סימאָן דובנאָװ (Семен Маркович Дубнов) 2

I finished reading Simon Dubnow's essay "The History of The Jewish People", and I must say it was really good. Ill definately be writing on him for the next Jewish Mirror. Below are some excerpts to try to encourage you to download the essay @ Project Gutenberg.

"It follows that the Jewish national idea and the national feeling
connected with it have their origin primarily in the historical
consciousness, in a certain complex of ideas and psychic
predispositions. These ideas and predispositions, the deposit left by
the aggregate of historical impressions, are of necessity the common
property of the whole nation, and they can be developed and quickened
to a considerable degree by a renewal of the impressions through the
study of history. Upon the knowledge of history, then, depends thestrength of the national consciousness."

"The
national _idea_, and the national _feeling_," says
Mr. Dubnow, "must be kept strictly apart. Unfortunately the
difference between them is usually obliterated. National
feeling is spontaneous. To a greater or less degree it is
inborn in all the members of the nation as a feeling of
kinship. It has its flood-tide and its ebbtide in
correspondence to external conditions, either forcing the
nation to defend its nationality, or relieving it of the
necessity for self-defense. As this feeling is not merely a
blind impulse, but a complicated psychic phenomenon, it can be
subjected to a psychologic analysis. From the given historical
facts or the ideas that have become the common treasure of a
nation, thinking men, living life consciously, can, in one way
or another, derive the origin, development, and vital force of
its national feeling. The results of such an analysis,
arranged in some sort of system, form the content of the
national idea. The task of the national idea it is to clarify
the national feeling, and give it logical sanction for the
benefit of those who cannot rest satisfied with an unconscious
feeling."

"In this case, the future task of Jewish history will prove as sublime as
was the mission of the Jewish people in the past. The latter consisted
in the spread of the dogma of the unity of creation; the former will
contribute indirectly to the realization of the not yet accepted dogma
of the unity of the human race."

"The son of the Ghetto might have worn his badge with
pride, for in truth it was a medal of distinction awarded by the papal
Church to the Jews, for dauntlessness and courage. The awkward, puny
Jew in his way was stronger and braver than a German knight armed
cap-a-pie, for he was penetrated by the faith that "moves mountains."
And when the worst came to the worst, he demonstrated his courage.
When his peaceful home was stormed by the bestialized hordes of
Armleder, or the drunken bands of the Flagellants, or the furious
avengers of the "Black Death," he did not yield, did not purchase life
by disgraceful treason. With invincible courage he put his head under
the executioner's axe, and breathed forth his heroic spirit with theenthusiastic cry: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One.""

"But at its worst modern civilization has not succeeded in extinguishing the national
spirit in Jewry. The national spirit continues to live in the people,and it is this spirit that quickens the people."

"Jewish history, moreover, arouses in the Jew the desire to work
unceasingly at the task of perfecting himself. To direct his attention
to his glorious past, to the resplendent intellectual feats of his
ancestors, to their masterly skill in thinking and suffering, does not
lull him to sleep, does not awaken a dullard's complacency or hollow
self-conceit. On the contrary, it makes exacting demands upon him."

"Jewish history in its entirety is the pledge of the spiritual union between the Jews and the rest of the nations."

!בלאָג טוּונג טאָג

ניצט דײַן אַוטאָ מערנישט װען דו מוזט. אױב דו קענסט גײן שפּאַצירן,
!גײט שפּאַצירט
(דערטן װעל זײַ נישט אַ װעלט פֿאַר ייִדיש (אָדער אַבי קולטור
!אױב מיר חרובֿ מאַכן עס
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טורקײ משוגעת

אַראַט דינק שולדיק פֿון דרוקן דער אַמת

נאַריש רעגירונג צוריקרופֿט אַמבאַסאַדאָר

פֿרײלעך זײַן

הײַנט איז אַ גוטער טאָג

First things first. The House Committee on Foreign Affairs took up the issue of H.Res. 106, which calls, "...upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide, and for other purposes." (link for the comeplete text of the bill: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/11_10_08_armenia.pdf ). The House has debated the recognition of the ruthless genocide carried out against the Armenian people by the Ottoman Turks many times before, without result. This year is looking better though. In an extremely dramatic congressional committee meeting that I actually cried while watching, the committee voted in favour of the resolution by a vote of 27-21. Instead of dying in committee, the bill will now make its way to the House floor for further debate. 1,500,000 Armenians were killed in the Genocide, however the Turkish government to this day refuses to recognize the genocide as such (and it wasn't even this current democratic state that was responsible for the Genocide, it was the Ottomans. Such backwardness would be comparable to today's modern German government denying that the Nazi government orchestrated a Genocide.) I encourage you to research this story a little on your own, for you'll quickly learn of the ridiculous political maneuvering and threats that have come out of the Turkish government do to the "spectre" of HRES 106 passing the House (Bush will undoubtedly veto the bill if it were to pass the Congress as the man lacks a moral compass.) This issue indeed inspired me this morning to start scripting my first set of rubber ducks for the rubber duck project. On the ducks i included info about the genocide, the resolution, and the phone number of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Following the announcement of the committee's vote, i let out a "tekiah gadola" (i hate transliteration, but i couldnt find the hebrew) from the window of the third floor of my dormitory.

