I have been re-reading the Tanach, slowly and carefully.
In Judges 11, the whole story is laid out.
Jepthah was asked by the Israelites to lead them in battle against Amorite incursions.
Jepthah, once he got the army gathered, asked the King of the Amorites why he was attacking.
The King of the Amorites said, simply: "You took our land."
Jepthah responded with "No. When we left Egypt we asked for safe passage. But your ancestor not only denied us safe passage, he attacked us. We fought a defensive war and won. That's how we came into possession of the land."
And in Judges 11:28 it says the King of the Amorites did not listen.
This story was so timeless that it could have been in the newspapers yesterday.
An excellent piece! Your premise is absolutely correct. I'm a psychologist, with years of experience, and I know that you cannot persuade emotions with facts.
I would venture to say that antisemitism springs from personal, deep seated insecurities and fears.
It is experience(s), as you have illustrated, that opens the door for a change in perspective.
I'm not a jew so I don't think to be in position to give advice on this terrible issue. However, If I can give my two cents, I think the things pointed out by the author like: promotig empathy and fight poverty are always good things, however they won't eradicate antisemitism 'cause assholes will always exist and most antisemites are not antisemites because they are poor, on the contrary. So don't forget the most important thing: learn to defend yourself. People can feel empathy for victims but don't like losers.
I would add that satire, parody, shaming and mockery will always be more effective against the hate brigades than any attempt to engage rationally and dispute the facts. This is all about psychological warfare; it's not about seeking truth.
Promoting empathy? Isn't that what Holocaust museums and personal speakers supposed to do? Empathy? The haters have no empathy for the women raped, mutilated and slaughtered. They have no empathy for babies put in ovens or decapitated. Maybe shame will work. Everytime they complain about all the people"starving in Gaza" or their poor children killed in the war. We should reply that Israel gave them their fervent desire DEATH. Jews love life Arabs love death. Am Israel Chai
The best way to fight anti Semitism is to be a proud and committed Jew with a working knowleedge of classical Jewish texts that set forth the basis of Divine Gift of the Land of Israel to the Jewish People.
When a literary magazine (Guernica) retracted an Israeli writer’s essay, I tweeted that we need to bring back the study of social psychology. Facts merely float (at best) in the larger container of antisemitism, a bigotry dependent on psychological phenomenon such as conformity, scapegoating, adherence to authoritarian rules, and so forth. What is happening right now is stunning only in that it is happening now—there’s nothing like history to make us feel fully or relatively safe in the present until suddenly, we are not.
Rule Number One in War: Do not talk to the Enemy. I have NEVER knowingly talked to a Nazi. If acquaintances turn into Anti-Semites, I cut them off. The facts of how dreadful Nazism was for Germany is enough to Fact-check both. Rule Number Two: Know who your Allies are. The Nations who were also victims of Nazi Hate are Friends. This includes the Western-Allied Countries of World War Two, and The Russian People. Rule Number Three: Recognise, and Get used to the idea of The Forever War. Nazism and Anti-Semitism are Forever-Phenomena. So we must get used to the Idea that this war is Eternal, and is NOT of our making or fault. Hope this helps. X
Sometimes in life things don’t make sense. But it’s not the universe’s job to make sense to you. It’s your job to make sense of what you can and deal with what makes no sense pragmatically to the extent that it’s a requirement in your life. This is hard for many intelligent, rational people to accept. You may not hate anybody or be interested in conflict, but somebody else will see the world totally differently than you do. 🤷🏼
Learn how to handle weapons safely and whatever form of self defense you can . Learn situational awareness. Stay frosty. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. It’s not paranoia if it’s real.
I think that at the heart of antisemitism is a deep-seated hatred of God, which starts with Satan himself. He can't get at God, but he can get at God's people. Jews and Christians are both targets, but the Jews are easier to get at because they are a distinct group. It's quite significant that when a Muslim Palestinian becomes a Christian, he suddenly finds that his hatred for the Jews has evaporated - obviously because of the work of the Holy Spirit in his life. I might be wrong, but I really don't know how antisemitism can be explained any other way. It seems to be a spiritual problem.
I wonder if there is a certain kind of jealousy involved: Many if not most peoples have experienced hardships historically, some more than others. But certainly no one has experienced more hardship than the Jews in terms of both the amount of persecution, over the longest period of time. Each time, as a people, we figure out what to do next, where to go next -- and we do it. And not only that, but our success far outweighs our influence and our numbers. In contrast, these days I hear a lot of complaining about how one's ancestors were treated, rather than being accountable for one's life in the present. It isn't always easy, I get that. But you do what you need to do to thrive and succeed. And yet, many people don't. And that's the source of the jealousy I'm wondering about.
If ANYONE on this planet has a right to defend themselves at any level, by any means available, it is certainly the Jewish.
I wont waste time arguing with idiots, but I certainly will encourage them to get in my face.
I have been re-reading the Tanach, slowly and carefully.
In Judges 11, the whole story is laid out.
Jepthah was asked by the Israelites to lead them in battle against Amorite incursions.
Jepthah, once he got the army gathered, asked the King of the Amorites why he was attacking.
