Jewish Identity Was Very Important To Non-Religious Jews, Even During The Holocaust, But Not In Today's Popular Culture

I will copy part of an actual E-Mail that I received today from my cousin in Israel:

Hi Gary,
Happy Passover! We're still reminiscing over our amazing seder last Passover and how great it was to have everyone here. This year was much quieter. One of [my husband's] friends came, which definitely made it more celebratory. He is the child of Holocaust survivors and during the seder he suddenly remembered his mother telling him years ago that when she was in the camps, the Jewish prisoners figured out it was Passover and decided not to eat any bread. To punish them for this act of Jewish identity, the Nazis said that if they weren't eating bread, then they clearly weren't hungry, so they didn't need any other food either. [Passover lasts 7 days] Despite this, his mother said that it was that important to her, even though she didn't come from a religious background, to not eat bread, and that even though they were starving, she felt much stronger that week.

When I was in Israel, a year ago, I learned that Judaism is a nationality, not a religion. Many Jews in Israel are non-religious, yet their Judaism was very important to them. Jews feel a kinship toward Jews in all nations. This is why Israel is so important to the Jewish people. No matter where you live, if you are Jewish, Israel is your homeland. This is why Zionism is an important part of Israel's culture. The Jewish people were scattered throughout the world because of persecution. Many Jews lost their religion, but  most retained their Jewish identity through custom and marriage. Zionism is an effort to repatriate the scattered Jews of the world to their homeland, Israel.

Zionism in Israel does not exclude Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians or any other people. Arabs live, work and worship freely amongst the Jews in Israel.

My cousin, who wrote me this E-mail, and her husband are American Born, we grew up together. They moved to Israel 20 years ago to return to their "Homeland" and start their own Jewish family.

Unfortunately, the identity of Western Jews is being destroyed, not by Arabs, Muslims nor Palestinians, but by  Western popular culture and intermarriage. Our traditions are being lost in this new generation because many of  today's young  Jews are more concerned with today's popular culture,  than with their Jewish Identity.

I never knew why, but I always considered it very wrong for a Jew to date or marry a gentile. Now I know why. 

This article is not about politics, it is about a culture that has existed for 5,000 years under persecution and under all forms of repressive governments.  No government has had the power to destroy Judaism or weaken the Jewish spirit, not the ancient Egyptians, nor the 20th century Nazis. However, I feel that the biggest threat to Judaism is today's cultural revolution. The Jewish culture will be doomed when when the popular culture trumps the Jewish culture and sexual identity trumps Jewish identity. I saw signs of today's popular culture taking hold in Today's Israel. This was very disheartening to see.

Obama's New Health-Care Bill Does Not Fund More Health-Care, It Only Funds New Bureaucrats

The health care bill supplies funding for 16,500 new IRS agents to enforce the penalties on people who do not buy health care. Also, it provides funding for thousands of new bureaucrats in 159 new government agencies to implement the new regulations.

These expenditures do not create any more doctors, clinics, labs, medicines and diagnostic equipment.

If we still have the same supply of medical resources, and they add 30 million more patients into the system, then each person who is currently insured will receive less care. Thus, rationing and death panels will be more widespread under this new system.

True health care reform would increase the medical resources, not the bureaucracy. If we used that money to build new hospitals, medical facilities and to pay the salaries of doctors, nurses, lab technicians, or to provide education and training for new health-care providers, then the quality and quantity of health-care would increase. This would inevitably lead to more access to better health care.

This legislation will definitely result in growing the size and scope of the federal government. However, this legislation does not increase the size and scope of the medical industry. I challenge any supporters of this bill to tell me where I am wrong.

Moviegoer Stabbed After Asking Woman to Silence Her Phone

Here is a link to the comments on an article that describes an incident in which a man was stabbed in his neck, with a meat thermometer, because he asked a woman to turn off her cell phone in a movie theater. http://www.topix.com/forum/city/frazier-park-ca/TD2040HUV4F1Q5GTO
(Click on "Full story: WJW Fox 8 Cleveland" to read the entire article.)

You would find the comments on the original page most interesting.

Judging by the disparity between the comments (in my first link) and typical behavior, I have concluded that most people tolerate rude, inconsiderate, obnoxious and offensive public behavior because they don't want to cause a scene or they are afraid of the consequences. They just want to get on with their day.

Most people who practice inconsiderate public behavior will loudly insult you, threaten you and cuss you out, at the very least, if you politely ask them to refrain from such behavior. These type of people thrive on drawing attention to themselves, especially negative attention.

Don't dismiss the first comment as being racist. [ "Let me guess they where black...No respect for the people around them."]

Have you ever been to a mostly black movie theater? The audience is constantly yelling out comments at the screen, often vulgar, and talking to each other. As a rule, black people are very loud and obnoxious at movie theaters. This conclusion is based on my personal experience, not racism.

IMHO this is because today's crop of black folks are mostly born to unwed mothers. Single mothers have less opportunity and/or desire to dicipline and control their children. I have often seen children as young as 6 years old unsupervised and running wild in the streets of black ghettos. IMHO, when you are devoid of parental control at an early age, you resent being told what to do throughout your life. IMHO this stems from an unconscious desire to have had parents that love you enough to discipline you, know where you are, what you are doing and have the desire and wherewithal to make sure that you are doing the right thing despite your best efforts to avoid their control.

It is an innate human drive (instinct) to crave guidance, protection, nourishment and love from your parents. The "gangsta" culture results when these needs are not met by parents and influential adults. IMHO this is is at the heart of the "gangsta culture". If you study the dress, language and mannerisms of much of today's youth, you will find that they demonstrate the exact opposite of what "normal" parents would repeatedly tell their children.

Examples are:

• Be careful not to tear your clothes
• Don't say dirty words
• Tie your shoelaces
• Stand up straight, don't slouch
• Pull up you pants
• Don't wear hats indoors, it's disrespectful
• Take your hands out of your pockets
• Respect your elders
• Turn down the music
• Hush up, you are disturbing others
• Your skirt is too short, that top is too revealing. Don't dress like a whore

It is clear that today's "gangsta culture", which originated in black and Hispanic ghettos, jail and prisons, has now become mainstream behavior for today's youth. IMHO this clearly demonstrates that today's youth are screaming for guidance. Instead of receiving guidance, discipline and "tough love" from their parents and teachers, they are being encouraged to experiment with their self expression. They are not criticized for fear of hurting their self-esteem. In turn their resentments and unrestrained freedom leads them to express the most inconsiderate, rude, obnoxious and offensive things with an inner hope that someone will care enough to reel them in and provide the dicipline, guidance and tough-love that they crave. Instead they are either ignored or encouraged.

 It is clear that most people think it is extremely inconsiderate to talk on cell phones while driving, at the movies, etc, yet most people either ignore this bad behavior or encourage it. The same goes for loud cars, motorcycles and sound systems. Nearly all the comments that I read on these topics are overwhelmingly opposed to this bad behavior but few have the guts to say or do anything about it.