Modernity is when everyone becomes urban, mobile, literate, articulate, intellectually complex, physically fastidious, and occupationally flexible. It is about learning how to cultivate people and symbols, not fields or herds. It is about pursuing wealth for the sake of learning, learning for the sake of wealth, and both wealth and learning for their own sake. It is about transforming peasants and princes into merchants and priests, replacing inherited privilege with acquired prestige, and dismantling castes for the benefit of individuals, nuclear families, and book-reading tribes (nations). Modernity, in other words, is when everyone becomes a Jew.
Yuru Slezkine, The Jewish Century
The English translation is atrocious, so if you can read in the original Russian do that instead. I had to edit this quote to make it readable because the translation is so poor.
Clarissa's Blog 
I usually don’t read books about Jews or Jewish history, but this one sounds interesting. Is it really good and even worth buying this book for, if I don’t find online?
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I’ll keep writing about it and posting quotes, and then you’ll be able to decide. I only just started but I’m reading it in Russian, so it will be fast.
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It is very interesting to be reading this right after Paul Kingsnorth who is completely opposed to modernity.
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So… what do these people eat, when nobody grows food?
-ethyl
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Growing food moves from the most important occupation to a marginal one.
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With modern technology, only two percent of Americans work in agriculture. With only this we also produce a massive food surplus.
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Exactly. The separation of human beings from the process of growing their own food (and increasingly not only making it but even bringing it to their own homes) has deep spiritual connotations that are discussed way too rarely. We have taken ourselves out of the natural cycles and both our bodies and our minds feel it. Whether this is good or bad is an issue we can discuss but that it’s real and significant is undeniable.
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Yes, quality matters.
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I read this post after the one about a mercurial society. You are right. It is original. Thank you for translating that quote and making it more intelligible.
Ol.
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