Two friends have now sent me Jeffrey Goldberg's squib on why merchants should continue to say Merry Christmas, and Hannukah is a bogus holiday. I agree with Goldberg, but would just like to observe that Goldberg is one of the most protean writers around. A year ago in a fit of paranoia, he was attacking Walt and Mearsheimer for what he saw as their attack on Jewish power. A few years ago, serving as David Remnick's id at the New Yorker, he was combing caves in Kurdistan for missile parts so as to prove Saddam had chemical and biological weapons.
Last spring he smartly realized that the world was changing under his feet. He attacked the Israel lobby in the New York Times, thereby alienating his old friend Leon Wieseltier. He said his Walt and Mearsheimer stuff had emerged from a "defensive crouch." He did an important interview with Obama that sold Obama as a friend of Israel to conservative Jews. Now he's talking about pogroms in the West Bank (a word I have used for a long time here) and celebrating Christmas--this man who once moved to Israel because he thought the Diaspora was unsafe for Jews.
I have no essential problem with Goldberg's contradictions. Whitman's poetic principle is the highest: so, he contradicts himself/he contains multitudes. Myself I adore change. Still there is something faintly opportunistic about Goldberg's variations. As the realists come more and more inside, we can expect "Jimmy Carter's Fight for Jewish Hearts and Minds," from Goldberg. And: "Walt and Mearsheimer, Once You Get to Know Them They're Actually Nice Guys, and Philosemites." And, "Why the Jewish Day School Movement Is Bad for the Jews." Even more urgent for me to get out my book, "The Assimilationist," before Goldberg beats me to it.
Jeff Blankfort chimes in re Christmas/Hannukah:
How about Random House?
You should one of these days write an article in this category that gives some kind of outline.
We can start a readers in search of a publisher campaign. ;)
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Oh, and Phil, I can't publish comments anymore in Firefox since you changed something here. Neither "Post" nor "Preview" buttons are available. Do you want me to shut up?
I use Firefox, and have never had any problems. Check to make sure you are allowing cookies from this site.
What event does Hanukkah commemorate?
Same question regarding Christmas.
I mean, beyond magic, that is, a few drops of oil go a long way versus a man who is also in part god.
Should go a long way towards what is meant by religion in each respective celebration,no?
Thanks, Colin. I allow all scripts on Phil's blog permanently. And that doesn't seem to be my problem. Maybe I should set up my whole system again. There are some other minor problems.
So, Blankfort had an open house, a big tree, and plenty of liquor. And tell me why this fuck is considered Jewish?
Another classic Phil Weiss post. The purported Jew who creams in his pants about Christmas.
And before you guys get started I don't give a shit about Christmas trees or nativity scenes. Its only liberal Jews who get worked up about stuff like that. What I can't stand is Phil Weiss, the purported Jew, who hates every Jewish holiday under the sun. Who wouldn't be caught dead in a synagogue, using his accident of birth to bash the Jews.
Bill, darling (the English say), I would be really pleased if you could tone down your insults of Phil a bit. Why don't you try it with a little humor?
But on the point: after reading this article by Richard Silverstein. I was absolutely puzzled. I asked myself, still did before reading this post, if I shouldn't go around lobbying for Hanukkah symbols in public buildings next to the usual Xmas decorations. So I found this information interesting. …
"Channukah, a phony holiday whose history has been distorted (it was a civil war between fundamentalists and secularists)"
This statement leaves me speechless. The forced observance of pagan worship in Jerusalem, the banning of Jewish law, the Maccabean Revolt, the defeat of Antiochus, and establishment of the Hasmonean dynasty…
Channukah commemorates one of the most important events in the history of the Jewish people, and possibly a critical moment for the West. If Jewish civilization had been wiped out in Jerusalem, not only might Judaism have disappeared, but Christianity might never have developed.
That said, attacking Christmas is one of the most stupid pastimes of the ADL, though it is in keeping with that organization's open loathing of any religious practice that distracts from its cult of Shoah-worship.
"But here we have no cosssacks, unless we include the ADL."
I loled.
I don't allow any scripts, so I remain anonymous unless I fill in my name, address, and URL each time. Otherwise the buttons remain greyed out, just as LeaNder said, as they have done since yesterday some time.
This seems like a good time to point out that no matter how 'assimilationist' you are, you still need to take seriously the fact that there may be a conspiracy, by specifically Jewish bankers, to rule the entire world. This, if true, would be so far above the tiresome squalor of the zionist project that the latter could be regarded merely as a useful distraction, while the Jewish bankers' networks cement their hold on the world's markets.