Saturday, September 20, 2014
Sugary Snacks
Austria does not seem to have anything on its menu without sugar in it: there are no "Triscuits" (tm) or other biscuits containing no sugar; no "corn nuts"; baking chocolate all has sugar in it (as opposed to Nestlés baking chocolate); EVEN SALADS are nearly always dressed with a sugary, vinegary liquid. It is nearly impossible to avoid sugar in Austria.
All-Encompassing
So Judaism is a doctrine which encompasses all aspects of one's life: genetic-racial-territorial-philosophical-religious-historical-scientific. At every point of their life, a Jew either agrees or pretends to agree to all aspects of this doctrine, or is subjected to all manner of criticism and ostracism from within. That is how they get group cohesion.
A Jew who ventures out of this framework of thinking finds himself in a no-man's land: since Jews and non-Jews alike still define him as a Jew if he fits any part of the racial-genetic-religious-territorial definition of Judaism. No matter what he does, he finds himself a foreigner in his own skin.
A Jew who ventures out of this framework of thinking finds himself in a no-man's land: since Jews and non-Jews alike still define him as a Jew if he fits any part of the racial-genetic-religious-territorial definition of Judaism. No matter what he does, he finds himself a foreigner in his own skin.
Problem with the definition
The problem with this definition of Judaism is manifold. First: as difficult as it is to cause people with origin and upbringing in many different parts of the world to have a collective concept of God and what the appropriate signs of worship are to be, it does not begin to describe the loss of humanity involved in denying an entire conglomerate of people the freedom to think for themselves in all matters of existence (as mentioned before: religion, politics, science, genetics, and more).
Breaking it down historically
Judaism of the Bible was a different religion from what it is today. I cannot claim to begin to know all the differences; but I do know that it was territorially connected to the land of Palestine (alternately called Israel) and the city of Jerusalem. And that there was a Rabbi in Roman times who, just as the Jews were being exiled, rewrote Judaism to make it possible for the religion to become independent of location. I do not know the name of thie rabbi offhand, but will append it here if I come across it again.
Ideological Persecution
.... So, anybody fitting their description of Jew (whether defined by birth, by genetics or by upbringing) "must", according to them, uphold a mentality, a political-scientific view, a territorial view, and a religious view -- under threat, of course, that non-Jews, or "Goys", or "Antisemites" will use the very same definition of Judaism and kill us all when the time comes. In other words, it does no good for a Jew to think for him-/herself: for fitting any part of the all-encompassing definition of Jew makes you responsible for upholding the entire religious-genetic-political-historical-scientific conglomerate of beliefs and leanings that cause all Jews to be persecuted...
Or yet in other words, it is better to have a sense of brothership and belonging to this entire conglomerate, to the point of giving up personal thought and decision -- because the group provides protection; and the outsiders or "Goys" are going to persecute all Jews by all definitions when the time comes.
Or yet in other words, it is better to have a sense of brothership and belonging to this entire conglomerate, to the point of giving up personal thought and decision -- because the group provides protection; and the outsiders or "Goys" are going to persecute all Jews by all definitions when the time comes.
What is Judaism?
A blogspace all for me? Just for having had the guts to create a google account? How convenient...
Until 2012 I was not present on the internet at all. I had an e-mail account; and I followed a few podcasts; or surfed around you-tube. But I did not post anything or publish my name on any sites. Due to some life events, it is time for me to speak, knowing that everything I write is subject to scrutiny by google, facebook, the CIA or worse.
I want this, my first post, to be about Judaism, because this is what has made me want to post in the first place.
Judaism is a religion. It is a religion dominated at the moment by Zionism: a political doctrine that claims, among other things, that Judaism is determined by birth to a particular set of parents or in a particular land; that Judaism is a racial/genetic matter (and by extension that white blondes have a genetic connection to black-skinned-and-haired-and-eyed Ethiopians); and that the home of everybody, whom they define to be Jewish, is in the land of Israel, from which it is their God-appointed right and duty to cleanse the Palestinians and other Arabs. They further claim that it is the political duty of Jews (as defined by them) to inhabit the State of Israel (in order to create a Jewish majority) and to show political unity with its leadership. Even further, Jews are held to a particular stream of scientific thinking which encompasses theories about vaccination, oncology, history, and genetic diseases, to name a few. Thus Zionism is a political doctrine that has overtaken the religion of Judaism.
Zionism is so interwoven into Judaism, that many Jews do not know where one ends and the other begins; or even that a difference exists between the two.
The problem with Judiasm is that its definitions of itself are so all-encompassing, that anybody defined as a Jew at any point in their life is "stuck" being so for the rest of his life. And I am here to say: They have the right to define anybody as a Jew as they wish; but not to expect that this person conform to their stereotype of Jewishness. That is, people on the outside can define a Jew by their nose, their political leanings, their income and connections, their genealogy, their upbringing, their dietary habits -- or all of the above. But they cannot force a person to change the way s/he thinks about him/herself.
Until 2012 I was not present on the internet at all. I had an e-mail account; and I followed a few podcasts; or surfed around you-tube. But I did not post anything or publish my name on any sites. Due to some life events, it is time for me to speak, knowing that everything I write is subject to scrutiny by google, facebook, the CIA or worse.
I want this, my first post, to be about Judaism, because this is what has made me want to post in the first place.
Judaism is a religion. It is a religion dominated at the moment by Zionism: a political doctrine that claims, among other things, that Judaism is determined by birth to a particular set of parents or in a particular land; that Judaism is a racial/genetic matter (and by extension that white blondes have a genetic connection to black-skinned-and-haired-and-eyed Ethiopians); and that the home of everybody, whom they define to be Jewish, is in the land of Israel, from which it is their God-appointed right and duty to cleanse the Palestinians and other Arabs. They further claim that it is the political duty of Jews (as defined by them) to inhabit the State of Israel (in order to create a Jewish majority) and to show political unity with its leadership. Even further, Jews are held to a particular stream of scientific thinking which encompasses theories about vaccination, oncology, history, and genetic diseases, to name a few. Thus Zionism is a political doctrine that has overtaken the religion of Judaism.
Zionism is so interwoven into Judaism, that many Jews do not know where one ends and the other begins; or even that a difference exists between the two.
The problem with Judiasm is that its definitions of itself are so all-encompassing, that anybody defined as a Jew at any point in their life is "stuck" being so for the rest of his life. And I am here to say: They have the right to define anybody as a Jew as they wish; but not to expect that this person conform to their stereotype of Jewishness. That is, people on the outside can define a Jew by their nose, their political leanings, their income and connections, their genealogy, their upbringing, their dietary habits -- or all of the above. But they cannot force a person to change the way s/he thinks about him/herself.
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