My heritage is also Eastern European Jewish and I've always been grateful to my ancestors who came and struggled in New York around the turn of the 20th century so that their kids could prosper. And prosper they did, especially on my father's side, where the first generation all became doctors, lawyers and teachers. They dropped Judaism for the most part--my father was not bar mitvahed, nor my brother, nor my own sons (whose father is Catholic--they were not baptized either). As a child, I absorbed the unspoken message that religion makes one a target for persecution--even growing up in NYC surrounded by other Jews in my public elementary school on the Upper East Side, I preferred to keep my Jewish heritage quiet.
I think there is a deeper spiritual dimension to this that I hope you'll explore. Epigenetic trauma, check. Spiritual wounding across incarnations, check. As a woman I find all the religions, even Buddhism, to be forbiddingly patriarchal. Traditional Judaism, Catholicism and Islam are like a three-headed Cerberus keeping people in female bodies barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. My father's mother defied this, but she was unusual for her time. So when you talk about Jewish power, please remember to gender it. Note that all the examples you used were men. There have been some powerful, intellectual Jewish women of course. But as in most cultures, they are exceptional.
At this point I am only interested in mysticism, that is in the direct transmission of wisdom from the more-than-human dimensions. Sometimes this does happen within religions, and I'd like to know more about the Jewish Kabalistic tradition, for example. But in general it seems that religions, like nationalities and other artificial categories of difference, only serve to reinforce separations that serve no purpose (or only dark, Ahrimaic purposes, we might say).
If humanity and other life forms are to thrive on this planet, overcoming these artificial, man-made separations is critically important. So often we see the prophets (the mystics) of the major religions saying exactly that (do unto others, etc) but in practice, human tribalism takes over. Can we overcome this? Wouldn't it be nice to see the Jews take the lead?
Dec 17, 2022·edited Dec 17, 2022Liked by Daniel Pinchbeck
Very objective and well articulated, Daniel. I can imagine how difficult this was to write. Like being on a tightrope.
European Non-Jews who persecuted Jews and/or shoehorned them into cerebral occupations, as you describe, created Darwinian conditions for selective pressure.
Those with the most agile minds could imagine what they might face if they stayed in Europe and were also endowed with enough foresight to see what was coming and avoid it. Those who immigrated to North America, into a meritocracy (more or less) would obviously dominate a changing world. Strong family ties would enhance this dynamic. And nepotism, a feature which is as much a feature of elitism as it is ethnicity, could entrench it.
My Jewish ancestry, is from 1826, England, on grandmother's side, so will step aside. Have no sense of the culture or religion.
This is a very courageous line of inquiry and one that seems most effective held by members within the Jewish community — and I feel honored to hold a space of interest and compassion here; while as an outsider, I'll not likely chime in. While very different in format and style, I believe the comedian Ari Shaffir is also working through this very nuanced conversation in his recent special, which he released directly to YouTube, on a donation-based revenue model. I appreciate the cautious and trope-avoidant voice you're using — a much better choice than Ari's for the container you're creating here. Shalom!
Brilliant Daniel - as a fellow Jew, I also believe that we Jews need to take more responsibility for our part in creating conditions for anti-semitism to exist. There's lots more to say on this subject, and I thank you for beginning the conversation.
Kanye has been discussing some of the darker aspects of the entertainment/fashion industry. I hate to say it, but I think that it has been largely to his credit that he is talking about this subject in a way that does speak to an aspect of truth that people aren't willing to hear. The S&M dolls in the same room as the child models and all the rest of it. I am by no means trying to demean his Hitler comments but like Elon, and Donald, Ye speaks to a truth that few are ready to listen to. I am very much of the mind that it is important to find a middle-ground. Not between Hitler and what-ever, but a third way that completely abandons the party apparatus. I mean couldn't we all start there. And say we are not voting next time unless we find some other way to choose our leaders at the local as well as national level. I mean couldn't that be a kind of national protest that is taken up to establish the fact that there is widespread unrest that is growing.
