Chosen People -- Sightings

For many Christians support for the modern state of Israel isn't just good politics, its an article of faith.  For Christian Zionists, who believe that the presence of this state fits a prophetic timeline that envisions a soon to happen rapture/Armageddon, this is a non-negotiable.  Indeed, there is no need to negotiate anything, especially borders.  Israel needs to expand its borders as far as possible so it can inhabit the biblical territories of the ancient kingdom.  Although there are Jews who agree with their erstwhile allies, not all are so eager to embrace the embrace. 

For those of us who are not Christian Zionists, who don't have a stake in the Armageddon scenarios, but who wish for peace in this region, wanting Jew and Arab (both Muslim and Christian) to dwell together in peace, how should we respond to the questions before us?

Martin Marty, in today's edition of Sightings, looks at Michael Chabon's ponderings on the issue of chosenness, placing it in a broader discussion of chosenness.  I invite you to read, consider, and respond accordingly.

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Sightings 6/14/10

Chosen People

-- Martin E. Marty

The grand theological themes don’t fade or disappear from headlines or prime time. “Being chosen,” as in the case of biblical or modern Israel, is the grand theological theme today. My clippings and blog-printout file bulges with records of renewed debates over what it means to be a “chosen people,” and whether Israel today should make use of the concept. Perhaps the most widely-known recent controversy was inspired by Michael Chabon’s “Chosen, but Not Special” op-ed in The New York Times (June 6). Identified only as author of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Chabon spends no time on the biblical concept. His theme is the Yiddish word “seichel,” which, he says, means “ingenuity, creativity, subtlety, nuance.” Seichel has helped Jews as a people to survive, but Chabon thinks it has been lacking in recent highly-publicized actions by Israel.

No self-hating Jew, Chabon does say that “we Jews” are not always comfortable living with the consequences of the myth of “seichel.” Now to the point: This is “the foundational ambiguity of Judaism and Jewish identity: the idea of chosenness, of exceptionalism, of the treasure that is a curse, the blessing that is a burden…To be chosen has been, all too often in our history, to be culled.” Chabon does not mention it, but I recall a grimly humorous or humorously grim prayer by a rabbi who thanks God for having chosen Israel but then, reflecting on “the burden” that goes with this, asks God next time to choose some other people.

Plenty of other people have seen themselves as chosen. Most theologically nuanced was Abraham Lincoln’s word for Americans: “an almost chosen people.” Of course, there are no biblical roots for calling citizens of the United States a “chosen people,” nor were there for the English, from whom Americans, including many of our founders, inherited the myth. Such myths, like Lincoln’s word about the United States being “the last, best hope of earth,” can be empowering and ennobling, but they can also issue in arrogance, imperial swaggering and destruction.

Back to Israel’s issue: We non-Jews do not have to settle the debates internal to Judaism and Israel on this subject. But non-Jews such as the almost-chosen Americans do have much at stake. The Jewish paper Forward on May 21 published John C. Hagee’s “Why Christian Zionists Really Support Israel.” Evangelist Hagee was a counselor to Presidential candidate John McCain’s team for five minutes during the 2008 campaign, until the team leaders caught on to the consequences of any Hageean embrace. Hagee assures Israel that it can count on Christian Zionists, no matter what it does: “Our support for Israel starts with God’s promises in the Hebrew Bible,” which many of this school of thought translate to the idea that the United States must help assure that Israel will own all the land within some boundaries mentioned in “the Hebrew Bible.”

Non-Jews will not understand Jews who have a sense of history unless they understand how central “the Land” is in their thought. But they can chafe – as many of us confess to have done years ago – when chided for not believing that Israel’s chosenness had to be an article of Christian belief today, and that non-belief was anti-Semitism. Chabon repeated the many reasons for identifying with Israel that are political, moral, strategic and empathic. But such identifying does not need to become creedal, as it does in the world of Christian Zionists and their more moderate allies. “Get over it” is part of Chabon’s message, and then “get on with it” implies more pragmatic consequences.

