ed note–As we point out on a regular basis, despite what is a very clever marketing campaign on the part of Judea Inc, there is no ‘common ground’ between the religion of the Jews and any other ‘Goy’ faiths, most notably, Christianity.
And while our deranged Hebrew is accurate in his unveiling the utter contempt that Judaism entertains towards all non-Judaic religions and the cultures/civilizations that they create, he is not accurate in describing/determining the Jews of the West as ‘Hellenists’, given that their ‘assimilation’ into Western culture is only superficial and manifested only in their abandoning the stricter ‘protocols’ of Torah Judaism.
However, as far as their following those ‘protocols’ of Torah Judaism that demand that all other Gentile religions be destroyed, these Diasporist Jews DO INDEED act as the deadly ‘corrosive force’ against Gentiledom that Judaism demands through their control of media and the poisonous effect it has on Christian (Western) culture.
Tzvi Fishman, Israel National News
The holiday of Hanukkah has its origins in ancient times but Hellenism is still very much with us today. While many people consider the leftists in Israel the Hellenists of today, in my view, the term more fittingly describes the Jews of the Diaspora who have the ability to move to Israel, but prefer to identify with the foreign country and foreign culture where they live.
This is exactly what a Hellenist is – as Webster’s Dictionary states: “A person living in Hellenist times who was Greek in language, outlook, and way of life, but was not Greek in ancestry, like a Hellenist Jew.” This description fits the American Jew, or English, Canadian , South African and Australian Jew of today. They prefer a foreign language over Hebrew; they prefer to live in a foreign land; and they chase after alien cultures, non-Jewish outlooks, and foreign ways of living.
American Jews for example strive to be just like the Gentiles of America, loving football, the movies, the New York Times, American fashions and fads, and American ambitions, just like the Hellenists did in the time of the Greeks. Under Greek rule, the Jewish Hellenists shaved off their beards, dressed in the latest style of tunics from Athens, and flocked to bawdy Greek theaters, concerts, brothels and pubs. They cheered alongside the Greeks at sporting events held in the nude, even having their foreskins extended to hide the holy mark of their circumcisions so they would look like everyone else at the baths.
When Yehuda Maccabee shouted, “Follow me,” in the battle for the Hebrew sovereignty in the Land of Israel, the Jewish Hellenists stayed home.
Why is your run-of-the-mill secular Leftist in Israel less of a Hellenist than a Diaspora Jew? Ask any Leftist in Israel what his identity is, and he will answer, an Israeli, or a Jew. Ask your average American Jew what his identity is, and he will answer, an American. This is true Hellenism. Today it’s called Americanism, that’s all.
The phenomena isn’t restricted to secular-Jews, or to Reform-Jews, to Progressive-Liberal-Universalist-Jews, or to whatever hyphenated identity they chose to call themselves. Many of the Orthodox Jews in America are Hellenists too. I don’t have the figures, but what percentage of Yeshiva University graduates make Aliyah? Maybe 1 out of 50. How many Young Israel families come to live in the land where the Hanukkah saga took place? 1 out of 100? The rest see themselves as Americans, not as Israelites. The watered-down Judaism of the Diaspora, and no matter how many chumras (stringencies) they observe it is still watered-down, is their religion.
Is their nationality – what the Maccabees fought for – red-white-and blue?
The lovers of Crown Heights, Williamsburg, Boro Park, Lakewood, and Spring Valley are pretty much the same. How many of them send their children to fight in the IDF? Maybe 1 out of 10,000. Why should they? Like the Jewish Hellenists of old, they stay in the country they consider home.