Steven M. Collins’ Pretzel Factory #8

With this eighth paper, we continue our critical review of Steven M. Collins’ twisted view/s that the “JEWS ARE JUDAH” in his position paper on Internet web site http://www.israelite.info/Christian_Authors/Jews-are-Judahreasons.htm. Steven M. Collins’ mailing address is: P.O. Box 88735, Sioux Falls, SD 57109-1005. Collins is the author of a book entitled The Lost Tribes of Israel ... Found, which I would give only a mediocre rating. By the way, if you haven’t read my papers #’s 1 through 7 as yet,  you may not entirely comprehend this one.

In my brochures entitled Steven M. Collins’ Pretzel Factory #’s 1 through 7, I completely invalidated all four of his “four” reasons he presumes “THE JEWS ARE JUDAH.” Time after time after time, Collins manages to create faulty premises to the detriment of his final flawed conclusions. He swears unequivocally that he gets his evil concepts from Yahweh’s, or as he states it, “God’s Word.” But as I demonstrated in my first seven flyers, his deleterious concepts can only be from the very pits of Hell! It is blasphemous to suggest otherwise! I have now debunked his 4 reasons of “four”, and I will continue addressing some of the remainder of his vile, obnoxious, nauseating refuse, which he evidently doesn’t seem to think stinks.

In my flyer #6, I countered Collins on his assertion that the Book of Esther proved Yahweh’s approval of non-Israel “assimilation.” I showed how the prophet Daniel knew the difference between a Canaanite pretending to be of the Tribe of Judah and a true Judahite, at Susanna 56-57!

To show you how appalling Collins’ mentality is, I shall now continue to quote from his deranged diatribe:

“Let’s briefly examine the Khazar Empire to learn more about its connection to the Ashkenazi Jews. The Khazars are first recognizable as a distinct people entering the area of Armenia at the end of the second century A.D. and the beginning of the third century A.D. [25] This is the precise time in history when the Parthian Empire weakened and fell, and the Parthians fled toward Armenia and the Caucuses [sic.] mountains. The fact that the Khazars entered Armenia in the same historical period as the Parthian refugees argues that they had a Parthian connection themselves.”

“During the 7th and 8th centuries A.D., the Khazars held back the Moslems who were attempting to advance into Europe through the Caucasus region. The Encyclopaedia Britannica states: ‘the Khazars had protected the plains of Europe from the Mohammedans...’ [26] In the 9th century A.D., the attacks of the Pechenegs (a Turkic people) so disrupted the trade routes that the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus dispatched a huge work party to build an impregnable stone city for the Khazars so they could hold off the Pechenegs. This fortified stone city became known as ‘Sarkel,’ or ‘the White Abode.’ [27] The Parthians had a well-known tradition of racial and religious tolerance, [28] and so did the Khazars. The Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that:

“‘Merchants from every nation found protection and good faith in the Khazar cities. The Jews, expelled from Constantinople, sought a home amongst them, developed the Khazar trade, and contended with Mohammedans and Christians for the theological allegiance of the pagan people. The dynasty [of the Khazars] accepted Judaism (circa 740 A.D.) but there was equal tolerance for all’.”

“[29] Notice that before the Khazar dynasty accepted Judaism as the dominant religion of Khazaria, there were already substantial numbers of racial Jews living there! Many of these Jews would have been descended from displaced Parthian Jews (members of the tribe of Judah) who had migrated there when Parthia fell. The above quote also reveals that a second wave of racial Jews arrived in Khazaria after they were expelled from the Byzantine capital of Constantinople.”