References:

Read Chabon’s piece here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/opinion/06chabon.html?scp=1&sq=chosen,%20but%20not%20special&st=cse

Read Hagee’s piece here: http://www.forward.com/articles/127965/

Martin E. Marty's biography, current projects, publications, and contact information can be found at www.illuminos.com.

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This month's Religion and Culture Web Forum features a chapter from literary critic Amy Hungerford's forthcoming volume Postmodern Belief: American Literature and Religion Since 1960 (Princeton University Press, August, 2010). In "The Literary Practice of Belief," Hungerford focuses upon two contemporary literary examples--the novels of Marilynne Robinson and the Left Behind series--in order "to engage (and revise) the current emphasis on practice over belief in our understanding of religion." With invited responses from Thomas J. Ferraro (Duke University), Amy Frykholm (The Christian Century), Constance Furey (Indiana University), Jeffrey J. Kripal (Rice University), Caleb J. D. Maskell (Princeton University), Edward Mendelson (Columbia University), Richard A. Rosengarten (University of Chicago Divinity School), and Glenn W. Shuck (Williams College).

 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/webforum/index.shtml

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Sightings comes from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

On the Vilification of Helen Thomas

Excellent Commentary from Truthdig Editor Robert Scheer


The media tirade against Helen Thomas is as illogical as it is hysterical. The few sentences uttered by her were, as she quickly acknowledged, wrong—deeply so, I would add. But they cannot justify the road-rage destruction of the dean of the Washington press corps. Suddenly this heroic woman who broke so many gender barriers and dared to challenge presidential arrogance was reduced to nothing more than the stereotypical anti-Israel Arab that it is so fashionable to hate.

“Thomas, of Lebanese ancestry and almost 90, has never been shy about her anti-Israel views,” writes Richard Cohen in The Washington Post, in a non sequitur reference to a reporter born in Winchester, Ky., in 1920 when few—Jews included—supported a Jewish state in Palestine and whose parents were Christians. Obviously Cohen, who attacks Thomas for “revealing how very little she knew” about the history of Israel, is unaware that Lebanese Christians have been the staunchest allies of the Jewish state. Indeed, they provided the shock troops who, under Israeli cover, massacred the unarmed inhabitants of Palestinian refugee camps. To attribute Thomas’ views on Israel to her Lebanese parents is no less offensive than it would be to suggest that a Jewish reporter cannot be objective because, as in my case, his mother escaped anti-Semitism in Russia.

Continue to Full Commentary

Can We Discuss the 51st State and its UNACCOUNTABILITY?

I first saw this story on BooMan Tribune.

Israel Massacres Pro-Palestinian Activists

by BooMan
Mon May 31st, 2010 at 09:43:45 AM EST
Here's how Haaretz tells it:

The left-wing activists on board a flotilla carrying aid to the Gaza Strip tried to lynch the Israel Navy commandos who stormed their Turkish-flagged ship early Monday, Israel Defense Forces sources told Haaretz.

The commandos, who intercepted the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara after it ignored orders to turn back, said they encountered violent resistance from activists armed with sticks and knives. According to the soldiers, the activists threw one of their comrades from the upper deck to the lower after they boarded.

Activists attacked a commando with iron bars as he descended onto the ship from a helicopter, the army said. The IDF said its rules of engagement allowed troops to open fire in what it called a "life-threatening situation".

The soldiers said they were forced to open fire after the activists struck one of their comrades in the head and trampled on him. A senior field commander ordered the soldiers then to respond with fire, a decision which the commandos said received full backing the military echelon.

At least 10 people were killed and several more wounded after the Israel Navy troops opened fire on the six-ship flotilla. Unofficial reports put the death toll at between 14 and 20.

DO YOU BELIEVE THIS STORY?

I mean, do you honestly believe this is how it went down?

I'll admit that I don't believe it for one second. The Israelis EXECUTED these people.

PERIOD.

This boat was in INTERNATIONAL WATERS, and they executed these people.



The response from Turkey?

Turkey threatens action; Israel on alert

New Delhi: Turkey has threatened Israel with unprecedented action after Israeli forces attacked an aid vessel, killing 10 peace activists headed to Gaza.

