Poetic Justice

>>No because, as I understand it, this guy actually didn't know he was Jewish, so I don't think that was a factor in his becoming an anti-Semite.<<

Some of the virulent homophobes know themselves to be homosexual and are covering. But a bunch of them seem to be homosexual without consciously knowing it, which puts them in the same boat if it ever becomes inescapably obvious.

>>For one thing, I *don't want him* in my mishpochah (extended family).<<

I wouldn't either. Then again, every family tree has some bad fruit.

>>And for another, the whole "serves him right" idea has disturbing implications, that being a Jew is a bad thing and thus a fitting punishment. That may well be how he sees it, being an anti-Semite; it's not how I see it.<<

It's not how I see it. I see it as an example of, don't throw rocks in the air because you're liable to hit yourself on the head. Bigotry in general tends to hit back. And there are several groups -- Jewish, homosexual, and African-American -- where it's happened repeatedly that the worst attackers turned up a connection like that. What makes it funny, to me, is the repetition of history, that people will still make the same mistake even after others have been utterly destroyed by it.

>>I think - and would rather think even at gut level - that this guy doesn't *deserve* to be a Jew.<<

Well, yeah, that too. I admit one of my first thoughts was "a shonda for the goyim."

Not so much grew up with in a family context, but I've had more than a casual interest in the culture and I've known a fair number of Jewish people. So some of the vocabulary and other stuff has rubbed off on me, enough that this isn't the first time I've been asked if I had such a connection.

The thread of Judaism running through my main science fiction universe is just fascinating; the spacedrive mapping is described in terms of Qabalah. And sometimes things just pop into my head long before I've come into direct contact: one of my characters responded to the space station jumping across the galaxy with "We are SO farblondjet," and it was years before I found an actual definition for the word.

It's kinda why Israel has me facepalming so much. It's hard to watch a culture I respect make epic bad choices.

>>and have a definite weakness for the food, too.<<

I love challah.

>>And I don't like seeing anyone who's kept it together that long screw up by the numbers, either...<<

The best description I've come across thus far, and I've seen it from several Jewish folks, is that it's like when an abused child grows up and establishes a household. The chance of that going well, after all the damage and crappy examples, is pretty slim. It's hard to come out of a horrific background and then not make the same mistakes.

>>I've seen *people* work through their issues and make a pretty decent household of it. Cultures? There aren't many therapists for cultures. (The Puritans leap immediately to mind...)<<

Some of the Native American cultures are holding together, but even there, you can see the damage. A few of them are making exactly the same mistakes as Israel, up to and including ostracizing some of their own people.

>>That, and Israel had been thirty-two years shy of 2000 years out of practice (and most of its citizens had been pretty soundly abused at the hands of various other cultures) when it suddenly came into being again... no *wonder*.<<

Yeah, almost everyone involved in creating Israel was traumatized in one way or another. That did not help make a healthy nation. And it's in the Middle East where most of the neighbors are ... not what I'd call mature.

>>Thank you. Today I have learned something.<<

*bow, flourish* Happy to be of service.