"KEVIN HATES JEWS"

[mburbank]

I agree with some of what you're saying, but where's the fun in that. So...

"by invoking the memory of the holocaust you're cheapening it,"

It's practically my Birthright as a Jew to cheapen the memory of the Holocaust. Wether comparing things to it, as in "This Pot Roast is worse than the Holocaust", "Jesse Jackson is orse for the Jews than Hitler" (I acatually heard that one) or siezing ownership of suffering, as in "The situation of Blacks in America cannot be compared to the Holocaust", "The deaths of Homosexuals and Gypsies in germany are not part of the Holocaust" "Rwanda is not Germany", Jews cheapen the Holocaust daily. I'm a huge NPR fan but listen to any of their call in shows and you'll hear a cheap jolocaust comparison within a half hour. No, the palestinian occupation is not really comparable to genocide, but it's a nice paralell with the Warsaw ghetto.

"Why doesn't it bother you when you hear people call Sharon, Hitler?"

I think Sharon lacks the opportunity. I think his hope in visiting the temple mount was wa to insight a new intifada. I think he knowingly turned a blind eye to the slaughter of refuges. I think that given complete free will he ould see all the Palestinians forcibly removed at best. I could be wrong. But I don't think that opinion is without merit, either.

"aren't there ways of hating him without invoking images of antisemetism?"

That's fair. And I'm not being flip here, I really do mean that's fair. There are other Militaristic Brutes who maintain a hold on power by fomenting chaos. I could compare him to Yassir Arafat, or see both of them as Milosevic with a slightly less dedicated fan base. You say much the same thing yourself, and I totally yield on this point. I ovrstate the case because it is speciffically AS a Jew that Sharon appauls me. But yes, there are more accurate comparisons.

"Hey, and for all I know you're no more Jewish then Sammy Davis Jr."

Why are Jews so frequently concerned with who's the most Jewish? Talmudic law recognizes conversion. It's a rigorous, scholarly process which leaves the convert knowing more about Judaism than the vast majority of American Jews by birth.

" the main link between Jews is first and foremost a religious one"
Who says, exactly? I think one of Israels greatest problems is it's steady drift away from secularism toward Theocracy, a horrid condition.

"and Jews will also have this link with or without a homeland."

Precisely why the Homeland would have been far better off in central Canada. Jews are a distinct people as well as a religion. Your insinuation that this bond is no more than Mel Brooks and Bagels and that the culture is merely the host organism for the religion is arrogant, Holier than thou, Ronnie like in it's concrete confidence and I think, dangerous. Certainly a Jewish Homeland will have these links. But to what degree will it as a society be dominated by them? Will it drift ever rightward until it practices it's own version of Sharia?

"and if you're real trendy, even resents the religion itself"

I don't resent it, but I find your description of this behavior as trendy pretty snotty. As can be seen on this board, I think Christianity is plagued by a fatal flaw, ie. eternal damnation. Judaism is not quite so wounded, but it holds central the idea that we are Gods chosen and others are not. Our suffering as a people should increase our compassion for others, not deaden it.

"you might be that anamoly...the Jew that denies the validity of the Jewish religion... "

I think you might be surprised. I don't think it's an anomaly at all. I recognize, accept and embrace the historical significance of my Religion, and it's many worthwhile moral teachings. It's Validity? I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean an actual covenant between us and the Lord God? Do you mean it's dietary restrictions and exclusion of outsiders? Or are you more thinking of our vast contributions to law, art and comedy? My personal feeling is it is the humorless Jew who abandons the 'validity' of his culture.