Probably the best advantage of the ignore button is that it limits the damage done by slaves to self justification. At least with someone's head in the sand, they cannot make a situation worse.
Of course the best alternative is always the attempt at impartial reason but clearly it is a rarity so at least with someone's head safely in the sand experiencing the bliss of ignorance, at least the nastiness of self justification is at a minimum.
For those still respecting impartial reason, it is important to seriously consider the meaning here as expressed by Dror:
"But given present and foreseeable realities, assuring existence must come first."This of course proves Schindler was a fool. Existence comes first and he was putting his existence in danger.
Rabbi David Wolpe in an article on Covenantal Judaism writes:
The first covenant was not made with the Jewish people. God sent a rainbow in the time of Noah as a sign to the world, to all of humanity. Noah lived 10 generations before the first Jew.
The meaning is clear: We have a responsibility toward others of whatever faith; we have a covenantal relationship to the non-Jewish world.
The very first question in the Bible is a question God asks of Adam-"Ayecha?"-Where are you? This is not a literal question but a spiritual one, a question God asks us at each moment in our lives.
The second question in the Bible is in a way an answer to the first. The second question is one that human beings ask of God. Cain turns to God and asks, "Am I my brother's keeper?"
If you answer that question, you will know where you are. Do you care for those who are in need, those who are anguished and alone? Jewish World Watch has organized our response to the calamity of Darfur. Jewish leaders have shouted to the world, bringing attention to genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda, and championed the recognition of the Armenian genocide. These and countless similar causes and efforts are not strategic or to reflect credit on ourselves. They are sacred Jewish obligations. Jews who care for the Jewish community alone are neglecting the first, most comprehensive covenant.
Sadly, many traditional Jewish communities seem to have little concern for the non-Jewish world.
The rabbis of the Talmud insist that compassion is a characteristic of the people of Israel. The first statement about human beings is that each is made in God's image. Invidious comparisons between the worth of Jews and others are not only malignant but fundamentally at odds with the Covenantal tradition.
Jews receive as well as give to those outside the Jewish community. Covenantal Judaism is eager to learn wisdom-not only practical but spiritual-from the non-Jewish world.
Judaism has many precedents for religious learning from non-Jews, beginning in the Bible. The world begins with Adam, not with Abraham. Noah, the first man called righteous, is not a Jew.
The chapter of Torah containing the Ten Commandments is named "Yitro" (Jethro) - this central chapter containing the revelation from Sinai is named after a non-Jew. The traditional response when someone asks after our welfare, "baruch Hashem" (praise God) is mentioned three times in the Bible. All three times it is said by a non-Jew: Noah (Genesis 9:26), Eliezer (Genesis 24:27) and Jethro (Exodus 18:10). Thus, even when we praise God, we do it in words that were first spoken by those in our community who were not raised as Jews.
The list could be easily multiplied throughout Jewish history: Maimonides learned from the Islamic scholar Averroes, Kabbalah learned from Sufi mysticism, Heschel learned from Reinhold Neibuhr. Covenantal Jews glory in this interchange, which is not threatened by the insights of others but enriched by them.
Secularism has reached such a dangerous possession of the human psych that not many even understand the question: where are you? Yet in Christianity it has the same meaning as "presence." "Existence" has come to be defined by values egotism supports which is normal for the degeneration into secularism and its worship of the "Great Beast"
Rabbi Wolpe is suggesting values that conflict with supporting genocide denial. He is describing a Judaism I can respect and not this closed mindedness that for some reason has increased in proportion with secularization and hides itself in PC platitudes..
Armageddon is supposed to be the time when the Beast is defeated after a struggle. However this was written a long time ago. The authors may have underestimated the power of education and how it has strengthened the Beast. We may not lose as predicted and may actually assure a standoff for the Beast which if nothing else proves that mankind has made progress.
But as long as people keep their heads buried in the sand, at least they won't make things worse which is at least partial compensation.
