Wonderfully written & thought out essay Tali. I would describe myself as one of the many people who have been labeled as10/7Jews. Jewish hearts & souls have awakened. I think & hope the majority of us have decided we’re not going to take it anymore. We’re not going away. We are growing, so the world might as well get used to us being around. All we want is peace & respect, & for people to treat us how they wish to be treated.🦁
I really really needed to read what you wrote. It seems that all I hear from politicians in America, is that Israel has committed genocide, didn't feed people, etc... They just toss out and perpetuate a talking point and when its politicians I typically aline with, it cuts deep.
Thank you for this perspective. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I was busy doing genocide when I realized I could control the banks. Then it dawned on me, why not control the weather? Messed up there. Way too hot. Working on that.
Great piece .. thank you. About 20 years ago, I was learning about Modern Jewish History, following emancipation which started around 1790 in France under Napoleon, termed the Haskalah.
The historian said ‘what is worse for Judaism, assimilation or antisemitism ? .. let’s discuss’.
Of course as much as we Jews hate antisemitism, it is what binds us together.
Although I am well aware of what I would call the recent ‘disgusting turn’ by Jews against Israel, more so in America, than Europe, because they have fallen for the awful rhetoric and propaganda generated by the mainly left wing woke tolerant brigade who don’t see October 7 for what it was.
At my daughter's bat-mitzvah reception I spoke to a cousin. She's Jewish on her mother's side, not her father's. I'm jewish on both sides. She's liberal. I'm conservative. We argued many times before.
But now we were in full agreement about the rising anti-Semitism.
I have a non Jewish friend in her early 70s who I met about 10 years ago. She is a Christian and has always been a supporter of Israel and the Jewish people. She says that most of her friends are supportive of the palestinians, and highly critical of Israel, so she does not discuss the topic with them.
I find it truly astonishing how so many people are blind to the terror and jihad that a small percentage of Muslims have caused in the last 30 years. I never thought Jew hate would rise to the level it has, since October 7.
But “chosen” does not mean better than or preferred. As someone said, only half joking, “it’s like when your dad chooses you to do the dishes.” Don’t spread the canard that we think we’re superior.
I definitely don’t think that. I know what chosen means and your example is a good one. However I think at some basic level it pisses people off. Mohammad and all the Mohammad’s being one of them
Yes, it pisses people off because they have the wrong definition of the word “chosen,” either by misunderstanding (I’m being generous here) or because the wrong definition fits with their preconceived narrative about Jews.
Yeah, and we better be worried about that since they're now conquering America like Europe. Author Diana West just put out a stunning short video on her substack page about the Memorandum of Understanding that gave me the chills.
Interestingly, the Jew haters like to spit "chosen" in our faces, but in the Old Testament, God chose the Jews for ONE purpose only: To tell the world there is only ONE God, not many gods. That's it. And yet the haters like to think we think we are "specially chosen" to rule over mankind or something like that.
Yes, it's jealousy. The Lord G-d is Jewish. He called the Jewish people, MY PEOPLE. The Christians call the Jewish man Jesus, the Son of G-d, so quite obviously, Christians who hate Jews also hate their Creator and their Messiah. Sounds logical, right?
I am a Jew broken open by Oct 7, which is how I found Future Jewish, which never ceases to shock me with the disparity between false received opinion--and I mean the New York Times--and the facts of Jewish life now. I thank Tali Aynalem for asking the question that never dies and that we can't allow the non-Jewish world to keep answering for us. For people not familiar with David Nirenberg's book, Anti-Judaism, I can't recommend this strongly enough. Nirenberg traces the history of how the West (including a fascinating and hard-won chapter on early and medieval Islam) has literally constructed its ethos through othering Judaism into a continually adaptive toxin that frankly puts all other concepts of "the other" to shame. Blood libels, accusations of causing the Plague, Martin Luther, expulsions--what I thought I knew of the long history of anti-Jewishness in Western culture is nothing compared to the story Nirenberg presents with an exhaustive welter of documentary evidence on every single page. The story itself is so much more alarming than I had imagined but that is not the terror of Nirenberg's project: I am a middle-class American Jew who is the product of a perfectly respectable elite education. I have a PhD in literature and have been an educator for 30 years--and I knew nothing of this. Nothing but the cliche highlights familiar to most far less educated Westerners than myself. No one teaches that anti-Judaism has been the infinitely renewable energy source of Western ideology. Imagine if we taught the actual function anti-Judaism necessarily played in the formation of Christianity--and don't look too closely at that or foundations we take for granted, including the kumbaya of *separate but equal* interfaith diversity, will quake. There is not--and I venture, there will never be--a 1619 project for Jews in the West. Tali Aynalem's boldness in inviting us to the centrality of this question really can remind us to do whatever we can to, as I say, answer it ourselves.
