Subject: A Philosophical Hack: "The Eternal Jew"

From: Shlomi Fish <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 13:41:13 +0200 (IST)

I'll interrupt the discussion of complexity with something <sarcasm>a
bit</sarcasm> different. This is in fact a philsophical article I started
writing (it's still incomplete) that includes my musings about Objectivism
, Neo-Tech, Judaism, life, the universe and everything. I do not assume
any knoweldge of the above, so everybody can read and become enlightened.
(or not, I'm not forcing you to do either).

Let me know what you think and please let me know of any typos or
grammatical errors that you find. This documen is written in my own
invented rich plain-text format. I'll probably convert it to DocBook
eventually, but meanwhile it makes it much easier to read and write.

Enjoy, and flame away.

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

P.S: The complete article should include much more bits relating to
computers and programming and even a chapter focusing on Free or semi-Free
content. But that's what I have for the moment. Rome was not built in day.

Knuth is not God! It took him two days to build the Roman Empire.

--------------

H1: The Eternal Jew

H2: What is your profile?

What is your profile? But first let me define what I mean by profile. A profile
means that you will be know as "The Foo", where Foo can be anything: The
Wonderful; The Theory of Everything; The Greatest; The Man Who must not be
Named or The Bastard Operator from Hell. You will be known as this profile
forever, eve after your death, assuming you will have the misfortune to die[1].

Now, what profile are you going to chose for yourself? I'll give you some
examples from History: Aristotle was "The Integrator". Charlemagne was "The
Master". Rene Descartes was "The Conscious". Galileo was "The Scientist".
Cardinal Richelieu was "The Commander". Edison was "The Inventor". I hope you
did not wish to take any of these profiles, as I am the ultimate authority
on assigning them. (just kidding).

So take some time to think how you would like to be known by. Ready to go on?
Cool. Now, I'll let you know how I would like to be known as. I am The Eternal
Jew.

[1] - That was not really a joke. If technology is advanced enough, it
is possible that it would not be necessary for people to die.

H2: Who is the Eternal Jew?

The Eternal Jew was a figure which haunted the consciousness of mystical
Christians (and to lesser extent mystical Jews) for centuries. Yet, he was
just that - a figure. But now he has a body, a mind and a soul and he aims that they all be eternal[1].

By being immortal, a person no longer views death as necessary. Thus, his
entire direction is directed towards life rather than death. Death, until the
discovery of Neo-Tech has always been an obstacle in formulating a consistent
pro-life and pro-productivity philosophy.

If one is going to eventually die no matter what he does, what use
is everything he does in his lifetime? How many times have you heard that
sentence in various variations? But if you could live forever, and exist
as an integrated, happy, ever-growing individual? Then obviously, everything
become meaningful again.

The Eternal Jew is even more so. Since the dawn of the Perushite movement,
Jews aimed to be a model for proper ethical behaviour for the rest of the
peoples. Moreover, Jews value Freedom, the chief principal of the objective
law, above all else. And from some reason, they proved to be more productive
than non-Jews since the Renaissance, at least relative to their size. Whatever
the reason is, it is a fact.

The Eternal Jew (me) upholds Freedom, Productivity, Ethics and Life. The reason
I do it is because I like it and feel better about myself being such. I do
not feel obliged to be moral, free or productive. It is completely unnecessary
to feel that way to be one.[2] I also reject the belief in God because the God
Concept also limits the freedom of many individuals, including me.

In this scope I will tell you about the values held by The Eternal Jew, and the
messages he wish to convey to the world. This is my first serious attempt at
philosophy, excluding numerous posts I made to mailing lists I am a member of.
If you wish to be my guinea pigs, then you should go on reading this article.

Life awaits you!

[1] - This will be achieved by developing biological immortality. While it
is possible that it is not possible to make a human being immortal, it is
very likely that it is. Refer to the <a 1>Neo-Tech site</a> for some
resources on how biological immortality may be achieved.