The King of the Amorites said, simply: "You took our land."
Jepthah responded with "No. When we left Egypt we asked for safe passage. But your ancestor not only denied us safe passage, he attacked us. We fought a defensive war and won. That's how we came into possession of the land."
And in Judges 11:28 it says the King of the Amorites did not listen.
This story was so timeless that it could have been in the newspapers yesterday.
An excellent piece! Your premise is absolutely correct. I'm a psychologist, with years of experience, and I know that you cannot persuade emotions with facts.
I would venture to say that antisemitism springs from personal, deep seated insecurities and fears.
It is experience(s), as you have illustrated, that opens the door for a change in perspective.
I'm not a jew so I don't think to be in position to give advice on this terrible issue. However, If I can give my two cents, I think the things pointed out by the author like: promotig empathy and fight poverty are always good things, however they won't eradicate antisemitism 'cause assholes will always exist and most antisemites are not antisemites because they are poor, on the contrary. So don't forget the most important thing: learn to defend yourself. People can feel empathy for victims but don't like losers.
I would add that satire, parody, shaming and mockery will always be more effective against the hate brigades than any attempt to engage rationally and dispute the facts. This is all about psychological warfare; it's not about seeking truth.
There is nothing that Jew-haters hate more than facts!
It isn't needful to make a complex debate about any of it.
The issue they need to know in the US is that the US is next on the Muslim hit list, along with Western Europe.
Promoting empathy? Isn't that what Holocaust museums and personal speakers supposed to do? Empathy? The haters have no empathy for the women raped, mutilated and slaughtered. They have no empathy for babies put in ovens or decapitated. Maybe shame will work. Everytime they complain about all the people"starving in Gaza" or their poor children killed in the war. We should reply that Israel gave them their fervent desire DEATH. Jews love life Arabs love death. Am Israel Chai
Promoting empathy meaning interpersonal empathy that exists in all good relationships, not empathy based on past experiences.
The best way to fight anti Semitism is to be a proud and committed Jew with a working knowleedge of classical Jewish texts that set forth the basis of Divine Gift of the Land of Israel to the Jewish People.
The probably don't even know what a globe, or nao of the world looks like. Sheeple spewing hate. can they even state why, without saying it's racist?
When a literary magazine (Guernica) retracted an Israeli writer’s essay, I tweeted that we need to bring back the study of social psychology. Facts merely float (at best) in the larger container of antisemitism, a bigotry dependent on psychological phenomenon such as conformity, scapegoating, adherence to authoritarian rules, and so forth. What is happening right now is stunning only in that it is happening now—there’s nothing like history to make us feel fully or relatively safe in the present until suddenly, we are not.
Rule Number One in War: Do not talk to the Enemy. I have NEVER knowingly talked to a Nazi. If acquaintances turn into Anti-Semites, I cut them off. The facts of how dreadful Nazism was for Germany is enough to Fact-check both. Rule Number Two: Know who your Allies are. The Nations who were also victims of Nazi Hate are Friends. This includes the Western-Allied Countries of World War Two, and The Russian People. Rule Number Three: Recognise, and Get used to the idea of The Forever War. Nazism and Anti-Semitism are Forever-Phenomena. So we must get used to the Idea that this war is Eternal, and is NOT of our making or fault. Hope this helps. X
Sometimes in life things don’t make sense. But it’s not the universe’s job to make sense to you. It’s your job to make sense of what you can and deal with what makes no sense pragmatically to the extent that it’s a requirement in your life. This is hard for many intelligent, rational people to accept. You may not hate anybody or be interested in conflict, but somebody else will see the world totally differently than you do. 🤷🏼
Learn how to handle weapons safely and whatever form of self defense you can . Learn situational awareness. Stay frosty. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. It’s not paranoia if it’s real.
Stay frosty. I like that. Do you have an operational definition? If so, please do share.
I think that at the heart of antisemitism is a deep-seated hatred of God, which starts with Satan himself. He can't get at God, but he can get at God's people. Jews and Christians are both targets, but the Jews are easier to get at because they are a distinct group. It's quite significant that when a Muslim Palestinian becomes a Christian, he suddenly finds that his hatred for the Jews has evaporated - obviously because of the work of the Holy Spirit in his life. I might be wrong, but I really don't know how antisemitism can be explained any other way. It seems to be a spiritual problem.
And finally, after all is done and said, it is a spiritual issue. If one is only focused on the world they are blind to what is really going on today.
I wonder if there is a certain kind of jealousy involved: Many if not most peoples have experienced hardships historically, some more than others. But certainly no one has experienced more hardship than the Jews in terms of both the amount of persecution, over the longest period of time. Each time, as a people, we figure out what to do next, where to go next -- and we do it. And not only that, but our success far outweighs our influence and our numbers. In contrast, these days I hear a lot of complaining about how one's ancestors were treated, rather than being accountable for one's life in the present. It isn't always easy, I get that. But you do what you need to do to thrive and succeed. And yet, many people don't. And that's the source of the jealousy I'm wondering about.
When confronted with this level of ignorance, I agree, don’t give it a breath or your time. It is similar to banging your head against a brick wall.