Tell me again why anti-Semitism is on the rise in France?Q: What do you call a Muslim Imam who respects other religions and believes in acting like a citizen of the country and century he actually lives in?
A: A National Hero- he gets invited to dine with the leaders of the state!
Q: What do you call a Rabbi who respects other religions and believes in acting like a citizen ot the country and century he actually lives in?
A: No Biggie- thats 99% of them.
4 comments:
What is interesting that this imam lives in Drancy, a place where the Vichy government ran their very own concentration camp from which the Jews were sent to the extermination camps in Poland.
Eric.
I think we SHOULD give special encouragement to these rare Muslims who openly challenge the near-monolithic Jew-hating of Muslim culture. If for no other reason than they run a grave risk of being murdered by their co-religionists for their wholesome views. Without some special reward to offset the special risk, such fine souls will have an almost irresistible incentive to remain silent.
I absolutely agree that they should be encouraged and protected! But isn't it striking that we feel this way while Jews all over the world always bend over backward to be good citizens and not offend anyone and have to worry about anti-Semitism everywhere we go. A friend of mine whose grandfather lived in Morocco and whose father lived in France and who moved here to America a number of years ago wrote this to me in an email:
"Very good. Anti-Jew incidents are on the rise in France. The large muslim community has a violent fringe that keeps targeting jews with insults and attacks and as you read, they also attack their own if they get too friendly with jews (note I did not say zionist or israeli....)"
Actually, he is the one that sent me the article this post is based on. He is France's loss and America's gain.
It's trite to write that "Virtue is it's own reward," but there it is, and I find it impossible to argue with. I'll quote Ovid in Latin so it sounds better: "Virtutem pretiu esse sui." Let me now make the claim that this is a Stoic's motto. It's claim by a tough guy, a guy who can and will suffer big-time and not crack till he dies. I'm thinking Marcus Aurelius. I'm thinking Viktor Frankl.
I have some serious, seriously, some serious medical problem when I read about the Bielsky brothers. I can hardly breathe, like an asthma attack. Over and over I read: "It's more important to live than to kill one's enemies." That's some tough-guy position. Even those who died could still live a virtuous life right to the end; and nothing anyone outside them could change that. That is genuine heroism beyond words.
Living an ordinary life of a private citizen is heroic, in that sense. For me, not heroic or decent or much of anything at all, fighting for people like they is a supreme joy, awful though one might be for loving such nastiness. Live a long time, friend.
Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to victory!
Says Burns and me.
Post a Comment