October 7 denial and revisionism is the logical result of a generation of undereducated and miseducated students, manipulated into believing layers of historical propaganda. We MUST change this, NOW.
Dear Vesper, I have just 'discovered' you and I feel so on board with your writing and the vibe or 'approach' to life I pick up from you. Like you, I grew up 'not this' and 'not that', so I really relate to that in-betweeness. I also want to affirm your statement about the Jews: "the debt that humanity owes to this tiny people group is incalculable." The moral and ethical compass of the West rests firmly on a Judaic foundation, embellished by the Judaeo-Christian worldview that spawned people like Karl Marx, however wrong someone like him may have gotten it - well, I often wish we could keep some of the values, eg the value of the communal, without the Marxist rhetoric. After all, Marxism is a product of the nineteenth century - does it even still apply? Communalism has always been with humanity, and one theory, like Marxism, does not deserve the credit for that. Anyway, too big a question for this little comment I'm writing. But I do think we need to give credit where credit is due and my point here is that the European-Jews deserve a LOT of credit for everything that is good and right about the West.
Hi K., thank you so much for this. I'm glad you feel a resonant vibe here. I think we artists thrive in that "in-between". Listen to the Vesperisms podcast episode "On Being Fireborn". I will also have one out soon that is a talk I gave about the borderlands. Maybe you'll like it.
Have you read Tom Holland's book, Dominion? It's all about how inescapable the Christian foundations of the West truly are, even for those like Marx who would tear it down. I think Christians especially need to get very, very serious about their Jewish roots and brethren. Both communities need to realize that, in the thoughts of historian Daniel Boyarin, we are twin brothers. The deeper root here is the Judaic; Boyarin and others believe that Christianity and post-Temple Judaism are twin Judaisms, the only two streams to survive the destruction of the Temple. What would happen if those of us *within* these communities made a commitment to reconciliation and chose to see each other truly as brothers?
Thank you for the book title and podcast suggestions, Vesper. No, I haven't read 'Dominion' - this is just the product of my own thoughts. I've been 'thinking for myself' for a very long time - ever since I realized that trying to think like 'other people' was not working well for me! I'm ordering the book through my library - another great thing about 'America' - the public library system! I'll look forward to reading what Tom Holland has to say about this overlooked reality of the Judaeo-Christian roots of our culture and 'counter-culture.' He looks like an interesting scholar - thank you!
I am not so sure if classroom education can do the job (maybe contact with people can, like discussion with holocaust survivors, or class trips to Israel - which are basically impossible now, unfortunately, due to the uncertainty in long-term circumstances). Here in Germany, the 3rd reich and the holocaust are omnipresent at school. As far as I can see, one main consequence is the misuse of Hitler and the Nazis as the ultimate evil, impossible to surpass. Ask "what Hitler would not do", do it, and feel morally justified. All the effort spent restraining one face of anti-semitism makes us blind to the other two. Left-wing activism at universities is almost as crazy as in the US, and the state seems powerless or ignorant in the face of outbreaks of left-wing or muslim anti-semitism.
I largely agree with you. I don't think the root of this problem is education; we've tried that before on so many levels, from racism to drug use, and and and. It is, really, a spiritual issue—I would even say a spiritual entity. The complete nonsensical nature of anti-Jewish sentiment and action show this. It's a spiritual disease that metastasizes, dies back, but is never entirely eradicated.
You're so right that H and the N's are NOT the ceiling of depravity. Oh, God, it can get much, much worse. Some have noticed: at least those evildoers attempted to *hide* their atrocities. Hamas seeks to broadcast theirs openly...and then convince us that we didn't really see what we saw.
One more thing about Germany. I'm reading right now in Jeffrey Herf's amazingly detailed book "Undeclared Wars with Israel: East Germany and the West German Far Left, 1967–1989" that a certain "reckoning fatigue" set in in West Germany, a sense among the young even as early as the '60's that they had no reason to feel guilty about the past, and thus they were able to assuage their consciences over any association between the Holocaust and anti-Zionism. This was much more of an issue on the *left* than the right. What do you think? Have you encountered this?
This is difficult for me to assess. I was born in 1974, and the evangelical circles I grew up in, as well as the surrounding protestant landscape, were always very pro-Israel (or so it seems to me). Whatever "the left" were doing back then, it didn't reach me.
That said, if there is resentment (like anti-semitism) where there should be remembrance or reckoning, maybe "fatigue" is not the right word. The resentment might have been there all the time, and the next generation simply grabbed the opportunity to blame their parents and grandparents for the past.
