38: From False Messiahs to (Proto/Anti)Zionism - a quick history of Balkan Jews (teaser)

The Empire Never Ended

TENE welcomes friend of the show, Pinto, to take them on a detour from their usual theme of fascists and Nazis and explore a fascinating period in the history of Jews in the Balkans. Hear about Sabbatai Zvi, the false prophet who bucked Kosher law, advocated polygamy, and changed Jewish history. Learn the Serbian connection to proto-Zionism with Rabbi Alkalai who called for 19th century Jews to return to Israel to await the return of the messiah in 1840 and who, despite messing up the date and declared heretical in his own time, made a lasting impression of the development of Jewish nationalism. Meet David Albala, Serbian military officer and Jewish community leader who inspired Serbia to be the first country to endorse the Balfour Declaration. Also, the political and philosophical differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardic groups on the Zionist question, the Herzl family's connection to Zemun in today's Belgrade, the Sephardic partisans and Spanish Civil War volunteers, the weird brand of anti-Zionism of the only Hasidic dynasty in Yugoslavia, and Pinto's love of whacky colonization schemes.

This is The Empire Never Ended, the Antifascist Amerikanski-Balkan podcast about (neo) fascist terror, the (deep) state and the alienation, nihilism and desperation produced by the capitalist system. And how to get rid of all that. Something like that...

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