Re: appendix

In a message dated 1/7/2005 4:06:09 AM Eastern Standard Time, "Don Winterstein" <dfwinterstein@msn.com> writes:

>Rich wrote:
>
>"Of course, you've seen my subsequent post with the link to the article stating Jews haven't farmed in 2 millennia....  You have not trumped my suggestion that Jews eschew agriculture..."
>
>I haven't stopped trying yet, so don't get overconfident.  Modern Israel is known for agricultural productivity.  Are you implying that they hire Palestinians to do it all?  My reading tells me that Jews do at least some of the farming, and they're apparently quite creative and successful at it.  One of our gardening clubs (California Rare Fruit Growers) also makes reference on occasion to Israeli agricultural accomplishments.  The names mentioned sound Jewish, not Arabian.
>
>Don
>

You're absolutely right about your observations, but you've got to be careful regarding the distinction between orthodox and secular Jewry. I specifically mentioned orthodox Jews eschew farming. The kibbutzniks and secular Israelis are not "real Jews." Everyone in Israel understands the distinction and a good book about it is Noah Efron's Real Jews, the secular versus the orthodox in the struggle for Israel's Identity.
Secular Jewry does not care about what Genesis tells them to do. I have written an article about the distinction and it will be published sometime this spring.
Your observations are correct, but in regard to ethnic Jews not religious ones. Since we're talking about the Bible influencing modern Jewish life styles, we're necessarily talking about religious Jews who live by the Torah, not ethnic Jews who have fallen away from the religion.

rich
Received on Fri Jan 7 08:21:12 2005