Monday, February 07, 2005
"The World Does Not Like The Jews"
I'm not sure that it makes sense for me to link to Meryl Yourish; she gets far more traffic than I do. But this blog isn't about traffic for me; it's about saying the things I want to say, and pointing out the people who say it far better than I could.
On Friday, Meryl summed it up as bluntly as I've ever seen, with plenty of details and links. "The world does not like the Jews."
Antisemitism is on the rise, worldwide; we haven't seen a surge like this since the 1930s. We can be thankful that there's an important difference this time -- even should another Hitler arise to destroy us, Israel will be there, defending Jews worldwide and rescuing Jews in dire need. And, as Meryl points out in another post, America is in a different category entirely. She may not be the protector and rescuer of Jews that Israel is, but America protects her own... and the America of 2005 will not stand idly by in the face of tyrants, as the entire world did in 1938.
Nonetheless, the parallels are profoundly disturbing, and must not be ignored.
Meryl ends her post as follows:
The Jewish philosopher Emil Fackenheim says that Jew hatred has three stages:
You cannot live among us as Jews.
You cannot live among us.
You cannot live.
Exactly. And let me add another of Emil Fackenheim's unforgettable quotes, from his book To Mend The World:
For Christians, the first priority may be theological self-understanding. For Jews it is, and after Auschwitz must be, simple safety for their children. In pursuit of this goal, Jews seek -- are morally required to seek -- independence of other people's charity. They therefore seek safety -- are morally required to seek it -- through the existence of a Jewish state. Except among the theologically or humanly perverse, Zionism -- the commitment to the safety and genuine sovereignty of the State of Israel -- is not negotiable.Amen.
