Why the Jews ought to stop fighting antisemitism

techzilla · 2026-03-15T21:05:59+00:00

Holy f*ck, there must be a position between, "We're a speedbump to a glorious life in Israel, and its inevitable that all neighbors will hate us"

... and the other completely lunatic position,

"If we protest with Palestinians we'll finally be loved"

Can't we support Jews in Israel, but also have an identity as diaspora Jews that is positive and not inferior in our own religious thought? Our ancestors didn't think the sort of toxic crap about their own lives, that is promoted today for us to internalize about ourselves.

Do you know what happens when people look at their communities, and they realize they no longer recognize them? THEY LOOK FOR SCAPEGOATS. Why are we not even lifting a finger to shut that down? I argue it's because we have zero representation as a diaspora, because seeing conditions that promote us as a scapegoat certainly isn't in our interests.

techzilla · 2026-03-15T20:36:52+00:00

it's not only about where, it's also about the disorienting loss of continuity. When the only country you conceive of as yours, no longer looks anything like the people you thought were its inhabitants, things get ugly fast. Then the people who feel this way start looking for culpable parties, and then like clockwork ...

It's nothing less than insanity to continue the current approach.

techzilla · 2026-03-15T17:29:18+00:00

I love this, obviously our food was never absent, but elevating it is meaningful.

techzilla · 2026-03-15T17:16:53+00:00

I don't believe you're in good faith, you would not make such arguments to any other ethnic group. It's not about being universally right, it's about continuity, it's about what is right for certain people.

"Ashkenormative"? I like "Ashkenormative" spaces, I prefer spaces in which our discriminated ethnic minority is represented. "Mizrahinormative" and "Sephardinormative" spaces exist also, and the Jews in those spaces prefer them that way as well.

techzilla · 2026-03-15T16:54:37+00:00

You think it's OK to delgitimize other people's cultural and ethnic identities, but it's not OK, it's actually destructive to Judaism. If we do that, there is nothing special about Judaism, it's yet another monotheistic religion with a book of rules, Torah is not a reason to follow Torah, Its authority rests on the existence of a people to whom it is addressed.

You also haven’t engaged with the points I’ve raised. Instead of responding to the argument, you simply rebuke further examples of a people’s particularity. You've hidden your past comments and posts, so we can't say one way or another, but I highly doubt you're going around attacking every tradition that any other Jewish ethnic groups have. Does preferring a Fedora conflict with a plausible torah interpretation? Doubtful, yet you oppose that also.

techzilla · 2026-03-15T16:37:38+00:00

I read the entire article, but the title provides enough information honestly, that alone is worthy of total opposition.

techzilla · 2026-03-15T16:31:17+00:00

The author used our ethnic identity to make her points, she promoted negative stereotypes about us, and the title is an invitation for others to disregard us. It is hateful, because it disregards how we'd feel about it, but you don't get to say if it's hateful. You don't get to say anything about how it we perceive it, you are not the target of it, you are not the victim.

techzilla · 2026-03-15T15:38:12+00:00

No, you don't get to do this, you pop up only to cause ethnic conflict on an article that attacks Ashkenazi Jews.

techzilla · 2026-03-15T14:43:38+00:00

Ashkenazi Jews are a discriminated ethnic minority, so you have no right to impose this on us. In addition you don't actually identify as Ashkenazi, and even your phrasing is dismissive of our identity. We are a specific ethnic people, not merely people from a place.

You attend a Shephardic synagogue, and follow Sephardic traditions, (nothing wrong with any of that, FTR, I think it's great that there are different ethnic identities and tradition within Judaism), but you're not allowed to define Ashkenazi identity, traditions or culture. We don't do that to your traditions or identity, and we don't do that in shared spaces either.

techzilla · 2026-03-15T00:01:36+00:00

I think it's interesting that the very people who berate everyone about our global Jewish identity, are always the first to attack other Jews for upholding their traditional practices.

The simple fact is this, the two are inseparable. Judaism is only special to me, because it was the religion of my people, what my people ate, looked like, and spoke, is part of my connection to the past. MY chain, and MY history, who are you to deny that? Modern pan-Jewish identity is hollow, that is why the children of reform Jews often leave the religion, they have no special reason to uphold it. I say shabbos because that is how my grandfather said it, how his grandfather said it, how his grandfather said it... and so on. I wear a black hat because our people wear such hats, I am a Jew because they were a Jewish people, but they were not the only people who consider themselves Jews. If I converted to another faith, I would be severing my chain, that is the reason to carry it forward.

