> On May 9, 9:13 pm, LMC Society hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>

>> it's often been said that jews are a rootless people. the 'wandering
>> jew' has been feared and admired, vilified and romanticized, exiled
>> and emulated.
>> the historical image of the jew is that of a people going from one
>> place to another for whatever reason--curiosity, moneymaking, getting
>> the boot, search for a new promised land. and, so jews have been
>> accused of having no roots and no desire to settle down like everyone
>> else and make a living; this is a rather funny accusation coming from
>> portuguese, spaniards, french, and british who did much more to
>> conquer and wander about the world. but, i suppose one could say
>> spanish, british, french, and portuguese explored and conquered the
>> world for their mother country whereas jews always went for a ride on
>> the backs of other people.  before jews were freedom riders, they were
>> free riders.

>

>> anyway, one could argue that the notion of jews-as-a-rootless-people
>> is fundamentally wrong.  homelessness is not the same as rootlessness.
>> it could be argued that jews didn't embrace wandering as an ideal but
>> an unfortunate necessity.  rather, they wandered about because they
>> lost their home--the promised land of israel.  in this sense, jews
>> always had home and roots in their heart.  they appeared to be
>> rootless in foreign lands because jews, remembering israel as their
>> true home, could never feel at home among goyim.
>> indeed, it could be argue that jews appeared to be rootless precisely
>> because they--and their religion--was rooted.  even though jews came
>> up with an abstract one-and-only-god in heaven, their holy book said
>> god gave a specific parcel of land to the jews--that land jews
>> conquered from canaanites and philistines.  because jews who'd been
>> scattered around the world thought of returing home to their holy
>> land, they naturally appeared and acted as rootless people in foreign
>> lands. it's kinda like odysseus in the famous story. he may have
>> appeared rootless as he went from one land to the next and bumped into
>> all sorts of nasty adventure and such. but, he wasn't wandering for
>> the rootless fun of it. he was actually trying to go home. even when
>> calypso tried to keep him on her island, all odysseus could think of
>> was going back to penelope and sonny boy.  to calypso, odyessus may
>> seemed rootless as he couldn't give invest his love in their
>> relationship. but, this was because odysseus was actually homesick and
>> had penelope on his mind.  so, odysseus seemed rootless precisely
>> because he was rooted. because he desired to go home, he felt and
>> seemed out of place in various parts of the world.

>

>> if jews seemed rootless because their faith rooted them spiritually in
>> the holy land, christians may appear rooted precisely because their
>> religion is rootless.  jesus was a funny kind of jew. he saw himself
>> as the son of god--directly and literally. also, he had little use for
>> many jewish traditions and ideas.  he wanted to spread god to all men
>> all over the world--or, so the christians say. for jesus, there was no
>> single holy land for a single people.  all the people were god's
>> children and all the land was equally holy.  so, there is no specific
>> home or holy ground for christians. it's the Idea that is holy.  it's
>> an idea that can go anywhere, like dandelion seeds.  so, christianity
>> is rootless. but, its adherents can lead happily rooted lives because
>> they can be perfect christians exactly where they are.    a jew in
>> argentina may still think of the holy land of israel. secular or
>> religious, israel is historically important to the idea of jewishness.
>> but, the holy lands are not that important to christians.  of course,
>> christians want that part of the world to be under western control. of
>> course, many christians would like to travel to israel and do some
>> sightseeing. but, one can be an happy and totally fulfilled chrisitan
>> in spain, philippines, brazil, japan, china, or zimbabwe.  to be sure,
>> there is some stuff in the revelations about jesus coming back down to
>> the holy land and blah blah, but it's jews who are supposed to go back
>> to that territory, not christians.  a christian can feel happily holy
>> and totally rooted whereever he is.  today, a modern jew is happy in
>> the US and many parts of europe, but there is still a sense  of israel
>> as their true home. the holyland is spiritually and historically
>> jewish. it's the ONLY country in the world where jews make up the
>> majority.  it's the land that the bible talks about over and over.

>
> The essay seems sympathetic and interesting, while I must argue with
> the thesis of the wandering Jews as unwilling to
> permanently settle anywhere during the past two thousand years.
>
> That is a misrepresentation of reality.
>
> The "Golden Age of Poland" seems to have lasted a long time perhaps
> until the twentieth century or the 19th or whatever century.
>
> As regarding Jews non-conforming to mainstream normative.
>
> The Dreyfuss tragedy is a notorious refutation of this.
>
> The French officer apparently was falsely accused of disloyalty
> (spying for Germany):
>
> The French military
> is afterall a reflection of French society:
>
> Colonel Alfred Dreyfus' reputation  was subsequently rehabiltated by
> way of the eloquent attorney Emile Zola, though the ugly affair lasted
> for years including a  Devil's Island sentence.
>
> D had apparently been railroaded by a  good ole boy military
> establishment in that most liberal, secular, Napoleonized society.
>
> Theodore Herzl, the secularized Austrian, in the late 19th century
> perceives-- particularly verified from Dreyfuss-- that Europe is
> ultimately intolerant & hopeless.
>
> Founder Herzl'  idealistic socialistic zionism is not based upon
> theology.
>
> Some Orthodox Jews reject modern Israel as non-fulfilling of G-d's
> specific criteria.
>
> I'm trying to refute the premise of Jews having a choice in where to
> settle.
>
> The Spanish and Portugese explorers of the Americas were not
> exclusively Catholic (i.e. Columbus' translator).
>
> The conform to Christianity or die Spanish Inquisition was circa 1492.