Jewish Opinions

There's an old joke: "two Jews, three opinions". It would seem that Jews have been opinionated since time immemorial. Indeed, God Himself complains to Moses about it (see Exodus 32:9). So, as a Jew, I have a biological compulsion to form opinions, stick fast to them and share them with others whether they want to listen or not.

In modern times this virtue of being a Jew seems to have become somewhat more important in the context of opinions. It now seems that being Jewish not only gives you the need to form opinions but also invests your opinions with significantly more authority. Barely a day goes by without someone giving their opinion "as a Jew".

Here are some Google stats for you:
The phrase "as a Jew" returns 18,200,000 results. Replace "Jew" with "Muslim" and you get 31,100,000. Less than twice as many for about 10 times as many people. Try "Christian" and you'll get only 4,920,000.

A variation:
"Jews for" returns 811,000 while "Muslims for" returns slightly more at 929,000. "Christians for" gives 606,000.

Obviously, being Jewish doesn't make your opinion any more valid than anyone else unless you're talking about being Jewish or about some point of Jewish thought. So why do so many people give their opinions "as a Jew" and why are Jews obsessed with forming groups with the title "Jews for..."?

I don't know. But if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So in this blog I'll be giving my thoughts on topics that interest me, all given "as a Jew". Of course, I don't expect my religion to give many of my posts any more authority I hope only that they are interesting and thought provoking, and occasionally entertaining.

I'll also try and highlight, every so often, some of the more wacky intriguing "Jews for..." groups.

So please read, comment, email me if you like with ideas and suggestions (as well as tips for nice stories) and enjoy