Navonim - The Ramblings of Garnel Ironheart

Navonim - The Ramblings of Garnel Ironheart
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Thursday 28 May 2009

Look for the Rational in All The Wrong Places

Gary Rosenblatt, editor of The Jewish Week can't seem to understand anti-Semitism. In his latest piece:
Have we reached the point where we not only take anti-Semitism for granted but don’t even question the illogical attitudes of those who hate us?I learned with shock, as we all did, of the attempt of four former convicts from New York, Muslim converts, who reportedly out of opposition to the U.S. war in Afghanistan, decided to blow up synagogues, and presumably Jews, in the Bronx. Does that make any sense?Surely we will come to learn more details in the days and weeks ahead, but the strange conflation of American foreign policy, Israel, militant Islam and anti-Semitism is as dangerous as it is puzzling. Yet we have been conditioned to accept the notion that virtually any controversial event in the world
somehow becomes linked to Israel, Zionists and Jews, in a negative way.

There are two general approaches to understand Jew hatred: the religious and the non-religious.
The religious approach is relatively simple. Our sages tell us that "it is a halacha that Eisav hates Yaakov." Not a general thing, not a custom, not something common, but a law, using the same word that one might use to discuss rules about kashrus or Shabbos. In other words, it's a given for us.
What's more, we recognize this hatred is irrational. The Midrash tells the story of Hadrian, y"sh, the Emperor of Rome who was walking down the street when a Jew greeted him. Hadrian, insulted by the idea of a Jew speaking to him, had the poor guy executed. The Jew's friend who witnessed this then tried to sneak by but when Hadrian caught him and discovered that he too was a Jew, he had him executed as well. Hadrian's advisors then asked about the obvious contradiction: you killed the first Jew for greeting you and the second Jew for not greeting you. Where's the logic in all that? Hadrian's answer was: Don't tell me how to deal with my enemies.
For the non-religious, understanding anti-Semitism has always been much more difficult. After all, it's easy for them to understand Jew hatred from a xenophobic perspective. Religious Jews in their strange garb, speaking a strange language, refusing to integrate into the surrounding culture, well that would make sense. Initially suspicious turns into eventual hatred.
But let us remember that the tragedy of the Holocaust did not start with religious Jews. Hitler, y"h, began with the non-religious and the charges against them were that they wore German garb, spoke German perfectly and were desperate to integrate into German society, thereby diluting the Aryan race's purity. What's more, looking at the Nazi literature of the time, like Der Streumer, it's easy to discover what the German mind thought of their Jews: underneath the assimilated Teutonic exterior was the same bearded and caftaned Jew that infested Poland.
Movies like The Pianist make this point perfectly. Adrien Brody and his family are assimilated Jews in Poland during the war. There are, in fact, only assimilated Jews in Poland if this film is to be believed. They are so assimilated that they have Polish names, participate in Polish culture and, other than a bris milah (hopefully) they betray no trace of Jewishness. Yet when the Nazis come it's off to the ghetto for them and the viewer is forced to ask: why? They're no different from the non-Jewish Poles. What was so special about them that warranted such harsh treatment?
As the holiday of Shavous draws close, we are given our answer. About 3329 years ago we stood at the foot of Har Sinai as God Allmight, in all his glory, revealed Himself to us and gave us His Torah. The Torah is the source of morality, God's foothold in a world that would rather not have Him in it so that true goodness can be expunged. We are the guardians of that foothold and the nations of world, consciously or not, know this. Jews observant of the Torah's law know this. By virute of the covenant, we cannot be separate from Him. Just as they hate Him, they hate us. A Jew cannot assimilate away from this hatred and attempts to try just worsen things. No one loves a God fearing Jew but a perceived turncoat is always worse.
There will always be Jew hatred until the final redemption (may it come speedily) and it will never appear rational to the initiated because a rational approach exclude God's importance in all that befalls us as a nation. May we merit that this is the last Shavuos in golus and that our Father in Heaven speedily return us to our land in front of the eyes of the nations of the world so that His Torah can once again become the guiding light for humanity.

10 comments:

Shalmo said...

"The Torah is the source of morality"

WOW!!!!!!!!!

"God's foothold in a world that would rather not have Him in it so that true goodness can be expunged. We are the guardians of that foothold and the nations of world, consciously or not, know this. Jews observant of the Torah's law know this. By virute of the covenant, we cannot be separate from Him. Just as they hate Him, they hate us. A Jew cannot assimilate away from this hatred and attempts to try just worsen things. No one loves a God fearing Jew but a perceived turncoat is always worse."

I was unaware the Torah was so popular. You ask an average joe what it is and they won't know it.

In fact I would argue the opposite of your post is what is true. Mankind does not see the Torah as morality, quite contrary, they are shocked by what's written in it. And I have already discussed why people are shocked by what's written in it.

The first person to ever contemplate making a christian canon was Marcion. However he totally excluded the Old Testament, and wanted a christian canon composed of only Luke's Gospel and Paul's letters. Why? Because he too felt the ghastly stories could not have come from God. Most christians totally ignore the Torah in their bible, and only hesitantly make reference to it and for good reason. Gnostic christians today totally ignore it, and are quite contemptuous of it because of what's written in it.

Did you know that when China was having the Olympics the bible was banned, yet the Quran was allowed. This was apparently because the chinese authorities felt the bible, old testament in particular, was too violence and would encourage it.

The same is true of hindus, muslims, buddhists and others who have read the Torah. Their opinions on it aren't all that flattering.

