Re: biological kinship as an aspect of Judaism

From: RFaussette@aol.com
Date: Fri Oct 24 2003 - 17:42:05 EDT

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    In a message dated 10/24/03 2:00:50 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
    gmurphy@raex.com writes:

    > Why am I not surprised that you responded on this topic?

    You're not surprised because its fairly easy to deduce by now that my focus
    is a Darwinian interpretation of the Bible. Mating practices are central to
    Judaism and central to "selection' and of interest to me.

    >
    > To the extent that Jews feel threatened with religious & cultural
    > assimilation,
    > an emphasis on "biological purity" will naturally be emphasized. The fact
    > that that has
    > been the case for many generations since the return from Babylonian exile
    > makes it
    > unsurprising that it would come to be seen by observant Jews as an essential
    > of their
    > faith. My point was that that was not an important part of earlier
    > Israelite faith - a
    > point that you have not addressed for obvious reasons. The fact that
    > Judaism has, in a
    > sense, been existing in an emergency situation for ~2500 years does not
    > change this.
    >

    The tradition of endogamy is established by Abraham in Genesis when he finds
    Canaanite women morally unsuitable and sends Eliezer to find the right bride
    for Isaac among the members of his family and the house of his father. Remember
    Haaran? What point have I not addressed for obvious reasons?

    I don't know what emergency situation you are talking about. The Jews are the
    most successful people in history.

    > I am speaking here of Judaism as a religion, not simply as a cultural
    > and ethnic
    > identity. The 2 aspects are not identical, though there may be consdierable
    > overlap.
    > The fact that they are not identical is shown simply by the fact that
    > proselytes from
    > the Gentiles can be accepted as religious Jews.
    >
    > Shalom,
    > George
    >
    >

    That's why you can't see Judaism through Darwinian eyes, George. You can't
    muster the objectivity. ALL ancient religion was ethnically based. It was
    family religion. Judaism is an ancient religion, unlike Christianity or Buddhism
    which are egalitarian and non-ethnic. Judaism is ethnically based. It is a
    tribal religion.

    rich faussette

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