I guess that two thousand plus years of being powerless to other nations is still ingrained in the Jewish collective consciousness despite having a state of our own since 1948. Personally and spiritually I have refused to feel powerless because I never associated "power" with being a bad thing unless one used it in a bad way. Part of this feeling came from my parents, who stood up to anti-Semitism in their youth. For my dad, it was being among the first to volunteer for a dangerous mission in the air force when the anti-Semites in his platoon were calling Jews "cowards". For my Mom, a svelte, blond, blue-eyed gal - it was telling her non-Jewish friends she would not go to a restaurant that refused to serve Jews even though these "friends" assured her "you don't look Jewish". As for me: at age 22, after I lost my left leg in an accident, I refused to buy into the world's negative perceptions of disability and refused to internalize the role of victim. Since I felt "powerful" (in a good way), I projected this and was able to navigate many challenges successfully. When anti-Semitism reared its ugly head in my work life, I confronted it until its purveyors backed down. I didn't give a damn what the possible consequences were of angering a supervisor or making a ruckus in the company cafeteria. Guess what? Nothing bad happened. And even if it did I knew I was in the right and was willing to live with G-d's decision in the matter. In terms of Israel, I am convinced that we must carve out a new, strong vision that is based on G-d's laws as set out in Torah --- not on the world's ever-changing notions of morality. When we do, we won't have to keep on explaining the obvious to Israel's detractors. The power of G-d will tell it all.
Great reflections. Power is not a vice; victimhood is not a virtue. I do think one reason that Israel is condemned (by silly Western leaders) is that it doesn't play the fashionable power/victim game. It unapologetically asserts its nationhood and does what is right by its own citizens. Oh, for other nations that would show the same manly virtue.
High standards of living can only happen if protected by State Power. States in both The West and the East use power in this way. So do not get upset by Israel doing the same. Strong Borders keep countries safe and rich. Politics might become right-wing because of this but this is the Reality of the Necessity of State Power.
Thank you. It was good to be introduced to the work that Becker is doing. One paragraph seems to jump out as 'Politically motivated': "Becker acknowledged that Israel is losing the public relations battle and that there is “no easy answer” to widespread media bias against Israel. “We need those willing to broadcast our ideas,” he said, noting that TV producers seek immediate, dramatic images. “It’s hard for us,” he said, to compete with scenes of destruction while Israeli officials are saying they are going to investigate, need more time, et cetera. " "Israel is losing the public relations" - are they? Or are they taking on the criminal lies and succeeding in standing strong? "We need those willing to broadcast out ideas" - do we? I think a major obstacle is that the majority of people i.e. Jewish persons of all varieties refuse to share our Torah perspectives. "It's hard for us"... "with scenes of destruction while Israeli officials are saying they are going to investigate" - is it hard? Or is it that many super uber intelligent and highly educated Jewish persons have a Political Agenda and for example when those individuals and organizations are critiquing "Israeli officials" some fair bit of the critiquing may be quite Politically motivated and biased. Note there is no question mark. Lastly the "Israeli officials" are fighting a War on at least 5 fronts. So I hope they keep taking their time with responding to well known Politically driven 'questions'.
I guess that two thousand plus years of being powerless to other nations is still ingrained in the Jewish collective consciousness despite having a state of our own since 1948. Personally and spiritually I have refused to feel powerless because I never associated "power" with being a bad thing unless one used it in a bad way. Part of this feeling came from my parents, who stood up to anti-Semitism in their youth. For my dad, it was being among the first to volunteer for a dangerous mission in the air force when the anti-Semites in his platoon were calling Jews "cowards". For my Mom, a svelte, blond, blue-eyed gal - it was telling her non-Jewish friends she would not go to a restaurant that refused to serve Jews even though these "friends" assured her "you don't look Jewish". As for me: at age 22, after I lost my left leg in an accident, I refused to buy into the world's negative perceptions of disability and refused to internalize the role of victim. Since I felt "powerful" (in a good way), I projected this and was able to navigate many challenges successfully. When anti-Semitism reared its ugly head in my work life, I confronted it until its purveyors backed down. I didn't give a damn what the possible consequences were of angering a supervisor or making a ruckus in the company cafeteria. Guess what? Nothing bad happened. And even if it did I knew I was in the right and was willing to live with G-d's decision in the matter. In terms of Israel, I am convinced that we must carve out a new, strong vision that is based on G-d's laws as set out in Torah --- not on the world's ever-changing notions of morality. When we do, we won't have to keep on explaining the obvious to Israel's detractors. The power of G-d will tell it all.
Great reflections. Power is not a vice; victimhood is not a virtue. I do think one reason that Israel is condemned (by silly Western leaders) is that it doesn't play the fashionable power/victim game. It unapologetically asserts its nationhood and does what is right by its own citizens. Oh, for other nations that would show the same manly virtue.
I agree with one caveat. The penultimate word leaves half of us out of the equation.
Thanks. I wasn't, of course, intending any gendered implications, but I appreciate your expression of support.
High standards of living can only happen if protected by State Power. States in both The West and the East use power in this way. So do not get upset by Israel doing the same. Strong Borders keep countries safe and rich. Politics might become right-wing because of this but this is the Reality of the Necessity of State Power.
Thank you. It was good to be introduced to the work that Becker is doing. One paragraph seems to jump out as 'Politically motivated': "Becker acknowledged that Israel is losing the public relations battle and that there is “no easy answer” to widespread media bias against Israel. “We need those willing to broadcast our ideas,” he said, noting that TV producers seek immediate, dramatic images. “It’s hard for us,” he said, to compete with scenes of destruction while Israeli officials are saying they are going to investigate, need more time, et cetera. " "Israel is losing the public relations" - are they? Or are they taking on the criminal lies and succeeding in standing strong? "We need those willing to broadcast out ideas" - do we? I think a major obstacle is that the majority of people i.e. Jewish persons of all varieties refuse to share our Torah perspectives. "It's hard for us"... "with scenes of destruction while Israeli officials are saying they are going to investigate" - is it hard? Or is it that many super uber intelligent and highly educated Jewish persons have a Political Agenda and for example when those individuals and organizations are critiquing "Israeli officials" some fair bit of the critiquing may be quite Politically motivated and biased. Note there is no question mark. Lastly the "Israeli officials" are fighting a War on at least 5 fronts. So I hope they keep taking their time with responding to well known Politically driven 'questions'.
What a wonderful man, he speaks the utmost truth!
Thanks, Gary, for showing us the greatness of Tal Becker. I had heard the name, but was largely ignorant about this brilliant, articulate man.