tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3559910.post3460557246842000583..comments2024-02-17T19:58:47.311-05:00Comments on Textuality: Good Friday, Depending on PerspectiveLarry Tannerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14642725101009530480noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3559910.post-35047511362487035942011-05-02T08:31:16.618-04:002011-05-02T08:31:16.618-04:00Anon.,
Victimhood is nothing to be proud of. Besi...Anon.,<br /><br />Victimhood is nothing to be proud of. Besides, anyone can claim to be a victim. However, let's try to look at real events, and please recall that I am talking about history, not current events.<br /><br />In my post, I talk about one such event--the Vienna pogrom. There were many such pogroms in Western Europe and Eastern Europe from the High Middle Ages onward. This is a matter of the historical record. What's also a matter of the record is that Jewish communities by and large did nothing to warrant such attacks on their communities. They did not stage political or social rebellions, they did not antagonize neighbors, they did not proselytize. Often, they were accused without sufficient cause of "blood libel" or desecration of the host.<br /><br />The historicized point that I am making in my post is that for those who do not belong to Christian religious tradition yet who do belong to European cultural tradition, the Christian holiday called Good Friday is not so good. The religious reasons supporting its celebration are historically tied to brutal acts of inhumanity. These are facts.<br /><br />In the High and Late Middle Ages, Western Europe became ever less hospitable to Jewish communities. This, too, is a matter of the historical record. The Jews were famously expelled from Spain in 1492, but this was in some regards a surprise because there had been several prominent Jews in the administrative structure of Ferdinand and Isabella. Perhaps it was end-times sentiment or influential local monks and preachers. Perhaps it was economic, as one good way for a ruler to get cash quick was to expel the Jewish community and take over their lands and possessions.<br /><br />Eastern Europe slowly became as inhospitable over the course of centuries--from the Later Middle Ages onward. There's a reason many Jews immigrated to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.<br /><br />In any case, Anon., please don't think that I excuse injustices against any people. Please don't you excuse injustices against Jews.<br /><br />My larger aims in the original post are to illustrate the dangers of religious fervor and to promote the remembrance of the historical in these religious celebrations.Larry Tannerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14642725101009530480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3559910.post-84625388099690658702011-05-02T07:51:09.324-04:002011-05-02T07:51:09.324-04:00"Your comment is a nice example of "blam..."Your comment is a nice example of "blame the victim."<br /><br />No, it is looking both arguments, you are so blind that put jewish as the only victim whem Iran, Hamas and Hezbolla claims to be victims of Israel, Hitler claimed Germany was victim of jewish, spaniards claimed the jewish always agreed with muslims against christians, early christians claimed to be persecuted by jewish, romans dispersed jewish after 150 years trying to get an agreement to live in the empire as they did with almost all other conquered communities. From egiptians and babilonians we do not have their versions about what happened but I guess they had thir reasons.<br /><br />"Eastern Europe was far more hospitable to Jews than the Western part"<br /><br />You are circular reasoning, they live there because were more hospitable, and as there were more hospitable they live there. The question is why they found more hospitable catholic and ortodox countries where Good Friday was by far more celebrated than in other western non catholics countries?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3559910.post-50784636152839054372011-04-29T08:37:49.502-04:002011-04-29T08:37:49.502-04:00Anonymous,
The occasion for the post was Good Fri...Anonymous,<br /><br />The occasion for the post was Good Friday. That's why the topic is narrowed.<br /><br />You say, "Maybe jewish need to stop point fingers and to tell stories and look for facts."<br /><br />Facts are nice. I believe my post offers some.<br /><br />Your comment is a nice example of "blame the victim." Expelled communities of Jews moved all over the place in Europe. In the late Middle Ages and pre-modern era, Eastern Europe was far more hospitable to Jews than the Western part. Over the centuries, this dynamic would change, almost reverse.<br /><br />But back to the matter at hand. From a Jewish perspective, Good Friday has never been so good. Christian animosity and even violence have historically accompanied the annual event in many communities across the Christian world. These are facts, regardless of how you wish to dismiss or submerge them.Larry Tannerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14642725101009530480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3559910.post-41525492705334727342011-04-29T08:22:23.612-04:002011-04-29T08:22:23.612-04:00You point your finger to the good friday. But jewi...You point your finger to the good friday. But jewish were enslaved by the egiptians and the babiloneses, destroyed and dispersed by the romans, persecuted by cristians and muslims, expelled from spain, nazis tried to annihilate them, Hamas, Hezbollah Iran want to destroy them No people was persecuted as the Jewish. Why? Nothing in your side? Maybe jewish need to stop point fingers and to tell stories and look for facts. For example after they went expelled from spain where they go to live? <br />To the catholic Polland. Where they were living from XVII and XIX century? Almost 80 % of the Jewish were living in the catholic polland, the ortodox Russia and the catolic Sacre Roman Empire (Austria-Hungarian Empire), all countries where Good Friday were a big celebration. Why they didn`t go to the calvinist Switzerland, the lutherans Nederland and Germany or theanglican United Kingdom where Good Friday almost do not exits? Did the Jewish live better in Amsterdan and London than in the Roman and Venice Gettos?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com