Posted: Apr 24, 2016 10:34 am
Great points. 
Another thing to keep in mind is the position of Ashkenazi Jews in the territories of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, parts of Ukraine), which before the Second World War had the largest concentration of Jews in the world. This area was very much multireligious and multilingual -- you had Poles (Catholics), Germans (Prussians, mostly Protestants), Ruthenians (Rusyns and Ukrainians, both Greek-rite Catholics and Eastern Orthodox) and Lithuanians (mostly Catholic). The Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews in this context were just one of the myriad nationalities of Central Europe, and indeed most of them lived in Jewish-majority communities (ghettoes and shtetls).
Asking why the Ashkenazi Jews didn't just assimilate into neighbouring communities is just as silly a question as asking why the Lithuanians or Galician Ukrainians didn't assimilate and become Poles. Why should they have?
Take a look at some of the threads in the News and Politics section on the Israel-Palestine conflict. They all inevitably get derailed at some point by people claiming that the problem is Jewish identity itself.
Another thing to keep in mind is the position of Ashkenazi Jews in the territories of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, parts of Ukraine), which before the Second World War had the largest concentration of Jews in the world. This area was very much multireligious and multilingual -- you had Poles (Catholics), Germans (Prussians, mostly Protestants), Ruthenians (Rusyns and Ukrainians, both Greek-rite Catholics and Eastern Orthodox) and Lithuanians (mostly Catholic). The Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews in this context were just one of the myriad nationalities of Central Europe, and indeed most of them lived in Jewish-majority communities (ghettoes and shtetls).
Asking why the Ashkenazi Jews didn't just assimilate into neighbouring communities is just as silly a question as asking why the Lithuanians or Galician Ukrainians didn't assimilate and become Poles. Why should they have?
Beatsong wrote:Without any quotes or context, it's hard to know what exactly you're arguing against, and whether it's real or straw.
Take a look at some of the threads in the News and Politics section on the Israel-Palestine conflict. They all inevitably get derailed at some point by people claiming that the problem is Jewish identity itself.