In 1975 I volunteered to work at Kibbutz Amiad, by the Galilee Lake in Eastern Israel. It was an idyllic experience of international collaboration and democratic governance while efficiently turning the desert into bountifully productive land, an experience comparable to life today in well run ecovillages.
Returning to visit 30 years later, I was dismayed to find it transformed into suburban housing in which neighbors hardly knew each other.
I saw this turn from idealism to materialism in many other areas. I also noticed an unwillingness to address the Palestinian conflict by radical political interests that used the anxiety and fears generated by the conflict to gain power.
For example, in the 70s I visited wonderful collective farms in the Sinai Peninsula that were miraculously growing huge amounts of great veggies by drip irrigating the desert soil, but before that land was returned to Egypt, the Israeli government bulldozed all those improvements.
They destroyed their hard work instead of negotiating the possibility of inviting young Gaza families to move there and continue producing much needed food while helping alleviate the alienation and despair found in occupied Palestine, thus ignoring an obvious no cost diplomatic move that would have done wonders to pacify the region.
Presently I notice the most radical Israeli factions gaining financial and political momentum, this will increase violent repression and fuel the ambition of creating a Greater Israel in the fertile Ukrainian lands being depopulated now by the war.
To compound this trend, we continue feeding this cruel apartheid regime with copious amounts of tax dollars that we badly need here to address our own domestic problems. It is precisely here where we could make a positive difference, by electing representatives that will help restore control over our nation’s purse.
I'd love for there to be an entire conference on this topic in the near future. Thank you for taking an important step! There is a lot to unpack....and there is a lot of fear and grief to work through.
I have lots to say about this topic but for now check out the following Substack by Chris Hedges in case you haven't read it: The Chris Hedges Report Dec 11 2022 -- Israel and the Rise of Jewish Fascism..."The mask is being lifted from the face of Israel’s apartheid state, exposing a grinning death’s head that portends the obliteration of the few restraints against the killing of the Palestinians..."I object to the phrase Jewish Fascism but have no problem calling what's going on in Israel right now Israeli Fascism or Zionist Fascism. The essay is about the ultranationalist, ultraorthodox characters, little better than criminals, who Netanyahu is bringing into his new cabinet and who openly admit to wanting to kill all Palestinians. I know you skipped mentioning Israel but there's a point to be made here -- why do Jews (yes, feeling threatened and cornered JUST LIKE THEIR FOREBEARS IN EUROPE) so easily duplicate in a son imitates father fashion the extremism of the anti-semites from which they fled?
Dec 17, 2022·edited Dec 17, 2022Liked by Daniel Pinchbeck
When I saw the headline of this piece last night I said to Larry - wait, Daniel's Jewish? How could I not know that? Larry said, how could you not know that! Of course he is! Maybe I took it for granted and we never spoke about it? Too much else was going on at the time, perhaps. But anyway, I think this piece calls for the new substack "letters" or "chat" option. Could go back and forth for quite a while. My credentials are first generation Jewish on my dad's side (he and his parents escaped Nazi Germany in 1938). German Jewish second gen on my mom's side. Totally secular Reformed upbringing. Even had a Christmas tree every year. After college, in 1985 I kind of accidentally immigrated to Israel. Seemed like a cool thing to do a great way to get away from home. I lived there until 1996. Worked at the Israeli Embassy in DC for a few years too during the Oslo Peace Accords.
I am fluent in Hebrew, a secular, non-Zionist card-carrying Israeli (dual citizenship with the US) who abhors Netanyahu and all the corrupt right-wing politicians fear-mongering and inciting hatred. With the help of the British mandate, the land of Palestine was stolen from the Arabs. And result has been what you wrote, Daniel. The oppressor oppressing another. It's horrific. As if the Palestinians weren't people too.
Crazy thing is I love Israel so much and hope to spend more time there again in the future. But I’m also sickened by it. It’s so fucking complicated.
Rachel Maddow’s podcast Ultra (have you heard it?), along the same lines as Ken Burns recent documentary about white supremacist in the government who controlled immigration policy during the 30s and 40s, deals with forgotten history. Although Philip Roth didn’t forget about it (The Plot Against America). It has me worrying about where a Jew can live safely. I don’t know. Ultra illustrates how Jews have pretty much always been hated in the US, and the government has been full of conspiracy-theory, Jew-hating, Nazi sympathizers for EVER. Nothing new here.
