When faced with restrictions and pogroms throughout history, why didn’t more Jews just change their name and/or deny affiliation? I know the religious aspect is one thing, but certainly there were very many atheist and Christian people of Jewish extraction as there are today. I can see cause for keeping it today due to some special sociological factors surrounding Jews in America and Europe, but if you were living in Europe in the 1920s why wouldn’t Ezekial Rothbard just change his name to Eric Ruicu? Is it really that hard to escape an ethnicity that most people are unaware of until you announce it?
Most Jews did adopt less Jewish sounding surnames, and most of them did change their religion if pressured to do so. Marx’s father decided to change their family religion (they become Lutheran if I’m correct) so he could keep his legal position (I don’t remember what exactly he did at the moment) when anti-Semetic laws were passed.
Also, most people can spot a Jew on physical appearances, even if they did a name change, people can still see who they are.
As someone who is Jewish, Jews would have rather died for God than live a lie.
I know many Jews who do not look semitic and do not have Jewish-sounding names. They are hidden among us! gasp
“As someone who is Jewish, Jews would have rather died for God than live a lie.”
And many other Jews value self-preservation and the preservation of their families more than theocratic pride.
I know many Jews who do not look semitic and do not have Jewish-sounding names. They are hidden among us! gasp
Right. You know, Jews are supposed to have a ‘look’ but I can’t distinguish 99% of them from any random East European.
And many other Jews value self-preservation and the preservation of their families more than theocratic pride.
Indeed. Especially given that most of their distinctive ‘identity’ is based on historical falsifications. I can’t tell you how many people still believe the Jews were enslaved in Egypt, despite the fact that there is no evidence thereof and the pyramids were built by paid labourers.
Right. You know, Jews are supposed to have a ‘look’ but I can’t distinguish 99% of them from any random East European.
You’re not trained, that’s why.
You’re not trained, that’s why.
Or you’re picking easy cases, like Walter Block, instead of guys like Dan Shahar.
Indeed. Especially given that most of their distinctive ‘identity’ is based on historical falsifications. I can’t tell you how many people still believe the Jews were enslaved in Egypt, despite the fact that there is no evidence thereof and the pyramids were built by paid labourers.
A couple really quick critiques, as I don’t feel like getting to in depth on this:
The Egyptians had control over the land of Canaan and everyone in the area is essentially Semetic. Egypt most certainly did have slaves. There is nothing really stated in early Hebrew tradition about building the Pyramids as slaves. It doesn’t mean or “prove” anything, but there is no real reason to undermine the claim.
You’re not trained, that’s why.
?
I’m not picking out cases, I’m picking out Jews. Some may be harder to classify than others, but I can still be able to narrow it down to whether or not someone is of European ancestry. Here is a site I’ve been using on classifying those of European ancestry.
Our Judar isn’t properly calibrated.
The slavery of the Israelites was that they were taxed 20% (Genesis 47:21-26).
Most “jews” identify as such by ancestry from the some part of mesopotamia, which doesn’t mean much considering that everyone has that ancestry. I’ve known many of this type that look the opposite of the stereotypical jew look. If the Nazi’s were concerned about anything it was the jew character as Marx explained it, not relatively recent immigration. There were “blood jews” in the Nazi regime. People in the self-indentified group with that regionalized appearance seem to be more the exception than the rule.
“And many other Jews value self-preservation and the preservation of their families more than theocratic pride.”
What does religious belief have to do with a theocracy?
What does religious belief have to do with a theocracy?
Orthodox Judaism is pretty much a racialist theocracy, it’s just that hardly anyone practices it anymore.
I think a lot of jews did deny they were jewish. Looking at global population statistics of jews before and after the war is quite interesting and I recommend everyone investigate the claims that down play the jewish holocaust of World War 2.
Strangely in some countries it is illegal to even suggest that World War 2 was not about the jews and if you say that the camps were not actually death camps but worker camps and that jews were taken to them to escape the war, you will be ostracised and ridiculed.
So from a revisionist perspective of the holocaust and WW2, it is completely feasible to say that many jews did what ever they could to escape the war. Many jews travelled to the Americas and the UK, as did many other people, who could afford to.
If I’d been a Jew in the middle ages, I’d much rather have lived a free life in the autonomous ghetto and face the periodical pogrom than go around with peasants whose greatest ambition in life was screwing someone by the end of the week.
I would think this is fallacious. Unless there are historical census records that prove the contrary, it is entirely possible that a large majority of Jews did change their names and religions to avoid detection. However, all modern Jews would have had to descend from those that didn’t convert.
This is quite possible. I would love to see a real study on this.