“Furthermore, the fact that the Khazar rulers chose Judaism for their kingdom confirms that the Jews already constituted a large and influential portion of their subjects! When Khazarian kings adopted Judaism, a ‘Jewish kingdom’ was established along a major trade route where Jewish practices were welcomed and approved! When this news spread to other scattered Jews from the tribe of Judah, there was, no doubt, a substantial third migration of Jews from the tribe of Judah from other nations to the friendly territory of Khazaria! How could it be otherwise? Jews were often purged, persecuted, or expelled from various nations, so a kingdom favoring Judaism would have been a magnet drawing Jews from many nations! The influx of Jews into Khazaria would have given it the largest concentration of Jews anywhere on earth. Even those Khazars who had not been Jews by birth would have become genuine members of the tribe of Judah in God’s eyes from then on if they fulfilled the conditions of God’s assimilation laws of Leviticus 23 and Ezekiel 47 (and it seems apparent that they did so).”

COLLINS’ DOUBLE-TALK

Collins can’t make up his mind whether he’s talking about “racial Jews” or “Jews by assimilation”, both being a contradiction of terms. To show you how he does this, I will briefly repeat what he has said above: “Notice that before the Khazar dynasty accepted Judaism as the dominant religion of Khazaria, there were already substantial numbers of racial Jews living there! ... The above quote also reveals that a second wave of racial Jews arrived in Khazaria after they were expelled from the Byzantine capital of Constantinople .... Even those Khazars who had not been Jews by birth would have become genuine members of the tribe of Judah in God’s eyes from then on if they fulfilled the conditions of God’s assimilation laws of Leviticus 23 and Ezekiel 47 ...”

BY COLLINS’ HYPOTHESIS, MANY ARABS ARE “JUDAH”

If assimilation makes one of “Judah”, as Collins falsely claims, then many Arabs down to our very day are of “Judah”, or as Collins states it, “Jews.” How insane! To document this, I will quote from the History Of The Jews by Heinrich Graetz, volume 3, chapter 3, entitled “ARABS BECOME CONVERTED TO JUDAISM”, pages 60-62:

“Happily, the Arabian Jews bethought them of the genealogy of the Arabs as set forth in the first book of the Pentateuch, and seized upon it as the instrument by which to prove their kinship with them. The Jews were convinced that they were related to the Arabs on two sides, through Yoktan and through Ishmael. Under their instruction, therefore, the two principal Arabian tribes traced back the line of their ancestors to these two progenitors, the real Arabs (the Himyarites) supposing themselves to be descended from Yoktan ; the pseudo-Arabs in the north, on the other hand, deriving their origin from Ishmael. These points of contact granted, the Jews had ample opportunity to multiply the proof of their relationship. The Arabs loved genealogical tables, and were delighted to be able to follow their descent and history so far into hoary antiquity; accordingly, all this appeared to them both evident and flattering. They consequently exerted themselves to bring their genealogical records and traditions into unison with the Biblical accounts. Although their traditions extended over less than six centuries on the one side to their progenitor Yarob and his sons or grandsons Himyar and Kachtan, and on the other, to Adnan, yet in their utter disregard of historical accuracy, this fact constituted no obstacle. Without a scruple, the southern Arabians called themselves Kachtanites, and the northern Arabians Ishmaelites. They readily accorded to the Jews the rights of relationship, that is to say, equality and all the advantages attending it.

“The Arabs were thus in intimate intercourse with the Jews, and the sons of the desert, whose unpoetical mythology afforded them no matter for inspiration, derived much instruction from Judaism. Under these circumstances many Arabs could not fail to develop peculiar affection for Judaism, and some embraced this religion, though their conversion had not been thought of by the Jews. As they had practised circumcision while heathen, their conversion to Judaism was particularly easy. The members of a family among the Arabs were indissolubly bound to one another, and, according to their phylarchic constitution, the individuals identified themselves with the tribe. This brought about, that when a chieftain became a Jew, his whole clan at once followed him, the wisest, into the fold of Judaism. It is expressly recorded about several Arabian tribes that they were converted to Judaism; such were the Benu-Kinanah, a warlike, quarrelsome clan, related to the most respected Koraishites of Mecca, and several other families of the tribes Aus and Chazraj in Yathrib.

“Especially memorable, however, in the history of the Arabs is the conversion to Judaism of a powerful king of Yemen. The princes or kings of Yemen bore the name of Tobba, and at times ruled over the whole of Arabia; they traced their historical origin back to Himyar, their legendary origin to Kachtan ...”