Everything you wrote about is so true and confounding – we are such a small number but so over-represented in many areas. Daniel, do you know who Lee Carroll is? He is famous for channeling a being named Kryon. I did events with him many times through my bookstore. He was always fascinated by the Jews, Hebrew and Kabballah. He wrote an essay about Jews and reincarnation many years ago that boiled down basically to this: Jews NEVER step out of being Jews. Lifetime after lifetime. So they have perfected their ways. Their talent. Their intelligence. So that is why we excel. We have perfected it.
I found some of the text: “Many years ago we told you that there's something specific about the Jews. We told you that they have what we then called "pure karmic attributes of humanity." Difficult to explain, but they carry the core of the seed of humanity. If you are one that would believe that indeed you come around many times [reincarnation], and have many lifetimes that you cannot remember, the difference between the Jews and other Human Beings is that you have agreed to come many times in-a-row to be Jewish. Therefore, within your DNA is carried multiple lifetimes of this attribute of being Jewish, perhaps even thousands of years of it! When you decide not to come back into that family, then the "rules" are that you never return. Sometimes this shapes your attitudes and sometimes it shapes even more than that. This is different than those who come and go and have a much greater variety of selection within many karmic groups. You have mostly had only one.
Some of you are without hope because of this. It rings strong in your DNA. You have the same challenges every time, and often they are about struggle, life and death, and even the horror of those who would actively seek to destroy you. You say, "We have never been able to do what we came for!" And I want to tell you that you would be right, except things have changed. That is why Kryon is here.”
well done Daniel. this is tough stuff to expose yourself too but this is how truth builds strength in the world, by people exposing truth with dialogue.
i have a friend who was a music journalist that went into full zionist activism mode a couple years ago, who took on a viscous zeal for fighting this demon of anti semitism. she sees enemies in everybody outside, and she has a community of people who feel the same way and are starting to indicate a sharp increase towards separation from the outside. she seems to hold the same despise against roger waters for his way of “anti semitism” than for kanye’s.
aside from that, when you don’t have something transcendent unifying your culture, then scapegoating is an easy way to unify. also we will
always look for a transcendent connection and we will find a material figure to worship if we remain secular. kanye is TRYING to be the next hitler, in some way, and trying to become president in a real way.
Oh my. I have many thoughts. I'm Jewish by birth as well, on my mother's side, but ended up subjected to a lot more Christianity because of growing up in Appalachia. So I witnessed anti-semitism as a child first hand, which was confusing, because we weren't practicing Jews, but Christian rednecks would still say nasty stuff to me, mostly about Jews killing Jesus, including my teachers and other kids at school.
I decided to celebrate Hanukkah this year, for the first time in maybe 10 years, because so much hatred has been spewed lately, and I also read the Torah from start to finish, which I'd never done before. (That's a whole other story.)
As to the "problematic" elements you discuss, perhaps you're writing negatively about all these successful Jewish people, who you don't know in real life, because they’re also subjected to the antisemitic underbelly that still exists in America. They're maybe a more desirable target for the haters because a subconscious resentment of Jewish people still exists broadly in our culture.
Consider how many other people are out there in these same roles and MUCH worse (military/prison/nations oppressing women) that are acting super evil and we don’t know their names and they aren’t Jewish.
At this point, with all the negative attitudes around Jewish people, I don't think it's helpful to contribute to that derogatory discourse unless one vocally opposes it.
Trying to understand Jewish origins, the starting point... is an incredibly interesting topic. The more we can obtain historical clarity the more we can explore taboo subjects without fear of repercussions or prejudiced thinking. The ability to ask questions is key to understanding.
I understand completely. I just put myself in the shoes of an Israeli and try to work through all the emotional reactions and reflexes towards a practical solution. Explanations and understanding of their situation is not the same as condoning or excusing it.
