Secret Israel

I feel great sympathy for Israel. A tiny, brave island built of technology and faith in the great seething ocean of fierce hatred that surrounds it. What has Judaism done to deserve such unswerving persecution over the ages? I think it is envy. Judaism is an exclusive club. Consider the relative SES of Israelis in the middeast, yet more cause for envy.

It is hard to be a Jew, but it is also hard to become one. Judaism is matrilineal (just like the Bene Gesserit!), and the children of a jewish father and a non-jewish mother must convert to be Jews. It is difficult to convert to Judaism. Jews do not proselytize or seek converts. It is hard to marry into the tribe, especially in Israel. There is a price for becoming a Jew, the price of persecution, and real possiblity of death for Israelis.

I see comparisons between Christianity and Islam all the time, long tedious rants about scriptural differences between the Bible and the Qu'ran. But the telling contrast is between Islam and Judaism. Both are ways of life, so compare and contrast can actually be relevent. But the single greatest significant difference is in how both systems treat defections. We are very familiar with how defectors are treated in Islam. Consider the pressure exerted on Islam by western civilization. Pascal Boyer says in Religion Explained--

"The message from the modern world is not just that other ways of living are possible, that some people may not believe, or believe differently, or feel unconstrained by religious morality, or (in the case of women) make their own decisions without male supervision. The message is also that people can do that without paying a heavy price."

This means that defection is not costly and therefore likely. Which leads to extreme punishment for defectors in Islam.

I am mostly interested in the punishment for defection. Are there defectors, apostates, heretics in Judaism? Rarely within the last century, and then just for convenience, like Disraeli. And what happens to them? Nothing. Nothing happens to them. Defection does not need to be costly because no one defects.

So Judaism is a religion without modern defectors. A religion so appealing to its constituency, and to "outsiders" looking in, that it needs no safeguards against defection. Wow.

From one of my favorite scifi novels, Chapterhouse Dune, the sixth book of the Dune cycle, set thousands and thousands of years into the future-

Lucilla dropped the ridulian crystal into its receptacle and pulled the security hood over her head. Immediately words formed in her mind, an aural sense of extremely old accents clipped for recognition. "The people to whom your attention has been called are the Jews. They made a defensive decision eons ago. The solution to recurrent pogroms was to vanish from public view. Space travel made this not only possible but attractive. They hid on countless planets-- their own Scattering--and they probably have planets where only their people live. This does not mean they have abandoned age old practices in which they excelled out of survial neccessity....But their secrecy is such that you could work a lifetime beside a Jew and never suspect. They call it "Complete Cover"...."

So, is this to be the fate of the Jews? A new Diaspora?
I don't want "Secret Israel". I want Jews to be cherished and respected citizens of the world. I want them to be able to go on vacation without fear of their hotel being blown up, to be able to get on a bus or go to a restaurant without death stalking them. Last week six Jews won the Nobel prizes for Physics and Chemistry. Think of the contributions made over time to literature, science, government and arts by Jews. Species Homo Sapiens needs these people badly.

The only way I can think of to avert "Secret Israel" is to stand for the Jews. Never tolerate an anti-semetic slur. Never avert your gaze. Be fierce against anti-semitic language. It cannot be tolerated. Our government must do the right thing for Israel. Who cares what the UN thinks? They all hate us anyways. Write letters, cancel subscriptions, buy kosher. But stand for the Jews, stand for Israel. And stand strong.