Q&A: Uri Milstein
Uri Milstein
Question
With God’s help,
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Hello Rabbi Michi,
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I’m interested in Rachel’s poems, and recently I happened to leaf through the book Rachel’s Poems – The Nature of Their Enchantment, published by Uri Milstein (who was the grandson of Rachel’s sister, named after “I will call him Uri”). The book contains her poems, her notes, and also the story of her life as written and presented by Milstein.
When I read some of Milstein’s remarks, at first I felt a strong sense of discomfort, which pretty quickly turned into laughter and maybe even contempt. There was some kind of combination there of mysticism and megalomania. He talks about a genetic tradition in their family that includes genius, courage, heart, and madness. This is how he describes himself in the introduction: “I am a great-grandson of her father (Rachel’s), Isser Leib Bluwstein, who possessed insanely courageous heart and genius practical wisdom, and of her mother Sonia, daughter of the famous rabbi (surely you’ve heard of him…) Mendelshtam, rabbi of the Jewish communities in Riga and Kiev. The proven family tree of the Mendelshtam family points to intellectualism in very high concentration and extends all the way back to Rashi. According to tradition, Rashi is a descendant of King David, in whom there was embodied, as they say, the trinity of genius, courage, and madness.”
He speaks there about genetic communication between the souls of the family, and therefore he thinks that “I at least have the ability to translate into the language of consciousness and the spoken language some of the information that was stored in Rachel’s genes and is found within me.” Later on he describes an intellectual orgy and a genetic conversation that he held with his forefather David son of Jesse.
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Somewhere he describes Rachel’s work in such a way that the whole concept of the pioneer came from her and from her inspiration (and if I remember correctly, then she was basically indirectly responsible for the building of the land. Please remove your hat and bow deeply!).
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I won’t weary you with more examples. The whole introduction is full of them. I don’t think Rachel was insane, but her sister’s grandson definitely seems to me touched by it.
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Later I happened to read a bit about Milstein, and it turned out to me that there is more than a little connection between him and conspiratorial thinking and what goes along with it. On the other hand, as far as I can tell, the man is very talented and has a great deal of knowledge that I can only envy (for now). Have you perhaps read things he wrote? What’s your impression of him?
Additionally, and mainly: assuming you agree with me about how absurd his remarks are, this may be a good example of the claim that high intelligence is no guarantee of common sense. The question is what really turns people of Milstein’s type, whose talents I do not doubt, into people with a tendency toward mysticism (even if in scientific disguise…) and conspiracies. Is this entirely a product of education? And if so, which elements in education govern, or at least influence, this tendency?
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I would appreciate it if you would elaborate a bit
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Answer
M, hello.
I know Milstein fairly well (we even spoke once), going all the way back to his books on military decorations and Unit 101, which I devoured eagerly in my childhood. He holds nonconformist views, and in my impression they are usually very speculative and not really well-founded. One of his abilities is to cite numbers and data, which creates the impression of well-grounded arguments. But on second examination you usually discover that these are claims that can be refuted fairly easily.
On the other hand, it’s very good that there are also nonconformists who challenge the accepted view. Some of his arguments do have substance. In addition, he ventures into quite a few fields (including philosophy and poetry) in which he displays a rather impressive lack of familiarity. In yeshiva jargon this is called a leichter (someone who tosses off clever little ideas far too easily, and although they sometimes look brilliant and impressive, on second glance you always discover shallowness).
I actually am not all that impressed by his talents. He certainly has knowledge (he invests all his days and energies into it). I am also definitely impressed by his endurance and his persistence in pursuing his goal. He doesn’t give up, and it doesn’t bother him that he has been cast outside the camp. On the contrary, he tries to build a career on it. At least in that sense I definitely identify with him 🙂
I have the book in question at home, but apparently I only skimmed the introduction, so I didn’t see the delusions you described here. It’s really amusing. I didn’t know about his tendency toward mysticism and delusions. It made me think that loneliness sometimes drives a person out of his mind (and sometimes being out of one’s mind is the cause of the loneliness). Mark that well.
Discussion on Answer
A. The mention of the genetic connection and the genetic communication is ironic.
B. Please write to me about one topic in the field of my research on Israel’s wars that I published without basis. Perhaps it is דווקא your argument against me that is unfounded?
With God’s help,
Thank you for the response.
Regarding the end of your remarks, I’m reminded of what educators always used to point out to us: that forest trees grow straight, unlike solitary trees that grow crooked (conversely, when a tree grows crooked it doesn’t allow trees to grow around it…). Apparently a situation in which the mind is mixed in with other people causes it to straighten out. And if one doesn’t want to be completely conformist, one can follow the Hasidic saying: “Better solitude among people.”