In some earlier posts I wrote about the problem of bigotry in our community and asked some questions about the importance of a secular education.
I want to revisit these two thoughts for a brief moment. Within the last couple of weeks I have read/heard/seen some exceptionally obnoxious remarks that cannot be called anything other than racist and bigoted. And one of the things that bothers me the most is that they are coming from our community.
I refer to our community because I am including all Jews, regardless of denomination and or affiliation.
For some reason they think that it is ok to look down their noses at goyim. See, you have to say goyim like you have something foul tasting in your mouth or are in the presence of something putrid.
They think that it is cute and clever to claim not to have the same problems as the goyim. The problem is that this is false, it is a lie. We are all people and we share the same positive/negative traits as others. It is well and good to try and be special and to be Shomer Mitzvot, to try and be a Torah true Jew, but you kill it when you make these horrific remarks about others.
I am confused as to what mitzvah you fulfill when you use your blog to demean and dehumanize others.
And in regard to my comments about education you look even more foolish when the defamatory post you scribbled is riddled with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. It makes you sound even more ignorant than the stupid comments you make.
Since I am in the mood to continue this rant I'd like to remind you that people who hate Jews hate all of us. They don't give a rat's ass if you are a Satmar Chasid, a MO woman, Reform, Conservative etc. They are happy to hurt any and all of us.
And now for the kumbaya moment of this post. The world becomes a much nicer place when we drop the false pretenses and stop trying to prop ourselves up with the kind of straw man arguments I mentioned before.
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7 comments:
A hearty "atta boy!" from this side of the synagogue :) I backed away from reading a lot of Jewish bloggery when I realized I was becoming no better than the low-lifes you're referencing here. Intolerance, especially of ourselves, is a most reprehensible trait and one I do not want to be associated with.
Amen! Good post, Jack.
I attend a shul where about half the couples are interfaith, so sneering at gentiles is out. Period.
Whatever other Jews may feel about intermarriage, it exists and it's not going away and these families need a welcoming, non-judgmental place to worship -- or we will lose them and their children for good.
I know you're talking about bigotry towards all Christians, but I think with intermarriage it hits home the hardest.
It is embarrassing and I am ashamed to be a part of it. Normally I crosspost whatever I write both here and on the personal blog, but I couldn't do that this time.
Good point Inland Empress...and as part of an interfaith family, my guilt was even more insidious.
Your other points are also tremendously important. By turning away interfaith families...we lose Jewish children and families. We need, as a whole, to be much more welcoming to them and not so exclusionary. I am sure my husband's devotion to our shul and our son's continued education as a Jew is completely because of the incredibly welcoming and non-judgemental atmosphere of our community.
You know that Seinfeld episode with the Anti-Dentites?
At the end he's snickering with the girl about Dentists, and while he's still laughing, she slips in a zinger about Jews and Blacks.
What comes around goes around.
We must, lulei demistafina, remind all Jews that, as the great RR put it, "It's morning in America!"
The anti-dentites are awful.
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