History / Poland and Orientalism [115]


Your comparison doesn't work unless you want to be superficial. Most Jews in Israel are from Middle eastern background in recent history (parents or grandparents born in Middle eastern countries) and all Jews are of middle eastern background from Roman times. Jews and Arabs have prejudices against each other but it's not an issue of "orientalism". It's more an issue of old religious differences (similar to Jewish-Christian tensions) and more recently the result of Arab violence against the Jewish return. Sure, if you read 19th century European Jewish writers you'll find "orientalist" attitudes, since these people were influenced by European attitudes in general. But the driving force of the Zionist movement was to return the Jews to their land, not to screw the Arabs. They are perfectly capable of screwing themselves.

History / Poland and Orientalism [115]

I've spoken on the Israel-Palestine issue many times as you know, in threads that have to do with that, so if someone wants to review my opinions he can do a search. This thread has to do with so-called orientalist attitudes toward Poland, so I won't repeat them here. Des Essientes could have either commented on my post or ignored it. But instead he takes the opportunity to bash me for being Israeli. He gets off on hatred.

If you think arabs and jews can't get a long you should see the different christian sects in Jerusalem. There's a ladder in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that can't be moved because one of the sects put it there more than 100 years ago and if one of the other christian sects moves it, it will cause a riot among the christians.

You can read about it here...

atlasobscura.com/place/immovable-ladder-church-holy-sepulchre

Travel / Przemysl and/or Rzeszow and/or Sandomierz [14]


On my one visit to Poland, I saw a nice place outside of Przemysl. There's a village right on the border called Siedliska. You get there by turning off the road to Medyka before you reach the border. If you follow the road through the village into the forest and keep going after the sign that says not to, you'll find a large old Austrian fortress that's gradually being overgrown by the forest. It's a little dangerous to walk around there because there are tunnels and shafts and nothing is marked. But it's fascinating in a spooky way.

History / Poland and Orientalism [115]


I'll go further than that: At the next secret meeting of the Jewish Zionist Elders of Hollywood, I'll suggest a biopic on Bismark. If I can get a script from Pinching Pete, we can talk business.

But seriously...
Since when did Jews have a problem with Bismark? He was never considered an enemy of the Jews. In fact Jews in germany were all for unification – it gave them a flag they could identify with, which they lacked when germany was made of small kingdoms. Local Jews didn't identify themselves nationally with the various german-speaking kingdoms of central Europe, but when they unified it created a new identity which they identified with totally. Unfortunately for them, the germans didn't quite agree, and we know how that ended.


Is it so unfashionable to be a white from the West that Poles are now calling themselves "oriental"?
I was in Poland once and it looked totally european to me. There's something comical about ethnic groups all around the world trying to get "street cred" by claiming that they're not white. Don't get me wrong, I don't think there's anything so great about being white, but there's nothing so bad about it either. Poles, just be yourselves.

News / Multi-culti (in Poland) -- roadmap to disaster? [344]


Ethnic, racial and cultural diversity are all good, but only if it's done in small doses. No country should be excpected to commit cultural suicide just to be nice to immigrants. But when it's done carefully, it enriches a country in every way: through cultural cross-pollenization it enriches the music and literature, and a bit of racial diversity can actually improve the gene pool by minimizing the chances for genetic diseases. The fact is that the US is one of the most mixed societies inthe world and look what it achieved. Israel is ,on the one hand, mostly Jewish, but on the other hand we absorb Jews from every part of the world so there's an incredible amount of cultural diversity and cross-fertilization. I think that a lot of what we accomplished in a short time is because of that diversity.

Off-Topic / Countries and your associations in 5 words/descriptions. [56]


Pile of stone? I guess you've never been there.
Here's 5 words: "Land of milk and honey".

Life / The day Poland ran out of artists. [40]


I would hope that if the artist in question was a polish jew he wouldn't object. But she's actually an Israeli living part time in Amsterdam, so I find it odd that she was chosen by Poland. Her work relates to Poland but it's not Polish. Maybe poland really did run out of artists.

