I begin to understand what you are getting at.
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Originally Posted by macnietspingal
I guess my real point here is that Jews started all this in the first place and they are not getting the credit they deserve for over 2000 years.
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My response to this goes back to your first question about teaching the history of the Torah/Bible/Quran. If you study the actual history, and not accept the scriptural tradition as a priori fact, you will see that the Jews did not "start all this". Their creation myths are derives from earlier creation myths, their laws are related to earlier laws. Their scripture was written from disparate oral traditions, and was edited and altered to suit the political and religious needs of the writers. Judaism, and later, christianity and Islam, display influences from a variety of cultures, such as Mithraism, Zoroastrianism and Greek philosophy. Platonism played a major role in the formation of modern Christianity. No culture or tradition is singularly or prmarily responsible for human civilization, they have all played a part, as humanity is inextricably intertwined.
Quote:
Originally Posted by macnietspingal
In addition, I would love for Hebrew to be offered in the public elementary schools as an option to Spanish. I suspect that if that happened, Hispanics would suddenly start using English because then they would all choose Hebrew. Just a "feeling", a sekhel yashar, that really I am emotional about. I am comforted because Spinoza shared this same feeling about the Hebrew language. I have his grammar and it's so folksy. It wasn't until 1997 that all Jews in the USA started teaching Hebrew in their congregations.
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I am glad you like Hebrew, but unless one is doing business in Israel, it is not a very useful language for us non-Jews to know. If someone is going to know only one additional language, a Romance language is very handy as it helps make the history of western culture much more accessible. My personal thought is Chinese would be incredibly valuable, and I would highly encourage a child to take it up. Hebrew has limited uses if it is not part of one's religious tradition, just like learning Latin or Koine Greek. That said, I would never want to discourage any form of learning. If Hebrew floats your boat, more power to you. I wouldn't mind knowing enough to get around Hertzlia or Tev Aviv, but there are a lot of other languages on my to learn list before Hebrew.
I think it is great that you are passionate about your cultural heritage, but it is not my cultural heritage. Why would I abandon that, in order to be more "Jewish"? I am not a Jew either culturally or religiously, and have no desire to be so. For me to try would be at best foolishness, if not insulting.
-NoCapo
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Do Professional Atheists Study the History of the Bible and the Quran?
