The Wall Street Journal features a photo of an Israeli border guard searching a Palestinian. The two men look so much alike that, save for the clothes, they could be twins.
Twins
Opinions, art, debate
Opinions, art, debate
The Wall Street Journal features a photo of an Israeli border guard searching a Palestinian. The two men look so much alike that, save for the clothes, they could be twins.
Clarissa's Blog 
Uri’s latest column:
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1445000540
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Very interesting. I’m not into Toynbee because his analysis looks very ahistorical to me but I do share the fear that – and excuse my political incorrectness – the ultra refined and intellectual Ashkenazi Jews will be displaced and marginalized by the Sephardic Jews who are very different culturally.
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\ I do share the fear that – and excuse my political incorrectness – the ultra refined and intellectual Ashkenazi Jews will be displaced and marginalized by the Sephardic Jews who are very different culturally.
I suppose you talk about two exile Jewish cultures influencing the development of an Israeli culture, not necessary somebody’s genetic make up? Still using Ashkenazi vs Sephardic language may create the impression of two distinct groups, which I am not sure exist anymore in Israel despite some politicians’ attempts to use this to gain votes. Once (right after immigration) the groups were more separated, but born-in-Israel Jews are all part of an Israeli culture, different both from “the ultra refined and intellectual Ashkenazi” culture you described and from Sephardic culture as it existed in Muslim countries. Genetically, many Israeli Jews have both Ashkenazi and Sephardic ancestry. I tried to check how many, but wiki says “The Israeli government does not trace the ethnic origin of Israeli Jews.”
Would you say that to a certain degree “Ashkenazi = USA liberals” and “Sephardic = USA conservatives”? Then you’re worried about Israeli population moving to the Right, which has happened from what I read. But I am not sure Ashkenazi vs Sephardic language depicts the historical processes accurately.
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No, in the US Sephardic Jews tend to be extremely pro-Palestinian and very much to the Left politically.
In what concerns Israel, I was afraid – based on what I hear from visitors – that what we know as “Jewish culture” is no longer there.
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And yes, of course, there is a genetic difference that shows up very clearly on genetic tests. It’s only meaningful on the level of genetic illnesses that the Ashkenazi have in a much greater proportion.
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Btw, one of the 3 posts which names appear after this post’s end is called “The Evil Twin.” 🙂
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\ No, in the US Sephardic Jews tend to be extremely pro-Palestinian and very much to the Left politically.
Very surprising. Why would it be so, in your eyes?
\ In what concerns Israel, I was afraid – based on what I hear from visitors – that what we know as “Jewish culture” is no longer there.
I hope you visit Israel one day and make your own opinion about the only Jewish state. Our lives are not only about the conflict, even if sometimes it may seem like that, especially to outsiders.
“what we know as” — I am not sure I know “Jewish culture” the way you say you do. In Ukraine I knew only one Jewish family – my own. In Israel I did see (Israeli) Jewish culture for the first time. When you say “Jewish culture”, aren’t you a bit idealizing as if all Jewish families valued education / culture like your family? Isn’t the concept of “Jewish culture” somewhat similar to the concept of mysterious Russian soul in their idealization? Also, hasn’t this culture developed with the help of antisemitism and needs the latter to be preserved? If you don’t know you have to work twice as hard to get half as much, this Jewish culture will disappear, imo.
Most importantly, isn’t what you value and call “Jewish culture” inherently self-destructive (outside of Israel, at least) because of assimilation that comes with it? I don’t think you appreciate Haredi approach to life and fear for their version of Jewish culture. 🙂 Your version developed after leaving (mental and physical) ghettos but before disappearing as a people. “Jewish culture” seems like a step / stage in the process of assimilation to me. I think Haredi abroad and Jews in Israel will be the ones to preserve Jewish people as a people. Of course, I want Israeli culture to be good and embrace (idealized) aspects of what you call “Jewish culture.”
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I wasn’t talking about the conflict at all, actually. I meant that tourists seem to say, pretty much unanimously, that the environment of an Eastern bazaar is everywhere in Israel.
There are many Jews I know here in North America. I’m in academia, so it’s not surprising. Even my Hispanic colleagues are all Jews. 🙂 And there’s definitely something we all have in common if we come from such different countries and all end up in the same social, intellectual, and economic position. Even those South African doctors I recently wrote about, who do you think they can possibly be if not Jews? And I’m not very attentive, so I only found that out after observing that they were the only good doctors I met here.
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So yes, it’s definitely a very distinctive culture that doesn’t go away even if you try really hard to shake it. When N discovered that he had Jewish ancestry, he’d already been driving me crazy for 5 years with his incapacity to answer a question with anything but another question. And he was trying to curl the hair by his ears as a mechanical gesture. :-))))))
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As for the American haredi, that’s not Jewish culture at all. Those beaten down, worn out baby factories bullied around by self -satisfied pricks are not Jewish women. Read the Torah and you’ll see that Jewish women are strong and resourceful and not these pathetic creatures.
And if that is Jewish culture, then why is it so necessary to preserve it? It’s not like the planet is lacking in beaten down women and underachieving men or in religious fanatics that can’t catch up with modernity.
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