When anti-Semites say we control the media, the banks, Wall Street and the White House, they’re actually right. Jews have managed to effect profound change in every aspect of society by propagating ideas of spirit, hope, faith and justice. As Thomas Cahill wrote, “We are all Jews”
In my last column I shared with my readers a talk I had with a young American during Pesach in which I quoted historian Paul Johnson’s approach to the invaluable gifts the Jews bestowed on the world. But the conversation didn’t end there. Here is the rest of it:
“You know what?” I told my new friend “I want to share something even more powerful than the passage by Paul Johnson I showed you before. This one is by Thomas Cahill another American historian. He wrote a book called The Gifts of the Jews — and he takes Johnson’s approach a step further. Look at how he understands the Jewish presence among the nations.”
To Cahill the Jewish people have not only made great contributions to the world but in fact he declares “We are all Jews.”
Here is what he writes:
“The Jews gave us the Outside and the Inside — our outlook and our inner life. We can hardly get up in the morning or cross the street without being Jewish. We dream Jewish dreams and hope Jewish hopes. Most of our best words in fact — new adventure surprise; unique individual person vocation; time history future; freedom progress spirit; faith hope justice — are gifts of the Jews.”
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