History / Insoluble Judaeo-Polish imbroglio? [44]


Please say you're joking. There is not one Jew living in Jordan except the Israeli ambassador. There is not one functioning Jewish community left in any Arab country except Morocco.

History / Insoluble Judaeo-Polish imbroglio? [44]


What the fck are you talking about?! I re-read my comment and then your insane rant and I honestly don't know what set you off. I never said anything that you accuse me of saying. I just sent you a caveat that TV shows are not necessarily accurate history, and that the summary on their website sounded more arab-oriented than Jewish oriented (not a rare thing in Europe, not even rare in Israel) and you go flying off the handle with all kinds of imagined things that I never said. I wouldn't recommend Exodus as a source of history either. But you hear what you want to hear (there are medications for that problem). Just like you fabricated statements I never made and opinions I never expressed, your lot fabricate all kinds of nonsense about Israelis and what we think and do. The picture in your mind about who we are is a figment of your imagination fed by crap that you read on the internet. It has nothing at all to do with what we are, or what Israel is all about. You are ignorant and, apparently, deranged.

History / Insoluble Judaeo-Polish imbroglio? [44]


I didn't see it or hear of it till now. From what I see i the website, it's telling the arab narrative of what happened. It might be good television drama but don't assume that it's history.

History / Insoluble Judaeo-Polish imbroglio? [44]


Is it really important anymore? Our two peoples are no longer living together. Our two countries get along fine.

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]


In other words, you're saying that we only let them have restaurants while we set up the trains to ship them off to extermination camps? That's the conclusion your ridiculous analogy leads to. No. They are simply not starving. There is no shortage of goods in the West Bank. Their economy has grown about 7% lately. In Gaza the situation is not good, but still there is plenty of food to eat. If not for Hamas, they'd be in the same situation as the west bank. For more information about the economic situation in the palestinian territories, try this link:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Palestinian_territories

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]


Stupid comment. The persecution of christians is common all over the Muslim world, not just in the palestinian areas. Did the iraqi muslims bomb that church out of solidarity with the palestinians?

blogs.news.sky.com/foreignmatters/Post:589c662c-561b-4078-80cd-939232efc60d

And for your "starving" palestinians, here's a list of restaurants in Ramallah they might want to try.

paltour.net/palestine-tourist-services/palestine-restaurants/restaurants-in-ramallah/187.php

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]


Ethnically they are Arabs, so they try to be as "palestinian" as their muslim neighbors. But the palestinian national movement is increasingly dominated by the muslims. In the past they had a bigger role but they've been overpowered.


I'd love to call you anti semite if i thought you were, but what did you say that was supposed to offend me?


Long story. Sure we're cousins, but there's a big quarrel over who gets the family estate.


Giving them territory won't finish the dispute. As our outspoken foreign minister said, even if we give them Tel Aviv, they won't call an end to the dispute. They already control most of the west bank and all of Gaza. The dispute defines them as a nation. Without it, they'd just be arabs, no different than syrians or jordanians.

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]


He wouldn't find that very pleasant. The arab christian population is gradually leaving the palestinian controlled areas because they are bullied by the Muslims, especially in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]

All your quotes are from the New testament. Not my bible. You'd have to ask a christian about that. In the Jewish Bible Lot isn't referred to as righteous.

By the way, while we're on this topic, notice that Noah got drunk and was molested by his son Ham after the flood, and Lot was made drunk by his daughters and then molested (for lack of a better word) after the destruction of Sodom. Apparently the trauma of seeing the world destroyed led to screwed up behavior in some people.

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]


Point of information:
Lot was not the ancestor of the Jews. He was the ancestor of the nations of Moab and Ammon. His uncle Abraham was the ancestor of the Jews and several other nations.

