tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5797868361228039776.post1149348510686343378..comments2024-02-06T14:43:24.441-05:00Comments on RonMossad: The sanction of the victim and the guiltiest man in the room, Part IV: ANTHEMRonMossadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16815747509862087759noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5797868361228039776.post-62000599702277178782010-04-24T23:53:23.572-04:002010-04-24T23:53:23.572-04:00Darlink - that's funny about your boss, I'...Darlink - that's funny about your boss, I've heard and used that line several times myself.<br /><br />Your monkey analogy is interesting and it's probably pretty accurate but I'll give you another dimension to the whole cleaning for Passover thing. See in Israel it's very easy to be passively Jewish. You wake up in the morning, you go to the store you probably buy kosher food because 90% of the time that's what they sell. At the end of the week your day off is Saturday not Sunday so you basically keep the sabbath in some form. Most everyone you know know is Jewish so the odds are about 99% that you're marrying a Jewish girl when that time comes. You really have to go out of your way to screw up your Jewishness in Israel.<br /><br />But in the USA it's not like that. It's the other way around. You have to go out of your way to STAY Jewish. So it becomes important to obsess over certain laws, rules, restrictions etc because you have to keep yourself in that state of mind lest you get too caught up in the world around you. Jews in America need to keep reminding themselves that they are Jewish in order to stay that way. So hence, the spirituality or historical beauty of a holiday or other tradition can get lost because we spend so much time worrying about HOW to do something that the WHY often becomes secondary. <br /><br />Unfortunately for most people in America the alternative, that is, focusing on the reasons rather than the actions leads to being not serious about doing them which almost inevitably leads to assimilation and a loss of tradition entirely.<br /><br />Now as to your point about Israel defending itself - I agree 100% which is why I'm calling for American Jews to emulate Israeli Jews in these blog posts. Imagine if American Jews (or just Americans in general) had the resolve/attitude that Israelis are forced to have. Different world my friend, different world.RonMossadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16815747509862087759noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5797868361228039776.post-5164210597477009562010-04-23T17:27:40.634-04:002010-04-23T17:27:40.634-04:00About Islam - I took the pains, literally, to rese...About Islam - I took the pains, literally, to research the subject and though I agree that Judaism and Islam have some common points,they are exterior in nature.Fundamentally the two are opposed - Judaism sanctifies life, Islam disregards it,Judaism is evolving and adapting to some extent to the modern times while Islam is rigid and regressive.<br /><br />Islam is an ideology, which is at war with the Jews - ancient, unrelenting, merciless.There is no compromise because there is no common interest - they want you dead,you want to survive.<br /><br />That means that in order to celebrate a Passover "in peace", you have to fight.But that was the story of the Jewish people for the last 2000 years! And despite your frustration about too much talking not enough action, Israel is actually quite good at defending itself under the circumstancesD@rLin|{https://www.blogger.com/profile/10811810635580190462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5797868361228039776.post-53468501774146627902010-04-23T17:26:41.980-04:002010-04-23T17:26:41.980-04:00My boss, who is Jewish by the way,once told me tha...My boss, who is Jewish by the way,once told me that all Jewish holidays are about " They tried to kill us, we survived, lets eat".He should know, he is a Cohen after all :).What I was trying to point out is the tendency of people to forget over time the true meaning of certain events.Passover should be about freedom,not about kosher.Eating unleavened bread was just a small,incidental detail of how it happened, not why it happened.I understand the need of trditions - they are very important.The thing is that the story about monkeys,hot water and bananas always comes to my mind - the story where a group of monkeys in a closed environment were offered bananas but the minute they tried to eat them, they were sprayed with scalding water.After a while they learned not to touch the bananas.Then the members of the group were gradually replaced until there were no original members who remembered why bananas cannot be touched.And though no more hot water "punishment" existed, new members did not touch the fruit.Nobody knew the true reason - they just did it because monkeys before them did it too.<br /><br />Of course the comparison is allegorical.There is a reason for Jewish people to behave as you described in these series.Or should I say - there was once a reason.This is not true anymore.<br /><br />Keep the traditions but remember the original and intelligent reason behind them.Do not follow blindly anyone or anything.D@rLin|{https://www.blogger.com/profile/10811810635580190462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5797868361228039776.post-25509043831331920062010-04-23T10:44:01.079-04:002010-04-23T10:44:01.079-04:00Darlink - I apologize for the delayed reply.
