Few besides the Jews themselves ever say much about it, but this would be a much less inhabitable world had the contributions of Jews to its betterment never been made. But, from the nonsense that they are somehow more clever than others, to the allegation that all the adversity they have suffered has somehow brought out this cleverness in them, there has sprung the idea that a sort of perverse Darwinism is in operation. This is simply one more rationalization or those absurd claims of Jewish "chosenness."
If there is ever to be an end to the process which decrees that Jewish corpses must serve as the exclamation marks in the human saga, there must be an immediate and comprehensive study of what can be done to deliver them from this lethal destiny. So many other problems are being subjected to this "think tank" approach these days, that such a dialogue is no less valid for the project of sparing Jews and their children from the next Holocaust, the one that is bearing down on them so rapidly.
The main obstacle to such an open-ended study has always been the framework of rigid taboos erected by the rabbinate and kept in place by a graded series of punishments, ranging from ostracism to the threat of hell-fire and damnation. However, for this not to deteriorate into just another futile exercise in hand-wringing and recitation of the Kaddish, such a discussion must dare to call into question all those sacred cows and dogmas in which the rabbinate seems to have such a vested interest.
For example, over the ages their primitive practice of mutilating the sex organs of their male offspring has unwittingly facilitated the selection of more Jews for persecution, than have been sheltered from divine retribution for having breached Abraham's Covenant; or even from genital disease. Opponents of such a dialogue must also bear the burden of proof that there has been - through the rise and fall of all recorded civilizations - one shred of evidence that all their pieties have increased by one iota the prospect of a world free of Anti-Semitic Holocausts.
Certainly anyone who objects to the holding of such discussions is free not to participate in them. Every adult certainly has the right to make decisions bearing on his or her own fate. However, because such matters are no less concerned with the welfare and survival of generations yet unborn, the interests of these children (who do not have an Anti-Defamation League of their own) must also be accorded full representation in the forum. The mere circumstance of having attained one's own majority - or even of possessing a seminary degree - does not confer on anyone the right to impose potentially lethal decisions on those still too young to participate in the decision-making process.
Indeed, until everyone acknowledges that such interests are fully protected, it must also be stated unequivocally that the right of each individual - even those yet unborn - to survive, supersedes in importance all their theology, symbolism and ritual, not to mention the usual chauvinistic appeals to tribal pride and tradition. Self-appointed judges and critics must also acknowledge the bankruptcy of their past policy of argumentum ad hominem, in which they brand all those who do not share their point of view, as "self-hating Jews".
A delicious bit of satire illuminating this point is recalled from a cartoon that appeared in the New Yorker Magazine many years ago, in which an army of lemmings races headlong toward a cliff, over which their leaders are already plummeting into the sea. One lone lemming, having prudently put on a life-jacket before joining the mindless stampede, is upbraided by a grim-visaged companion, with the caption "You're a disgrace to all lemmings!"
