Powerful article on a painful subject. The millenarian hatred and hostility to Jews must have left a trace in the psyche of those we eventually think of as self-hating Jews. In a metaphorical way, one could compare victims of Stockholm Syndrome to the perverse identification those Jews have with our mortal enemies. There is also an element of narcissism, beyond what must be considered natural and healthy. Those " good" Jews need to look and smell good however this betrays their own. Finally, perhaps deep down they don't consider themselves part of the Jewish People. It's a shame. Staying loyal would have made them stronger. It's one of the secrets of Am Israel Khai. Inner strength, courage,intellectual honesty, seeing clearly and protecting the good.
This is from "The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People Under Siege"
Kenneth Levin (2005):
"The inclination to retreat to delusions of transgression, and of salvation through self-reform and concessions, is common, even endemic, within communities under chronic siege. This is true whether the situation is that of a state besieged by foreign forces or of a vulnerable community that, within its polity, is under chronic attack — physical assault, bias, defamation, marginalization — by other groups in the surrounding society...
Some observers have seen a particular propensity toward this mode of thinking among Jews, and they have often attributed Jews' predilection to assume responsibility and guilt for their victimization by surrounding societies to the traditional historicism of the Jewish faith: the Biblical, and subsequent rabbinical, comprehension of Jewish history as a playing out of the relationship betwen God and the people, with disaster and exile perceived as consequences of the people's transgressions, and adherence to the Covenant envisioned as the path to prosperity and a flourishing in the Land...
The pain of the abuse and the fantasies of relief—however divorced from realistic expectations those fantasies may be—generate both self-denigration, the inclination of some in such circumstances to blame themselves for their predicament, and grandiosity, the inclination to believe that they have the power by their own actions, by their self-reform, to alter the behavior of their abusers."
hear hear from a "bad joo!" (but seriously, I'm surprised I don't need jaw surgery as the stuff said 'bout "us" daily has me droppin' my jaws smack on the floor daily!) Jus' today I read that ve joos "go all around the world mass murderin' innocent people" an' we wanna turn the world inta "our playground" just like Gaza (playground, nu?)... Kindly help me lift my jawr from the linoleum!
What the Christian world has always demanded of Jews is that Jews must behave like strict orthodox hyper-Christians, while actual Christians are spared any such burdens.
Turn the other cheek? Christians certainly have a spotty record here, and they sure didn't conquer the New World according to any of the supposed principles of Christianity. (And the same goes for "to love one's enemies".)
“Blessed are the poor in spirit?" Christians forced Jews into usury (as they barred them from other occupations), then condemned them for it; Christian Europe launched the Industrial Revolution, but Jews were denounced as the incarnations of greed. (And no one did more to stir up Jew hate on this issue than the arch fiend Karl Marx: "What is the secular basis of Judaism? Practical need, self-interest. What is the worldly religion of the Jew? Huckstering. What is his worldly God? Money.")
"Blessed are the meek and the merciful.."? Tell that to the Native Americans, the slaves and the other victims of European global conquest...
And what the Christian West now demands of Jews in re Israel/Palestine is that Jews prove their worth and right to live by being pure literal hyper-Christians—turn the other cheek, love their enemies, beat their swords into ploughshares, choose peace over survival—while Christian Europe once again offloads all its sins onto the Jewish scapegoat (white supremacist colonial settler apartheid genocide etc etc), and cheers for Islamists from the safe sidelines.
And Jewish Marxists and "socialists" etc once again prioritize their own warped idealism and moral vanity over the lives of their own people and imagine their self-hatred to be brave truth-telling. They are clowns and cowards and, as with so many other issues, Orwell said it best: "As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents.”
So where does the Israeli left fit in? They are Zionist but hate the current government more than they hate Hamas. They have caused the deaths of hostages and soldiers and their "judicial" goes after anyone in their way. Hard for me to figure out and I live with them!
