The Promotion Of Jewish Esteem In The Diaspora

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.