Israel said 10 people died while those on the ship said at least 15 were killed

A shocked world has responded with outrage. Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel and warned of unprecedented and incalculable reprisals.

Two Turkish activists were reported to be among those killed in the flotilla. Ankara warned that further supply vessels will be sent to Gaza, escorted by the Turkish Navy, a development with unpredictable consequences.

Israel has sounded an alert throughout the country fearing rocket attacks by Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Arab League has called an urgent meeting on Tuesday to decide on a common response. Egypt is under pressure to end the blockade of Gaza while Greece has cancelled a military exercise with Isreal.

The world is waiting for the response from Washington, how will President Obama react to the provocation from America's closest ally.

Turkey was Israel's closest supposed Arab ally, and this is how they treat them.

We have the ARAB LEAGUE meeting, which is never a good sign.

So, where is Bibi Netanyahu?

Hauling ass back to Israel, ' skipping' a planned meeting with the White House.


And the response from the United States Government?

the White House later released an account of the conversation(between the President and Netanyahu), saying Mr. Obama had expressed “deep regret” at the loss of life and recognized “the importance of learning all the facts and circumstances” as soon as possible.

FUCK THIS.

It is time.

It is PAST TIME for the United States to HONESTLY evaluate what our sponsorship of Israel is costing us.

Not only in terms of dollars, but also in terms of good will around the world.

WE are the ones giving Israel the basically-interest free monies, not the other way around.

PERIOD.

And, it's time for this country to do an evaluation of what return we are getting for that money.

It's time to have a real debate on WHY we should continue to sponsor the 51st State.

And ALLLLL them mofos in Congress who want to shout down anyone asking this simple question should be forced, to say, to the American people, WHERE THEIR ALLEGIANCE IS.

WHICH country are they representing:

THE UNITED STATES

or

ISRAEL?

The Oath that a member of Congress takes is the following:

I, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

They took an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States - it's time that they be reminded of it, before they open their damn mouths.

It's also good and well past time for the American people to fully understand what AIPAC does, and why it's so influential. AIPAC's influence flourishes in the dark. Most people have absolutely no clue about its influence, and why that influence is detrimental to the United States. Time to turn on the light and show AIPAC for what it is. And, how the safety and security of the United States isn't their goal.


Turkey isn't backing down. They are also using their own diplomatic cards.

NATO to Hold Meeting on Israeli Attack

NATO has agreed to a request by the Turkish premier to hold an emergency meeting over the fatal Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla.

"Planning is underway for a meeting at the request of the Turkish authorities tomorrow afternoon," James Appathurai, a spokesman for the alliance, said in a Monday statement.

NATO is deeply concerned about the loss of life in international waters, he added, AFP reported.

Since Turkey IS a member of NATO, how will the United States handle that? What about the rest of the member states, and do we see this as an attack on the country of Turkey?


Why, does it seem, everytime Israel is involved, things have a way of just spinning out of control in a flash?

Israel's Holy War -- Sightings

In recent months we have watched as the government of Israel has consistently rebuffed the requests by the White House to freeze its settlement building activities.  All of this is to no avail -- perhaps in part due to the fact that members of Congress are unwilling to support the President -- as the settlements expand and the situation becomes more dire.   Those of us who want a just peace in that area are continually frustrated by the actions on all sides, but the ideological direction of the Israeli leadership is troubling. 

Martin Marty notes that rarely if ever has his Sightings column ventured into the Israeli situation, but a review of four books on the Israeli military in the New York Review of Books caught his eye.  There is a dangerous trend in Israeli military circles as more extreme religious views take root.  Thus, just war is being replaced with holy war ideas.  That does not bode well for peace.   I invite you to read and respond.

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Sightings 4/26/10

Israel’s Holy War

-- Martin E. Marty

In eleven years of weekly Sightings I can’t find that I ever commented on “public religion” in Israel. The U. S. is usually in our sights, and we are aware of participation in or leadership of holy wars by Hindu militants, Muslim extremists, Buddhist monks, and Christian forces around the world. Israel, a close ally and, religiously, a kin, must have flown under the radar here, because it is on page one or in prime time almost daily, and religious themes – for example, Gush Emunim in support of illegal settlements – are prominent.