Yes, it's a conundrum, and your point is well taken - they hate the current government more than they hate Hamas. A gentile 'friend' has shared with me Amir Tibon's book 'Gates of Gaza' which partly describes what happened to him and his wife on Oct 7, and his father and mother basically rescuing them... BUT - interwoven in his story is a history of Israel and what he calls betrayal - the betrayal of Nahal Oz and far leftists like Tibon... by everyone who wasn't allied with the good Israelis, the good Zionists, of the far left. Especially that evil Netanyahu!!! As usual, in TIbon's telling, the Israelis go around just starting wars, invading their neighbors for, apparently little reason, while the poor Arabs and Palestinians have no agency whatsoever... they too, are constantly betrayed by Netanyahu and the right. The intifada's were just reactions to some bad thing or other, some betrayal again by Israel. Tibon is so filled with grievance and hatred of Netanyahu and the right, that he paints a subtly ugly portrait of Israel. And he's a journalist, a (good) writer by trade, so he I am sure he is very conscious of the image he's presenting. But he wants to reader to share his sense of betrayal... and to place the blame on Netanyahu and only incidentally on the Palestinians and Hamas. Historically, as he writes it, it's all Israel's doing with an occasional nod toward Palestinian or Arab intransigence. Tibon, to me, is a perfect example of this new phenomenon of 'the good Jew' - he wants everyone to see that he's a 'good Zionist' a 'good Israeli'. I'm sorry if this is a bit off topic, but my 'friend' has gotten this book selected to read by his local book club, and I'm working on a corrective study guide, or something I can use to give these people a realistic perspective. None of them are Jews and all of them get their news from the mainstream media, or from social media. The tragedy is that Tibon's book will reinforce the hateful narrative against Israel - genocide, starvation, famine, etc. that the media has adopted wholesale from Hamas. For these people, as for my 'friend', Tibon's far left perspective and narrative of Israel's formation and history is the most they will ever be exposed to and they'll of course believe it because, after all, he's a Jew, and Israeli saying all this. It's maddening!
Thanks for the synopsis... Bibi derangement is more than 20 years in the making... but you would think that after such a harrowing escape... he would finally admit the genocidal nature of his Palestinian friends... many others have...
Thanks for the suggestion. In fact, it's a prime source for me as I go thru Tibon's book working on this. I've shared various articles with my 'friend' but he doesn't seem to read them. He says he's seen the photos of 'all the starving children' and he seems set in what he believes. I'm going to give the book club folks some options, and I may even offer up a book for another month, but I just don't know if they will take the time, or the energy to THINK. But thanks again for suggesting it, I love Einat and Adi!
'The world' - I know a lot of people who don't understand why Jews would commit suicide and fail to learn Torah properly. There are too many virtue signalers - loud ones - and legacy media, obsessed academics, and social media amplify those voices. Still, there are a lot of good, average people - they aren't heroes, they do see reality a little more clearly, they are busy with their families - don't count them out. Stay vigilant and listen to find out who is who - sometimes it is very easy, sometimes not. Thank you for writing this and I'm sure more in the future. חזק ואמץ.
Beautifully written and marvelously helpful in helping to understand those ridiculous good Jews. There's nothing like a proper historical perspective to help one comprehend such an outrageous phenomenon!
Whoever the legacy media define as “ good Jews” are clearly Jews who have zero Jewish education and association and affiliation with traditional Jewish values
Powerful and well written. Your point about Keret is spot on. These 'good Jews' are cutting themselves off from the peoplehood of Israel, from the Jewish people. They're rejecting Jewish history and lived experience, rejecting all the richness and complexity of Judaism, of the Jewish people; for them Judaism is 'just a religion' which, in the end, for them boils down to social justice and tikun olam. These 'good Jews' are, unfortunately, Jews on their way out the door. None of these as-a-Jews will have Jewish grand-children. They cut themselves off from an unbroken chain of living Judaism that stretches back thousands of years. I pity them, in their keffiyahs in the encampments, holding their red lettered signs, writing slanderous articles, books, and posts. In losing their roots, in the end they lose themselves.
Powerful and true essay. The "good" Jews are hurting the rest of us and they don't even understand why. Thank God they are the minority, but the media tries to make it out to be that they are majority. They love being able to say, "See? Even Jews don't like Jews."
I have relatives that could be the poster models for what you have so eloquently described. Nothing helps them. Thick as bricks. ignorant and refusing adamantly any information that goes against their being "good Jews". I consider them, and all like them, to be an existential threat to me and my family, and by extention to all of Klal Yisrael. Considering sending them your article. But I have a wedding in a few weeks where we will all be present. Maybe I should wait...😂
Sadly, the phenomenon of the self hating “kapo Jew” is not uncommon throughout Jewish history. Whether through profound ignorance or some deep seated psychological need (ie Stockholm Syndrome) such individuals turn their backs on their own people, land, culture and history. What they never understand until it is too late is that there is no great success in being on the last train to Auschwitz.
Powerful article on a painful subject. The millenarian hatred and hostility to Jews must have left a trace in the psyche of those we eventually think of as self-hating Jews. In a metaphorical way, one could compare victims of Stockholm Syndrome to the perverse identification those Jews have with our mortal enemies. There is also an element of narcissism, beyond what must be considered natural and healthy. Those " good" Jews need to look and smell good however this betrays their own. Finally, perhaps deep down they don't consider themselves part of the Jewish People. It's a shame. Staying loyal would have made them stronger. It's one of the secrets of Am Israel Khai. Inner strength, courage,intellectual honesty, seeing clearly and protecting the good.
