Review by Max Bauer -- Roadmap to the End of Days
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Max Bauer
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Review by Max Bauer -- Roadmap to the End of Days
[Following is a volunteer review of "Roadmap to the End of Days" by Daniel Friedmann.]
1 out of 4 stars
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In Roadmap to the End of Days, Daniel Friedmann plots out a Sephardic Jewish timeline of world history leading up to the time of the final messianic age. It is primarily constructed upon Maimonides commentary on the Mishna and the Kabbalah of Rabbi Issac Luria.
My first duty here, of course, is to explain why I gave this book only one out of four stars. I didn't give it a low rating simply because I disagree with it. That would not be very good behavior, for truth is not the only concern when writing a review, even if it better that a book is correct in what he says. A capitalist may hate Karl Marx Communist manifesto, and a communist may hate Adam Smith's Wealth of nations, but both must admit the books are well written.] Sometimes, a book you disagree with may be very well made. So, that I disagree with the conclusion is not enough to justify the rating.
What led me to give this book one out of four stars was how poorly the argument is made. To show this, I will have to get into the details a bit. This might be more than a reader may expect of a review, but if I do not justify my opinion it will have no value. As such, I will first summarize the system of Mister Friedmann, then I will show how important elements are poorly argued and inconstantly defined.
Friedmann sets a biblical time line of history, and gives an explanation for that time line. The time line essentially says there were the seven days of creation from the book of Genesis, then there are 7000 years of history after that. We are currently in the 6th century and will soon enter the 7th and final century of the messiah. Each day of creation becomes a thousand, for (as Maimonides reasons from yet another rabbi) one day for god is one thousand years.
Friedman also defends this claim with the Kabbalistic story of history, and numerology. Essentially, Man was one with god in the beginning, but when he disobeyed god's command he was separated from god. History is the process of mankind returning to God by adopting his law, and constantly having to fight the Amalekites who wish to keep man separate from his creator. As we proceed, I will show how the determination of time, what the Amalekites are, and the rules of Kabbalah are each defined inconstantly throughout the book.
Now, first to the issue of time. As noted above, the 7000 years of history are supposed to mirror the seven days of creation. In the appendix RamBam\Maimonides justifies this by saying one day for god is one thousand years. The problem is Friedmann also shows in a graph that the seven days of creation went on for 13.74 billion years, to match modern scientific understanding. The first thousand years of history which mirror the first day of creation according to Maimonides are the thousand years of Adam's life , but if the graph of Friedmann is used Adam would have been about 4 billion years old by the end of God's day of rest on the seventh day. Worse than that, Friedmann even gives an hour by hour account of the sixth day of creation, when Adam was created. According to it on hour 11, Adam is judged for eating the apple, in hour 12, they leave the garden. If seven days is 13.75 billion years, each day is 1.96 billion years, and one hour is 81,666,667 years! A long time to give a defense!
So, as I have shown, One unit of time is three different units of time. One day gets to be 1.96 billion, then it becomes one thousand. Now, in the book it says Friedmann was a CEO of a Global Technology company. Thus he should know better. When he ordered something made, surely he didn't say “I want it to be one meter long, which is actually a mile, which is actually a light year. I want it done by next week, which is today, which is a millennia from now. Now make this way I said, and on time; otherwise, you're fired!”. And yet, that is essentially how he argues concerning the end times.
Now, let's look at the negative force of history in this system. The “Almalekites” are said to be the “descendants of Esau”, then they are called the “spirit of doubt”, then they are called the Romans, the Nazi's, and (it is implied) the West in it's war with the Arab nations. Depending on where you are in the book, one thing is described as five different things!
Similarly, the Kabbalah is manifested in the world as the number ten, but sometimes it's seven and, when you want it to be, it can also be six. It doesn't matter if something is rational or not, it only matters that a rationale can be found. It seems that Mister Friedmann can make anything mean anything, and act in any way he likes at any time, to prove whatever he wants. What a word means, or what rule to follow is constantly changing. There is a great deal of inconsistency.
There is also the issue that Friedmann is sometimes vague on the sources used in the text, and combines multiple sources together to make them look like he's quoting one statement instead of many. At one point in the text he says “sources say” but then only one source is listed. I would get into it more, but I'm sure you get the idea by now.
For the reasons I listed above, I give this book a one out of four star rating.
******
Roadmap to the End of Days
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Max Bauer's review? Post a comment saying so!
