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The Promotion Of Jewish Esteem In The Diaspora

Meanings of the word ‘pride”, the nature of antisemitism, and the Jewish culture

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Reading dictionaries will give us positive and negative views of the word “pride” – but reading the Bible will not lead us to a favourable view of the word “pride”.

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As antisemitism against both diaspora and Israeli Jews increases in the world, western Jews are desperate to avoid another Holocaust, pogrom or exile. We diaspora Jews looked at our history of antisemitism since our exile from our land of Israel 2500 years ago and determined that the best way to decrease antisemitism was to remind the world of the horror of the Holocaust and promote the expression “never again.’”

However with the profuse, emotional, and very effective propaganda from the Palestinians, who themselves have been marginalized, oppressed, and misled by their leaders, this was not a successful idea and antisemitism has increased.

Recently some of our leaders have raised the idea of changing the face and nature of Judaism by introducing the term “Jewish pride” to change Jewish attitudes to have pride in themselves, their religion and their history. This is a good idea but unfortunately the word “pride” is the wrong word. 

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Jews have taken the word pride from its successful use in terms like “Gay Pride” and “German Pride”.  Pride or lack of pride for being gay makes no logical sense but the use of the word and their hedonistic gay parades helped to lessen the western prejudice against them. Germans were always respected for their music, and culture. The use of the word “pride” neither helped nor hindered them in their attempt to forget the recent world wars and their brutality.

To esteem anything is to evaluate it positively and hold it in high regard, but evaluation gets us into trouble because while we sometimes win, we also sometimes lose. To respect something, on the other hand, is to accept it.

To understand whether “pride” is a good word to describe Jews and Judaism, it is necessary to understand the various meanings of the word ‘pride”, the nature of antisemitism, and the Jewish culture.

“Pride” has two common meanings:

  • Feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one’s own achievements, qualities, or possessions or those of someone with whom one is clearly associated – as in “I am proud of my daughter” or “We have a proud history of intellectual achievements”
  • “He is too proud to admit he is wrong” meaning that he is arrogant, conceited, vain, self-important full of himself egotistical, boastful, smug, snobbish, and condescending etc.

Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as “reasonable self-esteem or confidence and satisfaction in oneself. However, “pride” sometimes is used interchangeably with “Conceit, or arrogance (among other words) whir negative connotations.”

Oxford defines it as “the quality of having an excessively high opinion of oneself or one’s own importance.”

So pride can be something that is positive and indicates well-being in ourselves or in others, or in can be a negative personal characteristic that promotes anger and distain from others.

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Judaism warns us against pride:

Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”

Proverbs 16:5 “The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.” Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Christianity defines Pride in terms of sin –

“But our spiritual growth can make us uniquely susceptible to the sin of spiritual pride. When spiritual pride takes up residence in our hearts, we begin to think we are stronger than we are. We begin to think that perhaps there are some temptations worth entertaining, because they are interesting, if not compelling. And of course, we presume that our spiritual maturity will enable us to walk away before we are in any real danger. We forget that the devil is crafty, the world is relentless, and the appetite of the flesh is insatiable.“

So reading dictionaries will give us positive and negative views of the word “pride” and reading the  Bible will not lead us to a favourable view of the word “pride”.

Let’s look at Western humour to see what it says of Jews:

  • The Jewish mother should have a degree in Jewish acupuncture because she needles her children so effectively. She is nagging , loud, manipulative and smothering.
  • The Jewish American Princess is a spoiled brat
  • The nice Jewish boy is weak

None of the above characteristics indicate pride.

The Jewish Education Project writes: “In the Maslow (Corona) hierarchy, teachers are on shaky ground and their professional life may no longer be a source of self-esteem; rather, it is a source of self-doubt, lack of competence and fear…. Typically, much of the professional esteem/self-esteem they develop is through relationship with their students.” (Photo: Jewishedproject.org)

If Jews want to be admired they must know and have esteem for themselves, their culture, their religion and their history. 

The word that relates in positive terms to the above and has no negative connotations is esteem, not pride, and of course it starts and/or finishes with self-esteem.

The image of the Jewish doctor or lawyer must be changed from someone who wants to earn a good living to someone who wants to improve our legal and medical systems. The image of the wealthy Jew must be changed to someone who donates huge sums to our universities and hospitals, and the image of the individual Jew and his society must be changed to confident people who can physically take care of themselves.

I therefore suggest that we Jews have a great current culture, religion, and history. We hope our neighbours will agree with us, but, with respect, nothing will change our minds. I think that the Jewish community needs to promote esteem in themselves and in Jewish culture, religion, and history.

Jonathan Usher was born in Montreal. He graduated from Queen’s Law School in 1963 and moved to Toronto where he has lived since. In the past 20 years of retirement he has become a very prolific and published letter-to-the-editor writer and conservative, social iconoclast.

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Happy reading!

Thank you for choosing TheJ.Ca as your source for Canadian Jewish News.

We do news differently!

Our positioning as a Zionist News Media platform sets us apart from the rest. While other Canadian Jewish media are advocating increasingly biased progressive political and social agendas, TheJ.Ca is providing more and more readers with a welcome alternative and an ideological home.

We revealed the incursion of anti-Israel progressive elements such as IfNotNow into our communities. We have exposed the distorted hateful agenda of the “progressive” left political radicals who brought Linda Sarsour to our cities, and we were first to report on many disturbing incidents of Nazi-based hate towards Jews across Canada.

But we can’t do it alone. We need your HELP!

Our ability to thrive and grow in 2020 and beyond depends on the generosity of committed readers and supporters like you.

Monthly support is a great way to help us sustain our operations. We greatly appreciate any contributions you can make to support Jewish Journalism.

We thank you for your ongoing support.

Happy reading!

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