…actually, d’you know what, I mulled this over while making the second round of tea for my wife and I, I realise it is in fact mostly Israeli Jews that I’ve encountered. I worked in Greece in yacht charter, and I realise our Israeli customers were - well - Israeli. They were so entitled, and always, without fail left their rented yacht in the most appalling state. That meant masses of work for my colleagues, restoring them to rentable condition.
And then on a private yacht I was presented with a young Israeli couple. Beautiful people. Refused to use the well-provided crew quarters on this 70ft yacht, and insisted on using the owners’ accommodation. Unheard of. Refused to listen to instructions. I was training them to take over. I was relieved to get off. They didn’t last long once the owner turned up!! Little things, but yes, mostly not British Jews. My bad.
You’re right of course. And as Peter mentioned, a few sharp incidences can dominate the memory. I hate myself for this, but have to admit it’s almost certainly a bit of sectarianism that’s crept in too. I was really annoyed - when I used to run the music group in my local Catholic Church - to be told that we Catholics could no longer use the word “Yahweh” in our texts. This was around the late 90s I think. Well, some of my favourite modern hymns used this word, and I was pretty upset. Also there was this Jewish guy and his Catholic wife who used to come to church. He always had the condescending attitude of “this is all very well, but it ain’t the real thing.” So I suppose when you’ve been hurt by something, you become more sensitised.
Hmmm, it’s a perfectly good question Peter, and people of my generation (early 60s) are abundantly guilty of all sorts of racism and oppression. In short my confession, mild as I hope it was, is something I feel so awful about I have kept it locked inside me, so I can’t really tell you how others really feel. Ergo I can’t answer the question. But I like your analogy - like a tattoo! 🙂
I’m guilty Jack. As a cradle catholic I feel the need to confess. Like you, I have ditched regular “worship” as I feel the central points of the Christian message have been utterly lost, at least in my local churches, and my wife was always puzzled when I kept coming home from church more angry than when I’d left…
But I am guilty….
I’ve sometimes observed, trying to be funny perhaps yet knowing it’s not… that after 3,000 years of oppression, can they not sometimes take a look in the mirror and try to ask themselves if they’re not being just a tad annoying? Avoid asserting that they are the “chosen race” perhaps. That’s all it is for me - a bit annoying. But I keep that to myself, in the same way as I avoid mentioning a trace of halitosis to a close friend.
Is this assertion you talk about widely and unambiguously articulated in this generation? I mean ,really? Or perhaps a case of a grievance once expressed which remains indelible, like a tattoo.
What a strange interpretation of that story. The entire point of it was how kind and generous this man was, to the extent that his words stayed with me for two decades and counting.
I also hope you stuck around for the rest of the piece, which was rather more important.
"Even at the time, it came across as a striking remark. But only as I grew older did I realise what an extraordinarily generous thing it was to say to a group of teenage boys."
But frankly, this was a piece about rising anti-Jewish hatred and I think it would be insensitive to that to prolong this back-and-forth.
This was an article about the explosion in anti-Jewish racism. Why are you doing this? What point are you making? I think you need to reconsider your priorities and how this is coming across to others.
Mr K…Saddening and Maddening..Written from the Soul….John G…
…actually, d’you know what, I mulled this over while making the second round of tea for my wife and I, I realise it is in fact mostly Israeli Jews that I’ve encountered. I worked in Greece in yacht charter, and I realise our Israeli customers were - well - Israeli. They were so entitled, and always, without fail left their rented yacht in the most appalling state. That meant masses of work for my colleagues, restoring them to rentable condition.
And then on a private yacht I was presented with a young Israeli couple. Beautiful people. Refused to use the well-provided crew quarters on this 70ft yacht, and insisted on using the owners’ accommodation. Unheard of. Refused to listen to instructions. I was training them to take over. I was relieved to get off. They didn’t last long once the owner turned up!! Little things, but yes, mostly not British Jews. My bad.
You’re right of course. And as Peter mentioned, a few sharp incidences can dominate the memory. I hate myself for this, but have to admit it’s almost certainly a bit of sectarianism that’s crept in too. I was really annoyed - when I used to run the music group in my local Catholic Church - to be told that we Catholics could no longer use the word “Yahweh” in our texts. This was around the late 90s I think. Well, some of my favourite modern hymns used this word, and I was pretty upset. Also there was this Jewish guy and his Catholic wife who used to come to church. He always had the condescending attitude of “this is all very well, but it ain’t the real thing.” So I suppose when you’ve been hurt by something, you become more sensitised.
Hmmm, it’s a perfectly good question Peter, and people of my generation (early 60s) are abundantly guilty of all sorts of racism and oppression. In short my confession, mild as I hope it was, is something I feel so awful about I have kept it locked inside me, so I can’t really tell you how others really feel. Ergo I can’t answer the question. But I like your analogy - like a tattoo! 🙂
I’m guilty Jack. As a cradle catholic I feel the need to confess. Like you, I have ditched regular “worship” as I feel the central points of the Christian message have been utterly lost, at least in my local churches, and my wife was always puzzled when I kept coming home from church more angry than when I’d left…
But I am guilty….
I’ve sometimes observed, trying to be funny perhaps yet knowing it’s not… that after 3,000 years of oppression, can they not sometimes take a look in the mirror and try to ask themselves if they’re not being just a tad annoying? Avoid asserting that they are the “chosen race” perhaps. That’s all it is for me - a bit annoying. But I keep that to myself, in the same way as I avoid mentioning a trace of halitosis to a close friend.
If you think British Jews go around asserting that they are the “chosen race”, my guess is you don’t spend much time with British Jews.
Is this assertion you talk about widely and unambiguously articulated in this generation? I mean ,really? Or perhaps a case of a grievance once expressed which remains indelible, like a tattoo.
What a strange interpretation of that story. The entire point of it was how kind and generous this man was, to the extent that his words stayed with me for two decades and counting.
I also hope you stuck around for the rest of the piece, which was rather more important.
I'm aware of the quote — I wrote it!
But the introduction more pertinently concludes:
"Even at the time, it came across as a striking remark. But only as I grew older did I realise what an extraordinarily generous thing it was to say to a group of teenage boys."
But frankly, this was a piece about rising anti-Jewish hatred and I think it would be insensitive to that to prolong this back-and-forth.
This was an article about the explosion in anti-Jewish racism. Why are you doing this? What point are you making? I think you need to reconsider your priorities and how this is coming across to others.