A conversation about Jewish History

Purim - Why do they Hate us?

Monday, March 2, 2009 - 2:23 PM

Next week is the Holiday of Purim, a commemoration of the Jewish people being saved from one of the earliest anti-Semitic decrees.

Here is link to a fascinating article that develops an approach to understanding anti-Semitism through analyzing a parable that the Talmud uses to describe the hatred towards Jews of the two protagonists of Purim - Haman and Achashverosh.

LINK: Purim: Why do they hate us? YY Jacobson

What is Anti-Semitism?

Monday, February 23, 2009 - 2:40 AM

Through the course of history the dark side of human nature has shown (and continues to show) itself in the dislike for that which is different.
How is anti-semitism different to regular 'dislike' of that which one finds strange, threatening and 'not-like-me'? Is there a deeper way to understand this contining phenomenon?

Thoughts?...

Is the survival of Judaism dependant on anti-Semitism?

Sunday, February 8, 2009 - 1:59 AM

While the Greek Empire, for the most part, allowed for Jews to flourish materially and financially,
Jews under the rule of the Romans were oppressed and encountered persecution and difficulties.

In Think Jewish (p. 90), Zalman Posner asks:

“Is the survival of Judaism dependant on anti-Semitism? Wasn’t persecution always a major force
in the preservation of the Jewish people? It seems that whenever Jews have liberty, they soon cast
off their Jewish identity and assimilate into the society in which they live. It is often pointed out,
that the great Jewish, religious and cultural treasures of the past are products of the ghetto, in which
Jews were barred from the universities and professions, but that once the ghetto walls had fallen,
the Jews became such eager participants in the culture of the non-Jewish world, that in the process,
their own Jewish heritage was lost.”

We have never lived in a more free-of-ghetto society than the one we live in today.
What makes us think that it will be different this time? Why should we think that this time Jews and Judaism will thrive despite these new freedoms?

Thoughts?

Jewish Contribution to Birth of Modern World

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 - 8:51 PM

Hi everyone.
I really enjoyed the discussions we had during the class last night would like to continue some of them on this blog throughout the week.

Please feel free to post about anything you want to discuss, but as a starting point here is an article I that discusses an interesting idea about the ideological confrontation between the Jews and the Ancient Greeks and its subsequent results: article
You can also download it here: www.chabaddbmedia.org/docs/WhoCaresFreeman.pdf

Do you agree? Disagree? Want to elaborate?

If you know of other people that would be intersted in this discussion do email them the link to this blog.