Holocaust and Shylock

[FrodeauxB at aol.com]

Mr. Thompson,
Thank you for the comments. I think that it does tell us something about the 
Jewish people. For one, it tells us that they had to do certain things simply 
to not survive, but to be tolerated, such as that was and arguably is today. 
It definitely tells us about the European culture. Good writing doesn't age. 
An article in the December 1982 issue of Commentary by Hyam Maccoby entitled 
"Theologian of the Holocaust" is the most succinct analysis of the 
Jewish-Christian relationship I have found. For example, the article states 
"The historian Yehuda Bauer is correct in saying [in The Holocaust in 
Historical Perspective) that the Holocaust was unique in any metaphysical 
sense but only in the sense that it had not yet happened in world history 
[before the Nazis]."  Perhaps one day I will acquire a scanner so I can 
reproduce the entire essay since it may not be available on the Internet. For 
what it is worth, I urge you as strongly as I can to read it. It cuts through 
the rhetoric and numbers to get to the core of the issue. Again "...the Jews 
act as scapegoats. But in Christian myth it is Jesus himself who is the 
scapegoat, taking upon himself the sins of the world. The role of the Jews in 
this drama is a different one: that of bringing about the necessary death of 
the scapegoat."
To continue to pull quotes from the essay would do it and its subject 
injustice and distort its full impact and meaning. I will gladly via snail 
mail a copy to any who provide me an address, offline.
As for Mr. Bloom, he writes well and in an interesting way. Like many others 
whom I have read, he is not the definitive word on his subject. However, like 
any good teacher, he provokes discussion and reevaluation of theories and 
ideas which may enjoy more creditably then they currently deserve simply 
because of their longevity.
frodeauxb