That's one of the things that saddens me about the Jewish culture I come from. So much of it is based upon the idea that we're continually persecuted. Which I get, but every religion can lay claim to that at one point or another. Ask the Christians during the early Roman Empire, the Moslems during the Crusades, or the Buddhists in Communist China.

But as a culture, Judaism makes being persecuted and being an outsider a fundamental part of its identity. And that leads us to think in terms of survival. And that leads us to being very shortsighted.

Sigh.