9/11 and Good Friday.

[richardf8]

The first time morgan1 and I ever set foot in Temple Israel was to see a talk by John Carroll, author of Constantine's Sword. After the presentation, which took place in the run-up to the Easter/Passover season, Morgan was buttonholed by an elderly man who had fled Poland in the wake of pogroms. Good Friday, for him, was the day the Christians would come out of the churches looking for Jews to beat up. And he had absorbed his share of beatings.

And so.

It is now 9/11.

I skim chipuni's friends list, because it is a rich and diverse bouquet, where so many viewpoints can be found, and I notice that someone has goatsed the muslimscommunity. There moderators act swiftly, but no sooner do they delete it than the same user posts an anti-Islamic Chick Tract rife with misinformation and fabrication regarding Islam. This is as close as you can get to mosque desecration on line. I wonder what we will see in the physical world as the day dawns.

The analogy is obvious. And it was the provincial and religious hatred that the Poles had for the Jews that built Auschwitz. A provincial and religious hatred not dissimilar than that which is growing bolder and bolder in the US.

If we allow such seeds to sprout, what vile fruit can we expect to harvest?

Comments

[richardf8]

The Jewish community has, over the centuries, had a certain wariness of others beaten into it, quite literally, over the centuries. The fear of unwittingly providing those who would seek to harm us with ammunition probably explains the reticence you encountered.

I've been watching the muslims community long enough to know that most of what is represented there is from the progressive side of Islam. I won't profess to know "a lot" about Jewish History, but I am willing to share what I do know, and point you to sources more authoritative than me.

[richardf8]

When fundamentalists seize the limelight, the center seems progressive.

Your grandmother's last name would be useful - some are more distinctively Jewish than others.

Germany was seeing a bit of a surge in religious anti-semitism at that time - "biographies" of Jesus were being written that implicated the Jews in his death, and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion would be making its debut in Russia. A Jew may have converted to avoid persecution on those accounts, or simply to provide better professional opportunities for themselves and their children, as did the parents of Karl Marx.

If your hypothesis is correct then you do have a Jewish heritage you can lay claim to. Such heritage passes matrilineally in the eyes of Jewish Law (halakhah), so since it is your maternal grandmother we are discussing, your status would be the same as hers.

[richardf8]

Have you tried a genealogy forum?

http://genforum.genealogy.com/ortman/

[ziabandito555.livejournal.com]

I suspect the fruit will be guava based... but then I really don't like guava.

In all seriousness though you are right this is a powerful concern and something we must be vigilant against. However this type of provincial uninformed hatred has always existed and it will probably always be part of human nature. However there is still good in people and this provincial pettiness can be overcome. There is still time to oppose this type of thing and I believe we will be able to... but that's me

[childings.livejournal.com]

Wow! A new Chick tract! I haven't seen this one ("The Moon God" or whatever is the only one I've read that was anti-Islam). I love how all of the things that are "wrong" with Islam are also wrong with Judaism and therefore with Christianity.

Abraham owned slaves. (Remember Hagar?)
Adam was really fucking tall, according to Jewish rabbinical legend. That was before he (it?) was seperated into two genders.
"He married her when she was nine!" Uhm... I won't even go into that. Who knows how old people got married in the Bible... and people got engaged all over the world at those ages back then. Also, I like how they conveniently forget how many wives Jacob had.
"Long ago in Arabia, people worshipped an idol called 'the Moon God'." -- Long ago in Canaan and later in Judea/Israel, people worshipped all sorts of gods. The Hebrews worshipped all kinds of goddesses and shit before they were forbade to do so (which I believe is when Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Mt. Sinai, one of which was "you shalt have no gods before Me", correct?)

The God of Islam is the same as the God of Judaism and Christianity. "Allah" is just Arabic for "God". Arab Christians call God "Allah" as well.. does that make them heathens?

Anyhow, that comic was hilarious. I like how the Muslim dude IMMEDIATELY wanted to convert them, instead of like "hey let's go play videogames" or whatever. And then he disappears to go to... THE AIRPORT! :insert ominous music here:

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

*deep blush*

Thank you for the compliment!

[loquaciousnut.livejournal.com]

A new Chick tract? Holy crap! I remember being given one that was anti-Roman Catholicism (I was formerly Catholic) and thinking to myself, What a sad dickhead.

Can't believe they're still in circulation. They're really nasty and bigotted... but you know that. :-)

BTW, I liked reading your journal. Hope you don't mind me adding you. :-)

[kashkool.livejournal.com]

Hi there...
This is Tareq from Jordan :)