Because They Believe »
Posted By gamahuche 3 months, 2 weeks ago in ReligionThere are four types of people, teaches an ancient rabbinical text. The one who says: What is mine is mine and what is yours is yours - this is the common type, but there are some who say that this is the type of Sodom. What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine - this is a boor. What is mine is yours - a saint. What is yours is mine - a villain.
Brothers and sisters, is this liberal or conservative? The legitimacy of private property is certainly championed, but that is both a liberal conviction and a conservative one; and the tradition sees fit to record also the remarkable opinion that this elementary and uncontroversial norm — a scholar many years ago called it “possessive individualism” — was the custom of the most wicked city on earth. Moreover, legitimacy does not confer sanctity: the rabbis entertain the prospect of different distributions of wealth, and prudently contemplate the extremes of selflessness and selfishness.
So liberals and conservatives, and socialists too, and even the Club for Growth, will all find a use for this text, which is to say that the text is useless, I mean, for establishing the liberalism or the conservatism of the Jewish tradition.
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gamahuche
"I would rather be a square peg than fit in a pigeon hole" -
an essay which won me the "Lamb Essay Prize" at the Religious ...
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gamahuche3 months, 2 weeks ago
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Kvetching time with Norman Podhoretz?
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FTA:
So liberals and conservatives, and socialists too, and even the Club for Growth, will all find a use for this text, which is to say that the text is useless, I mean, for establishing the liberalism or the conservatism of the Jewish tradition.-
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hyperbola3 months, 2 weeks ago
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The real question is why the 98% of Americans who are not jewish shouldgive a rats aas about this minority and why our leading newspapers should publish such things. Stick Podhoretaz back in his east european racism bottle and spare us.
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Poulenc3 months, 2 weeks ago
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gamahuche3 months, 2 weeks ago
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Way past my sell-by date tonight - after a very tough day its already nearly 5.30 am.
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But yes, I thought it was a very good article and am also no fan of Norman Podhoretz.
But as the article says...:
The spectacle of all this tendentiousness is sometimes comic. In his new book, Norman Podhoretz has some fine exasperated fun with the wildness of interpretation on the Jewish left, and of course spares the Jewish right any culpability for the same sin. -
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LumFan3 months, 2 weeks ago
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I loved this review, as I do not intend to buy any book by Norman Podhoretz. Personally, I'd buy a book by the the author of this review.
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Mr. Podhoretz wonders why most Jews in the USA aren't voting Republican? Gee, I wonder why? I'd say, why are evangelical Christians (who should be reading their Bibles) voting against their best interests and supporting Republicans who are not?-
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CHAM3 months, 2 weeks ago
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Superb observation LumFan.
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Why indeed do people often vote against their bests interests? And your question about those who should be reading their bibles is certainly on target. Hagee and Parsley come immediately to mind, two staunch Republican supporters who's endorsement was sought and acknowledged by McCain, before public outcry brought him to his senses.
And then there is Palin.
How could a thinking mass of people look upon her as a good candidate for the potential Presidency? Could it be that a Party war excludes sane behavior?
A protracted party war will continue the downward spiral of good representation in Washington. And those who have the most to lose will continue to select the worse representation.
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