[2] - Guilt is a completely unnecessary tool in trying to induce people to
be moral. Religions (including the Jewish religion) manipulate guilt, seemingly
to make people more moral. Yet a free individual is moral and productive by
nature, without having to feel guilty if he is otherwise.

[a 1] = http://www.neo-tech.com/

H2: The Essence of Judaism

I purposely choose to entitle this article "The Eternal Jew" rather than, say,
"The Bastard Objectivist from Israel". So, obviously, being a Jew is a central
concept to this scope. Various people managed to capture the essence of
Objectivism and Neo-Tech, so I'm not going to try. However, many people have
complete misconceptions about Judaism, even most Jews. I'd like to capture the
essence of Judaism the way I deduced it.

H3: The Principles of Judaism

H4: Judaism is a Peopleship

By Peopleship I mean the property and essence of a people. It's similar to a
nationality, but they are not identical concepts.

Most people, at least those that are not Jews, will claim Judaism is a
religion. Some Jews hold that Judaism is a peopleship tightly integrated
with a religion. However, the Jewish Religion, while being a part of the
Jewish folklore, is not an inseparable part of being a Jew. Such a claim
is similar to claiming that the Anglican Church is inseparable from
Englishmanship.

Jews are a people like many others. The fact that they retained their national
identity (and therefore, their religion), when living as a minority outside
their homeland for centuries, was considered a unique phenomenon. It is no
longer very unique, as many ex-patriots retain their peopleship and part of
their culture when living abroad.

H4: Jews Value Freedom above all else

I am not aware of any Christian or Muslim holiday that commemorates Freedom.
Jews have two such holidays: Passover and Hannukah. Being an atheist, I view
them (and other Jewish holidays) as ethnic and traditional holidays, rather
than religious. Both of them focus on Freedom given to the Jews as a whole,
rather than individual freedom. Yet, freedom is the same concept, interpreted
either way.

I will focus on freedom, mainly individual freedom, later on. I would like to
note, however, that some Jews default on their chief value, while blindly
following a leader, who neither desires nor sanction their freedom.

H4: Jews See themselves as a People Setting an Example for Others

The Bible does not imply that this is the case. However, the Perushite
movement during the days of the second temple, adopted this ideology and
so it became part of the philosophy of all modern day Jews.

As the Perushites claimed, Jews are in fact a people who was chosen[1]
for the purpose of setting an example to all the other people. A gentile
who is immoral, will only affect himself. On the other hand, an immoral Jew
will bludgeon the entire world-wide Jewry.

Jews, therefore, carry a burden of having to be the most moral and the most
noble they can. Being a Jew is a responsibility, not a privilege, which is why
Orthodox Jews make sure someone who wishes to convert to Judaism must pass
some very rigorous tests. That's also why Jews forbade other Jews to become
missionaries of Judaism.

H4: Jews are Men of Practice

Again, many people erroneously think that Jews are a "spiritual" people. Yet,
this is not the case. Those who are familiar with the Bible can see that it
is concerned with the security and financial welfare of the living. In the
Bible's ethics[2] it is always the award promised to those who will become
moral and righteous individuals.

Judaism (not necessarily religious one) is not about obtaining some
"nirvana", "peace of mind", or any other such mystical state of one's mind.
It's about being prosperous, happy, and trouble-free.

H3: What's missing?

If you are a Jew, or familiar with Judaism to some extent, you may believe
I missed a few important concepts. To dispel this belief (or instead confirm
it) I'd like to mention a few concepts which are not an integral part of
Judaism:

H4: "God"

No, Judaism is not about believing in God. Many Jews actively reject the
God concept, or their belief in God is much more liberal than what the
Jewish religion proclaims. Are they any less Jews?

By all means no. Jews originated from Pagans, yet chose to convert to
Monotheism. Claiming that they should not become secular is similar to
implying that they should have sticked with their original Pagan belief. (!)

