A religion or a people?
Rarely do the twain meet
Daniel Greenfield published two articles last week that have left my head spinning. Let us start with the two references. First, his Substack article, “Establishment Jewish Groups Fight for Hamas Supporters”.
Second, his article at Frontpage Magazine called “Non-Orthodox Movements Sign Letter Standing With Campus Hamas Supporters”.
Readers of this blog should know me and what I stand for. I am an American Jewish college professor, MAGA, Zionist, God-fearing (or God-loving: we can have that conversation some other day!). While I am quizzical about a few items in the Trump agenda, for the most part I support him. I am very grateful that he is the most pro-Israel and frankly most pro-Jewish president in American history. He and his father before him established a long legacy of philanthropy and opposition to bigotry.
Unfortunately, most ethnic Jews in America are not concerned with Israel’s welfare or even the welfare of their own community. They are driven by a type of madness, even when it becomes self-destructive. They have gone into paroxysms of hatred at the most benevolent American president, choosing to defend the terrorists who want to kill them.
I do not like to be linked to those people simply because of DNA, and some common ancestors about 1000 years ago. No conservative holds all whites responsible for the policies of Joe Biden. There are leftists and conservatives in almost every community.
However, the word “Jewish” has been used to refer to an ethnicity and to a religion. The Talmud teaches that all Jews are responsible one for the other, and indeed every anti-Semite would agree with that, but it still raises a challenging question: who is a Jew?
Am I a Jew? Both my parents were members of the tribe of Levi, not Judah, so should the full group be called Israelites instead?
Again, no one considers Nancy Pelosi to be an archetypal Catholic, so why should confessed Nazi collaborator George Soros be considered an archetypal Jew?
I am not a religious authority. However, I want to have a divorce between those who believe in God and those whose scripture is the New York Times. Although I am what in Israel would be called a traditional Jew, theologically grounded in the Hebrew Bible, I nevertheless feel I have more in common with Mike Huckabee than I do with Chuck Schumer, Josh Shapiro, Jamie Raskin, and so on.
Many years ago, I read a comment on a conservative blog article, a comment I never forgot. I have forgotten both the blog and the article, but the discussion thread discussed what most felt was odd behavior on the part of both Jews and Muslims. Most readers understood the violent threat posed by the jihadists, and agreed there was no such threat by Jews. Still, readers commented that they found both groups somewhat neurotic.
One commenter left an offhand remark that I imagine he considered to be a joke. He wondered if the neurotic behavior of the Jews and the Muslims was due to the fact that neither group would eat pork, ham, or bacon. The other commenters were amused by his question, but I started to wonder: was he right?
I do not have any easy answers. I just want to reassure patriots that those of us who believe in God also love America and want to preserve her. We stand with you and are grateful for your support.
I have a "bissel"[little] antagonism towards the near-Jewish, Marxist-leaning, progressives based in LA and NY. They belong to Reform and other slightly Jewish sects. I don't care that they are not traditional in their worship, but they have a disconnect from most Jews. For them it's cool to be Jewish, and "oy, my people have been a discriminated minority for centuries". It's cool until the SHTF and they weasel out to become the "good Jews". They might even be called
Soros Jews. These people are the ones standing in the "Palestinian" demonstrations with their JEWS FOR PALESTINE banners, right next to the cowards with their faces covered that hold the "From the river to the sea" signs. These liberal Jews are trying to save themselves from jihad by showing how good they are. Now that they have identified themselves, they are on the top of the kill list. I cannot find it in myself to empathize with them. Honestly, I would likely not try to rescue one of them if the situation presented itself. Odd thing is that most are educated and not stupid. I don't know how they came to be like they are, but I wish they would just disappear. Survival is tough enough as it is without your brothers and sisters adding to the tsuris [troubles/problems].
I find it a mystery that American Jews (or at least the few I know) are all passionate Democrats - though one ex-coworker tells me that, after 12 years of the Obama administration, he "might consider" voting for a Republican. Of course, this conversation took place before the election and he is probably back in the perverted, anti-American cult called the Democratic Party.
Any Jew that would support Hamas is a traitor, not only to his culture and religion, but to all of humanity.