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Feb 13, 2007
Was Abraham Lincoln Jewish?
Was Abraham Lincoln Jewish?
I doubt it, but there are such theories.
Hamodia ran a piece last week about Abraham Lincoln possibly being Jewish. They raised all sorts of circumstantial evidence which, they say, indicate his affiliation to the Jewish people.
Such evidence includes letters of correspondence between him and people of the Hebrew faith, assistance he provided as President to issues of concern to people of the Hebrew faith, the lack of any clear religion in his background, and a town in England named Lincoln that at some point had a sizable Jewish population.
They offered no real proofs to the suggestion.
They did not claim that Abraham Lincoln hailed from Lincoln, England. They simply mentioned the town in England with some of its Jewish history.
They did not show that Lincoln assisted and tried to solve requests by Jews any more than requests by other people. They simply showed examples of Jews having made requests of Lincoln and his responding positively.
They did not show that Lincoln corresponded more with Jews than with people of other faiths. They simply mentioned that he corresponded with Jews, and brought some examples of such correspondence. I will assume (rightly or wrongly) that he also corresponded with people of other faiths. If he corresponded with a Mormon would that prove (or even indicate) that he was a Mormon? Would correspondence with Muslims make him a Muslim? etc.
As President of the United States of America, and preceding that as an aspiring to the presidency, it is likely there were plenty of people of all faiths who sent letters to him. Many of these letters would have contained requests of assistance on various matters of concern. Like any politician he would have tried to help when he could.
To use such baseless evidence as possible proof of Lincoln's Jewishness is a disgrace and an embarrassment. The Hamodia newspaper is treating its readers as morons and people lacking intelligence.
I doubt it, but there are such theories.
Hamodia ran a piece last week about Abraham Lincoln possibly being Jewish. They raised all sorts of circumstantial evidence which, they say, indicate his affiliation to the Jewish people.
Such evidence includes letters of correspondence between him and people of the Hebrew faith, assistance he provided as President to issues of concern to people of the Hebrew faith, the lack of any clear religion in his background, and a town in England named Lincoln that at some point had a sizable Jewish population.
They offered no real proofs to the suggestion.
They did not claim that Abraham Lincoln hailed from Lincoln, England. They simply mentioned the town in England with some of its Jewish history.
They did not show that Lincoln assisted and tried to solve requests by Jews any more than requests by other people. They simply showed examples of Jews having made requests of Lincoln and his responding positively.
They did not show that Lincoln corresponded more with Jews than with people of other faiths. They simply mentioned that he corresponded with Jews, and brought some examples of such correspondence. I will assume (rightly or wrongly) that he also corresponded with people of other faiths. If he corresponded with a Mormon would that prove (or even indicate) that he was a Mormon? Would correspondence with Muslims make him a Muslim? etc.
As President of the United States of America, and preceding that as an aspiring to the presidency, it is likely there were plenty of people of all faiths who sent letters to him. Many of these letters would have contained requests of assistance on various matters of concern. Like any politician he would have tried to help when he could.
I have no problem with someone suggesting such a position if they offered some sort of proof.
To use such baseless evidence as possible proof of Lincoln's Jewishness is a disgrace and an embarrassment. The Hamodia newspaper is treating its readers as morons and people lacking intelligence.
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Rafi,
ReplyDeleteActually I read that piece in the Hamodia this morning and saw something very different. They simply threw out the possibility and made it clear that they do not know or suppose that he was Jewish. The repeated that a number of times throughout the article and I don't know why you missed that point.
I'ts true that their links were less than impressive but they never claimed them as proof, only as interesting factoids that might suggest that he was of jewish descent.
Nothing more. Unfair on your part to bash them. Reread it and see if they claim to have proof.
I doubt it that is just too weird to think about.
ReplyDeletetrue they did not say they had actual proof. No real proof is possible, or everybody would already know that Lincoln was Jewish, and I doubt he Hamodia paper would be the first to find such actual proof and break the story.
ReplyDeleteWhat I did mean though was they offered a theory of his possible Jewishness but offered nothing to back it up with? Come on - he is Jewish because he corresponded with some Jews? What president of the US has not corresponded with Jews? He is Jewish because there was town in England with a Jewish community? Come on. At least give something with some teeth.
The article was interesting and the correspondence cited was interesting, but even when I read it I said to my wife that that was an absolutely ridiculous article based on absolutely nothing. I was insulted that they were trying to pawn their theory on me based on those "proofs".
perhaps if they had titled the article differently it would have been clerer - something like "Lincoln and the Jews" - It sounds less sensational - but the readers would have gone in with a more accurate idea of what the article was going to be about. Often I find that the titles of Hamodia articles sound much more promising than the articles themselves - and again - the articles are fine - but they do not match the headlines....
ReplyDeleteWell, I once heard he is Jewish because he was shot in the temple.
ReplyDeleteZevy
there is scholarly literature on lincoln and the jews, but i've never seen any mention of even a remote hint of jewish ancestry.
ReplyDeleteon the other hand, it is well known that isachar zacharie, lincoln's friend and personal chiropodist, was jewish.
sounds - very true. also many times (including the Lincoln article) they cut off their articles before the end. very annoying.
ReplyDeletezevy - cute. I like it!
ari - that is more substantial than anything the Hamodia offered....
Hamodiah?
ReplyDeleteI dont let such publications into my home. :)
Rafi,
ReplyDeleteAs blogger you probably wouldn't be familiar with common journalistic tendencies :>) of which HaModia is as guilty as them all. It is common practice to use a provocative title that grabs the reader. That is what they did and you fell for it. They are not the fools...
The article concludes with, "Was Lincoln Jewish? Probably not! But as Jews we own him a debt of Hakaras Hatov etc...
I did not call them fools. I said they are treating their readers like fools.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that is why people do not like frum newspapers.
And by the way, I did not see the end of the article or that line. I saw the article was cut off in the middle of a story and could not find the end of it anywhere else... (happens often in hamodia)
anonymous:
ReplyDelete"The article concludes with, 'Was Lincoln Jewish? Probably not! But as Jews we own him a debt of Hakaras Hatov etc...'"
the answer is simply "not," not "probably not."
There's also a pretty decent theory out there that he was also gay - this one has numerous books written about it, and also, it's where the group, "Log Cabin Republicans" gets its name. (That's the gay Republican's organization)
ReplyDelete('cause Lincoln was born in a log cabin)
Rafi wrote:
ReplyDeleteMaybe that is why people do not like frum newspapers.
People don't like most newpapers - Each has their flaw and Hamodia is no exception. this wasn't a good example of that.
And by the way, I did not see the end of the article or that line. I saw the article was cut off in the middle of a story and could not find the end of it anywhere else... (happens often in hamodia)
Learn how to turn the page. It's not that hard. My seven year old found the end of the article.
Ari wrote:
the answer is simply "not," not "probably not."
How do you definitively that he was not jewish? Because you didn't like the evidence they cited? LAck of evidence is also not evidence so they did the smart thing and said that they don't have conclusive evidence proving he was Jewish. Is that really a big deal? Sheesh!
robbie - I never heard the gay theory...
ReplyDeleteanon - the article at the end of the page had the little marker marking the end of the article. I turned the page and did not see anything. Sometimes their articles say continued on pagexxx but there is no continuation. This time I did not look hard because it did not say continued on...
and they had less than "not conclusive evidence that he was jewish". They had no evidence to suggest that he was Jewish.