Thursday, September 20, 2007

Survivor

I am taking a class on anti-Semitism in college. So expect more updates. I know people are practically wetting themselves waiting for updates here... I do feel more inspired. I might even return to YouTube and post my videos... IF I have enough time. Being in college gives me information to work with, but it reduces my time. Anyhow, you'll notice the title of the post is "Survivor". I could come up with something more clever, but I think it gets the point across nicely. What point? The fact that it's amazing I'm Jewish. My girlfriend, too. As well as at least two people in my class (gotta love those Star of David necklaces). There's even a whole Jewish Club here. Why is this so amazing? Consider the history of the Jewish people. We were expelled from our homeland. We've been the minority.. well... pretty much everywhere. When the Christians got power, the Christian leaders such as Augustine said it's okay to kill the Jews, just don't annihilate us. He made a charming cattle comparison. We shouldn't be wiped out because we are witnesses to what happened in the Old Testament, but we can definitely be slain. We are being punished by G-d, after all. Do G-d's work, kill a Jew today! ...Yeah. The point is, we Jews have never exactly been welcome. If they didn't kill or expel us, then there was forced conversions. I could imagine some Jews converting without being forced just because how difficult it is to be Jewish. Even today, there are people who are Jewish by blood only- they have no personal attachment to the religion. Oh, and there's the issue of the Jews converting people. Mostly, it has been forbidden. Even now, we don't make it easy- we wait for people to come to us, and then we make sure they really want to..
How could I forget the Holocaust? They estimate 6 millions Jews were killed, I think the number has to be bigger. Considering it all, it's amazing there are any Jews left. I don't know if I have a direct lineage from the ancient Hebrew tribes, but the luck... perseverence.. whatever it is.. of my ancestors is amazing so that I could be here, Jewish, against all the odds.