Schadenfreude or Thanksgiving
Schadenfreude or Thanksgiving
By Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg, JWR
A warped perspective on life is on the rise and spreading fast
Question number one: What do Terrill Owens, France and the Palestinians have in common? Answer: They provide an opportunity for schadenfreude. Question number two: What is schadenfreude? It is spelled s-c-h-a-d-e-n-f-r-e-u-d-e. It's a German word that us Brooklyn guys don't throw around lightly. You rarely hear this word being used but recently it was featured in two editorial pieces across the country, one in the Wall Street Journal and the other in the Los Angeles Jewish Observer.
The German word "schadenfreude" takes seven English words to define it. It means: "malicious satisfaction in the misfortune of others." In recent weeks it has become popular amongst Jews because of an article written by Si Frumkin, a journalist and Jewish activist in Los Angeles. He wrote about the sense of schadenfreude he know feels when looking at the situation in Gaza. At least 6 people emailed me a copy of the article! Internet surfers have surfed it, bloggers have blogged it … and us non-geeks have just read it.
Frumkin starts off by citing a famous historian, Peter Gaye, a Jew in Germany during the Nazi era, who experienced schadenfreude when he watched the Germans lose gold medals in 1936. Watching the German lose, Gaye wrote, "can be one of the great joys of life."
THE WHOLE ARTICLE IS A PLEASURE TO READ
Posted by Ted Belman at November 26, 2005 09:00 AM
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1
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BobW
said:
Add to Schadenfreude "poor planning". After the UN's infamous "Zionism is racism", several national Jewish groups boycotted Mexico, one of the supporters of the UN resolution. Many businesses in Mexico's tourist trade were Jewish owned and were hurt by the US boycott.
Rabbi Wohlberg referenced the German, Peter Gaye. I think he is the author of "Freud, Jews and Other Germans:Masters and Victims in Modernist Culture". In this book is written "there is a historical and sociological study that desperately needs to be undertaken: that of stupid Jews.". I started on an outline for the preface but ran out of cyberspace.
Kol tuv,
BobW
Posted by: BobW on November 26, 2005 03:17 PM
2
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george
said:
Does any one know the Yiddish word for SCAHDENREUDE?
That is exactly what i am trying to stop myself feeling, when i see the chickens coming home to roost in France.
Posted by: george on November 27, 2005 10:18 AM
3
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KLM
said:
Jews do not “schadenfreude.” When the Egyptians were subjected to the tenth plague we stayed indoors, we did not rejoice, we prayed.
Posted by: KLM on November 27, 2005 01:27 PM
Schadenfreude or Thanksgiving
By Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg, JWR
A warped perspective on life is on the rise and spreading fast
Question number one: What do Terrill Owens, France and the Palestinians have in common? Answer: They provide an opportunity for schadenfreude. Question number two: What is schadenfreude? It is spelled s-c-h-a-d-e-n-f-r-e-u-d-e. It's a German word that us Brooklyn guys don't throw around lightly. You rarely hear this word being used but recently it was featured in two editorial pieces across the country, one in the Wall Street Journal and the other in the Los Angeles Jewish Observer.
The German word "schadenfreude" takes seven English words to define it. It means: "malicious satisfaction in the misfortune of others." In recent weeks it has become popular amongst Jews because of an article written by Si Frumkin, a journalist and Jewish activist in Los Angeles. He wrote about the sense of schadenfreude he know feels when looking at the situation in Gaza. At least 6 people emailed me a copy of the article! Internet surfers have surfed it, bloggers have blogged it … and us non-geeks have just read it.
Frumkin starts off by citing a famous historian, Peter Gaye, a Jew in Germany during the Nazi era, who experienced schadenfreude when he watched the Germans lose gold medals in 1936. Watching the German lose, Gaye wrote, "can be one of the great joys of life."
THE WHOLE ARTICLE IS A PLEASURE TO READ
Posted by Ted Belman at November 26, 2005 09:00 AM