I used to go by a theory about why Israelis seemed to me to be the nastiest, rudest, and most arrogant people I knew. It was just the ones who came to America. The good ones wouldn't want to leave. The bad ones came to America for riches.
Now, this wasn't my theory. It was supplied to me by a religious Zionist, that major source of foolishness in the Orthodox world. They forever make excuses for the results of the Zionist fiasco.
So coming to Israel I have learned of course that this theory is a self-serving fantasy. The Israelis here might even be worse than the ones in America, because obviously they are encouraged by other Israelis. In America, they are asked to tone it down a little.
We see here one of the dangers of pseudo-intellectualism, which is rife in the frum world. You pose a theory and just as well could have juggled your words a bit differently and come up with an opposing view. It's all a matter of supporting your indulgences.
So what happens to a person when he feels he is surrounded by nasty, rude, and arrogant people? He shuts down of course. He stops going outside. I went through my stage of trying to out rude them but that left me feeling gross. If only they are rude, then the sick feeling I get in this country only goes through my skin plus a little bit more, but if I am rude, then I feel seek all the way to my guts. So I went back to trying to be half-human and keeping to myself, avoiding interaction, keeping necessary interactions to a minimum, taking cues from my Karate training and making myself as small a target as possible for Israelis.
Now understand from my prior posts, I don't believe that Israelis are intrinsically bad. They are Jews so they might even be intrinsically good. But that goodness needs Torah and mitzvos. What we have in Israel from its founding is not only a neglect of Torah but an opposition to it. When did Jews ever live in a society that was fundamentally opposed to religious faith? Even Soviet Russia was built upon an Eastern Orthodox culture. Israel was built on the sand. Whatever Arabs were here were not part of the building. So the State of Israel is unique in being built on non-religious foundations. The result is everything I'm talking about. Sick, sick, sick.
Now, this wasn't my theory. It was supplied to me by a religious Zionist, that major source of foolishness in the Orthodox world. They forever make excuses for the results of the Zionist fiasco.
So coming to Israel I have learned of course that this theory is a self-serving fantasy. The Israelis here might even be worse than the ones in America, because obviously they are encouraged by other Israelis. In America, they are asked to tone it down a little.
We see here one of the dangers of pseudo-intellectualism, which is rife in the frum world. You pose a theory and just as well could have juggled your words a bit differently and come up with an opposing view. It's all a matter of supporting your indulgences.
So what happens to a person when he feels he is surrounded by nasty, rude, and arrogant people? He shuts down of course. He stops going outside. I went through my stage of trying to out rude them but that left me feeling gross. If only they are rude, then the sick feeling I get in this country only goes through my skin plus a little bit more, but if I am rude, then I feel seek all the way to my guts. So I went back to trying to be half-human and keeping to myself, avoiding interaction, keeping necessary interactions to a minimum, taking cues from my Karate training and making myself as small a target as possible for Israelis.
Now understand from my prior posts, I don't believe that Israelis are intrinsically bad. They are Jews so they might even be intrinsically good. But that goodness needs Torah and mitzvos. What we have in Israel from its founding is not only a neglect of Torah but an opposition to it. When did Jews ever live in a society that was fundamentally opposed to religious faith? Even Soviet Russia was built upon an Eastern Orthodox culture. Israel was built on the sand. Whatever Arabs were here were not part of the building. So the State of Israel is unique in being built on non-religious foundations. The result is everything I'm talking about. Sick, sick, sick.
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