A dialog with an anti-Zionist

I would like to draw your attention to an interesting dialog that developed between Ami Isseroff and one Menachem Korn, it could be followed in the article Generic reply to Generic anti-Zionist. Ami starts his post with an interesting remark I cannot resist reproducing:

If you are like me, your inbox is flooded with "criticism of Israel" these days.

Obviously I am not like Ami, since my inbox is flooded by the same old: offers of fabulous riches the world hadn't seen since er... whatever, patented medicines and other means to enlarge this, to reduce that and make me the happiest of men and the happiest of women in equal proportions and at the same time. In short, what I wanted to say - I envy Ami for having such a prolific mailbox, and I only wish some of it spilled my way...

So, I offered Ami to take care of the personal side of his correspondent, Menachem Korn, that is, since I haven't had the pleasure of encountering a rare character like Mr Korn wandering around my mailbox, and, besides, I am better at ad hominems than Ami (which obviously has to do with knowing one language Ami has missed in his childhood, which language could by rights be considered a champion in juiciest ad hominems on this planet).

Well, and here is another point I have to disagree about with Ami - Menachem Korn is far from being a generic anti-Zionist. This on assumption that this Menachem Korn is really the one and only Michael "Menachem" Korn that is so popular with Google. Quite a rare specimen if I ever seen one.

This is what Mr Korn says about himself (a short version):

I was born in America, moved to Israel after graduating from Harvard, enlisted in the Ba’al Teshuva movement, and joined a Messianic Chassidic cult (Breslov) from 1990-1999. Through the help of South African missionaries, I came to see that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah and Saviour of the World. I was baptized in a natural spring in the Israeli Galilee outside of the famous mystical city of Safed on 20 June 2000, and now I seek to introduce Jewish people to Jesus Christ, their Messiah whom they don’t yet know.

Well, surely it's a birthright of any human being to choose his/her religious belief or absence of thereof, you would say. And you will be right at that.

With our Michael/Menachem, however, it wasn't a single event that defined his religious allegiance, rather a series of events. To start with, in his lengthy bio piece on his blog (_jesusoverisrael.blogspot_) Menachem tells of being interviewed by CIA and considering a military career. He eventually decided not to pursue either, which is a pity: with his zeal and his energy Osama and his likes would have been in a nick already. That's for sure.

So the next thing Menachem tried was Zionism. Apparently, Zionism, with its lack of heady symbols and of a clearly defined single authority figure, didn't impress young Menachem:

I felt little in common with the kibbutz members, so I started to fellowship with the Christians, meeting in their cabin for Bible studies once or twice a week. I still remember reading the words of Jesus for the first time in the popular red letter edition of the Bible. They electrified me, for they were spoken with such authority and power!

There is more in that biography on the feverish attempts by Menachem to fill that terrible vacuum in his head (is Harvard to blame for its creation?), suffice to mention that after a "group baptism on the Mediterranean south of Haifa", he jumped immediately to the next best thing and spent several years as a yeshiva student and a zealous follower of the messianic Breslav folks. Unfortunately, the attempt to write the full life story is interrupted at this point by a deep dive into the finer points of theology, peppered here and there by links to various conspiracy nutjobs like Barry Chamish and his likes. Apparently, at this point Menachem lost the thread, but here is a visual illustration of the next stage in his spiritual development.

It looks like the first abortive attempt to baptize Menachem was followed by a second one, this time successful. No more a Jew and an avid follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Menachem goes into his new calling with a zeal that would suffice for a thousand regular followers. So much so that the results of his volcanic activities are soon to be gauged by law enforcement.

You see, Menachem decided to find a worthy outlet for his hitherto pent-up energy, and the goal he has chosen was Darwinism. And his tools were definitely unorthodox, you can read more about it here:

Biology professors at the University of Colorado have been receiving pamphlets, letters, and threatening e-mails from an apparent religious nut.

And here:

This is clearly the work of a deranged Christian cultist and creationist kook.

And more in Truly Holy Certifiable Crap. And Evolution makes Korn nuts. But best in Korn's own words:

EBIO (evolutionary biology) professors are terrorists against America and intellectual and spiritual child abusers of their young and impressionable students the EBIO department not only blasphemes God, who is invisible, but it blasphemes His Only Begotten Son and our Messiah, Jesus Christ, which is more unforgivable for all these reason all God-fearing and Truth-loving persons must say, They must go!

Even Menachem's newly found spiritual mentors feel the need to distance themselves from that turbulent disciple. And the disciple goes into (temporary? who knows) hiding from the law enforcement. Which law enforcement sees him as a low level threat anyway, since there are no known reports about catching him or putting him on trial.

Meanwhile, the overactive brain of Michael/Menachem is just revving up, because he forgets Darwinists for a while (let's not forget the law enforcement) and turns his attention and his ire to Zionists. In this he is aided by the usual anti-Jew and anti-Zionist crowd (he really doesn't distinguish between the two, himself not being Jewish anymore such nuance is not really necessary for him now). And, as with his prior endeavors, Menachem goes to the most extreme and most revolting teachers, such as Rense, Israel Shamir and their likes. Guess what - Menachem's zeal awes even these teachers, so much so that Israel Shamir, himself a superb producer of vile anti-Semitic drivel, is forced to say:

Korn has his own faults; his starry-eyed attitude is not for everyone's liking, some of his ideas are rather weird, but our reader is advised to eat the pomegranate and throw the shell away.

Mmm... that be saying a lot. And I would refrain from remarks re that "pomegranate"... better throw the whole away, sealed carefully for prevention of the odor spreading.

To make the long story short, Menachem makes great strides in his new career, and in a few short years his name makes it into the short list of so called Righteous (Former) Jews (_righteousjews.org/second-list_):

The following men and women at one time considered themselves to be Jewish (but no longer do).

The list includes such luminaries as Israel Shamir, Gilad Atzmon, Noel Ignatiev, Mordechai Vanunu - ten in all, including our hero. Choice specimen all. But no worries, Menachem easily outruns and outjumps them all. From Holocaust denial to elimination of Israel - he quickly embraced every anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli trope, and no doubt invented a few new ones on the way, being verily a human dynamo of zealotry.

Why the poor doofus thinks that to be a good (no, superb!) Christian should require being a good (no, superb!) Jew-hater is beyond me, but such, apparently, are the vagaries of a life form that is in dire need of filling that vacuum in its brain. The problem is that this vacuum is voracious and that it's not going anywhere anytime soon. We'll probably see more (spiritual, mind you) shenanigans by Mr Korn, maybe even another religion of choice in a while. I wouldn't hold my breath, though...

What else? There is an entry on LinkedIn for a Menachem Korn (could be another one). He calls self "Independent Religious Institutions Professional", whatever it means, and has 1 (one) connection to his name and that Harvard education he likes to mention.

So - back to the start of his amazing bio:

My parents were very concerned about me, but I kept them at arm’s length.

Yes, his parents have had all the reasons in the world to be concerned, as it looks now...

To conclude: after reviewing the amazing life and deeds of Michael Menachem Korn, I have decided that, after all, my fluency in ad hominems is really not necessary. It is not a serious enough case deserving some choice expletives.

In short - a putz.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.