There is a surprising toxicity to everything that has “Jewish” attached to it. It’s like everything “Jewish” is a set up for a disappointment, be it Jewish politics, Jewish singles or Jewish community, etc. But why!? Let’s say you have an insecure friend. More this person is insecure more he or she becomes obsessed with what other people think about him/her. It comes to the point when this person’s identity completely depends on reactions from the outside. The person becomes obsessed about what someone said and even what someone thinks.
Perhaps the fate of a minority. On one hand the ongoing struggle against the dominant ideas, the vigilance to preserve distinctiveness on the other hand total dependence on the majority for the sense of self-worth. This all comes at a price. You need an unwavering confidence to develop the core of a culture or a personality [the early Zionists experienced this imbalance first hand coined the term Galut mentality]. Contrary to the popular Jewish ethos that ascribes antisemitism to the supernatural forces, it’s rather much more mundane, a matter of a mechanical friction between vastly different parts in the direct proximity. Yet there is still a significant number of global Jews who define their identity through antisemitism. In the multicultural mixture of multitudes today this is no longer a definitive factor (never mind the lucrative niche fundraising market). The real frictional hate and tension burning bright for the Jews today is the animosity between adjacent Jewish tribes and ideologies.
Yet there is still a persistent habit among Jews to think outwardly. Thousands of years of this insecurity come at the price of a culture hollowed to the core. Compare engaging with a person immersed in a game of it, oblivious to the world around to engaging a self-conscious aristocrat obsessed with utopian memories of the past glory and fixated on social perceptions. You are in for a tedious and unpleasant evening. Am I making myself clear?
And as we all know the logical progression for people obsessed with what others think is paranoia. I have friends like that. I sometimes tap them on the shoulder and say: “Dude, I don’t know how to bring this to you, but the sad reality is that nobody is thinking about you, no a soul in the world!” Alas, it never helps.
Photo by Dan Zollmann – Zwart rood (Black and red) via flickr/Canvas_TV
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