In addition to the aforementioned vote being a reason for today being a good day, i had my first international Yiddish communication (via e-mail) with a dude living in Warsaw. I am really ecstatic about this development, and would much rather spend the rest of today studying Yiddish than doing Anthropology homework, but at least i have a three day weekend!

Also, going down the list of importance, I received my book of Yiddish Proverbs today. I had bought it on ebay a few weeks ago and i am having a good time going through it. I will be posting proverbs sporadically from henceforth.

Finally, I received two t-shirt i designed and bought off of cafepress several weeks ago. One is red and features an army of cartoon Zhitlovskys, with one highlighted in red. The other is yellow (replacing my unfortunately ink stained "I'm dead" Reagan t-shirt) featuring the טשײַניק האַקער pictured at the top of this blog.

Hooray!

סימאָן דובנאָװ (Семен Маркович Дубнов)

"At the very moment when the strength and fertility of the Jewish mind reached the culminating point, occurred a political revolution--the period of homeless wandering began. It seemed as though, before scattering the Jewish people to all ends of the earth, the providence of history desired to teach it a final lesson, to take with it on its way. It seemed to say: "Now you may go forth. Your character has been sufficiently tempered; you can bear the bitterest of hardships. You are equipped with an inexhaustible store of energy, and you can live for centuries, yea, for thousands of years, under conditions that would prove the bane of other nations in less than a single century. State, territory, army, the external attributes of national power, are for you superfluous luxury. Go out into the world to prove that a people can continue to live without these attributes, solely and alone through strength of spirit welding its widely scattered particles into one firm organism!"- And the Jewish people went forth and proved it."
-Simon Dubnow

פֿילמען

בורמאַ

אין בורמאַ װױנען צװאַנציק ייִדן
דער גלות איז זײער צעװאָרפֿענע
באַפֿרײַ די בורמיש פֿעלקער, און אַלע מענטשן





http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=14587http://www.forward.com/articles/11753/

פֿאַרמישט

I had a slight breakdown prior to Rosh Hashanah this year. I found that i really dont know shit about my religion, and this was quite frustrating. During this period i considered two things: cast off religion (to save myself from hypocrisy) and continue on a strict Yiddishist program, or associated myself with an orthodox sect and figure shit out. Then i did a lot of thinking, and reading. I read Torah, and found that there wasnt much at all about Rosh HaShanah in there. This made me frustrated when I realized that much of what I consider "Jewish" (religion) revolves around a group of rabbis that claim that there was an Oral Law handed down along side the Torah at Mount Sinai (Although some Jewish groups reject this notion, but they arent Ashkenazi). Many Jewish practices rely heavily on the existence of the Oral Law (which was subsequently written down and put in books like the Talmud). Fortunately or unfortunately for Jews, the Oral Law is subject to much interpretation (bring in the rabbis). This revelation of sorts brought to me a much more open view of the "lesser" schools of Judaism (Reform in particular). So much of being a religious Jew is left up to interpretation that its almost impossible to point to the law and say "this is final".

I had an interesting conversation with my rabbi-in-training from back home during this ordeal of mine. He related to me a story about his family. He told me thus: his mother's side of the family was Talmudists, his father's side Yiddishists. He said how his father's side all married out of the faith (thus the nation by extension), and left behind even their Yiddishism. By contrast his mother's side remained Jewish. He basically told me, that even if i dont like it, Yiddishism was not a strong enough phenomenon to hold a people together, whereas the faith functioned as a backbone to the Jewish identity (religious or otherwise).

This put me at quite a loss. He appeared to be right; when chilling in a Jewish neighborhood today one doesnt hear Yiddish spoken, all the Yiddishists ended up marrying out, being killed in the Holocaust, becoming Zionists, or just dying in general... without enough of a legacy to keep it going.

It appeared to me that the next step for myself was to absorb a religious unit into my secular Yiddishist beleifs. The boost of religion would serve a preservative function to Yiddishism, keeping it fresh and edible from generation to generation.

I got through Rosh HaShanah okay, celebrating the new year in a Reform (my unlces) synagogue for the first time, then spending the second day in the Conservative synagogue by my college.

The next Saturday was Yom Kippur, and following my recent trend of not blindly doing religious stuff anymore, i read some more Talmud. I resolved not to wear shoes (as is instructed in the Talmud), and i followed all the other laws as set forth in the Talmud. It went pretty well.

Then the next day came...

