Anonymous wrote:"It strikes me as creepy, and either a sign of some other problem you have, or a cover for an agenda of some sort."

I guess I should defend this accusation as well. I've been writing on this forum for all of two days and asked one question and then a follow up question. I have no cover for an agenda or sign of some other problem. Possibly David Salzberg in writing his blog for everyone to see has a sign of some other problem or an agenda. Asking questions in an AMA forum is hardly creepy and if it's so creepy, you shouldn't even be here.

Anonymous wrote:
While ethnic people can be proud of their heritage, it's another thing for them to want to only associate with their culture in this country. I would feel an Asian who won't befriend anyone else outside of their culture as also acting exclusionary. What I guess I have more respect for though is if the Asian is actually participating in a lot of Asian culture..

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Maybe I can help clarify: Jews are both a religion and an ethnic group. When I introduce friends who are Indian or Greek, they often have a bond even when first meeting, just because they come from similar upbringings and culture, even if they were raised in America. I don't know why people feel that this same fact among Jews is something to criticize.

I think it's a blessing that our culture brings us strength. I am a religious Jew who isn't particularly "culturally Jewish" but I dont have any hatred for those who are, and I'm glad it brings them pride for their heritage.

Rude people are obviously unfortunate, but I'm not sure anyone expects inclusiveness our of sorority sisters! Please stop and reflect on why Jewish cohesion bothers you so much and why you can't accept that our history and culture has made us a strong ethnic group along with our religion (and despite the fact that we don't all look ethnically similar) and that that's a good and important thing for us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the pp from Va. I am not religious. I was also pointing out mostly , by example, that not all Jews exclusively hang out with Jews. I did not hijack the thread, but rather came forth into a thread that had new questions for the first time in years.

Why do you think you have to point out to someone over and over even calling names such as antisemetic and reporting posts offensive just to get across that "not all........do .......? Any educated person does not wholly assume that all people of a certain group act the same way. But if the pp is saying that even she was rejected for not acting jewish enough even at a temple, you should be able to believe that it's possible for MANY, not all, jews to practice exclusivity towards non jews. This happens especially when people feel they have a comfortable number of jews around them such as at the temple this woman attended or the school or college I attended. Not in VA where there are no majority jewish neighborhoods to speak of. I know there are some enclaves that jews tend to congregate in VA, but those neighborhoods still aren't anywhere close to being a majority jewish.

To the PP who was understanding. I am actually in awe that they do have such a strong adherence to the culture despite not believing in jeudaism. Most Christians who phone it in at their church, don't really associate much with religious people of that denomination, and those that give up a church entirely often seem very much against the community they once belonged to. I was hoping to get a feel for what drove these people to have such loyalty to other jews, but I guess I'll just have to believe that they're doing it in retaliation for Hitler thinking they are all one race since I've been given no other valid explanation.

What?!! OK. You go ahead and think that. I see plenty of Catholics and other Christians acting exclusively. I spend my entire childhood being treated like an outsider because I was Jewish. This is not something unique to Jews to want to hang out with people they have something in common with. I love hanging out with Jews, but I don't exclude people based on their religion. The reason I think these posts complaining about Jews hanging together to the exclusion of others in "clans" is a very good example of hatred of Jews is because this happens every day with other religions. And the fact is, there are a lot more people in the world who are not Jewish, and there are a lot more people excluding Jews than there are Jews excluding non-Jews. So don't come here and say you aren't a Jew hater when you spew nonsense that Jews are "clannish" and that since Einstein said atheism doesn't comport with Judaism that atheists are fake Jews or whatever crap you posters are spewing about Jews. You hate Jews. It doesn't matter what happens. Jews are the scapegoats for every form of bad behavior. This thread is evidence of that. What a bunch of ignorant fools. Don't come to close to me, my Jewish horns might gore you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the pp from Va. I am not religious. I was also pointing out mostly , by example, that not all Jews exclusively hang out with Jews. I did not hijack the thread, but rather came forth into a thread that had new questions for the first time in years.