One can begin catching up on holy war in Israel in Eyal Press’s notice of four books on the subject in the April 29th New York Review of Books. The book titles are revealing: Israel and Its Army: From Cohesion to Confusion; Soldiers’ Testimonies from Operation Cast Lead, Gaza 2000; Israel’s Religious Right and the Question of Settlement; and Israel’s Materialist Militarism. Press supplements these with his own reporting. The authors are consistent in noting that the IDF, Israel Defense Forces, is infused and in some outfits virtually taken over by non-secular officers and enlistees who make no secret of their intent to replace “Just War” with “Holy War.”

In language that recalls the religious rhetoric of Lieutenant General William Botkin, who regularly framed contemporary American military ventures as Christian holy wars, or Air Force Academy leadership that wanted to Christianize our warrior efforts, militants in IDF leadership echo an invited rabbi who “cast the Gaza war as a battle between bnei ha-or – the children of light – and bnei ha-hasheh – the children of darkness: “In Hebrew literature, this is an eschatological war, a messianic war.” The religious nationalism of the Orthodox after the Six-Day War in 1967 has been replaced by hard-line religious conscripts, according to Press.

Senior military officers tell the International Crisis Group that they will not help evict illegal settlers from “Jewish land” that “is promised to us by the Bible, by God,” as one of them said. “This ideology is the backbone of the army, and so I will not obey such an order.” Some observers – including Stuart Cohen, author of Israel and its Army, mentioned above – believe that the threat of insubordination is overblown, and that cooler heads in the military and government find strategic ways to “cool it” when the scene is dominated by hot-heads. Higher officers get lessons on how to handle outbursters who can quote Scripture against the more political and disciplined religious leadership.

No one, however, foresees a future in which religious, in this case messianic, influence will not be growing; such forces make any diplomatic moves toward peace vulnerable. The author tells how after November 25th and the announcement of a ten-month freeze on settlements, some settlers torched and desecrated a mosque, “part of a new strategy to exact a heavy ‘price tag’” for any measure they deem detrimental. Followers of Rabbi Kook and other Gush Emunim leaders who called for disobedience to uncongenial orders grow in number and power.

Progressively replaced by holy warriors, the “just-warriors” lose influence. It is hard to see how diplomatic and conciliatory calls and practices stand a chance in this “take no prisoners,” make-no-compromises, setting. We are used to hearing messianic, Raptural rhetoric by American Protestant Zionist allies of the Israeli militants, but their power has been limited by their distance from the scene. The people being noticed by Eyal Press are up close, so the risks are higher, the scene dangerous.

Martin E. Marty's biography, current projects, publications, and contact information can be found at http://www.illuminos.com/.

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In this month’s Religion and Culture Web Forum, Web Forum editor emeritus Spencer Dew explores the relationship between Jack Kerouac’s religious thought and its expressive practice in the act of writing: “Indeed, his entire oeuvre can be read as an expression of his personal religious stance, a kind of ‘fusion’ of Catholic theology with notions taken from Buddhist philosophy and practice.” Through a close reading of Kerouac’s novella Tristessa, Dew suggests that such a fusion—despite exemplifying Kerouac at his writerly best—leads to a solipsism that is ethically troubling, and likely reflective of Kerouac’s personal and professional shortcomings—especially later in his life. “Devotion to Solipsism: Religious Thought and Practice in Jack Kerouac’s Tristessa,” with invited responses from Benedict Giamo (University of Notre Dame), Nancy Grace (College of Wooster), Sarah Haynes (University of Western Illinois), Kurt Hemmer (Harper College), Amy Hungerford (Yale University), Omar Swartz (University of Colorado, Denver), Matt Theado (Gardner-Webb University), and Eric Ziolkowski (Lafayette College). http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/webforum/index.shtml

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Sightings comes from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.