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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Are you saying someone else is appearing as you on this thread? It's pretty clear that the quote was meaning to be you. My main question is whether jewish people can still consider themselves chosen and not believe in god. Many come across to me as if they do believe their chosen even when they don't believe in god, but it's helpful to know a jew like yourself does not believe this.[/quote]

I am not the OP. I felt there were things here that called for a response even if OP was not around or did not know the answer. I also do not accept that any one Jew will speak for all the Jews.

I believe that there is a contradiction in saying Jews are "chosen" if there is no G-d.   What does that mean? Who can do the choosing?   OTOH I cannot control the logic other people use.

There are certainly secular Jews who are proud of their heritage. But that is not chosenness.

You also should note that a few Jews observe Jewish traditions, even though they do not believe in G-d.   That may also be confusing you.

If you are really interested (and not just trolling) you should read a book on the subject (( am sure we can all suggest a few) rather than try to get all your info from a message board.

[/quote]
Between 50-60% of jews in the world do not believe in god, and I'm guessing the percentage is actually much higher. I think jews should have the same rights as any other citizen in the US, but I don't believe I have to approve of their exclusive behavior just because they make similar meals every once in awhile and have similar wedding celebrations. These do not seem like important enough activities to support entire countries being exclusive or even certain neighborhood community groups. I don't understand why we should have school days off for their religious holidays if they don't believe in god. I also think it is right to be offended when for example jewish children and their parents only invite jews to parties year after year using the excuse that the parents got to know their best friends at jewish preschool first and therefore have no room for anyone else. The OP said that jews aren't exclusive and are very integrated in society, but there are several posts that point out how jewish families work hard to segregate themselves from non-jews.

[/quote]

I should not respond, because I have already reported this post as offensive (I believe it is anti-Semitic)....but I will.

First of all, I am allowed to have exclusive behavior in my personal life.  I can decide who my friends are and are not.  Just like my Morman neighbors, I pray with like minded people.  It is not a secret society:  Shul is open to all.  The JCC has jewish and non jewish members, just like the YMCA.

As for school days off, it largely depends on where you live.  In Fairfax, my kids miss school....in Montgomery County, where about 15 % of the teachers are jewish, it would be a logistical problem to get that many subs, so they close schools.  Why not have school on Christmas then?  It is similar.

My family -- immediate and extended -- are part of the greater society.   My sister won the democratic party nomination for Congress in her state a few years ago.

Half of the people invited to my DD's Bat Mitzvah are not jewish....excluding family, only about 25% invited are jewish.  I think you will find, if you take off your anti-Semitic glasses, that most people that are jewish mostly socialize with non-jews.

[/quote]
This is an AMA discussion. If you need to call someone out as offensive, then you are insecure. You can be exclusive in behavior as you mentioned, but then you should expect people who are excluded to not accept you as being an open inclusive person. You aren't exclusive person if you have many non-jewish friends and since you live in VA you really can't easily be anyway with a low jewish population, but there are jews in NY, NJ, and in MD who surround themselves with other jews to the exclusion of everyone else without adhering to any of the 600 plus jewish rules intentionally. There are entire jewish neighborhoods full of atheist jews. I grew up in one and definitely felt left out to the point where our family stopped doing anything with most of these families and there were at least 20 of these families just in my grade. Of course I did have some great jewish friends, but I haven't forgotten that the other 90%of the jewish families were exclusive and I see the same thing happening still in MD. The JCC is up front that they're an exclusive organization and their programs do include religious activities. They also welcome non-jews into their facility for just about all of their activities. A kid's birthday party from a public school where only the jewish kids are invited or a PTA group where only the jewish moms can participate on the committee is being unreasonably exclusive in semi-public settings. Instead of being upfront and saying that they really only want to associate with jews, these people hide behind other excuses as to why non-jews aren't invited. They can do what they want till they are made to be more inclusive, but they are still being exclusive for what I see as no strong tie to warrant the exclusion. I still haven't been told why these types of atheist jews need to live a life so exclusive of other people whether in the US or Israel where they only ever socialize with jews outside of business. What do they have in common with each other that non-jews don't have? We're all people. PP, maybe you're not the right person to answer this since you don't lead this type of life searching out other non-practicing jews as friends to the exclusion of others. OP is probably the better person to answer this since she doesn't believe in god but still thinks she's "chosen".[/quote]

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