The Jewish religion is not an essential part of being a Jew, because Jews
are first and foremost a people.[3]

H4: The Land of Israel

Judaism originated from Palestine, and I don't deny this fact. However, Jews
exist independently of it, just as an Italian American exists independently of
Italy. The Jews that live in Israel today are allowed to stay there not
because their ancestors lived there in the dawn of history, but because they
themselves live there _today_.[4]

The latter is also the reason why Palestinians or Israeli Arabs have a right
to live in Israel and the Occupied territories too, and why Jews living
outside of Israel cannot be denied of their right to remain there. (regardless
of the nature of the Israeli state)

The Land of Israel is a central concept to Judaism, both historically
and philosophically, but a Jew may live outside it, without having to feel
guilty about it.

H4: Loyalty to one's People

A Jew is most loyal to his people by being a happy, productive and free
individual. No other requirement is required according to the concepts I
mentioned.

H4: Who is a Jew?

This is a question that is very pervasive in Israel, and perhaps among
external Jewries. Traditionally, a Jew was considered as someone whose mother
is a Jewess (and so recursively, female-wise) or as someone who converted
to Judaism out of his own free will.

Conversion to Judaism usually involves making sure that the convertee is
familiar with the principles of the Jewish religion and tradition. If I had to
convert to Judaism today, I would have failed miserably. (luckily for
me I am a Jew by birth). Nevertheless, since a test of Judaism as I described
it, is impossible logistically, the current system is as good a test as any.
If someone wishes to become a Jew, he has to demonstrate a willingness to work
hard for it, and we might as well stick with studying the intricate details of
the Jewish tradition.

I am aware that more reformative Jews have enacted easier ways of converting
to Judaism. I believe that it would be best to have a unified way of becoming
a Jew, that will be accepted by all Jews. Afterwards, he or she may chose his
sect or whether he wishes to become religious at all.

H4: Zionism and Israelism

Denying any non-Jews from the right to live in Israel is objectively illegal.
Likewise for considering them second-grade citizens. Like I said, Jews make
a claim for Israel, due to the fact that perfectly innocent Jews are alive
there today.

The Israeli people is a distinct and separate entity from the Jewish one. Many
Jews are not Israelis, and many Israelis are not Jews. The Palestinians are a
newly formed people (much like the Israelis) who also make a claim for the
same territory. Some Israelis are also Palestinians, as a person may hold an
arbitrary number of peopleships.

I believe both peoples can interact and live side by side in relative harmony
as long as neither of them discriminate against the other, or any other
individual for that matter, and do not try to harm _any_ innocent individual.
(whether Israeli, Palestinian or otherwise). This is especially the case for
any constitutional racism.

Abolishing such discrimination should be done independently of the other people.
The reason for that is that Israelis harm mostly themselves by being
discriminatory, and vice versa. And as many programmers will be able to
tell you, the other alternative (waiting for the other side to act first) may
easily cause a deadlock.

[1] - Whether the Jews were chosen by God or by themselves make no
difference as far as this sentence is concerned.

[2] - I do not accept the Biblical ethics nor see them as valid. They were,
however, an early attempt to formulate a valid system of such. Many Jews still
accept them or what they are told they represent.

While I accept that every man is entitled to hold a set of values that he
see as fit. I neither sanction the modern Jewish religious ethics nor
see Jews holding such views as necessary or moral.

[3] - The state of Israel on the other hand actively define Jews as those
whose religion are Jews, as was demonstrated on the High Court appeal of
Father Daniel, a Jew who converted to Judaism. Yet, even discriminating
against peoples who are not Jews by peopleship, is something a country
is not objectively allowed to do.

[4] - Trying to justify one's right to live somewhere out of ancestral reasons
is useless at best and plain destructive at worst. A benevolent man who lives
somewhere always has the right to remain there. Moreover, a country cannot
deny such a person of the right to enter another country, and live and work
there.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shlomi Fish        [email-masked]
Home Page:         http://t2.technion.ac.il/~shlomif/
Home E-mail:       [email-masked]

"Let's suppose you have a table with 2^n cups..."
"Wait a second - is n a natural number?"