Why do you think you have to point out to someone over and over even calling names such as antisemetic and reporting posts offensive just to get across that "not all........do .......? Any educated person does not wholly assume that all people of a certain group act the same way. But if the pp is saying that even she was rejected for not acting jewish enough even at a temple, you should be able to believe that it's possible for MANY, not all, jews to practice exclusivity towards non jews. This happens especially when people feel they have a comfortable number of jews around them such as at the temple this woman attended or the school or college I attended. Not in VA where there are no majority jewish neighborhoods to speak of. I know there are some enclaves that jews tend to congregate in VA, but those neighborhoods still aren't anywhere close to being a majority jewish.

To the PP who was understanding. I am actually in awe that they do have such a strong adherence to the culture despite not believing in jeudaism. Most Christians who phone it in at their church, don't really associate much with religious people of that denomination, and those that give up a church entirely often seem very much against the community they once belonged to. I was hoping to get a feel for what drove these people to have such loyalty to other jews, but I guess I'll just have to believe that they're doing it in retaliation for Hitler thinking they are all one race since I've been given no other valid explanation.

What?!! OK. You go ahead and think that. I see plenty of Catholics and other Christians acting exclusively. I spend my entire childhood being treated like an outsider because I was Jewish. This is not something unique to Jews to want to hang out with people they have something in common with. I love hanging out with Jews, but I don't exclude people based on their religion. The reason I think these posts complaining about Jews hanging together to the exclusion of others in "clans" is a very good example of hatred of Jews is because this happens every day with other religions. And the fact is, there are a lot more people in the world who are not Jewish, and there are a lot more people excluding Jews than there are Jews excluding non-Jews. So don't come here and say you aren't a Jew hater when you spew nonsense that Jews are "clannish" and that since Einstein said atheism doesn't comport with Judaism that atheists are fake Jews or whatever crap you posters are spewing about Jews. You hate Jews. It doesn't matter what happens. Jews are the scapegoats for every form of bad behavior. This thread is evidence of that. What a bunch of ignorant fools. Don't come to close to me, my Jewish horns might gore you!

Now you're resorting to threats? You'd think if you were such an outsider growing up you might have more sympathy for others who've been discriminated against. Based on your reaction I'm guessing you're making it up. Most people who've experience discrimination are understanding when it happens to other people even if the other people aren't just like them. Such as jews are supposed to be understanding of other people's discrimination having gone through it so much themselves? You've posted twice now about how much of an outsider you were growing up but never gave one example nor have you ever discussed why you love hanging out with jews and what makes that bond so special. Please elaborate as that was my first and only question.

Of course there are more people excluding jews than jews excluding others. There are more people in the world who aren't jewish. That says nothing about the percentage of jews who act this way. This clannish behavior can even be seen in Israel where people live on a kibbutz. It's not made up as you seem to believe and people aren't out to get jews when they talk about it. Silverman seems to get a bye in your world saying atheist jews aren't jews because he's jewish? Is he anti-semetic too? I'd take your issue up with him if you're that worked up over it. He seems to have more power to influence jews beyond a DC internet message board. You're the one who asked me to post the links because you questioned me of lying about the 50-60 percentage. A simple google search would have brought the same answer. There were more links that came up. I knew nothing of Silverman's or Einstein's views towards atheist jews before. No other religion in the world has 60% of people identifying as both a religious group and as an atheist.

The whole rest of your spew is just ridiculous and adds further name calling. You go ahead and think you're the scapegoat for everything, but until jews actually walk the walk of being more open to other friendships like some of the jews who've posted here actually do, people will continue to feel excluded from jewish groups. The whole fact that you never even gave any recognition to how discriminatory that particular college sponsored sorority was just makes me realize that you always see yourself as the victim and never the offender. To the other pp, sororities are not supposed to be discriminatory because of race and a host of other reasons which I've already posted. Those laws have been in effect at least in most colleges for decades. Gender is the only thing they can be discriminatory toward if they provide housing. They have to sign a letter every year stating that they will be open to considering all college students and there is a PanHellenic council that oversees this. I didn't check the dates of OP's post to realize that this forum was old and that I'd never hear back from the OP, but you knew this and instead of just telling me I wouldn't hear back, went on to pretend that you were the OP and spewed further name calling even when you had nothing to add with your responses.

You are sick.