The author askes the question what is there about Jews that makes us the most universally hated peoples in all history throughout history.
Several factors are at play.
1. We are small enough in number that persecuting us comes without cost to the persecutors.
2. Focusing hatred on us is a socially unifying force, deflecting attention, as it does, from internal mismanagement by governments.
3. Both Christianity and Islam base their validity on invalidating and delegitimizing us even as they shamelessly plagiarize the Tanach to support their fulfillment, replacement, supercession, triumphalist theologies.
4. The phenomenon is a holdover survival tactic of treating the stranger with suspicion, the group outsider as a potential threat to group cohesion, and so it is human nature to love to hate and hate to love the Other.
During the thousand years of the Middle Ages, the best and brightest in Christianity went into the church and a celibate life. That’s about thirty generations of the cream being skimmed off the top. Meanwhile, the Jews kept reproducing their best and brightest. I think that may explain why the .2% of the world are the target of mass jealousy of what their impact on the world has been.
Before 10/7 I usually kept my identity quiet. I would never tell a group of people that I was Jewish. Now I say it proudly with a smile on my face.
Loud and proud Queen 🤍👑
Wonderfully written & thought out essay Tali. I would describe myself as one of the many people who have been labeled as10/7Jews. Jewish hearts & souls have awakened. I think & hope the majority of us have decided we’re not going to take it anymore. We’re not going away. We are growing, so the world might as well get used to us being around. All we want is peace & respect, & for people to treat us how they wish to be treated.🦁
Thank you for taking the time to read!
Long history, yes. How about extreme intelligence is a cause for hatred too? Others hate intelligent people.
ENVY is a major cause of Jew hate, when the field is level other people have a hard time competing against Jewish brilliance and industriousness.
This sparks envy, which leads to rage and then turns into a burning hatred to destroy what you could never be.
My dear friend, Joan Swirsky, has written about the jealousy several times. You are right!
I really really needed to read what you wrote. It seems that all I hear from politicians in America, is that Israel has committed genocide, didn't feed people, etc... They just toss out and perpetuate a talking point and when its politicians I typically aline with, it cuts deep.
Thank you for this perspective. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
This exactly why I started writing I want us to have a weekly space for positivity and reflection! Thank you for reading 🤍
I was busy doing genocide when I realized I could control the banks. Then it dawned on me, why not control the weather? Messed up there. Way too hot. Working on that.
Hahahhahahahhaa
Great piece .. thank you. About 20 years ago, I was learning about Modern Jewish History, following emancipation which started around 1790 in France under Napoleon, termed the Haskalah.
The historian said ‘what is worse for Judaism, assimilation or antisemitism ? .. let’s discuss’.
Of course as much as we Jews hate antisemitism, it is what binds us together.
Although I am well aware of what I would call the recent ‘disgusting turn’ by Jews against Israel, more so in America, than Europe, because they have fallen for the awful rhetoric and propaganda generated by the mainly left wing woke tolerant brigade who don’t see October 7 for what it was.
At my daughter's bat-mitzvah reception I spoke to a cousin. She's Jewish on her mother's side, not her father's. I'm jewish on both sides. She's liberal. I'm conservative. We argued many times before.
But now we were in full agreement about the rising anti-Semitism.
it's true.
I have a non Jewish friend in her early 70s who I met about 10 years ago. She is a Christian and has always been a supporter of Israel and the Jewish people. She says that most of her friends are supportive of the palestinians, and highly critical of Israel, so she does not discuss the topic with them.
I find it truly astonishing how so many people are blind to the terror and jihad that a small percentage of Muslims have caused in the last 30 years. I never thought Jew hate would rise to the level it has, since October 7.
It’s our land. Done explaining.
I absolutely love this! Am Yisrael Chai!
🙌🙌🙌
Could it be that you are the Chosen people and pisses everyone off?
But “chosen” does not mean better than or preferred. As someone said, only half joking, “it’s like when your dad chooses you to do the dishes.” Don’t spread the canard that we think we’re superior.
I definitely don’t think that. I know what chosen means and your example is a good one. However I think at some basic level it pisses people off. Mohammad and all the Mohammad’s being one of them
Yes, it pisses people off because they have the wrong definition of the word “chosen,” either by misunderstanding (I’m being generous here) or because the wrong definition fits with their preconceived narrative about Jews.