This is from "The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People Under Siege"
Kenneth Levin (2005):
"The inclination to retreat to delusions of transgression, and of salvation through self-reform and concessions, is common, even endemic, within communities under chronic siege. This is true whether the situation is that of a state besieged by foreign forces or of a vulnerable community that, within its polity, is under chronic attack — physical assault, bias, defamation, marginalization — by other groups in the surrounding society...
Some observers have seen a particular propensity toward this mode of thinking among Jews, and they have often attributed Jews' predilection to assume responsibility and guilt for their victimization by surrounding societies to the traditional historicism of the Jewish faith: the Biblical, and subsequent rabbinical, comprehension of Jewish history as a playing out of the relationship betwen God and the people, with disaster and exile perceived as consequences of the people's transgressions, and adherence to the Covenant envisioned as the path to prosperity and a flourishing in the Land...
The pain of the abuse and the fantasies of relief—however divorced from realistic expectations those fantasies may be—generate both self-denigration, the inclination of some in such circumstances to blame themselves for their predicament, and grandiosity, the inclination to believe that they have the power by their own actions, by their self-reform, to alter the behavior of their abusers."
Is an excellent book.
Thank you!! Will make sure to read this. If not now.... when?
ha!
In my opinion the good Jews are shameful! I am a Zionist so I must be bad as well!!
The only good Jew in the eyes of more than 2 billion (and growing) antisemites is a dead Jew.
hear hear from a "bad joo!" (but seriously, I'm surprised I don't need jaw surgery as the stuff said 'bout "us" daily has me droppin' my jaws smack on the floor daily!) Jus' today I read that ve joos "go all around the world mass murderin' innocent people" an' we wanna turn the world inta "our playground" just like Gaza (playground, nu?)... Kindly help me lift my jawr from the linoleum!
Change your algorithm!
What the Christian world has always demanded of Jews is that Jews must behave like strict orthodox hyper-Christians, while actual Christians are spared any such burdens.
Turn the other cheek? Christians certainly have a spotty record here, and they sure didn't conquer the New World according to any of the supposed principles of Christianity. (And the same goes for "to love one's enemies".)
“Blessed are the poor in spirit?" Christians forced Jews into usury (as they barred them from other occupations), then condemned them for it; Christian Europe launched the Industrial Revolution, but Jews were denounced as the incarnations of greed. (And no one did more to stir up Jew hate on this issue than the arch fiend Karl Marx: "What is the secular basis of Judaism? Practical need, self-interest. What is the worldly religion of the Jew? Huckstering. What is his worldly God? Money.")
"Blessed are the meek and the merciful.."? Tell that to the Native Americans, the slaves and the other victims of European global conquest...
And what the Christian West now demands of Jews in re Israel/Palestine is that Jews prove their worth and right to live by being pure literal hyper-Christians—turn the other cheek, love their enemies, beat their swords into ploughshares, choose peace over survival—while Christian Europe once again offloads all its sins onto the Jewish scapegoat (white supremacist colonial settler apartheid genocide etc etc), and cheers for Islamists from the safe sidelines.
And Jewish Marxists and "socialists" etc once again prioritize their own warped idealism and moral vanity over the lives of their own people and imagine their self-hatred to be brave truth-telling. They are clowns and cowards and, as with so many other issues, Orwell said it best: "As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents.”
There's an old joke that, "Only the Jewish state is expected to behave like a good Christian nation."
is very true
So where does the Israeli left fit in? They are Zionist but hate the current government more than they hate Hamas. They have caused the deaths of hostages and soldiers and their "judicial" goes after anyone in their way. Hard for me to figure out and I live with them!