My heritage is also Eastern European Jewish and I've always been grateful to my ancestors who came and struggled in New York around the turn of the 20th century so that their kids could prosper. And prosper they did, especially on my father's side, where the first generation all became doctors, lawyers and teachers. They dropped Judaism for the most part--my father was not bar mitvahed, nor my brother, nor my own sons (whose father is Catholic--they were not baptized either). As a child, I absorbed the unspoken message that religion makes one a target for persecution--even growing up in NYC surrounded by other Jews in my public elementary school on the Upper East Side, I preferred to keep my Jewish heritage quiet.
I think there is a deeper spiritual dimension to this that I hope you'll explore. Epigenetic trauma, check. Spiritual wounding across incarnations, check. As a woman I find all the religions, even Buddhism, to be forbiddingly patriarchal. Traditional Judaism, Catholicism and Islam are like a three-headed Cerberus keeping people in female bodies barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. My father's mother defied this, but she was unusual for her time. So when you talk about Jewish power, please remember to gender it. Note that all the examples you used were men. There have been some powerful, intellectual Jewish women of course. But as in most cultures, they are exceptional.
At this point I am only interested in mysticism, that is in the direct transmission of wisdom from the more-than-human dimensions. Sometimes this does happen within religions, and I'd like to know more about the Jewish Kabalistic tradition, for example. But in general it seems that religions, like nationalities and other artificial categories of difference, only serve to reinforce separations that serve no purpose (or only dark, Ahrimaic purposes, we might say).
If humanity and other life forms are to thrive on this planet, overcoming these artificial, man-made separations is critically important. So often we see the prophets (the mystics) of the major religions saying exactly that (do unto others, etc) but in practice, human tribalism takes over. Can we overcome this? Wouldn't it be nice to see the Jews take the lead?
Very objective and well articulated, Daniel. I can imagine how difficult this was to write. Like being on a tightrope.
European Non-Jews who persecuted Jews and/or shoehorned them into cerebral occupations, as you describe, created Darwinian conditions for selective pressure.
Those with the most agile minds could imagine what they might face if they stayed in Europe and were also endowed with enough foresight to see what was coming and avoid it. Those who immigrated to North America, into a meritocracy (more or less) would obviously dominate a changing world. Strong family ties would enhance this dynamic. And nepotism, a feature which is as much a feature of elitism as it is ethnicity, could entrench it.
My Jewish ancestry, is from 1826, England, on grandmother's side, so will step aside. Have no sense of the culture or religion.
This is a very courageous line of inquiry and one that seems most effective held by members within the Jewish community — and I feel honored to hold a space of interest and compassion here; while as an outsider, I'll not likely chime in. While very different in format and style, I believe the comedian Ari Shaffir is also working through this very nuanced conversation in his recent special, which he released directly to YouTube, on a donation-based revenue model. I appreciate the cautious and trope-avoidant voice you're using — a much better choice than Ari's for the container you're creating here. Shalom!
Brilliant Daniel - as a fellow Jew, I also believe that we Jews need to take more responsibility for our part in creating conditions for anti-semitism to exist. There's lots more to say on this subject, and I thank you for beginning the conversation.
Kanye has been discussing some of the darker aspects of the entertainment/fashion industry. I hate to say it, but I think that it has been largely to his credit that he is talking about this subject in a way that does speak to an aspect of truth that people aren't willing to hear. The S&M dolls in the same room as the child models and all the rest of it. I am by no means trying to demean his Hitler comments but like Elon, and Donald, Ye speaks to a truth that few are ready to listen to. I am very much of the mind that it is important to find a middle-ground. Not between Hitler and what-ever, but a third way that completely abandons the party apparatus. I mean couldn't we all start there. And say we are not voting next time unless we find some other way to choose our leaders at the local as well as national level. I mean couldn't that be a kind of national protest that is taken up to establish the fact that there is widespread unrest that is growing.
In 1975 I volunteered to work at Kibbutz Amiad, by the Galilee Lake in Eastern Israel. It was an idyllic experience of international collaboration and democratic governance while efficiently turning the desert into bountifully productive land, an experience comparable to life today in well run ecovillages.
