Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Acts of Injustice and the Three Weeks











Well, so much for the Torah.















Anonymous said...

I doubt Jews are uniquely morally chauvinistic, though I don't doubt it's a pretty widespread disease. I see it anytime the NYT carries letters on the I/P conflict.

But let me say something about my own group--evangelical Christians. (Though I've gotten so disgusted with evangelicals I'm starting to disavow the connection.) You don't get much more chauvinistic than us. In theory it's not supposed to be that way. We have nothing to boast about, as St. Paul says. But of course in practice we manage to combine expressions of humility with unshakeable feelings of moral superiority.

But then I think a lot of secular lefties are like this too. It's just a human universal.


Jerry Haber said...


Well, it would be chauvinistic for me to claim in all seriousness that the Jews are more morally chauvinistic than others! So, yes, you are right, as I made clear, that all groups (civilizations, nations) that make claims of superiority are morally chuavinistic.

Having said that, I do believe that the Jews position as a minority without political power (except interna), and without the glorification of physical prowess, etc., developed some aspects of its moral chauvinism in response to the obvious counter claim that their historical situation proved their inferiority. The gentiles have temporal power; they may even have wisdom. But only we have Torah.

Anonymous said...

Having read about the problems in Israel-Palestine, I can't help but wonder if there has not been a slow moral decay in Israeli society (and perhaps in Palestinian society), which continues to this day?

Anonymous said...

Excellent and timely post!

As a non-religionist, I have read only short passages from the Torah and the Talmud. Do orthodox Jews naturally just assume "a spiritual divide" between Jews and Gentiles that can never be breached? And, if so, does this come about due to their understanding... or an esteemed rabbi's interpretation... of these texts... along with their familial upbringing?

In reading your post I was reminded of "The One Sentence Persuasion Course", by Blair Warren:


But then, recalling this "course" is perhaps not a propos here... :)

Jimmy Carter may have been a little harsh in his own recent assessment of the Holy Land strife, but I'm sure most Palestinians would agree their plight could at least be likened to racial apartheid, as he's suggested.

Yet... you're to be commended... for keeping this off-putting, rather contentious conversation alive - G-d seems to be keen on staying on top of these questions too, I'm sure.

Oh, and BTW, do you feel the Torah G-d is identical to the G-d spoken of in the oral traditions of the Talmud? If He is indeed one and the same, how can "The Chosen Ones" not help but feel superior to all others - especially "them"?

I know in my own life... anytime I felt myself superior to another fallible human being... in any way, shape or form - and acknowledged later by my previous actions I may have unthinkingly caused hurt or harm to someone - I often experience noticeable pangs of guilt afterwards. This is why the older I get the more I try to reach inside for reserve and humility... and disconnect from any tendencies of an earthly "separateness" from other people... if I possibly can.

I've discovered that if one truly values love and peace, or success and prosperity, for example - no matter one's special mission or agenda in any given circumstance - one can also easily learn to be more mindful with constant practice.

Theoretically, Buddhist Zen-style mindfulness promotes temporal AND spiritual connectedness by causing one to always be spiritually alive... in every moment... of the here-and-now. At the same time, even while disassociating from one's "manufactured Self" - from error-ridden dialectical argument and harmful judgment, or simply from the empty, supposed need for less than spirit-filled "attachment", let's say - a person can harmoniously stay obedient to the spirit of "I will be what I will be" and still be razor-sharp in his/her devotion to the task(s) at hand... with selfless discernment... and still with a kind of joyous abandon, in the same instance.

Whether I'm feeling anti-social or not, if I'm not respectful and accommodating towards another person, I get the sense that I'll have actually lost instead of gained something... of that human interaction... in the here-and-now.

Therefore, forget about entertaining questions of ethics or morality, or dealing with issues of separateness or connectedness, it's only prudent to want to gain (and not consciously decide to lose) from every one of life's experiences!

Do the Jewish religious teachings say anything at all along these lines? Or anything else which might help guide Israelis away from this tragic enmity with the Palestinian people?

P.S. - The Jews of Europe and the Americas, to my knowledge, have not been lacking... in quite considerable political power... for a very long time. Despite their minority status, their social status, largely by virtue of their tribal "close-knittedness" and dogged, single-minded pursuit of power, has only grown by leaps and bounds. Yet, I'm sure you're correct this hasn't always been the case historically - their minority status always guaranteed they would have had to close ranks in the spirit of self-preservation, so of course, this collective "mastermind" was bound to enjoy some success.

Do you mind also elaborating on the second part of your comment in response to Donald please? I'm really not sure what you meant, except that I understand your obvious pride as regards the Torah.

Jerry Haber said...


My hasty and misspelled response to Donald suggested that there is a unique form of moral chauvinism in classical Jewish literature because the Jews were a minority religion and had to deal with the claims of both Christianity and Islam that their lack of power indicated that they were not the chosen people, and that their Torah was not still applicable, etc.

The last line of my response should have been in quotation marks; Jewish sources claim that only the Jews have Torah -- divine revelation.

Anonymous said...


I think the powerlessness for many centuries probably is one of the reasons for feeling morally superior. It's a distortion of a Biblical theme--that God cares for the poor and the oppressed, and then we humans take it a step further and say "Our ethnic or religious group has been oppressed, so that must mean we're morally superior."

Evangelical Christians in the US can't seriously claim to be oppressed, but in order to have some of the cachet of being a victim, some of us look for anything we can find--the sometimes the secular media disses us, for instance. It's not a pogrom or the African slave trade, but it's all we've got.