Zionist--Indeed, a very intriguing piece of writing. One of the few I'm downloading to a permanent file. Recent months have brought about a certain change in my own beliefs about what can and cannot be accomplished in the matter of saving Israel--and I've come to the conclusion that it cannot be saved without the leadership of Jews themselves. And I don't mean the handful of conservatives that come to FR.
In their interest in keeping Israel alive and breathing, conservatives (mostly Christian conservatives, here) cannot save Jews over the resistance and maddening resentment of the majority of Jewry--which is liberal. It's like trying to pull someone out of a burning building who insists upon clinging to the furniture and lecturing you on how much he dislikes Baptists.
Thoughtomator---In trying to deal with this resentment, it will be very easy for the Christian to get resentful himself. I, for one, am very sore over the insults that came the way of well-meaning Christians this past spring over the Passion flap. I have ceased to read Krauthammer, and will never take him seriously again. If you are tired of being evangelized (I suppose someone is inviting you to church, I don't happen to do this)--I am tired to death about hearing about how Great Uncle Issy was blackballed at some Connecticut country club in the fifties, and how that will forever prevent happiness in America. Understand that this complaint is generally made in front of the non-country club set and is rude on its face. And don't mention the "H" word for at least the first hour of conversation. Better yet, get through a whole evening without it. You have your demands, maybe others have their own.
Hostile--I pinged you because I was going to mention your assertion that liberal Jewry does not fear to support Kerry because, even though they know that Bush is very much pro-Israel, they also take for granted that Kerry won't throw the Jews to the Islamic wolves in Israel. Your POV stuck with me.
Hostile--Does liberal Jewry regard the pro-Israel, non-Jewish (who will have to be mostly Christian) American as a sort of ever-dependable shabbas goy? I do not believe taking support for granted is any kind of safe--not anymore. Not with how things are in Europe. Things are changing, and changing quickly. Rhetoric that worked once, is not working now.
And Kerry won't throw the Jews to the wolves. He's too dim and silly to do much of anything--not to mention lazy. He'll just let Israel fall apart slowly. There is nothing in his attitude, words, or history to indicate that he'd trouble himself over Israel's troubles.
Being Pro-Palestinian is so very fashionable among the Hollywood and Hamptons set that Kerry lazes in...reminds me of Norman Mailer and his pet murderer. What makes anyone thing that Kerry would play to the concerns of Christian conservatives? And he's not exactly courting Leiberman for veep.
The ones that really annoy me are the folks who set up booths on the street and accost every stranger who passes by... to be fair, I am equally annoyed by the Hare Krishnas when they do the same thing, and the loudspeaker trucks that every little sect on the planet seems to enjoy driving down Broadway.
1) Non-Jews, no matter how sincerely friendly, will not save Israel. HaShem will save Israel. It is true that the sooner the Jews themselves return to the fullness of Torah and do their jobs the better it will be for everyone, but even in the worst case scenario, if this never happens, Mashiach will still come and Israel (and the world) rescued, though the delay will cause much suffering. I also call to your attention that since the Exodus the Jews have had to contend with the `Eirev Rav (the great mixed multitude) which went up with them and instituted most of the disobedience and resulting tragedies that occurred during the wanderings in the wilderness. Apparently Israel's final battle will not be with the accursed nation of `Amaleq but with this `Eirev Rav which still exists and which which strives to pull Benei Yisra'el away from their Heavenly Father.
2) With regard to the Passion flap, please understand that the reason so many Evangelical and Fundamentalist Protestant chr*stians were in love with that picture was that they thought it portrayed the "vicarious damnation" of their savior which relieved them of all law, ceremony, and even participation in their own salvation (after all, if J*sus has assumed one's position in Hell, where else is there to go but Heaven?). At the time of the controversy I urged Mr. Gibson's Fundamentalist fans to ask him why, if he understood the sufferings of Chr*st so well, he (as a Catholic) still felt the need to spend a lifetime of praying, confessions, doing good deeds, avoiding sins, and participation in the Church's ceremonial, after which he may still be damned (the traditional Catholic doctrine is not only that one is never "eternally saved" in this life but that one never knows absolutely whether or not one is in the "state of grace"). While I criticized the hypocritical Jewish attacks on the film, I still wonder if it was not made in part to pull Fundamentalists away from the Jews and draw them towards the Catholic Church.
3) With regard to "the h word" (by which I assume you mean the one I used above), please be aware that a local Fundamentalist university once invited devout Catholic Tommy Lasorda to speak at a sports banquet and his language (though tame by the standards of today's mainstream culture) was considered by them to be extremely coarse and inappropriate.
Just some thoughts!
Mamzelle,
Thanks for the ping. I'm not sure how comfortable I am speaking on behalf of other Jews, and certainly on behalf of liberal Jews, on this point because people have only become aware of conservative Christian support for Israel in the government since the late 1990s. That's after the time I left my hometown and lost my connections with the people I knew and who I reference.
I would guess that Jews do not count on conservative support for Israel or take it for granted. They are wary and do not wish to embrace it too strongly precisely because they do not want to seeem indebted to someone who they might disagree with otherwise, about their own salvation or about prayer in schools or other issues. I think that the pro-Israel movement led by people like our President is viewed more like a tiger that one may have to ride but always fear. Becaust most Jews are really uneasy around conservatives who are up front about their faith.