Manfred Davidmann

Manfred Davidmann is an internationally well-known and respected scientist and consultant, and author of a number of books and reports which have had and are having considerable impact. His work usually breaks new ground and opens up new understanding and is written in meaningful and easily understood language. Outstanding is that his work is generally accepted as factual, objective and unbiased.

More than 6 million copies of his reports have been downloaded from the Solhaam website so far and have changed the way in which people live, think and behave.

The Fifteen Most Popular Downloads

• Style of Management and Leadership

• Family, Sex and the Individual; Women's Liberation, Feminism and Community

• How the Human Brain Developed and the Human Mind Works

• ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY and JUDAISM

• MOTIVATION: Summary

• Meaning and Significance of the Names of God in Genesis

• Co-operatives and Co-operation: Causes of Failure, Guidelines for Success

• The Will to Work: What People Struggle to Achieve

• Directing and Managing Change

• Using Words to Communicate Effectively

• Inflation, Balance of Payments and Currency Exchange Rates
  Including: How Base (General) Interest Rates determine Share Prices and Pensions

• Organising

• Multinational Operations: Transfer Pricing and Taxation

• The Meaning of Genesis: Creation, Evolution and the Origin of Evil

• COMMUNITY ECONOMICS: Ownership and Limited Liability

Books by Manfred Davidmann

• ISLAM: Basis - Past - Present - Future
  
  
• God and People: The Social Laws and Social System
  Underlying Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Democracy
  
  
• THE HUMAN MIND AND HOW IT WORKS:
  Group Minds in Action: How the Human Group Mind
  Shapes the Quality of Our Life and Living
  
  
• COOPERATIVES AND COOPERATION:
  Causes of Failure, Guidelines for Success
  
  
• Management and Leadership:
  Local, National, Multinational (Global),
  Principles and Practice
  
  
• The Real World in Which We Live:
  The Social Rules and Social System under Which We Suffer, Struggle, Survive and Prosper
  
  
• Messianic Struggle: The Worldwide Struggle for a Good and Secure Life for All, Here and Now
  
  

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Theme of the Week (Current Events, Current Problems)

• Themes     (listed by content)
  
  
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  Previous themes:
  
  
• 'The Social Costs of Unemployment'
  
  
• 'Bureaucracy and The Meaning of Democracy'
  
  
• 'Men and Women, Family and Children; Dominance, Oppression and Exploitation'
  
  

Theme:

'Judaism at the Crossroads, at the Final Parting of the Ways'

Jews have to follow and live according to the Pentateuch's laws. At issue are the laws of behaviour and the social system which are laid down in the Pentateuch (Torah, Five Books of Moses):

The Pentateuch states that all are equal, that no person may oppress or exploit another, that all have the right to be free and be independent masters of their own fate.

Every person is entitled as a matter of right to social security. This means that people are entitled to be supported by the community not only when they fall on hard times but also to maintain their independence as independent breadwinners for their families.

For example, the community has to provide backup funds to those who need them and they have to be provided as and when required. To prevent people being exploited through their need these funds have to be provided without charging interest and such 'loans' are cancelled every seventh year if the borrower has been unable to repay them.

Those in authority must not oppress people so as to increase their own possessions and power, are warned against oppressing people, must not be promiscuous and must not amass wealth. The role of those who are rich is seen to be that of administering their wealth and money on behalf of and for the community and not that of enriching themselves at the expense of the community.

The Pentateuch states the Ten Commandments, the social laws and the social system laws and states in religious language the unavoidable consequences of either following or else rejecting these laws. But the Pentateuch also states that this is a scientific Cause-and-effect relationship, lists causes and effects and states that the effects are reversible dependent on how people behave.

The laws of the Pentateuch have to be followed and applied by Jews as a matter of law in their daily lives.

However, it was such laws of behaviour and such social system laws which the rich simply did not want to apply and they, the rich and powerful, had the application of the laws changed to suit themselves.

The Jewish establishment (secular and religious) had been and was changing the application of the laws of the Pentateuch so that 'the law was becoming like two laws'. The Talmud was then written to record what was happening so that future generations would become aware of the course of events and of who had been doing what to whom. They also wanted future generations to learn from the lessons of the past so as to be able to reverse the tragedy of the destruction of the country, of Jerusalem, of the people.

But by the time the writing of the Talmud was finished, the actual message had been buried in a mass of stories and arguments. From that time onwards the essential core legislation of the Pentateuch had been negated and bypassed and buried under arguments about many subjects.

The Talmud is part of Jewish religious teachings, is frozen (has not been changed) but its real underlying meaning and message are kept hidden, are not known, understood or taught by today's religious or secular Jewish establishments.

The Talmud tells how Hillel gained a following and took control, how he changed Jewish belief and practice on behalf of the Jewish establishment. We are told what he did and how he did it, and that he did so

1. because he was taught by Shemaiah and Avtalyon, and
2. that he took over from the Bene Bathyra, having
3. persuaded them to hand over by using abstract rules of logic and association for interpreting the law.

1.   Shemaiah and Avtalyon: Enemies of the Jewish People

This example from the Talmud illustrates rather beautifully how opposites are used forcefully and convincingly to make a specific point which would have been unacceptable to the religious establishment if it had been openly stated. We are told that

• "Naaman was a resident alien.
• Nebuzaradan was a righteous proselyte,
• the descendants of Sisera studied Torah (the Pentateuch) in Jerusalem;
• the descendants of Sennacherib taught Torah to the multitude; who were these? - Shemaiah and Avtalyon.
• The descendants of Haman studied Torah at Bene Berak."

Here we are told of great and famous people serving God, studying and teaching the Pentateuch and its laws, serving God and people. Or so it may appear at first glance.

We know next to nothing about Shemaiah and Avtalyon, but all the other people mentioned here are among the worst enemies of the Jewish people. Nebuzaradan, for example, was captain of the guard of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and commanded the forces which burned down Jerusalem and destroyed the first Temple.

In this way the Talmud records what would have been unacceptable to the religious establishment at that time, namely that Shemaiah and Avtalyon are among the worst and most destructive enemies of the Jewish people and that Hillel followed and applied their teachings.

2.   Bene Bathyra: Sons or Children of the Covenant

We saw already that the Talmud counts Shemaiah and Avtalyon among the worst and most destructive enemies of the Jewish people, representing those who wish to oppress and exploit. And Hillel told the Bene Bathyra that he ruled over them because he had served Shemaiah and Avtalyon, while they (the Bene Bathyra) had dared not to serve them.

The Bene Bathyra, the sons or children of Bathyra, of those who are doing the cutting (circumcision), who are carrying out the Brit, the sons or children of the Covenant. In other words, those who follow and apply the social laws and social system of the Pentateuch in their daily lives.

3.   'Interpreting' the Pentateuch's Social Laws and Social System

The law was apparently being decided according to the Pentateuch and in line with its intent.

But then the establishment's use of abstract rules of logic and association for interpreting the law resulted in laws which were unrelated to, perhaps even outside or opposed to, the meaning of the original text of the Pentateuch. In this way controversy increased in Israel. As the followers of Hillel increased in number, so controversy increased in Israel.

Hillel's ruling 'Prosbul' was annulled in 1994.

Sources with Short Descriptions

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