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Article: Quibbles.(Eric Alterman)(Letter to the editor)
- Article from:
- Moment
- Article date:
- September 1, 2008
- Author:
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I just finished reading my colleague Eric Alterman's opinion column, "We Are Not One." One certainly cannot deny his contention that "Jews are perhaps the world's most famously disputatious people" (though I am tempted to do so, if only to prove his point). However, what struck me about his argument was his apparent lack of understanding of the nature of Jewish contentiousness. From ancient times onward, our debates have been rooted in clashes based on interpretation, disagreements on how to apply rules, debates on the meaning of sources. Rarely, if ever, have classic Jewish deliberations been the product of ignorance. And yet, as a young man, when faced with the question ...