Returning to visit 30 years later, I was dismayed to find it transformed into suburban housing in which neighbors hardly knew each other.
I saw this turn from idealism to materialism in many other areas. I also noticed an unwillingness to address the Palestinian conflict by radical political interests that used the anxiety and fears generated by the conflict to gain power.
For example, in the 70s I visited wonderful collective farms in the Sinai Peninsula that were miraculously growing huge amounts of great veggies by drip irrigating the desert soil, but before that land was returned to Egypt, the Israeli government bulldozed all those improvements.
They destroyed their hard work instead of negotiating the possibility of inviting young Gaza families to move there and continue producing much needed food while helping alleviate the alienation and despair found in occupied Palestine, thus ignoring an obvious no cost diplomatic move that would have done wonders to pacify the region.
Presently I notice the most radical Israeli factions gaining financial and political momentum, this will increase violent repression and fuel the ambition of creating a Greater Israel in the fertile Ukrainian lands being depopulated now by the war.
To compound this trend, we continue feeding this cruel apartheid regime with copious amounts of tax dollars that we badly need here to address our own domestic problems. It is precisely here where we could make a positive difference, by electing representatives that will help restore control over our nation’s purse.
Sergio Lub
I'd love for there to be an entire conference on this topic in the near future. Thank you for taking an important step! There is a lot to unpack....and there is a lot of fear and grief to work through.
I have lots to say about this topic but for now check out the following Substack by Chris Hedges in case you haven't read it: The Chris Hedges Report Dec 11 2022 -- Israel and the Rise of Jewish Fascism..."The mask is being lifted from the face of Israel’s apartheid state, exposing a grinning death’s head that portends the obliteration of the few restraints against the killing of the Palestinians..."I object to the phrase Jewish Fascism but have no problem calling what's going on in Israel right now Israeli Fascism or Zionist Fascism. The essay is about the ultranationalist, ultraorthodox characters, little better than criminals, who Netanyahu is bringing into his new cabinet and who openly admit to wanting to kill all Palestinians. I know you skipped mentioning Israel but there's a point to be made here -- why do Jews (yes, feeling threatened and cornered JUST LIKE THEIR FOREBEARS IN EUROPE) so easily duplicate in a son imitates father fashion the extremism of the anti-semites from which they fled?
When I saw the headline of this piece last night I said to Larry - wait, Daniel's Jewish? How could I not know that? Larry said, how could you not know that! Of course he is! Maybe I took it for granted and we never spoke about it? Too much else was going on at the time, perhaps. But anyway, I think this piece calls for the new substack "letters" or "chat" option. Could go back and forth for quite a while. My credentials are first generation Jewish on my dad's side (he and his parents escaped Nazi Germany in 1938). German Jewish second gen on my mom's side. Totally secular Reformed upbringing. Even had a Christmas tree every year. After college, in 1985 I kind of accidentally immigrated to Israel. Seemed like a cool thing to do a great way to get away from home. I lived there until 1996. Worked at the Israeli Embassy in DC for a few years too during the Oslo Peace Accords.
I am fluent in Hebrew, a secular, non-Zionist card-carrying Israeli (dual citizenship with the US) who abhors Netanyahu and all the corrupt right-wing politicians fear-mongering and inciting hatred. With the help of the British mandate, the land of Palestine was stolen from the Arabs. And result has been what you wrote, Daniel. The oppressor oppressing another. It's horrific. As if the Palestinians weren't people too.
Crazy thing is I love Israel so much and hope to spend more time there again in the future. But I’m also sickened by it. It’s so fucking complicated.
Rachel Maddow’s podcast Ultra (have you heard it?), along the same lines as Ken Burns recent documentary about white supremacist in the government who controlled immigration policy during the 30s and 40s, deals with forgotten history. Although Philip Roth didn’t forget about it (The Plot Against America). It has me worrying about where a Jew can live safely. I don’t know. Ultra illustrates how Jews have pretty much always been hated in the US, and the government has been full of conspiracy-theory, Jew-hating, Nazi sympathizers for EVER. Nothing new here.
