4. The Powerless Jew in History
Thus, over time, much more passive and theological set of attitudes developed,
representing both the average Jew and the Jewish leadership.
This attitude was reinforced by a new and different historical reality in
which the Jews increasingly found themselves.
As the Jews moved into Diaspora lands, they found themselves increasingly
dependent on the goodwill of the surrounding host culture for protection.
The guarantor of Jewish safety was the political and military power of their
hosts, rather than any power that they might have held themselves.
Even in those centres where Jews attained a certain amount of political
power, it was limited: it never translated into any kind of independent political
or military power. Such a situation would have been inconceivable.
Indeed, ironically, the idea of Jewish political or military power was thought
to be so unrealistic, that in those places where Jews did indeed gain some
kind of political power, it was the very idea that the Jews represented no
threat which enabled the rulers to give them power.
The Jews could thus be granted this power because, ultimately, they were
powerless; they relied on the goodwill and the self-interest of the rulers
in the places where they lived. It would be allowed them for as long as the
Jews proved their value to the host society - and for as long as the hosts
remained pragmatic.
But the Jews would never have independent power: if they were ever (erroneously)
perceived as holding such power, some historical rule of life in the traditional
centres of the Diaspora always appeared to function, whereby they were soon
removed from that power - because they came to be considered a threat to that
society.
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