Apologists from Chabad have tried making some weird argument that the reason the Torah has more violence than any other religious book proves it comes from God. Funny huh? A very weak proof. Suffice to say I find no more reason to believe the Jewish books are divine because they mandate dashing infants against rocks, than I do for the Vedas encouraging and queen and horse sex rituals.

E-Man said...

"mandate dashing infants against rocks"

This is not a mandate. I don't know where you get this from. If you are referring to the curses in the Bible, those are not mandates. G-D is telling Israel what will happen to them. And guess what, those curses came true when we didn't follow the Torah. That is like saying, the Jews who saw what was going on in the holocaust mandated that the holocaust should happen. I know, it is ridiculous, just like what you are saying.

Shalmo said...

E-Man you REALLY need to brush on your English before posting your nonsensical ramblings

Do you know what the word "mandate" means?

Go get a fucking dictionary and get back to me

Once again you ignore the central thesis in the post, which has to do with the bloodshedding and violence in the Torah

I'm sorry but a book where kill all the little boys, kill all the pregnant women and take virgin girls for sex slaves is the most repeated commandment, does not come of as very divine at all. Its wicked and archaic, and most definitely not indicative of divine speech.

Your apologetic here is no more convincing than your previous attempt at rationalizing why its ok to steal from non-jew, the different values in halacha for jewish/gentiles lives, etc etc etc.

Mighty Garnel Ironheart said...

Shalmo,

1) Watch your language please. There are limited to my tolerance, okay?

2) You continue to take various verses out of context in a deliberate fashion in order to make the Torah look like a book full of hatred. Fine, that's your prerogative but please don't attack people who disagree with you with such vehemence. It adds nothing to civilized discourse and besides, you're wrong.

E-Man said...

check out what mandate means-http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mandate. It means an order. I am not sure why you are getting so angry. Are you upset that someone contradicted you? My point was just to take one point in your statement and show how false it was. Which I clearly did since all you did in response was swear and degrade me. I don't think I am going to have any more "discussions" with you since you clearly don't understand the bible and just try to misrepresent it through a very flawed translation.

Also, OTD why are you obsessed with Garnel? I feel like if he said the sky is blue you would say it is red.

Shalmo said...

E-Man if you don't wish to talk to me then why were you just replying to me in the previous thread lol

Again you haven't dealt with the verses I pointed out, and yet instead are accusing me of making stuff up. How JP of you?

If you have an answer for killing boys, killing pregnant women and taking virgin girls as sex slaves then please explain the rationality. I'm all ears

I previously also asked you whether you would be ok if a country at war with Jews kidnapped Jewish children, took them out to the battlefield and killed then for "vengeance" (thrice it says so in Numbers 31). You didn't reply to that either

and Garnel please explain what I am taking out of context.

E-Man said...

I am just pointing out that Shalmo said I don't know what mandate means yet once I showed him that he was incorrect he ignored the point. Did not even apologize for his misrepresentations. Also, I said I was not going to have any more "discussions" with Shalmo. Basically, that means actually considering anything he has to say. I might comment here and there on somethings that I think are false, but there will be no "discussions." Garnel might humor Shalmo, but I don't see a point, once it is clear that he is not interested.

Shalmo said...

E-Man your dictionary definition of "mandate" does not undermine what I said about the dashing of infants against the rocks at all. That's why I didn't bother going in circles with you

Its pretty snide for you to say I don't respond back to your claims when you don't respond to my arguments yourself

If you have an answer for killing boys, killing pregnant women and taking virgin girls as sex slaves then please explain the rationality. I'm all ears

I previously also asked you whether you would be ok if a country at war with Jews kidnapped Jewish children, took them out to the battlefield and killed then for "vengeance" (thrice it says so in Numbers 31). You didn't reply to that either

And just like Garnel I would like you to point out exactly what I have take out of context. If not then please stop blowing your horn

E-Man said...

Ok here is the deal.

If country A attacks country B, not for land, money or any other reason except to kill that nation, what do you do. Let's just say, for the sack of argument, the midyanites attacked the jews for no other reason but just to kill the Jews. They raised their kids to kill Jews and as long as the midianites are around they will try to kill Jews. How do you make peace with that country?

If the Jews attacked a country for no other reason but just to kill them and they taught their children to kill them and never make peace, then wouldn't that country have a right to kill all the Jews. because as long as the Jews were around that country would not be safe.

The truth of the matter is that Jews have never attacked another country without cause. Meaning to protect themselves or gain land, at the very least. This shows that the Jews never wanted to annihilate any other civilization, unless it was for self defense reasons.

The midianites had nothing to fear form the Jews. The Jews were not attacking them, nor were they even trying to possess their land. However, the midianites tried to kill all the Jews. The Jews had no land, what did the midianites expect to gain? They wanted the total destruction of the Jews. Therefore, the taught their kids to kill Jews and their women tried to seduce Jews to kill them.

Therefore, the only way for the jews to protect themselves was to kill the midianites no?

The Jews did not want to kill the midianites, but they would never be safe unless they did.

Shalmo, if someone is trying to kill you do you defend yourself or let them kill you? How bout if they trained their entire family to kill you, a guy his wife and his kid all come after you with guns. Do you let them kill you or do you retaliate?

E-Man said...

If you were to say that the Jews have attacked other nations for no other reason but to destroy them you would be lying. It has only been for self defense or to gain resources, which is not a war where either nation is trying to kill the other nation, they are just fighting over land. In the fighting over land scenario neither country is going to annihilate the other, rather they just want resources.

However, if a nation just wants all Jews to die, I would say that the Jews would not be safe until all those people are gone.