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There is a picture circulating on Facebook right now. It’s a beautiful picture. It shows a soldier standing in what looks like the Old City, receiving a bracha from an old Jew.
Comments I’ve seen on this picture include: “awesome,” “incredible,” and “amazing.” While it’s a beautiful picture, I could not understand what was either “awesome,” “incredible,” or “amazing” about it. Finally someone explained it to me (edited for grammar):
Because here you have a soldier, doing his best to fight for the country we all love so dearly. Then you have this old man, who normally- you would never pay attention to- but here it’s the love of a Jew, an older, wiser Jew who is giving over of himself, and giving a blessing- blessing someone whom he proabably does not know, and will probably never see again. And the chayal, smiling- is accepting such a blessing from a random old man who he will never see again. That is an amazing thing- only in Israel… will you see such a simple, yet powerful…ironic, and funny looking picture= AMAZING!
The comments all came from young people in their 20s. I think it’s very sad that when one Jew shows love for another Jew people consider it an amazing thing. And it makes me wonder what kind of education these young Jews received that they consider the love between one Jew and another to be so remarkable.
” And it makes me wonder what kind of education these young Jews received that they consider the love between one Jew and another to be so remarkable.”
Perhaps it’s not their education that caused this reaction; rather, it’s their experience.
I don’t think its either their education or experience . Love is a remarkable thing. look around the world we live in – love is one of the most beautiful things to see and experience and when people see it they are touched.
love is one of the most beautiful things to see and experience and when people see it they are touched.
Yes, love is beautiful and touching. But is it amazing?
causing great surprise or sudden wonder.
Very well said shev143. I agree completely. Haifagirl, so they’re not using “amazing” the way it is defined in the dictionary. It’s become slang for something beautiful.
There is a frum lady who owns a store down the street from me. I pass it regularly. I always wave and/or wish her a good morning/evening. The other day one of her employees was outside on his break. I said “good morning” to him. He stopped me and said nobody ever did that before. He went on and on about how happy he was I said “good morning.”
So, yes, Jews being nice to each other apparently is amazing!
Haifagirl, so they’re not using “amazing” the way it is defined in the dictionary. It’s become slang for something beautiful.
There are two parts to communication: 1) sending a message and 2) receiving a message. If the message you send is unclear you can’t blame the receiver for not understanding.
Abraham Lincoln once asked some people, “How many legs does a dog have?” Of course they answered, “four.” Then he asked, “What about if we call the tail a leg?” Then they changed their answer to “five.”
He replied, “The dog still has four legs. You can call the tail a leg, but that doesn’t change the facts.”
So you want to use “amazing” to mean “beautiful.” Can I also choose different meanings for words?
So, yes, Jews being nice to each other apparently is amazing!
And that is the saddest commentary of all.
There is a frum lady who owns a store down the street from me. I pass it regularly. I always wave and/or wish her a good morning/evening.
I make it a point to say “good morning/afternoon/evening,” to everyone I interact with — the bus driver when I put in my metrocard, the cashier at the store, the mailman/woman when I meet him/her in the street, etc.
And, believe it or not, very often when I mention this, someone will give me flack for “being friendly” with a woman (as at least some of those people tend to be female).
Perhaps we’re becoming afraid of associating with “someone improper” (whether it be someone of the opposite gender, someone not from our particular sub-group, or even someone not Jewish) that we tend to be “amazed” when someone actually displays common courtesy regardless of what others might think.
The Wolf
I say a hi to everyone I interact with as well, cashiers, tellers at the bank, even the people who answer your call after they placed you on hold for 20 minutes. I have never heard of anyone saying that this is amazing – it’s called common courtesy. I have experienced what wolf said about it being improper when I was a pre teen. I saw my best friends brother in the street and I said hi. he ignored me. I wasn’t even aware of how saying a hi could be improper. Now that I am married I experience that response less – Go Figure????
I also say “hello” (or more likely, “shalom”) to everyone I interact with. And I say “thank you.”
I have a couple friends in a different neighborhood, so when I got on the bus to take shalach manos to them I handed a shalach manos package to the bus driver. He didn’t know how to react. Apparently I was the only person who realized he had to work on Purim.
Truly fascinating thread, however, I think one thing is for sure about the comments on facebook – they’re not supposed to be psychoanalyzed and dissected by complete strangers, especially when they don’t even see the picture. I’m no psychologist, though many of you seem to be, but I presume that when people see something “beautiful” they dont run to dictionary.com and try to find the perfect word to describe how they’re feeling. Please realize the ridiculousness here. And please open your eyes and stop accepting only what you want to hear, and pretending to be surprised. Ask any 1st grader and they will tell you our job is to promote ahavas chinam – and you act surprised that this is an issue for us as a nation? Clearly, if it wasn’t we wouldnt still be in galus.
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