Yeah, and we better be worried about that since they're now conquering America like Europe. Author Diana West just put out a stunning short video on her substack page about the Memorandum of Understanding that gave me the chills.
https://dianawest.substack.com/p/ideological-capture-from-fdr-to-trump
But the Jewish people are in many ways and the Lord said that in the very beginning of the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant in Gen. 12:1-3
I will bless those who bless you
And curse the one who curses you;
And all the families of the earth
Shall bless themselves by you.”
That last part is clear. ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BLESS THEMSELVES BY YOU!
1901 American Standard Christian text, "and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed."
No doubt the Jewish people have blessed the entire world.
Interestingly, the Jew haters like to spit "chosen" in our faces, but in the Old Testament, God chose the Jews for ONE purpose only: To tell the world there is only ONE God, not many gods. That's it. And yet the haters like to think we think we are "specially chosen" to rule over mankind or something like that.
You’re right but there is no point trying to explain. It’s a case of “don’t confuse me with facts my minds made up”
Yes, it's jealousy. The Lord G-d is Jewish. He called the Jewish people, MY PEOPLE. The Christians call the Jewish man Jesus, the Son of G-d, so quite obviously, Christians who hate Jews also hate their Creator and their Messiah. Sounds logical, right?
sounds logical.
I am a Jew broken open by Oct 7, which is how I found Future Jewish, which never ceases to shock me with the disparity between false received opinion--and I mean the New York Times--and the facts of Jewish life now. I thank Tali Aynalem for asking the question that never dies and that we can't allow the non-Jewish world to keep answering for us. For people not familiar with David Nirenberg's book, Anti-Judaism, I can't recommend this strongly enough. Nirenberg traces the history of how the West (including a fascinating and hard-won chapter on early and medieval Islam) has literally constructed its ethos through othering Judaism into a continually adaptive toxin that frankly puts all other concepts of "the other" to shame. Blood libels, accusations of causing the Plague, Martin Luther, expulsions--what I thought I knew of the long history of anti-Jewishness in Western culture is nothing compared to the story Nirenberg presents with an exhaustive welter of documentary evidence on every single page. The story itself is so much more alarming than I had imagined but that is not the terror of Nirenberg's project: I am a middle-class American Jew who is the product of a perfectly respectable elite education. I have a PhD in literature and have been an educator for 30 years--and I knew nothing of this. Nothing but the cliche highlights familiar to most far less educated Westerners than myself. No one teaches that anti-Judaism has been the infinitely renewable energy source of Western ideology. Imagine if we taught the actual function anti-Judaism necessarily played in the formation of Christianity--and don't look too closely at that or foundations we take for granted, including the kumbaya of *separate but equal* interfaith diversity, will quake. There is not--and I venture, there will never be--a 1619 project for Jews in the West. Tali Aynalem's boldness in inviting us to the centrality of this question really can remind us to do whatever we can to, as I say, answer it ourselves.
To me the Jewish people represent Life.
The People of the Covenant carrying the everlasting Light of G’d, as the Menorah.
The Hope; Hatikva 💟 Am Israel Chai 🕎
I will remember Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh forever! 🙏🙏🙏🙏
Deep respect 💪🇮🇱💙
The author askes the question what is there about Jews that makes us the most universally hated peoples in all history throughout history.
Several factors are at play.
1. We are small enough in number that persecuting us comes without cost to the persecutors.
2. Focusing hatred on us is a socially unifying force, deflecting attention, as it does, from internal mismanagement by governments.
3. Both Christianity and Islam base their validity on invalidating and delegitimizing us even as they shamelessly plagiarize the Tanach to support their fulfillment, replacement, supercession, triumphalist theologies.
4. The phenomenon is a holdover survival tactic of treating the stranger with suspicion, the group outsider as a potential threat to group cohesion, and so it is human nature to love to hate and hate to love the Other.
Spot on. If Jews didn't exist they would have had to been invented in order for autocrats and empires to keep control of their people.
I wonder why I wonder why.
I wish I understood:
Some people won't eat pig
Some people won't eat cow
I don't like eating either x
During the thousand years of the Middle Ages, the best and brightest in Christianity went into the church and a celibate life. That’s about thirty generations of the cream being skimmed off the top. Meanwhile, the Jews kept reproducing their best and brightest. I think that may explain why the .2% of the world are the target of mass jealousy of what their impact on the world has been.