Part of my daily routine involves shaving in the morning. Shaving smooth/with a razor is prohibited rather clearly in the Torah. Absolved of all my sins, I was faced with a dilemma, my first unnecessary violation of the Law. While i do plan on growing a beard eventually, i wasnt planing on starting now. I shaved, but i felt guilty. Then Shabbos came that next Friday night. I wasnt planning on attending services, but then i received a text message from a friend who, along with two others, needed a ride to synagogue. I had no reason to not drive them, so i did, but i didnt go to synagogue, and once again, i felt crappy. i felt crappy that Saturday too. However, observing the sabbath is a big deal, that, while possible, would be a huge commitment. On top of that there are 3 books of Talmud on the laws regarding the Sabbath, and i wasnt going to start doing something if i couldnt do it right...But i felt guilty none-the-less. Such guilt stemmed from feeling like a i wasnt being the best Jew i could be. Im not yet fluent in Yiddish and i dont know that much about my religion...

After a conversation with my sister, she helped me see that i was putting a lot of pressure on myself. She appluaded my ability to be constantly learning and searching, but she said i shouldnt make myself crazy. Thinking about this now, it really fits into my permenant r/evolution ideal of never settling. Never settling gets you respect i suppose, but it sure is emotionally exhausting, especially when its your identity that your not settling upon.

So what now...I'm not 100% sure, all i know is that im going to keep learning Yiddish, keep finding out stuff about my religion and culture, keep kosher, and keep growing my sidelocks (for freshness' sake)...

"דאָס לעבן פֿון אַ מענטש איז װי אַ טױטן טאַנץ"
(The life of a man is like a dance of the dead)

דו טרײַבל

װוּ אַהין זאָל איך גײן

דזשים קראָ קראַנקײט

Jim Crow was a fictional character created by whites to disparage Blacks. The Jim Crow character was not only highly stereotypical, but created stereotypes that (before Jim Crow) never existed. Jim Crow-like characters would dress in a fashion whereas it would appear he was trying to “pass” for white, but obviously wasn’t accomplishing such a task. He stole chickens and ate watermelon. He was a misogynist and violent. He was dumber than dumb. Jim crow spoke poorly...the list goes on.
Real blacks were in fact never like the Jim crow character, but some of them, over the years, have ended up embracing a culture very similar to the white formulated “Jim Crow” ). Examples tend to come from the entertainment industry, as “Jim Crow” was actually a international hit as a song. They include Flava Flav, Uncle Murder, and Bert Williams among others.
These people, despite their talent (or lack there of...Uncle Murder), absorb stereotypes created by non-Blacks to express their “identity” and make a living.

This occurrence, which I will refer to as the “Jim Crow Disease” (the acceptance of negative stereotypes as a identity and culture), is not limited to the descendants of former slaves in America. I see this disease as an epidemic among all culturally/nationally disenfranchised youth in America.

(Polish Cover of the anti-Semitic bullshit rag, The Protocols of The Elders of Zion)

Jews, being a target of so much hate over the last couple thousand years, have amassed a trove of stereotypes manufactured by non-Jewish peoples. The stereotypical Jew (you might think of Shylock from the Merchants of Venice, or Fagin in Oliver Twist) is greedy, cheap, big-nosed, fat, stupid, rich, running the world, controlling the media, killing Christians, poisoning wells, etc.
Some Jews, just like some descendants of slaves, have taken to these stereotypes as an expression of their “identity” and “culture”. Some Jews in the entertainment industry embrace these stereotypes for a living. The first example that comes to mind for me is comedian Jackie Mason (“Money is not the most important thing in the world. Love is. Fortunately, I love money.”)
I have witnessed first hand its deplorable disease manifest itself within our youth! Jewish children embracing anti-Semitic stereotypes as an expression of what they think to be their “identity”; such is Jim Crow disease. From Middle School to today I often see fellow Jews doing such stupid things as making a spectacle out of themselves as they pick up a couple of cents off the ground, or making lame-ass jokes about lawyers and accountants. When such a phenomenon began in Middle School, it sometimes took the form of a repulsive race of sorts before gym class would start. In this race (which was organized by members of the Jewish youth), two Jews would line up as if on a starting line, while a third person would hold a nickel or dime. At the yell of “go”, the dime would be throw away from the starting line and the two Jews would run to get to the change first, sometimes wrestling over it. The Jews involved in this exercise thoroughly enjoyed themselves, as their non-Jewish classmates applauded there spectacle (back to the laughter/assimilation point).
Stereotypes constructed by our non-Jewish oppressors should never be the “identity” we find in Middle School and carry for the remainder in our lives. There is no need for such a disgrace of our people, especially when it is perpetrated by our own people.
Surely humanity in general is capable of putting an end to this current epidemic of self-degradation and public spectacle. It is not right for anyone to feel as if they have to embrace the negative stereotypes in order to outwardly express their identity. Our youth must once again realize what it is to be Jewish and have a Jewish identity. Degradation of Jewishness, by becoming our people’s Jim Crow has the potential only to hurt us.
WE MUST STOP THIS NOW.


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Also from my Journal The Jewish Mirror.