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From: fsks@unc.UUCP (Frank Silbermann)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Racism and Judaism
Message-ID: <1047@unc.unc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Feb-86 16:43:22 EST
Article-I.D.: unc.1047
Posted: Mon Feb 24 16:43:22 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 27-Feb-86 05:18:03 EST
References: <8602201930.AA22598@ucbvax.berkeley.edu> <1144@ihlpa.UUCP>
Reply-To: fsks@unc.UUCP (Frank Silbermann)
Organization: CS Dept, U. of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 30
Summary: 

In article <1144@ihlpa.UUCP> jho@ihlpa.UUCP (Yosi Hoshen) writes:
>	Israel is paying a very high toll to the religionists.
>The religionists in Israel, like their counterparts in Iran want
>to shove their religion down everyone's throat.  They would like
>to so without being criticized.  The majority of Israelis are secular.
>They should tell their elected officials that enough is enough
>with religious oppression!!!!

What does it mean "to be a Jew?"  Is there any way to characterize
the Jewish people other than by religion?  If a person rejects the
religious aspects, then in what sense is he a Jew?  I may claim
to be a Jew because my parents were Jews, but eventually I must
find somebody in my family tree who was religious.  Without the
the Jewish religion, how can there be Jews?

Israel was founded so that Jews might find relief from persecution.
But with the exception of the Nazi period, we've always had the option
of excaping persecution by abandoning our religion.  This was true
during the Spanish Inquisition, as well as in communist countries today.

This leads to sensitive questions about the purpose of Zionism.
When a person renounces Judaism, in what sense is he different
from a gentile?  Why should such a person want to live in a
Jewish state?  Why should immigration laws apply differently
to him than to a Moslem or a Christian?  In Israel, a Jew can
renounce his religion and still receive preferential treatment
in immigration.  This is what leads our enemies to suspect that
Zionism must have some racial motive.  What can we say in reply?

	Frank Silbermann