Cause and Effect

Submitted by Richard E. Sykes (United States), Feb 15, 2005 at 10:31

After reading your article I could not help but think about the reasons we find ourselves in such a situation.

There are many standard and hackneyed phrases about Jews and their acceptance in society and there are few or no reasons to go into them here as they deserve little or no comment . As well, I understand that there are groups in the world that would love to eradicate Jews from the face of the earth on religious grounds. For the purpose of this e-mail there is little need to address that issue.

However there are two areas that warrant comment and have a direct bearing on how Jews are perceived today in the American lifestyle.

First: people are tired of hearing, reading and being reminded about the Holocaust. Second: Jewish people are clannish and seem to separate themselves from the rest of the population...

In the first instance I hear so many people in the gentile world talking about and discussing the Holocaust and how dreadfully tired they are of reading about it and if they see one more attempt to establish a tribute, they will shout. Now I'm sure that this could be interpreted as anti-Semitism, but it truly is not. Rather, I think it is a case of "enough is enough". I think society in general is tired of the" race card" and the" Jew card". I think that every time a law suit is filed to compensate a survivor of the Holocaust, or a person being wronged by prejudice, it merely reinforces the image of a money grubber.

Secondly, we are friends with a Jewish couple. When we are invited to their home we mainly feel like the gentile neighbors from across the street. (This is what we are) When we are invited to a party given by them we are seated at the gentile table. It certainly is not called this but it always turns out that there are only gentiles seated at that particular table. If you continually separate yourself, sooner or later you will become marginalized, because that is what people perceive you want. Example: Jewish community center, Jewish workout center, Jewish newspapers, Jewish chamber of commerce, etc, etc.

If the body Jew does not want this to occur, then they are going to have to consider a true integration into society (no matter which society they are in). Of course this is true of any minority group.

Life and its ways are pretty simple, only we, its people, make it complicated. If there is a problem looks to its cause and effect. If you want the effect changed, you must repair the cause.

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