One of the properties of the Jewish soul is that it cannot bond with any other type of soul. This is why intermarriage is ultimately a denial of one's essence. Marriage is a union of souls, not just bodies and hearts. A Jewish soul cannot unite with a non-Jewish soul any more than a helium atom can bond with any other atom. Not because helium is clannish or racist or snobbish - or any worse than a hydrogen atom, but because chemical inertness is simply one of its essential properties.
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Anti-Semitism is the Divine equivalent of the parent of a diabetic child locking the cookie jar. A Jew in 15th century Spain or 20th century Germany or 21st century America may want to blend in with the surrounding society, but anti-Semitism is a sealed door, strong and black as iron, which keeps him out - and separate. Anti-Semitism keeps the Jewish people from dissipating into oblivion.
The ubiquitous effort to trace the source of anti-Semitism to the Jews remaining different and aloof - implying that assimilation cures anti-Semitism - is an inversion of the truth. Assimilation si not the antidote to anti-Semitism, anti-Semitism is the Divine antidote to assimilation.
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It is precisely this kind of thinking that A. keeps anti-Semitism and prejudice alive and B. causes Jewish people to live in their own, tiny segregated communities in a permanent state of self-exile. Neither of these are good things, Ms. Rigler.
The best thing for the Jewish people is to not treat ourselves as different, or separate from other peoples, but rather to join the global community as global citizens. The fact that we feel the need to separate ourselves is a hold-over from 1500 years of oppression and persecution, but today, in the 21st century we are not the scapegoats for every societal ill and we are not the go-to targets for hate-crimes except by extremist minorities who in turn are often quickly punished for their actions. There is no reason for us to separate ourselves from our non-Jewish neighbors or to not try and blend our culture with another culture through intermarriage. This 'you can't marry a non-Jew' attitude will only lead to cultural stagnation, inbreeding and ultimately collapse.
So, in conclusion and in point-of-fact, in order for the Jewish people to survive another 1500 years, we have to stop looking inward and thinking of ourselves as 'the other'. A 'fortress society' mentality for the diaspora was a smart tactic when we were abused by our neighbors, but now that we aren't we have to tear the walls of the fortress down and let our neighbors in.
Minor quibble here.
Structure of helium hydride:
image
Helium has also been induced to form He2 and HgHe.
Other stable compounds involving helium are possible. Link
So...you were saying?
"One of the properties of the Jewish soul is that it cannot bond with any other type of soul."
Prove it. You can't even prove people HAVE souls, can you?
One thing I have to wonder--does she regard the Book of Ruth as an outlier in some way? For all that Ruth gladly swore fealty to Naomi's god, the timeframe would suggest she'd have the problem of Moabite immigrants being forbidden from the congregation for ten generations. (Rationalwiki even suggests that the author of Ruth may have been attacking the very concept of ethnic purity.) While I can see how the early Hebrews would have deemed the Moabites and Ammonites a special scenario (look at Genesis 19:35-38), I'm not aware of any extension of that scorn to other peoples.
So carrying your logic forward, the Holocaust is supposed to, in some way, have helped the Jews?!
Are you trying to step on your foot?
"One of the properties of the Jewish soul is that it cannot bond with any other type of soul."
Let us pretend souls are real. How do you know it can't bond with other types of souls? Furthermore where does this even come from theologically? Or are you making it up?
Marriage is a legal contract. The bonding of hearts happens when you fall in love.
Is there any evidence, whatsoever, of the existence of souls?
Isn't helium the second most abundant element in the Universe? Jewish souls are not quite that abundant, apparently...
One of the properties of the Jewish soul is that it cannot bond with any other type of soul.
[citation needed]
Anti-Semitism is the Divine equivalent of the parent of a diabetic child locking the cookie jar.
Because racism is totally the same as wanting to protect your child. Not.
I could have sworn that the objective of the Holocaust was to dissipate the Jewish people (the ones in Europe, at the very least) into oblivion. How anyone - least of all a Jew - could construe this as being a good thing for the Jews boggles the mind.
Oh, and the soul thing? It's a human invention, numbnuts. No such thing exists.
So why, then, do nearly half of American Jews find their soul-mate in someone who isn't Jewish? And why, then, do most of their kids identify as Jewish?
As with the previous posts, this is religious fundamentalism, rather than racism - she specifically denies that non-Jews are inferior, but she wishes to maintain a Jewish people sealed off from the rest of the world in terror at what might happen should they venture outside. To that extent, she reminds me of the Soviet and other communist propagandists that spoke of the threat of the racist and "decadent" West while raging against the "spiritual pollution" of Western ways.
@Mech610
I agree with what you say, but while our OP may do a little to stir up anti-Semitism, that hatred of Jews already needs to be there. Anti-Semitism is not caused by Jews; that's why you see it among the OPs on RSTDT who've never met a Jew and you see it in countries which have no Jewish population.
@Skyknight
Tradition also says that Tzipporah and Jethro, the wife and father-in-law of Moses, were also converts.
If this is so, then you have nothing to worry about. Young Jews will try to connect with non-Jews, fail, and then come dutifully back to the Jewish community to find someone whom they can bond with. Oh, is that not happening? Well then, maybe your entire premise is wrong.
Also, it seems rather odd for you to be pining for "the good ol' days" when antisemitism was much more prevalent. Its like you're actually wishing that other people hated you more. Hate is not healthy, so you are in effect wishing that the people around you were unhealthy so your premise can be vindicated. That isn't just clannish, racist or snobbish. It is full blown deranged!
First, prove the soul exists, then prove that Jewish souls have this special property. Submit your paper for peer review, and if it passes just sit and wait for that Nobel prize.
Everyone else already covered the rest of it, so I'd like to point out the poster's complete lack of knowledge about diabetes.
"Locking the cookie jar" (especially with current knowledge of diabetes) is not a parent taking care of their diabetic child. It's an example of a parent acting out of ignorance.
Diabetes isn't an inability to consume processed sugar. It's an inability to process certain carbohydrates, including those found in normal, everyday bread.
Of course, thanks to science (and not religious woo), this is not as big a problem in the First World, since we have very effective technology to help diabetics live long, normal lives (such as the insulin pump, which act as a bionic pancreas). Diabetics can eat sugar, as long as they monitor & maintain their blood sugar levels - which is incredibly easy these days.
So yes, I suppose the analogy was accurate; anti-Semitism is based on ignorance & an unwillingness to learn facts. As is Jewish exclusivist racism, such as Sara Rigler displays.
And your evidence that souls, Jewish or otherwise, actually exist and that humans possess them would be...what, exactly?
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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