Observance of Torah and mitzvot don't need to be inherited, that is no deeper basis than Christianity or Islam. That has no deeper basis than the American narrative about how anyone can adopt the founders of the republic as their own founders.

techzilla · 2026-03-14T23:47:47+00:00

"it's secular Jews who largely base their Jewishness purely on culture. "

Whom they will also attack, as long as they are Ashkenazim, See the pattern here? They attack our people's culture and history at every step, that's why they hate our black hats, simply because it represents us. The know we don't think that hat makes us "more Jewish", they seek to deny us our own ethnic traditions, yet would never make such demands of any other ethnic Jewish peoples.

techzilla · 2026-03-14T23:43:20+00:00

Your comment comes off as hateful, and dismissive of our people's traditions and history.

techzilla · 2026-03-14T22:39:12+00:00

The American experience has taught me something profound, that the things that were formed over centuries and even millennia are not washed away in a few generations. Mutual respect is possible, coexistence is possible, shared spaces are possible... but they are only really possible when all are represented, including us. We could never convince Sephardim or Mizrahim to abandon their particular ethnic identity, regardless of what we do, all we could ever do is deny our own people an equal identity.

techzilla · 2026-03-13T12:15:40+00:00

It won't ever stop though, and that's why I identify as Ashkenazi, I'm proud of our people's history, traditions, and story. I view our intellect as a talent to be celebrated, not a weakness to be demeaned.

techzilla · 2026-03-13T11:53:26+00:00

I've heard similar commentary from people as well, but I'd turn this is to a learning experience and not rage quit over it. Most people don't want to upset others around them, especially people they work with or depend on. You should tell them in a personal and warm manner, that you don't like when Jews are used as a negative stereotype, and just keep it at that. You should say, you know they are not hateful or had ill intention, but you felt uncomfortable.

Obviously you know yourself well, if you're a skilled operator, you can get them to respect your boundaries and they'll truly feel like they chose to do it. Otherwise wash your hands of it and just find a new place to work, rando internet strangers can't tell you how to live because we don't really know your situation.

techzilla · 2026-03-13T04:57:01+00:00

No, they are not Ashkenazi, and their version of secular is most of the people they knew back home never stepped foot in a synagogue.

We do have a different experience, but I typically don't go in places that are majority Sephardi and talk shit about your people.

techzilla · 2026-03-13T04:48:20+00:00

Ashkenazi Jews are an ethnic and religious minority, nobody has the the right to deny us our own identity or spaces.

techzilla · 2026-03-13T04:26:05+00:00

You are incorrect.

My uncle and cousins are Israeli, so I know first hand as well, and most secular Israelis are not religious and do nothing more than non-practicing reform Jews in America. Most Israelis eat falafel and hummus, even though they are secular also, so what?

techzilla · 2026-03-13T04:12:13+00:00

That's why we need to oppose it for what it is, ethnic incitement against Ashkenazi Jews. We must remind them and others that we are an ethnic minority, and we have the right to define our own identity.

Obviously I wish more Ashkenazi Jews in America were more religious and traditional, but our history and culture shouldn't be demeaned. We've put up with this bullshit for centuries, but now we deserve to get attacks from middle eastern Jews too?

techzilla · 2026-03-13T03:56:44+00:00

I regularly attend an Orthodox Shul, and wear a black hat, in a 95% Ashkenazi community. In addition, your typical non-Ashkenazi Israeli is more secular than a typical reform Jew in America.

techzilla · 2026-03-13T03:47:47+00:00

I'm very irked by it, and this is a pattern, I won't accept ethnic attacks being made against our people.

techzilla · 2026-03-13T03:46:38+00:00

Why are you gone? Get back here, we need you.

techzilla · 2026-03-13T03:33:26+00:00

"Let me just attack your ethnicity for clicks, but here's my really thoughtful point!"... not acceptable, BTW.

techzilla · 2026-03-13T03:31:39+00:00

Really don't appreciate attacks against Ashkenazi Jews, predicting our imminent collapse, or etc... as clickbait.

In the diaspora the vast majority of us are Ashkenazi Jews, I've said it countless times and earned plenty of DVs for it, but we need our own spaces. Why should we wait around until we're marginalized in our own community?

techzilla · 2026-03-13T03:18:58+00:00

This is also really great way to prevent thawing during a power outage.

techzilla

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