Archive for August 5th, 2017
Post-Holocaust trauma? Extending to fourth generation? All kinds of excuses to colonize
Posted by: adonis49 on: August 5, 2017
Post-Holocaust trauma? Extending to fourth generation?
A lot of our reactions emerge out of post-Holocaust trauma.
(Of any trauma, period. I read a genetic paper that many traces of trauma of grand parents are inherited by the next generations. The all kinds of trauma experienced by Palestinians will last a long time: All these forced transfers, the body destroyed in any second, houses demolished, the waiting and indignities at every check point, the administrative detention that last months…)
It does not mean they are right but it explains that when we think Hamas will exterminate us given the chance, it makes peace impossible and leads to the justification of aggression. (Not just Hamas. They claim everyone is after extermination mentality)
Peter Cohen: “This is the problem. Many Jews have an existential connection to the idea of Israel as a refuge against the next holocaust. It is a deeply emotive – not rational – need for an imagined safe haven from the threat of persecution by the “Other.”
(And I say the Palestinian cause is existential. And there will be no peace until the current apartheid practices of “only-Jewish” villages and cities are abolished and all villages shared by Palestinians everywhere in Palestine).
It is a phenomenon ultimately based on fear. And the search for “security” too often at the expense of the Other, leads to the absurdities we are seeing today.
It has become clear to me that, for many Jewish people like Aaron, the issue of a Jewish State is non-negotiable.
It is value they place above virtually all else, including the sanctity of life.
Now that the realization of this dream has caused so much wrong and suffering, it is time to reexamine this value and ask ourselves if it is really even necessary to – or compatible with – the making of a better world.”
Note: Last week, Naomi walked out of the synagogue because she was saddened of the lack of any mention of Gaza (‘where is God if not in caring for others?’ she asked…She looks into her book in an attempt to understand and grasp it all, below is what she shares.
I was challenged below: “Read the Bible! God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people.”
I may get crucified for this but I have started to say it — most recently (terrified, trembling) to warm welcome in a synagogue in LA: Actually if you read Genesis Exodus and Deuteronomy in Hebrew — as I do — you see that God did not “give” Israel to the Jews/Israelites.
We as Jews are raised with the creed that “God gave us the land of Israel” in Genesis — and that ethnically ‘we are the chosen people.”
I could not believe my eyes when I saw this, I checked my reading with major scholars and they confirmed it — actually God’s “covenant” in Genesis, Exodus and Deuteronomy with the Jewish people is NOT ABOUT AN ETHNICITY AND NOT ABOUT A CONTRACT. IT IS ABOUT A WAY OF BEHAVING.
Again and again in the “covenant” language He never says: “I will give you, ethnic Israelites, the land of Israel.”
Rather He says something far more radical – far more subversive — far more Godlike in my view.
God says: IF you visit those imprisoned…act mercifully to the widow and the orphan…welcome the stranger in your midst…tend the sick…do justice and love mercy ….and perform various other tasks…THEN YOU WILL BE MY PEOPLE AND THIS LAND WILL BE YOUR LAND.
So “my people” is not ethnic — it is transactional. We are God’s people not by birth but by a way of behaving, that is ethical, kind and just.
And we STOP being “God’s people” when we are not ethical, kind and just. And ANYONE who is ethical, kind and just is, according to God in Genesis, “God’s people.”
And the “contract” to “give” us Israel is conditional — we can live in God’s land IF we are “God’s people” in this way — just, merciful, compassionate. AND — it never ever says, it is ONLY your land.
Even when passages spell out geographical “boundaries” as if God does such a thing, it never says this is exclusively your land. It never says I will give this land JUST to you.
Remember these were homeless nomads who had left slavery in Egypt and were wandering around in the desert. (They never lived in Egypt and were nomadic people who kept away from cities and the sea shore)
At most these passages say, settle here, but they do not say, settle here exclusively.
Indeed again it talks about welcoming “zarim” — translated as “strangers” but can also be translated as “people/tribes who are not you” — in your midst. Blew my mind, hope it blows yours.
Note: It blows my mind when people still refer to Books as spelled out by a God or a messenger of a God.
Adonis Diaries 
Notes and comments on FB and Twitter. Part 54
Posted by: adonis49 on: August 5, 2017
Notes and comments on FB and Twitter. Part 54
Cette chose absurde chez les enfants: ces anxiétés de “L’avant nous”
On ne peut qu’admirer les témérités des réfugiers qui éblouissent l’histoire, qui ont l’audace d’exister
La Gloire ne revient qu’á ceux qui prennent la defense des plus démunis.
La plus mauvaise éloge est d’attribuer a quelqu’un de ne pas changer d’opinion pendant 40 ans: Louer l’eau stagnante
Il battit des records de solitude. Volonté de rupture, sortir de l’humain, voulant être séparé avec la société et l’espéce humain.
La destiné est une: ma vie est la vôtre, et reciproquement. On vit les même frustrations et pose les même questions a chaque phase de notre vie.
C’est le mouvement perpétuel: Cette roue tourne á vide. Ne pouvant créer, il décréte. Il fait rage, il touche á tout.(Victor Hugo dans Napoléon III, le Petit)
Moi, je la contemplais, celle qui sans le savoir mettait le feu dans plus d’une âme. Fait attention: le baril de poudre a peur de l’étincelle.
Aimer, c’est plus que vivre. L’amour seul reste.
Tu souffre de la plaie de la femme: tu n’a pas le courage de la cautériser
Aux livres colosses, il faut des lecteurs athletes. C’est la même chose de regarder les âmes d’Eschyle, du Juvénal, de Dantes, de Michel-Ange, de Shakespeare… ou de regarder l’ocean (Victor Hugo)
“Sous nos yeux, on incendie, on pille, on extermine, on égorge, on vend les petites filles et petit garcons… Et les gouvernement civilisés les laissent commettre ces épouvantables forfaits”.
Les mêmes avertissements et indignations qui se répétent sans relache chaque decennie.
To be in the right place at the right time with the right skills or investments: Predicting and inventing the future go hand in hand
La marche du retour de la librairie me donne des idées: Talama moush mestanzer sha2leh, b2ate3 al wa2t
Les grandes perils ont cela de beau: ils mettent en lumiére la fraternité des inconnus
I earnestly suggest to print money that say: “If you want, I want”. It will render transactions more efficient for all ages
“Tant que l’homme peut, tant que la femme veut”. Ces vouloir secrets et non exprimés me castre
Tu sais mon amour que je vous aime en gros et en grand. Quand tu veux l’amour en detail, rejoignez moi á telle addresse
Dieu vivant? Bon, clément, indulgent et doux et vivant? Being gentle, kind and human goes a long way. But how can little phrases in short letters convey those feeling?
Croire est difficile. Ne pas croire est impossible? Mais les rêves ne sont pas dans le domaine de l’impossible
“C’est de vous, femmes, que viendra la victoire”. Toutes les victoires qui vaillent ont étées meunées et nourris par les femmes
Le poéte est dans les nuages. Soit. Le tonnerre aussi
“Tant que le possible n’est pas fai, le devoir n’est pas remplit: On doit détruire la misére du corps social. Il est possible qu’il n’y ait plus de miserable” Victor Hugo
The few hours I spend in the library, almost everyday, are the happiest in my life. Go figure.
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