-- 28 Jun 2017, 17:40 --
I'm glad they published this review O' mine. Not the best, but I think I made a point or two of use to the reader.
1 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
In Roadmap to the End of Days, Daniel Friedmann plots out a Sephardic Jewish timeline of world history leading up to the time of the final messianic age. It is primarily constructed upon Maimonides commentary on the Mishna and the Kabbalah of Rabbi Issac Luria.
My first duty here, of course, is to explain why I gave this book only one out of four stars. I didn't give it a low rating simply because I disagree with it. That would not be very good behavior, for truth is not the only concern when writing a review, even if it better that a book is correct in what he says. A capitalist may hate Karl Marx Communist manifesto, and a communist may hate Adam Smith's Wealth of nations, but both must admit the books are well written.] Sometimes, a book you disagree with may be very well made. So, that I disagree with the conclusion is not enough to justify the rating.
What led me to give this book one out of four stars was how poorly the argument is made. To show this, I will have to get into the details a bit. This might be more than a reader may expect of a review, but if I do not justify my opinion it will have no value. As such, I will first summarize the system of Mister Friedmann, then I will show how important elements are poorly argued and inconstantly defined.
Friedmann sets a biblical time line of history, and gives an explanation for that time line. The time line essentially says there were the seven days of creation from the book of Genesis, then there are 7000 years of history after that. We are currently in the 6th century and will soon enter the 7th and final century of the messiah. Each day of creation becomes a thousand, for (as Maimonides reasons from yet another rabbi) one day for god is one thousand years.
Friedman also defends this claim with the Kabbalistic story of history, and numerology. Essentially, Man was one with god in the beginning, but when he disobeyed god's command he was separated from god. History is the process of mankind returning to God by adopting his law, and constantly having to fight the Amalekites who wish to keep man separate from his creator. As we proceed, I will show how the determination of time, what the Amalekites are, and the rules of Kabbalah are each defined inconstantly throughout the book.
Now, first to the issue of time. As noted above, the 7000 years of history are supposed to mirror the seven days of creation. In the appendix RamBam\Maimonides justifies this by saying one day for god is one thousand years. The problem is Friedmann also shows in a graph that the seven days of creation went on for 13.74 billion years, to match modern scientific understanding. The first thousand years of history which mirror the first day of creation according to Maimonides are the thousand years of Adam's life , but if the graph of Friedmann is used Adam would have been about 4 billion years old by the end of God's day of rest on the seventh day. Worse than that, Friedmann even gives an hour by hour account of the sixth day of creation, when Adam was created. According to it on hour 11, Adam is judged for eating the apple, in hour 12, they leave the garden. If seven days is 13.75 billion years, each day is 1.96 billion years, and one hour is 81,666,667 years! A long time to give a defense!
So, as I have shown, One unit of time is three different units of time. One day gets to be 1.96 billion, then it becomes one thousand. Now, in the book it says Friedmann was a CEO of a Global Technology company. Thus he should know better. When he ordered something made, surely he didn't say “I want it to be one meter long, which is actually a mile, which is actually a light year. I want it done by next week, which is today, which is a millennia from now. Now make this way I said, and on time; otherwise, you're fired!”. And yet, that is essentially how he argues concerning the end times.
Now, let's look at the negative force of history in this system. The “Almalekites” are said to be the “descendants of Esau”, then they are called the “spirit of doubt”, then they are called the Romans, the Nazi's, and (it is implied) the West in it's war with the Arab nations. Depending on where you are in the book, one thing is described as five different things!
Similarly, the Kabbalah is manifested in the world as the number ten, but sometimes it's seven and, when you want it to be, it can also be six. It doesn't matter if something is rational or not, it only matters that a rationale can be found. It seems that Mister Friedmann can make anything mean anything, and act in any way he likes at any time, to prove whatever he wants. What a word means, or what rule to follow is constantly changing. There is a great deal of inconsistency.
There is also the issue that Friedmann is sometimes vague on the sources used in the text, and combines multiple sources together to make them look like he's quoting one statement instead of many. At one point in the text he says “sources say” but then only one source is listed. I would get into it more, but I'm sure you get the idea by now.
For the reasons I listed above, I give this book a one out of four star rating.
******
Roadmap to the End of Days
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Max Bauer's review? Post a comment saying so!
-- 28 Jun 2017, 17:40 --
I'm glad they published this review O' mine. Not the best, but I think I made a point or two of use to the reader.
Latest Review: "From Drift to SHIFT" by Jody B. Miller
