Don't you wonder sometimes where we went wrong? Truly, there has to be a reason why we, as Jews, are so few in numbers. The old expression (probably Jewish), that three Jews have four different opinions, is so true. We are a people of questions and sometimes that causes a problem. Is it possible that the basic cause is that each Jew has his own "agenda"? It's not easy going through life knowing everything better than the next guy. It would be a little more prudent to learn that it's what you learn after you know it all that counts. It is a fact of life that I don't quite understand. My mother, ?Queen Mollie?, had it right, I think, when she said, "We're our own worst enemy."
I blame the media for anti-Semitic reportage and I'm right in doing so. However, we, as a people, have more than our share of self-haters and ACLU true-believers. How come there are more than a billion adherents of the closest copycat religion - Islam - and only twelve million Jewish people scattered around the globe? We are one people, yet, throughout history, there has been no Jewish unity. G-d knows why we fight unity, but we do. Israel's 29 political parties are a perfect example of such meshugass. Their political system is a disaster; yet, they continue with it, knowing the ultimate results. We can't seem to be unified and yet we all know, "United we stand, divided we fall".
The Arabs, on the other hand, will unite on one thing - their intense hatred of Israel and the Jews. Otherwise, they even hate each other. Actually, they especially hate each other. The various factions of Muslims and Arabs are always at odds. They are supposedly the same faith or people, yet, totally at odds in their internal relations. But, when it comes to bonding together, nothing accomplishes that better than a terrorist act against an Israeli somewhere, or a tragedy such as 9/11, to have them dancing on the rooftops in celebration.
They have a plan, and we, quite simply, didn't. They joined and followed the plan together. The Muslims stay united in their claims and long-range plans regarding the Jews. The Jews, I think, quite often just want to "do right". Too often that resulted in being "dead right", as in the case of the Jewish leaders who would rather leave than fight, or the Jewish leaders who once urged the Jews to stay in Europe, as everything would be okay. Yes, Jews are street-smart and book-smart, but these exemplary traits have not hindered "ethnic cleansing" of the Jews. And, if the Arab world has its way, in the near future, they'll finish the job that Hitler started.
For fifty years their people have lived in those wretched camps and been brainwashed daily about the infidel Jew. Mothers, in admiration of homicide bomber "martyrs", strap fake bombs on their children and proudly march them around. These mothers, incidentally, are having babies by the dozen. Meanwhile, the average Jew is having two children.
Jews, it seems, excelled in every humanitarian field of endeavor possible. Not because they are Jews, but because they possess the desire to do better, to strive higher. And probably that's the reason why they question every decision made until they are satisfied. For being a minute drop in the sea of humanity, the accomplishments of the Jews are astounding. The Nobel Prize has been awarded innumerable times to Jewish recipients. The reason, however, is not because they were Jewish, but in spite of that fact, in most cases. Those recipients reach those heights because they possess the inherent desire to do better. Hey, I'm no mayvin on Jewish law, but isn't it true that Moses received the Law and it was written in the Torah. The Jewish urge to add, change, and interpret and otherwise agree to disagree, at times violently, wound up in the Talmud, Midrash, and a few other places of reference. So, no wonder it's a little confusing that we live in a ?Catch 22? where we have been given the right to disagree, but, for some, it has been to the detriment of our people. Personally, I think that when we do it, we are assured that the things that we do believe in and practice are examined and understood to the maximum extent. Too many of the cults go though life with blind faith alone.
With all of that, one of the main reasons for our stalled numbers, aside from the obvious decimation in the Holocaust, is the Jewish invention of assimilation, intermarriage and conversion.
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Arlene Peck is an internationally syndicated columnist and television talk show hostess. She can be reached at bestredhead@earthlink.net.
I blame the media for anti-Semitic reportage and I'm right in doing so. However, we, as a people, have more than our share of self-haters and ACLU true-believers. How come there are more than a billion adherents of the closest copycat religion - Islam - and only twelve million Jewish people scattered around the globe? We are one people, yet, throughout history, there has been no Jewish unity. G-d knows why we fight unity, but we do. Israel's 29 political parties are a perfect example of such meshugass. Their political system is a disaster; yet, they continue with it, knowing the ultimate results. We can't seem to be unified and yet we all know, "United we stand, divided we fall".
The Arabs, on the other hand, will unite on one thing - their intense hatred of Israel and the Jews. Otherwise, they even hate each other. Actually, they especially hate each other. The various factions of Muslims and Arabs are always at odds. They are supposedly the same faith or people, yet, totally at odds in their internal relations. But, when it comes to bonding together, nothing accomplishes that better than a terrorist act against an Israeli somewhere, or a tragedy such as 9/11, to have them dancing on the rooftops in celebration.
They have a plan, and we, quite simply, didn't. They joined and followed the plan together. The Muslims stay united in their claims and long-range plans regarding the Jews. The Jews, I think, quite often just want to "do right". Too often that resulted in being "dead right", as in the case of the Jewish leaders who would rather leave than fight, or the Jewish leaders who once urged the Jews to stay in Europe, as everything would be okay. Yes, Jews are street-smart and book-smart, but these exemplary traits have not hindered "ethnic cleansing" of the Jews. And, if the Arab world has its way, in the near future, they'll finish the job that Hitler started.
For fifty years their people have lived in those wretched camps and been brainwashed daily about the infidel Jew. Mothers, in admiration of homicide bomber "martyrs", strap fake bombs on their children and proudly march them around. These mothers, incidentally, are having babies by the dozen. Meanwhile, the average Jew is having two children.
Jews, it seems, excelled in every humanitarian field of endeavor possible. Not because they are Jews, but because they possess the desire to do better, to strive higher. And probably that's the reason why they question every decision made until they are satisfied. For being a minute drop in the sea of humanity, the accomplishments of the Jews are astounding. The Nobel Prize has been awarded innumerable times to Jewish recipients. The reason, however, is not because they were Jewish, but in spite of that fact, in most cases. Those recipients reach those heights because they possess the inherent desire to do better. Hey, I'm no mayvin on Jewish law, but isn't it true that Moses received the Law and it was written in the Torah. The Jewish urge to add, change, and interpret and otherwise agree to disagree, at times violently, wound up in the Talmud, Midrash, and a few other places of reference. So, no wonder it's a little confusing that we live in a ?Catch 22? where we have been given the right to disagree, but, for some, it has been to the detriment of our people. Personally, I think that when we do it, we are assured that the things that we do believe in and practice are examined and understood to the maximum extent. Too many of the cults go though life with blind faith alone.
With all of that, one of the main reasons for our stalled numbers, aside from the obvious decimation in the Holocaust, is the Jewish invention of assimilation, intermarriage and conversion.
--------------------------------------------------------
Arlene Peck is an internationally syndicated columnist and television talk show hostess. She can be reached at bestredhead@earthlink.net.