ASSOCIATED PRESS: JEWS, AMISH ON COMMON GROUND
In Brooklyn’s Crown Heights, Ultra-Orthodox Jews took Pennsylvania Amish Christians from Lancaster County, PA on a walking tour of their world, saying their communities are drawn to each other with a commitment to simpler lifestyles. When the Hasidic tour guide first greeted the Amish with the Yiddish “Zei gazunt!” — “be healthy” — they understood, as the expression is derived from the German Sei gesund.
Question to the Blogosphere: Do you think that there are underlying issues that could cause conflict between the Amish and the Hasidic Jewish community in the United States? Should a search for common ground only be undertaken when there are tensions between two groups, or is a constant exercise of searching for common ground a part of any healthy society? In what ways are the Amish and Jews fundamentally different? Is it possible to embrace differences while appreciating commonalities, or does one of these actions take away from the other? How much does speaking the same language help in searches for common ground?
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The Amish are a pacifist sect opposed to a state religion and firmly believing in Jesus Christ as God. Ultra-Orthodox Judaics support Israeli wars with Lebanon and in places like Gaza, and believe that Jesus Christ was an idolater and impostor. What do these two groups possibly have in common other than superficial resemblance in appearance?
Hoffman is wrong. Jews believe in defense of the Land (Eretz Israel), “kill he who comes to kill you”. We Jews have no opinion on Jesus Christ, we don’t know who, if or what he was, he is not in our writings. It is of no value to separate Jews by denomination, the Jews throughout the world, by and large, support Israel as our homeland.
well i feel they have nothing in common but attire.
Perhaps this is not really significant, but had the Hebrew scriptures, the Jewish people and the Jewish people never existed, there could have been no Christian scriptures, Christian strands of tradition or indeed the person called Jesus whom many (but not all) post-Athanasian Christians believe to be God incarnate, and the title ascribed to the said Jesus, “Christ” (Greek for “Mashiach”, “anointed one” or “messiah”, a Hebrew concept which would not have been but for the Jews) would also not have been. Given that the Amish are seeking to live out a religious commitment rooted in both what Christians call “the Old Testament” and the canonical texts of Christianity, and given that the latter depends on the foundation of the former as well as of what Jesus calls “the tradition of the elders” (Matthew’s Gospel has him say that the scribes and the Pharisees sit in the seat of Moses and that his disciples must do as they say), perhaps there is a deeper connection between the Amish and strictly observant Jews than Michael Hoffman seems able to recognise.