There’s an old farmer’s saying, “give a calf enough rope and it will hang itself.” With these brochures entitled Steven M. Collins’ Pretzel Factory, #’s 1 through 8, Collins has hung himself time after time after time! And that is exactly what we are going to let him do again. He will speculate, using the flimsiest of evidence and say: “How could it be otherwise?” Let’s follow Collins while he hangs himself again:

“Did all the Khazars adopt Judaism? No. The Encyclopaedia Britannica noted that there was ‘equal tolerance for all,’ so there was no official pressure on anyone to become Jewish. It is highly likely that Christians and Mohammedans continued to practice their religion as before while Judaism was practiced by the Jews and the Khazar royalty. Judaism was not a universal religion in Khazaria.”

“Some might object to the assertion in the above paragraph that scattered Jews would flock to Khazaria when it became known that Khazaria offered a refuge to the Jews. However, all people want a homeland where they can practice their culture, religion, and way of life openly. The Jews are no different. Just as dispossessed Jews flocked to a Jewish enclave under the Babylonians (Jeremiah 40:11), they would have flocked to a ‘Jewish state’ in Khazaria from nations wherein they were persecuted or barely tolerated. As further evidence that many non-Jewish Khazars did not convert to Judaism, a major Khazar city, Itil, featured 30 mosques in the early 900’s A.D. [30] When Khazaria fell around 1000 A.D., much of its population was non-Jewish. Where did the Jews of Khazaria go? History makes that answer an obvious one. They migrated to the north and west and their descendants eventually numbered in the millions as they lived in eastern and central Europe, the Ukraine, etc. In other words, their descendants became the Ashkenazi Jews, still bearing the root word ‘Ashkan-ian’ which bore record to their Parthian (i.e. Semitic) origin.”

I underlined some of Collins’ typical statements: “... there was, no doubt ... It is highly likely ... History makes that answer an obvious one.” These are hardly positive remarks, are they? Here, Collins gives what he speculates was the migration of the “Jews” away from Khazaria, but we shall go to the “Jews” own history to find how this really happened, from A History Of The Jews by Abram Leon Sachar, pages 223-224, under the subtitle “The Polish Refuge”:

“Just as Turkey served as a refuge for Spanish and Portuguese Jews, Poland became the promised land of the harried Germans. Jews had been drawn to the Vistula, the Dnieper, and the shores of the Black Sea from the beginning of the Christian era. In the eighth century a whole Tartar kingdom, the Khazars, in South Russia, had been converted to Judaism, and maintained an independent and successful existence for more than two centuries, until it fell, in 969, before Sviatoslav, the Duke of Kiev. In the eleventh century there was a wealthy community of Jews in Gnesen, at that time the religious centre of Poland.

“Nevertheless, it was not until the crusades destroyed the stability of German Jewish life that Poland became an important Jewish centre. The Polish kings heartily welcomed the refugees, anxious to utilize their capital for the development of the country, and their revenues to render themselves independent of the obstreperous nobles. All through the twelfth century Jews prospered as merchants, traders, and tax-farmers. Many of them were in charge of the mints, and the Polish coins sometimes bore the name of the princes in Hebrew characters! After the Tartar invasions of the middle of the thirteenth century foreigners were doubly welcomed, and the Jews, who migrated in thousands, became the only commercial class in a country of landlords and peasants.

“Boleslav the Pious in 1264 issued a favourable charter which promised the Jews complete freedom and excellent opportunities for honourable livelihoods in Great Poland. Nearly all of his successors renewed these promises. As the news of Polish tolerance reached the stricken communities of Germany, flayed by Rindfleisch and outraged after the Black Death, a steady stream of refugees flowed eastward. Indeed, it seemed as if the whole balance of Jewish life was to be shifted.

