[lit-ideas] Re: Link to "Mohammed" cartoons
- From: "Stan Spiegel" <writeforu2@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 16:25:31 -0500
Dear Tenderfoot -
In reality Jews have lived in the middle east for a good 5000 years. I
remember when we had to cross the red sea to escape pharaoh and his Egyptian
guys who were chasing us. Don't you remember reading about us in the Golden
Book of the Bible when you were 5 or 6? That was us -- the Jews. I wasn't
sure the red sea was going to open up and let us cross. But -- o yeah! -- it
did! I'm here to tell about it. It took us 40 years of wandering around in
the wilderness, but we finally settled down. And it wasn't in New Jersey we
put down our roots.
Ever read about Joseph and his brothers? Joseph, the baby, who was sold by
his brothers ( a story of sybling rivalry) to a passing merchant who brought
him to Egypt.. That's another Jewish story. What a laugh! If not for
Joseph's wisdom in helping the current Pharaoh deal with years of drought,
Egypt wouldn't have survived. And its survival drew people from near and
far, including Joseph's brothers.
And hey! Remember Abraham? That was an old Jewish guy too! Goes back before
George Washington. Back before Attila the Hun. Yes, we've been around a
while. It wasn't until 1948 that we had our own land too. We're slow
learners.
As I said earlier, both Arabs and Jews are semitic peoples. We've been
around as long as they've been. We're a little more cosmopolitan because
we've been around the block. Chased out of Eastern Europe and Western Europe
and Asia and Africa. Those of us who survived the Holocaust made our way
back to the Tigris Euphrates Valley. We decided to stop getting pushed
around.
And while Israel is a Jewish state, it's also a democratic one. It has a
knesset, their Congress, and Arabs are members too.
Stan Spiegel
an old Jew in
Portland, ME
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2006 1:59 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Link to "Mohammed" cartoons
Lawrence claims that the Jews have been in Israel for 3000 years. I don't
think so. For the past 2000 they've been scattered over the face of the
earth. The land of Israel-Palestine has been either the home of or
governed by the Canaanites, the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Hittites, the
Hurians, the Hebrews, the Philistines (from whom the name Palestine
comes), the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the
Ptolemies of Egypt, the Seleucids of Syria, the Romans, Muslim Arabs (CE
638), the Abbasids in Baghdad, (750), followed by the Seljuks, Fatimids,
and European Crusaders, the Ottoman Turks (1517) -- then it really starts
to get complicated. Just thought Lawrence should know that the world is
not as simple as he thinks it.
Thus, the Jews lived in the
area for approximately two millennia before the Muslims got there. The
Muslims conquered them but didn't drive them out of the land. Thus,
their
presence in the land is approaching a continuous four millennia.
And do you grant that claim to the American Indians?
I admire the Jews because they are willing to fight for their land. They
don't whimper, they don't whine and they are damned fine warriors.
You've
got to love them . . . well, some of us do.
That's the most empty, pathetic thing I've ever read. I support the State
of Israel because nobody'll give the Jews a break. They NEED a homeland
even though the idea of a religious state appalls me.
Mike Geary, former Tenderfoot, BSA.
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