The term “Talmudic Jew” is used by antisemites across Twitter to mean “evil conspiring Jew” or sometimes “fake Jew” bent on controlling the world. The truth is exactly the opposite. The Talmud is a book by an oppressed minority about how to live when you have no control. THREAD
The Talmud was written by Jews living under colonial rule in the Land of Israel and as refugees in what is now Iraq, driven from their homeland in Israel by European colonial imperialists. It’s a book by a minority people struggling to survive under majority oppression.
The Talmud is book by and for the powerless, people who don’t control their own land or fate and are acutely, painfully aware of these facts. It is a compendium of stories, traditions, and law by people whose stories, traditions, and laws have been upended by conquerors.
When there is anger and resentment against other nations in the Talmud it’s because the authors have personally suffered under those nations. When there are insults against non-Jews in the Talmud, it is because those non-Jews have literally murdered Jews.
There’s nothing in the Talmud about controlling non-Jews or the world, because it’s written by people who are aware they can’t even control their own fate - only their personal and communal behavior. It’s not a book about control, it’s a book about living with a lack of control.
The Talmud is about how to live WITHOUT control of the world. About how to live with dignity, discipline, and pride in a world that treats you as subhuman and wants to kill you.
Which is why it has been the bedrock of Jewish life for the past 1500 years.
Which is why it has been the bedrock of Jewish life for the past 1500 years.
I want to thank a former @RutgersHillel student, Isaac Mayer Gantwerk whose writing inspired this thread.