“The hopes of the wanderers were not disappointed, for under Casimir the Great (1333-70) every happiness was theirs. Casimir was one of the most enlightened sovereigns of the Middle Ages, intent upon raising the standards of life among all classes of his people. He subordinated war to politics, crushed the lawlessness of the nobility, created a famous code of law, built cities, promoted commerce, developed the trade of his country, and earned the epitaph: ‘He found a Poland of wood and left behind him a Poland of stone.’ He welcomed the Jews as an essential factor in his reconstruction policy and extended Boleslav’s charters to apply in all the Polish dominions. His generosity to Jews and peasants and his severity to all who disturbed their peace gave him the title ‘King of the serfs and the Jews.’

“In the fifteenth century the Polish rulers were not so uniformly favourable. Moreover, two strong orders fought bitterly against the extension of ‘godless privileges’ to the Jews. German merchants, long established in the land, rightly feared the effects of Jewish competition and seized every opportunity to discredit the new-comers. Much more formidable was the opposition of the clergy, who already in the days of Boleslav had opposed his charter, protesting that the Jews would endanger ‘the tender plant of Christianity.’ Every year they found new reasons for the restriction of Jewish enterprise. When their insistence won over some weak or pious king, the old charters were annulled and Jewish existence in Poland was endangered. Capistrano, who nearly ruined every Jewish community in Germany in the middle of the fifteenth century, wrought immense havoc in Poland. Occasionally there were riots and local persecutions, and some municipalities introduced special restrictions. In Posen a ghetto was created and the number of Jewish houses was limited to forty-nine; this regulation obliged the Jews to raise their dwellings to many stories. Warsaw for long permitted no new Jewish families to settle in its territory. In 1407 there were disturbances in Cracow, during which a number of Jewish lives were sacrificed and nearly the whole community was forcibly baptized.

“Yet, by comparison, Poland remained a refuge, and for two centuries continued to beckon to the Jews of the west, especially during the expulsion epidemic. It is computed that between 1501 and 1648 the Jewish population of Poland increased from fifty thousand to half a million. The settlements were strong and well established, not limited to money-lending and petty peddling. Jews were permitted, during the regimes of most kings, to engage in all productive enterprises; many followed rural vocations as far as the feudal system of the country permitted. During the liberal regime of Sigismund I (1506-48) every minority group was cordially treated. Sigismund was a pious Catholic, but passionate devotion to his faith did not blur his vision. Jews were chosen for public service, and a number were conspicuous among the favourites who surrounded the king in his court.

“The Jewish community in Poland was now large enough to form a distinct order, like the clergy or the nobility. It was in keeping with the political ideology of the day to permit the creation of a state within a state, for in the absence of an efficient bureaucracy such an arrangement facilitated the collection of taxes. Hence in 1551 the famous charter of Sigismund Augustus, justly termed the ‘Magna Charta of Jewish self-government,’ was issued. By its provisions the Jews were given virtual autonomy, their own courts, their own schools, and their own governing agencies. Each city and town with a Jewish population had its kahal, or assembly of elders, elected during the Passover, for one year. The kahal served as the general administrative body, with authority even over the rabbis. It was responsible for the collection of taxes and for the management of all Jewish communal institutions. Already in the sixteenth century, regional meetings of the outstanding rabbis and the leaders of the kahal became common. These were originally called to settle important litigation between communities or to adjudicate appellate cases. Gradually they assumed administrative functions as well and supervised the local kahal. At the end of the century a new organization had developed out of these meetings, the Council of the Four Lands, a supreme council which controlled the Jewish activities of Great and Little Poland and the provinces of Lemberg and Volynhia.”

From this evidence above, the migration of the so-called “Jews” from Khazaria to Poland to Germany and beyond was nothing at all like Collins describes in his narration. It should now be increasingly crystal-clear that Collins hasn’t done his research properly and his facts are jumbled and warped out of shape beyond measure, and that he doesn’t have all his ducks in a row. You can see from this that Collins has completely misrepresented the true story of Biblical Judah in his “JEWS ARE JUDAH” position paper. Collins is either a charlatan of unprecedented magnitude, or he is excessively ignorant. Take your choice!

Clifton A. Emahiser’s Teaching Ministries