. 270, n. 3

(30) Benjamin Nelson, 1969, ‘The Idea of Usury: From Tribal Brotherhood to Universal Otherhood’, 2^nd Edition, The University of Chicago Press: Chicago, p. xx, n. 2

(31) Maloney, ‘Usury in Greek’, Op. Cit., p. 97

(32) Kirschenbaum, Op. Cit., p. 270, n. 3

(33) Ibid., pp. 270; 283-284

(34) Ibid., p. 288

(35) Idem.; Maloney, ‘Usury in Greek’, Op. Cit., p. 102 makes a similar summary.

(36) Maloney, ‘Usury in Greek’, Op. Cit., p. 97

(37) Quoted in Kirschenbaum, Op. Cit., p. 289

(38) Morris Cohen, Bernard Meislin, 1964, ‘Backgrounds of the Biblical Law against Usury’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 6, No. 3, p. 251

(39) Nelson, Op. Cit., p. xix

(40) Ibid., p. 4; also, Kirschenbaum, Op. Cit., pp. 286-288

(41) Hillel Gamoran, 1971, ‘The Biblical Law against Loans on Interest’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 30, No. 2, p. 130

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