Yes, it's a conundrum, and your point is well taken - they hate the current government more than they hate Hamas. A gentile 'friend' has shared with me Amir Tibon's book 'Gates of Gaza' which partly describes what happened to him and his wife on Oct 7, and his father and mother basically rescuing them... BUT - interwoven in his story is a history of Israel and what he calls betrayal - the betrayal of Nahal Oz and far leftists like Tibon... by everyone who wasn't allied with the good Israelis, the good Zionists, of the far left. Especially that evil Netanyahu!!! As usual, in TIbon's telling, the Israelis go around just starting wars, invading their neighbors for, apparently little reason, while the poor Arabs and Palestinians have no agency whatsoever... they too, are constantly betrayed by Netanyahu and the right. The intifada's were just reactions to some bad thing or other, some betrayal again by Israel. Tibon is so filled with grievance and hatred of Netanyahu and the right, that he paints a subtly ugly portrait of Israel. And he's a journalist, a (good) writer by trade, so he I am sure he is very conscious of the image he's presenting. But he wants to reader to share his sense of betrayal... and to place the blame on Netanyahu and only incidentally on the Palestinians and Hamas. Historically, as he writes it, it's all Israel's doing with an occasional nod toward Palestinian or Arab intransigence. Tibon, to me, is a perfect example of this new phenomenon of 'the good Jew' - he wants everyone to see that he's a 'good Zionist' a 'good Israeli'. I'm sorry if this is a bit off topic, but my 'friend' has gotten this book selected to read by his local book club, and I'm working on a corrective study guide, or something I can use to give these people a realistic perspective. None of them are Jews and all of them get their news from the mainstream media, or from social media. The tragedy is that Tibon's book will reinforce the hateful narrative against Israel - genocide, starvation, famine, etc. that the media has adopted wholesale from Hamas. For these people, as for my 'friend', Tibon's far left perspective and narrative of Israel's formation and history is the most they will ever be exposed to and they'll of course believe it because, after all, he's a Jew, and Israeli saying all this. It's maddening!
Thanks for the synopsis... Bibi derangement is more than 20 years in the making... but you would think that after such a harrowing escape... he would finally admit the genocidal nature of his Palestinian friends... many others have...
Excellent summary. Why don't you suggest The War of Return by Einat Wild and Adi Schwartz. Will well counterbalance Tibon.
Thanks for the suggestion. In fact, it's a prime source for me as I go thru Tibon's book working on this. I've shared various articles with my 'friend' but he doesn't seem to read them. He says he's seen the photos of 'all the starving children' and he seems set in what he believes. I'm going to give the book club folks some options, and I may even offer up a book for another month, but I just don't know if they will take the time, or the energy to THINK. But thanks again for suggesting it, I love Einat and Adi!
'The world' - I know a lot of people who don't understand why Jews would commit suicide and fail to learn Torah properly. There are too many virtue signalers - loud ones - and legacy media, obsessed academics, and social media amplify those voices. Still, there are a lot of good, average people - they aren't heroes, they do see reality a little more clearly, they are busy with their families - don't count them out. Stay vigilant and listen to find out who is who - sometimes it is very easy, sometimes not. Thank you for writing this and I'm sure more in the future. חזק ואמץ.
If good and bad are to be inverted, along with all the other inversions, let's be bad to the bone!
Beautifully written and marvelously helpful in helping to understand those ridiculous good Jews. There's nothing like a proper historical perspective to help one comprehend such an outrageous phenomenon!
Whoever the legacy media define as “ good Jews” are clearly Jews who have zero Jewish education and association and affiliation with traditional Jewish values
Powerful and well written. Your point about Keret is spot on. These 'good Jews' are cutting themselves off from the peoplehood of Israel, from the Jewish people. They're rejecting Jewish history and lived experience, rejecting all the richness and complexity of Judaism, of the Jewish people; for them Judaism is 'just a religion' which, in the end, for them boils down to social justice and tikun olam. These 'good Jews' are, unfortunately, Jews on their way out the door. None of these as-a-Jews will have Jewish grand-children. They cut themselves off from an unbroken chain of living Judaism that stretches back thousands of years. I pity them, in their keffiyahs in the encampments, holding their red lettered signs, writing slanderous articles, books, and posts. In losing their roots, in the end they lose themselves.
Powerful and true essay. The "good" Jews are hurting the rest of us and they don't even understand why. Thank God they are the minority, but the media tries to make it out to be that they are majority. They love being able to say, "See? Even Jews don't like Jews."
God Bless you
Wonderfully articulated Dinah. Spot on!!
I have relatives that could be the poster models for what you have so eloquently described. Nothing helps them. Thick as bricks. ignorant and refusing adamantly any information that goes against their being "good Jews". I consider them, and all like them, to be an existential threat to me and my family, and by extention to all of Klal Yisrael. Considering sending them your article. But I have a wedding in a few weeks where we will all be present. Maybe I should wait...😂
Sadly, the phenomenon of the self hating “kapo Jew” is not uncommon throughout Jewish history. Whether through profound ignorance or some deep seated psychological need (ie Stockholm Syndrome) such individuals turn their backs on their own people, land, culture and history. What they never understand until it is too late is that there is no great success in being on the last train to Auschwitz.