Everything you wrote about is so true and confounding – we are such a small number but so over-represented in many areas. Daniel, do you know who Lee Carroll is? He is famous for channeling a being named Kryon. I did events with him many times through my bookstore. He was always fascinated by the Jews, Hebrew and Kabballah. He wrote an essay about Jews and reincarnation many years ago that boiled down basically to this: Jews NEVER step out of being Jews. Lifetime after lifetime. So they have perfected their ways. Their talent. Their intelligence. So that is why we excel. We have perfected it.
I found some of the text: “Many years ago we told you that there's something specific about the Jews. We told you that they have what we then called "pure karmic attributes of humanity." Difficult to explain, but they carry the core of the seed of humanity. If you are one that would believe that indeed you come around many times [reincarnation], and have many lifetimes that you cannot remember, the difference between the Jews and other Human Beings is that you have agreed to come many times in-a-row to be Jewish. Therefore, within your DNA is carried multiple lifetimes of this attribute of being Jewish, perhaps even thousands of years of it! When you decide not to come back into that family, then the "rules" are that you never return. Sometimes this shapes your attitudes and sometimes it shapes even more than that. This is different than those who come and go and have a much greater variety of selection within many karmic groups. You have mostly had only one.
Some of you are without hope because of this. It rings strong in your DNA. You have the same challenges every time, and often they are about struggle, life and death, and even the horror of those who would actively seek to destroy you. You say, "We have never been able to do what we came for!" And I want to tell you that you would be right, except things have changed. That is why Kryon is here.”
Here’s the link: https://www.kryon.com/k_chanelIsraelPI05.html
Perhaps as good an explanation as any?
Thanks Daniel.
well done Daniel. this is tough stuff to expose yourself too but this is how truth builds strength in the world, by people exposing truth with dialogue.
i have a friend who was a music journalist that went into full zionist activism mode a couple years ago, who took on a viscous zeal for fighting this demon of anti semitism. she sees enemies in everybody outside, and she has a community of people who feel the same way and are starting to indicate a sharp increase towards separation from the outside. she seems to hold the same despise against roger waters for his way of “anti semitism” than for kanye’s.
aside from that, when you don’t have something transcendent unifying your culture, then scapegoating is an easy way to unify. also we will
always look for a transcendent connection and we will find a material figure to worship if we remain secular. kanye is TRYING to be the next hitler, in some way, and trying to become president in a real way.
Oh my. I have many thoughts. I'm Jewish by birth as well, on my mother's side, but ended up subjected to a lot more Christianity because of growing up in Appalachia. So I witnessed anti-semitism as a child first hand, which was confusing, because we weren't practicing Jews, but Christian rednecks would still say nasty stuff to me, mostly about Jews killing Jesus, including my teachers and other kids at school.
I decided to celebrate Hanukkah this year, for the first time in maybe 10 years, because so much hatred has been spewed lately, and I also read the Torah from start to finish, which I'd never done before. (That's a whole other story.)
As to the "problematic" elements you discuss, perhaps you're writing negatively about all these successful Jewish people, who you don't know in real life, because they’re also subjected to the antisemitic underbelly that still exists in America. They're maybe a more desirable target for the haters because a subconscious resentment of Jewish people still exists broadly in our culture.
Consider how many other people are out there in these same roles and MUCH worse (military/prison/nations oppressing women) that are acting super evil and we don’t know their names and they aren’t Jewish.
At this point, with all the negative attitudes around Jewish people, I don't think it's helpful to contribute to that derogatory discourse unless one vocally opposes it.
Please do continue your enquiry Daniel,
I find the broad inclusiveness of your
perspective fascinating and compelling!
Trying to understand Jewish origins, the starting point... is an incredibly interesting topic. The more we can obtain historical clarity the more we can explore taboo subjects without fear of repercussions or prejudiced thinking. The ability to ask questions is key to understanding.
I understand completely. I just put myself in the shoes of an Israeli and try to work through all the emotional reactions and reflexes towards a practical solution. Explanations and understanding of their situation is not the same as condoning or excusing it.