Comments on: Jews and politics: not a unitary bunch

By: Johann Amadeus Metesky

Johann Amadeus Metesky — Sun, 25 Aug 2019 17:34:18 +0000

Ben David: – It is safe to ignore any of their statements that begin with “As a Jew…” because they are ignorant and actively hostile to Judaism.

As some old Jews would say, “A Hunnert Percent!”

Those same non-Jewish Jews are quick to accuse politically conservative religiously observant Jews as abandoning or betraying “Jewish values” because they voted for and/or support Pres. Trump. When challenged about their own lack of knowledge or adherance to traditional Jewish beliefs and practices (e.g. “When was the last time you were in a synagogue? Do you send your kids to Jewish schools? What’s the mishnah?” they will get indignant, “How dare you call me a bad Jew?!” I guess it’s different when they do it.

By: Johann Amadeus Metesky

Johann Amadeus Metesky — Sun, 25 Aug 2019 17:25:48 +0000

Here’s a link to Murray’s Jewish Genius essay, republished at AEI. http://www.aei.org/publication/jewish-genius/

By: Johann Amadeus Metesky

Johann Amadeus Metesky — Sun, 25 Aug 2019 17:24:36 +0000

Charles Murray wrote an essay for Commentary called Jewish Genius, in which he tries to explain the empirical fact that Ashkenazi Jews have an average IQ about 1 standard deviation higher than the general public’s average IQ. He attributes it to the economic restrictions on Jews in Europe vs the Muslim world, where Jews had much more economic freedom (and Sephardi Jews don’t show the IQ bump, though they have produced their share of genius rabbis). In Europe, Jews often could not own land, making them tenant farmers and sharecroppers, and they could not join the guilds, effectively restricting them to being merchants. Tenant farming and being a merchant are both margin businesses and it helps to have a head for math to survive. Murray believes that Jewish parents, when chossing possible husbands for their daughters, favored boys who could do math. Fortunately, the rabbis have mandated compulsary education for Jewish boys since the First Century and Jewish culture has a system by which bright boys can be identified – it’s called the Yeshiva. If you can handle Talmudic logic, you’re smart enough to do math.

By: Lee

Lee — Sat, 24 Aug 2019 15:08:57 +0000

Neo: But they’re also doing a great job at attracting new members.

By: huxley

huxley — Sat, 24 Aug 2019 00:25:27 +0000

We also support civil rights and diversity. We know what it’s like to be an oppressed minority for we “were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

We may feel very comfortable and secure in America, but we recoil when any American is targeted as “the other” — whether it be the Mexican you accuse of being a rapist or the Muslim you stereotype as being a terrorist — because so often we have been “otherized.”

The Jew with horns, the Jewish moneylender, the Jew with dual “loyalties.” We know that a frenzied mob calling for an American citizen of color to be kicked out of the country might be chanting to kick us out too one day soon. For there is one thing we know for sure: Those folks who don’t like people because they are black, brown or Muslims don’t like Jews much either.

https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/458428-most-jews-dont-vote-for-trump-because-we-dont-share-his-values

neo: I read this today and had trouble believing this is how liberal Jews think about Trump and conservatives. The majority of Jews have been voting Democratic long before immigration became an issue.

I’m sure Jews could sympathize with blacks as persecuted underdogs during the Civil Rights movement, and good for them, though I’m not entirely sure how that worked either.

By: neo

neo — Fri, 23 Aug 2019 16:54:36 +0000

Lee:

One reason they keep growing, though, is that they have a lot of kids. Not all the kids stay in the fold, but a great many do.

By: Avi

Avi — Fri, 23 Aug 2019 16:16:28 +0000

“ about those Jewish Bolsheviks”
Neo , you best me too it.
You’re the fastest gun in the east!

By: Snow on Pine

Snow on Pine — Fri, 23 Aug 2019 12:14:26 +0000

Take a look at this analysis of this issue on Tablet at

https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/289871/democratic-party-becoming-unsalvageable

By: Lee

Lee — Fri, 23 Aug 2019 10:33:08 +0000

The Reform are heading down a similar party as the Presbyterians, Lutherans, etc. The religions that don’t have strict rules are bleeding congregants. (Two of the older churches in my home town, a Presbyterian one and a Lutheran one, have disbanded. Their beautiful churches’ futures are up in the air. A Reform synagogue when I used to teach — a huge facility that once had a thousand families as members — was sold not long ago to a Hindu congregation and the Reform congregation moved to (ironically enough) a Presbyterian church, which is much, much smaller. (The Presbyterian congregation is either disbanding or moving to smaller digs.)

But the Orthodox congregations and the Evangelical Christian congregations keep growing.

And the ones losing members don’t seem to understand that continuing to chase and pursue the politically correct isn’t helping them.

By: Esther

Esther — Fri, 23 Aug 2019 05:08:02 +0000

Jews tried to escape persecution by going to Israel. I dunno, maybe we need to build a spaceship and leave the planet?

So, why did the Jews build two temples on Alpha Centauri? Ah, that one we pray in… that one? we never go.

But, even if there are no more Jews in the future, what are the odds that antisemites will still blame the Jews?