Dear Vesper, I have just 'discovered' you and I feel so on board with your writing and the vibe or 'approach' to life I pick up from you. Like you, I grew up 'not this' and 'not that', so I really relate to that in-betweeness. I also want to affirm your statement about the Jews: "the debt that humanity owes to this tiny people group is incalculable." The moral and ethical compass of the West rests firmly on a Judaic foundation, embellished by the Judaeo-Christian worldview that spawned people like Karl Marx, however wrong someone like him may have gotten it - well, I often wish we could keep some of the values, eg the value of the communal, without the Marxist rhetoric. After all, Marxism is a product of the nineteenth century - does it even still apply? Communalism has always been with humanity, and one theory, like Marxism, does not deserve the credit for that. Anyway, too big a question for this little comment I'm writing. But I do think we need to give credit where credit is due and my point here is that the European-Jews deserve a LOT of credit for everything that is good and right about the West.
Hi K., thank you so much for this. I'm glad you feel a resonant vibe here. I think we artists thrive in that "in-between". Listen to the Vesperisms podcast episode "On Being Fireborn". I will also have one out soon that is a talk I gave about the borderlands. Maybe you'll like it.
Have you read Tom Holland's book, Dominion? It's all about how inescapable the Christian foundations of the West truly are, even for those like Marx who would tear it down. I think Christians especially need to get very, very serious about their Jewish roots and brethren. Both communities need to realize that, in the thoughts of historian Daniel Boyarin, we are twin brothers. The deeper root here is the Judaic; Boyarin and others believe that Christianity and post-Temple Judaism are twin Judaisms, the only two streams to survive the destruction of the Temple. What would happen if those of us *within* these communities made a commitment to reconciliation and chose to see each other truly as brothers?
Food for thought.
Thank you for the book title and podcast suggestions, Vesper. No, I haven't read 'Dominion' - this is just the product of my own thoughts. I've been 'thinking for myself' for a very long time - ever since I realized that trying to think like 'other people' was not working well for me! I'm ordering the book through my library - another great thing about 'America' - the public library system! I'll look forward to reading what Tom Holland has to say about this overlooked reality of the Judaeo-Christian roots of our culture and 'counter-culture.' He looks like an interesting scholar - thank you!
I am not so sure if classroom education can do the job (maybe contact with people can, like discussion with holocaust survivors, or class trips to Israel - which are basically impossible now, unfortunately, due to the uncertainty in long-term circumstances). Here in Germany, the 3rd reich and the holocaust are omnipresent at school. As far as I can see, one main consequence is the misuse of Hitler and the Nazis as the ultimate evil, impossible to surpass. Ask "what Hitler would not do", do it, and feel morally justified. All the effort spent restraining one face of anti-semitism makes us blind to the other two. Left-wing activism at universities is almost as crazy as in the US, and the state seems powerless or ignorant in the face of outbreaks of left-wing or muslim anti-semitism.
I largely agree with you. I don't think the root of this problem is education; we've tried that before on so many levels, from racism to drug use, and and and. It is, really, a spiritual issue—I would even say a spiritual entity. The complete nonsensical nature of anti-Jewish sentiment and action show this. It's a spiritual disease that metastasizes, dies back, but is never entirely eradicated.
You're so right that H and the N's are NOT the ceiling of depravity. Oh, God, it can get much, much worse. Some have noticed: at least those evildoers attempted to *hide* their atrocities. Hamas seeks to broadcast theirs openly...and then convince us that we didn't really see what we saw.
One more thing about Germany. I'm reading right now in Jeffrey Herf's amazingly detailed book "Undeclared Wars with Israel: East Germany and the West German Far Left, 1967–1989" that a certain "reckoning fatigue" set in in West Germany, a sense among the young even as early as the '60's that they had no reason to feel guilty about the past, and thus they were able to assuage their consciences over any association between the Holocaust and anti-Zionism. This was much more of an issue on the *left* than the right. What do you think? Have you encountered this?
This is difficult for me to assess. I was born in 1974, and the evangelical circles I grew up in, as well as the surrounding protestant landscape, were always very pro-Israel (or so it seems to me). Whatever "the left" were doing back then, it didn't reach me.
That said, if there is resentment (like anti-semitism) where there should be remembrance or reckoning, maybe "fatigue" is not the right word. The resentment might have been there all the time, and the next generation simply grabbed the opportunity to blame their parents and grandparents for the past.