I have a question for all you fellow Jews out there. How can we be considered the chosen people by God if most people in the world hate us–both consciously and unconsciously? Isn’t a part of God in everybody? And if God has chosen us–then why do the parts of God in other people NOT choose us?
I read today on comcast.net that Yassir Arafat died, and people praised him. Most Jews would agree with me that he is not a man who WE would praise. He has dedicated his life to killing Jews. And to see all these world leaders, who represent their people, people who have a part of God in them, PRAISE this man as if he were a Catholic Saint disturbs me–it sickens me.
How can we be God’s chosen people? —And if we are–then why do people hate us so?
And if through some remarkable reason and logic some Jew is able to convince me that it is US Jews who are responsible–then how come we are so bad at appealing to the parts of God in other people, when the whole of God favors us. Responses are welcome.
maybe god will reward your seemingly endless suffering with a special heaven with a glass floor for the rest of us to envy you
as for praising arafat, thats clearly world leaders kissing the asses of all terrorists worldwide.
as for jews being hated on a personal level in general, bullies hate nerds. woody allen is jewish? this is the stereotype people form and some jews conform to. insecure dorky studdering guys like this are a perfect target for the hidden-insecurity-motivated hatred of some meathead who pulls himself up by putting others down. and then it snowballs if jews respond to this treatment by becoming more like woody allen and meatheads behave the same way in front of their kids.
I’m a Christian, not Jewish, but I think one of the things our faith agrees on is this: Don’t expect living a godly life to earn you the respect or love of the World.
I think the idea of a “chosen people” is a label more used by critics/enemies than Jewish people themselves. The old line of “Jews think they’re better than us, kill them!” was always a good way of fueling the mob’s fire. Obviously the epithet is Biblical (in Shemot and Dvarim I think) but “chosen” doesn’t necessarily mean “better”.
I’ve seen some commentaries on this very topic and many of them suggest that “chosen” just means that the Israelities (to whom God is speaking) have a different job to the rest of the world. In Bereishit (Genesis), God gives Noah seven laws (the Noahide code) which is for all mankind to follow (do not murder, do not eat live animals etc). In Shemot (Exodus), God gives the Torah exclusively to the children of Israel and that is what makes them chosen.
There is a midrash (torah commentary) which suggests that God offered the law to other nations before Israel but they rejected it. In other words, the children of Israel chose God and chose to follow his laws, rather than the other way round. Obviously that’s just conjecture and commentary.
Perhaps it happens in other parts of the world, but in my experience of Jewish people, I’ve never felt that they walk around thinking they are better than everyone else. If at all, it may crop up in prayer every now and then but it’s not an everyday thought “oh, i’m part of the chosen race”. I think that’s a myth propogated by anti-semites.
As Ucciscore says, people hating us has nothing to do with God.
Thank you three for your sympathy, your critique and your explanation. I appreciate it very much. I very much now see why “the chosen people” could be used by anti-semites.
I have another question for you. Can one person change a religious zealot’s value in the course of one discussion? What about a mass of them? What about the entire population of religious zealots? And if it can–how could someone go about doing it?
I don’t know if this relates to anything. This just was preying on my mind, that’s all.
seems like most religions agree on the golden rule, but not all agree on the equality of their neighbors.
perhaps back in the days of warring tribes, all it would take is a display of the equality of their neighbors to stop one tribe from killing another out of pure contempt. if they thought their neighbors were not human and therefore deserved to die to make way for human civilization, and then realized that they actually were human, it wouldnt make much sense to kill them.
most conflicts are a tad more complicated. i think the most efficient way to stop zealots is to have a super secret assassination squad take out all those leaders (religious or non) who preach in order to selfishly gain. and if there are none, it should only be a matter of explaining to them rationally why they are wrong.
not joking about that. it needs to be done. vote future man for world emperor
Thanks for your idea on how to take out zealots. But more directly I have a question–How can one change a zealot’s mind through reason? If all they know is the Bible, or Torah, or Qu’ran, then won’t they get threatened by the reason, and therefore stop listening altogether? So my question deals directly with the path to reason with them–the path to persuade them that some of their views are antiquated.
I dont hate you and you are thinking well. People hate Jews because
too many people are bigots. It seems to be a natural phenomenon. It just sucks that the Jews, are hated, and they generally are never agressive. They have had it ruff…another reason humanity sickens me. Sure they are violent in the present, but they were driven to it with hate and agression. Now maintaining a heallthy cylcle of death with the palestinians(the death isnt healthy, the cycle is).