Here...Darlink - I apologize for the delayed reply.<br /><br />Here's the thing with Passover...I honestly believe that there is a bit of OCD involved with the need to eliminate every last molecule of bread from the home, but this is their way and it is technically the "correct" way to do it. I personally do not subscribe to that view as I'm not quite so religious but I understand where they're coming from.<br /><br />You know it's an interesting point to point that out as an example of slave mentality...I hadn't thought about that actually. There is a lot in Judaism that requires us to "do" things. Clean the house for Passover. Fast several times a year. Pray three times a day. Along with many other examples. In that way, Judaism has a lot in common with Islam - which of course means "submission" in Arabic.<br /><br />The big difference between Islam and Judaism though is that Muslims only submit to Allah and no one else. Many Jews (and of course this is generalizing not EVERYONE is like this) seem to have this need to submit to anyone who is bigger. <br /><br />Which of course brings us to the Arab/Israeli conflict. All we want to do is to clean our houses for Passover in peace. But no, we have to deal with rockets and mortars and suicide bombers. At a certain point you have to say enough is enough already and start to DO something...even if you want to continue practicing your submission to God - these are people who are trying to rob you of the ability to do even THAT.RonMossadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16815747509862087759noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5797868361228039776.post-36185737729709762542010-04-16T11:51:42.228-04:002010-04-16T11:51:42.228-04:00This Passover I asked a few Jewish friends of mine...This Passover I asked a few Jewish friends of mine in Israel "Is it possible that you kind of miss the true meaning of these celebrations ?<br />Why do you try so hard to make everything kosher, use a separate set of dishes and scrub your home with "kosher" bleach to get rid even of the traces of stuff like breadcrumbs?Aren't you supposed to celebrate your freedom, relish that you are slaves no more,that you finally have your homeland back or at least part of it ? " They told me about strong hold of tradition,"masoret" which was passed to them by their parents,this was the right way to do it.As you point out, changing the attitude is going to take some time.Slave mentality is still there, 3 generations after recreating state of Israel, 3 wars and countless attacks later, many think that appeasement is the way to go.<br />It is good to hear that you do not want anymore to comply with lunch break format of your posts - I am convinced that readers want and are able to consume more.In fact there is a thirst for knowledge and honest opinion, especially if it is written in non-academic way, passionate but not too emotional and truthful.<br />I will forward these series to my friends and other blogs most certainly.Freedom cannot be taken for granted, Israel existence cannot be taken for granted - both have to be appreciated and are worth fighting for.D@rLin|{https://www.blogger.com/profile/10811810635580190462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5797868361228039776.post-48116549240434524672010-04-16T09:54:28.334-04:002010-04-16T09:54:28.334-04:00Thanks Darlink...quite a few people have read the ...Thanks Darlink...quite a few people have read the series, but unfortunately not as many as I would like. The trouble with blogging like this is that people want short, easily consumed entries that can be finished during a lunch break and posted on their friends' Facebook wall. Also because there's nothing in this article that is particularly referential to a current event, not as many people are going to find it while searching for pictures of the latest Tiger Woods mistress. <br /><br />Over the years I've found that my shorter posts that specifically reference something that's going on get much more attention than these long essay-style posts...and this one was so long I had to break it up into four different posts. Now I'm not going to change my style just to suit everyone's short attention spans, I just recognize that my favorite entries are often not going to be picked up as much as the stream-of-consciousness ones that take me 30 minutes to write.<br /><br />Finally, challenging the status quo is something people are rather reluctant to do so it's hard to get the establishment to rally behind this kind of "let's-redefine-our-entire-way-of-doing-things" kind of ideology...even if all I'm really calling for is a change in attitude.<br /><br />But the good news is that in my interactions with people, I'm seeing that there is a lot of this pent-up frustration with the status-quo and its building everyday. I think that something big is in the works and even though people may not want to talk about it or consciously address it...it's like a train that you hear coming from far away...it gets closer and closer and louder and louder until you can't ignore it anymore.<br /><br />We live in strange days my friend, strange days indeed. <br /><br />In any case, thanks for the support. In the next week or so I'm going to merge all these posts into one big one that can be easily linked to, instead of four separate URL's which is obviously inconvenient and makes it even harder to share. <br /><br />I hope you will share what you've read here with your friends/family and help me to push this message that it's time to start making some real changes before it's too late.RonMossadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16815747509862087759noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5797868361228039776.post-26533462039094207392010-04-16T07:45:58.340-04:002010-04-16T07:45:58.340-04:00Truly enjoyed the whole series - eloquent and powe...Truly enjoyed the whole series - eloquent and powerful way of driving your point home.How many readers have read this? Have you translated this to other languages? You have a gift of persuasion, maybe you should be heard, not just read by as many as possible.Jews and Gentiles alike would benefit in my opinion.D@rLin|{https://www.blogger.com/profile/10811810635580190462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5797868361228039776.post-52001453517051361082010-03-12T16:59:49.735-05:002010-03-12T16:59:49.735-05:00First, I must apoligize for my delay. As I was rea...First, I must apoligize for my delay. As I was reading through this series, my family and I were getting ready to go on vacation, and I realized the night before we left that there were at least two people in the blogosphere who needed to be told that I was leaving, and you were one of those people. And then I didn't give it a thought until we were past Lansing. So, sorry about that.<br /><br /><br />I think your ending was great, and I also think part of it applies to more than just Israel. It would be really nice if America just stopped giving aid to Muslim countries. It sounds like I'm an ogre or a troll for saying it, but it's true. I don't think this country needs to be giving aid to the same people who keep trying to blow up airplanes and/or fly them into buildings. <br /><br />BTW, I forgot to say this last time I commented, but I like the background change. The white text on black was pretty cool, the black text on white makes it easier to read for longer periods of time.The All Real Numbers Symbolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00030960859038263923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5797868361228039776.post-73283104926606391312010-03-11T10:02:25.714-05:002010-03-11T10:02:25.714-05:00A truly provocative post. It's funny because I...A truly provocative post. It's funny because I am definitely a fan of Che Guevara...I've actually traveled to Cuba and they still try to emulate him. I would not put him in the same class as Yasir Arafat. <br /><br />I am Zionist and frankly there is only one Jewish State--Israel. Like any country I don't always agree with their actions, but I stand by it.Florencenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5797868361228039776.post-38438928267037685172010-03-02T09:00:19.666-05:002010-03-02T09:00:19.666-05:00Thanks for the support DonThanks for the support DonRonMossadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16815747509862087759noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5797868361228039776.post-20866471467790174762010-03-01T09:29:18.469-05:002010-03-01T09:29:18.469-05:00A good series of posts. Much to chew on. I enjoyed...A good series of posts. Much to chew on. I enjoyed it very much.Donhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11451660326673235862noreply@blogger.com