124-79 geschiedenis herhaalt zich zo steeds anders

Hoe je het verder
ook zou willen wenden of keren:
de geschiedenis van [alle] heidenen,
joden, christenen & nu ook zelfs moslims
en alle andere geloofsrichtingen & levenswijzen
is onuitwisbaar in elkaar verwikkeld geraakt in al die eeuwen
vanaf 't allereerste 'begin' tot & met de mydidag van vandaag -
we kunnen nu dus niet meer zonder elkaar en zullen
[minstens] nader met elkaar
moeten overleggen hoe
het verder gaat?

Dat betekent ook
dat we telkens weer terug moeten gaan
naar de bronnen van ons bestaan: wetenschap
sluit niets uit, maar wel alles in! Nog maar even kijken
wat Danny Boyarin ervan zei in 1999: zelfs januari 1967 lijkt
als de dag van gisteren & als je eenmaal begint met dat
'heen & weer reizen' in verleden, heden &
toekomst dan blijf je ermee bezig
[ieder op z'n eigen manier] - &
we vallen in herhalingen
zoals gewoonlijk.

SL
also pointed
to such an occurrence
in the case of the Martyrs of Lydda,
where the Jews are reported to have been
moved at the sight of
suffering Christians:
"But the Jews,
who were always accused by the prophets for worshipping idols,
stood around, seeing and hearing, while the Egyptians renounced the gods
of their own fathers and confessed the God of the Jews, and witnessed for Him
whom the Jews had many times renounced. And they were the more agitated and
rent in their hearts when they heard the heralds of the governor crying out and calling
the Egyptians by Hebrew names and making mention of them under the names of prophets.
For the herald, when he cried out to them, called saying "Eliyahu," "Yeshayahu," "Yirmeyahu,"
"Dani'el," & other similar names, which their fathers had selected from among the Hebrews,
that they might call their sons by the names of prophets.
And it came to pass that their deeds were in harmony with their names.
And at the men and at their names, at their words and at their actions, the Jews were greatly amazed, while they themselves were despised for their wickedness and apostasy."
{Eusebius}

The Jews
felt kinship with the martyred Egyptian Christians
because the latter worshipped their God & and had chosen Jewish names.
According to the midrash, the Jews who went into Egyptian exile were redeemed
because they did not change their names. The Egyptian Gentiles were saved precisely because they did. Through Eusebius's own triumphalist rhetoric, which implies that the presence of the Jews there
was to lead to their humiliation, we can hear, as SL did, another story,
a story of identification between the Jews & these Gentiles
willing to die for the Jewish God
[different evaluations are
possible as usual]!

The Rabbis
further discussed at length
the merits of gentile Christian martyrs
and their guaranteed share in the future life.
As SL wrote,
'WHAT DID THE RABBIS THINK OF THE GENTILE WHO DID NOT AVAIL HIMSELF
OF THE EXEMPTION & DID SUFFER MARTYRDOM FOR HIS NAME? ALL PIOUS GENTILES WERE PROMISED THEIR SHARE IN THE FUTURE LIFE, THOSE OF THEM WHO SUFFERED FOR THEIR GOOD DEEDS
WERE ESPECIALLY SINGLED OUT, AND THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT THAT THE PIOUS GENTILES
WHO SUFFERED MARTYRDOM FOR THEIR REFUSAL TO OFFER SACRIFICES TO IDOLS
WERE DEEMED DESERVING OF ONE OF THE NOBLEST RANKS
IN THE FUTURE WORLD!'

SL even maintains
that when Rabbi Aha,
also a Lyddan Rabbi, refers to the "martyrs of Lydda"
who removed the "shame of Julian," that is, the shame of Jewish collaboration with a pagan,
he means these very same Eusebian
Christian martyrs.

In other words,
Jews shared in the discourse of martyrology and its history,
even when they were not being martyred, as much, one might say, as the vast majority of Christians
who also were not killed. This attitude of sharing would compete with other moods
in which the rabbinic texts engage in constructing Jewish identity
as seperate from and against Christian identity by claiming,
as does the Mekhilta,
"YOU HAVE NO PART OF HIM;
ON THE CONTRARY,
'MY BELOVED IS MINE, AND I AM HIS;
I AM MY BELOVED'S, AND HE IS MINE;
HE FEEDETH AMONG
THE LILIES!'"

Both
of these
modes of shared
culture can be imagined
as having been
in play at
the same
time.

We
need to
think about the
multifold dimensions of intergroup
interactions, from dialogue to polemic,
or perhaps, better put, from cooperative and
identificatory dialogue to polemic & disidentification, in order to
understand the histories of rabbinic Judaism &
Christian Judaism, the children of Rebecca, as
intimately and intricately enmeshed &
embroiled with each other
as any twins
have ever
been
...

Genoeg voor nu.

Gaan we terug naar
'onze eigen tijd & plaats'
dan kunnen we duidelijk zien
dat wat je kunt ervaren onder christenen,
joden & moslims ['allerlei heidenen' e.d. net
zo goed] ons in soortgelijke posities & ervaringen plaatst
als 'de mensen van toen en daar' & opmerkelijke stellingnames
als die van Uri Davis, Saul Lieberman & Daniel Boyarin
net zo geldig & belangwekkend zijn als die van
Mahatma Gandhi & Martin
Luther King [of
wie dan
ook?]!

Dergelijke
overwegingen hebben
ook nu nog hier voor ons
onmisbare levensbetekenis
in het mydileven van alledag:
Elckerlyc @ myDiAlledagsland, m/v/k~dagboekaniers,
~zoetwaterpiraten & z.g. "tijdruimtereizigers" i/d
'eeuwigheid' van dit 'heelal'.
Heel raar misschien
maar wel
waar
...

112-76