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From: fsks@unc.UUCP (Frank Silbermann)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: De-Escalating the Egg
Message-ID: <140@unc.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 4-May-85 00:44:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: unc.140
Posted: Sat May  4 00:44:06 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 4-May-85 09:13:18 EDT
References: <123@unc.UUCP> <sfmag.559>
Reply-To: fsks@unc.UUCP (Frank Silbermann)
Organization: CS Dept., U. of N. Carolina at Chapel Hill
Lines: 53
Summary: 

In article <sfmag.559> samet@sfmag.UUCP (A. Yitzchok Samet) writes:
>
>2) I did not say or imply that the goyim are not punished too.Nor
>did I suggest that anti-semitism has no meaning (on a surface level)
>or that it is not unjust (from a human perspective). I don't know
>why you attribute these ideas to me. The inferences you draw about
>my beliefs are therefore incorrect.
>
>3) The broader perspective  I  am  advocating  does  not  exclude
>practical    countermeasures   against   antisemitism   or   non-
>metaphysical insights, as  you  seem  to  think.  I  stated  this
>several times. Why do you keep missing what I say?

OK, you've convinced me.  I admit to (several times) misunderstanding you.
Unfortunately, I STILL don't understand the point you are trying to make.

>4) The key point I  tried  to  emphasize  was  that  there  is  a
>religious  dimension  which adds perspective to our understanding
>of antisemitism, and that an effective solution  to  the  problem
>must  recognize  that  we invite it by assimilating. This adds an
			^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>important dimension to our understanding of Nazism, one which has
>been neglected, perhaps because it is so disturbing.

What exactly do you mean by assimilation?  Are you saying that Jews
who eat pork and don't wear hats should feel guilty for the deaths
of the six million?  As far as I know, this type of assimilation
is a recent phenomenon.  Perhaps 150 years old.  Anti-semitism is
much older.  How does your theory explain:

	The massacres at the hands of the crusaders 900 years ago?
	The expulsion from England 700 years ago.
	The massacres in Germany at the time of the Black Plague?
	The Edict of Expulsion in Spain 500 years ago?
	The hundreds of thousands of Jews in Eastern Europe who
		were murdered 300 years ago during the Ukranian
		rebellion against Poland.

What sort of assimilation were we guilty of in those days?

If, by the term "assimilation", you mean

	"the willingness to live in gentile lands for the sake of
	material prosperity and comfort when one could, in principle,
	migrate back to the Holy Land"
or
	"the willingness to live under gentile rule instead of banding
	together and fighting for self rule as the Zealots attempted"

then I admit, you may have a point.  Of course this would mean that the
Orthodox Jews have been similarly guilty of assimilation.

	Frank Silbermann