And by the way, as far as the discussion of biblical morality, the Bible gives no indication that Lot was a role model for anything. He was just Abraham's nephew who was always getting into trouble.

Genealogy / I'm looking for family history information - Martha Forbrich [7]


Very unlikely. Yiska is a rarely used name among Jews in the last 4000 years, although it may have a comeback one day. It was the name of Abraham's niece.

I did hear of the name Yissachar being shortened to Yiska.

Life / Importance of Religion in Poland [187]


Not quite. The first christians were. But then Paul opened up membership to non-Jews. And later still, Constantine made it the official religion of the roman empire. By then your religion bore very little resemblance to the original, and Jesus went far beyond being merely the Messiah – he became the deity himself. Where did that idea come from? It couldn't have been from us.

History / Poles should emulate Jews? [153]

I was waiting to see where this discussion is going, before I jump in, but it's not going anywhere. People are just repeating their opinions for or against "The Jews". Nothing interesting yet.

Polonius, what reactions did you expect from your idea?

History / Ghetto Uprising better known than Warsaw Uprising? [92]


I reserve the right to be unreasonable, argumentative and one-sided just like anyone else.

Genealogy / Funny Polish surnames [63]


Excuse me? Hebrew is not a Jewish language?

History / Ghetto Uprising better known than Warsaw Uprising? [92]


There's no question that after the war Jews emphasized the heroic uprisings, (Warsaw, Kovno, Vilna, Sobibor, Treblinka, bands in the forests) rather than the masses that were killed with almost no physical resistance. It arouses pride and it's easy to explain. But was Janosz Korchak less of a hero than Mordechai Anilevitch? Was a father who stayed with his terrified kids instead of escaping the ghetto a coward? Can you say that the Jews from Hungary, who when they came out of the cattle trains were already inside the gates of Birkenau and were gassed within hours, were cowards for not organizing resistance within hours? So the real measure of heroism or cowardice is not so simple. I'm sure that many of the Poles who were murdered didn't die with a rifle in their hand either. Maybe that's why Poles emphasize the Warsaw uprising. Everyone wants to look like a hero.

Genealogy / Is your line of the Polish family noble? [74]


Ha! Shimon Peres was born in Poland.

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [636]


Now I've learned about this artist who i didn't know. Thanks.

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [636]


I never heard of this artist, although I did read the Ringelblum diaries. I'm not aware of any exhibits here in Israel but I see there's an exhibit in Warsaw: jewishinstitute.org.pl/en/wystawy/czasowe/5.html

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [636]


They didn't tell me.


We're causing a diplomatic row?! Turkey sends 6 boats with anti-Israel activists to break our blockade of terrorist-ruled Gaza and their prime minister curses us day after day, and we're the ones starting a row? We should have sent home the Turkish ambassador, not the other way around. We only did not do it because we know that the Turkish army and many of it s citizens are friendly to israel. We don't want to break off relations with a country just because they happen to have a stupid prime minister right now who wants to use tensions with israel as a political tactic. This is all part of Erdogan's move away from Europe and toward the Arab world. He didn't do all this because of the flotilla or any concern for human rights.

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [636]


I remember you asked me that and I had never heard that word. But now that you mention that in Fiddler the rabbi says it and the people repeat it, I now realize what you mean. The word is "umain". That's "Amen", which is what you answer to a blessing. ("So be it.")

The Jews from Galicia and Hungary pronounce it "Umain". Jews from Lithuania pronounce it "Omain". Sefaradi Jews and Israelis say "Ahmen."

Another mystery cleared up.

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [636]


Well done.

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [636]


A few technical corrections:
B'ezrat Hashem is Hebrew, not Yiddish. It means "with G-d's help".

The word Hashem means literally "the name" and it refers to G-d whose name we don't say or write. It has nothing to do with Shem the son of Noah.

Hebrew is close to Arabic, but Yiddish, which is based on German, has nothing to do with Arabic. It uses Hebrew loan words but is not a semitic language at all.