The whole Christ thing is hilarious, he stood up against their beliefs so they killed him supposedly. Like every culture hasnt killed a religous zealot, or someone going against their beliefs in their past. It is just because it is tied to Christianity that it is condemned. Again the majority. The Jews killed Gods son supposedly. How do you know hes Gods son in the first place? Anyway., kinda jump around on the chain of thought. But you have a good point in what you are saying is what im saying. Just kinda went off the original subject.
Thanks dread for your response. Although your sympathy is nice, I am not asking for pity. I just want people to recognize and realize that someone is disturbed by what is going on–not because of the dying. Hell, if we wanted to go to extremes–we’re all going to die. But I just want people, in general, to be reasonable, rational and open to discussion about this issue.
As for us Jews–I want to figure out an efficient way of dealing with these people who hate us. I better explain efficient. Efficient means to me, the quickest and most successful way–and to run, finally, a good PR campaign.
Another question. Does anybody notice how the Palestinians invoke so much sympathy from them killing themselves–oh, and Jews too? I think i have a little insight into how they do it. I think they just have really good PR people who can make themselves look as good as they can, while making Israel look as bad as bad as they can.
How come we don’t do that? What is preventing us from the world’s sympathy?
Spending history in the worlds hate. Ignorance. Lake of empathy? I dont know either. But again you make good points. I dont really think that the palestinian radicals are getting sympathy by blowing themselves up. I think this drives people to disgust. But that is just me, this is how it makes me feel. They murder with no care for who it is. Bombs are so dirty. Especially suicide bombs. Suicide in considered a sin by Christian viewpoints, they cant sympathize and they are a large group. But like I said, your people supposedly sentenced Christ so that is why they hate you.
What I really think you should do is give up Israel and disperse your faith as you have done in the past. Your people have been quite effective at being succesful working in other societies(another reason you are hated, Jealousy) A major stance against you is that it isnt your land, according to your faith it is. But you lost it. Just as the native americans lost America. The alliance did place you their after World War II but I think this was wrong. But this is my opinion. Obviously not Israels opinion, and most likely not yours. I respect that. It happened how do we change it now? You cant just give and take either. It is a major problem, I hope a peaceful solution is brought up.
Dread nailed it pretty well, Jews are hated mainly out of jealousy. They were chosen for some reason (sorry not a big religion buff) to get into heaven. Killing Jesus didn’t help things, but fortunately i think most people blame the Romans for that these days. As for war relocation, again not a big history buff but yeah i think that caused alot more jealousy. It seems the US is always meddling in the affairs of the Middle East and if we had left Israel to fend for themselves we wouldn’t be at war right now. The stereotypical Jew is very arrogant and greedy and i really wish the media would stop that.
How to overcome all this? I dunno, i don’t think it’ll get any better as long as there are multiple religions. You have to realise that most people in the world aren’t that bright and they’ll defy you no matter how much you drill something into them. I guess my best advice is to just sit back, do your best to survive and enjoy the blessed afterlife. I’m not Jewish nor do i have anything against ya’ll, so i guess you can take comfort in the fact you have at least one supporter.
Thank you for your response, and it is nice to know that we have at least one supporter. But both of your responses do not directly answer my question of how can we help it. I ask for a solution to a problem that is very apparent to many people. I know that basically, I’m preaching to the choir by posting this theme on this site–and for those who don’t agree with myself or the people who have responded to my original message, please feel free to respond. I posted on this site, not for sympathy, as I have stated in my previous responses, but I am looking for an answer.
I know that most philosophers talk in the ideal, but many times the logical thinking can be used for practical reasons.
Which is why i posted the first message. I believed that answers would come soaring into my mailbox and that I would only have to pick and choose which solution sounds best.
I know that we live in an imperfect world, but people before us have wielded the power of persuasion–who by the way were much less bright than us --so, because I’m totally stumped on what we can do–I ask for anyone’s advice on, not how to survive or how to take it up the tucus, but how to persuade a populus (preferably–the extremists).
--so, because I’m totally stumped on what we can do–I ask for anyone’s advice on, not how to survive or how to take it up the tucus, but how to persuade a populus (preferably–the extremists).