ABSTRACT
That nation, which has become the fulcrum of the Middle East crisis, has just as assuredly become the core of the Jewish identity crisis. For Judaism has become, perhaps against its own theological predilections, a cardinal expression of liberalism. In short, the liberal society and the entrepreneurial economy have historically been best for Jewish subculture, whether in medieval Spain, Reformation Holland, Enlightened Germany, or industrial United States. The dignity of the oppressed begins, first, the moment he becomes conscious of his burden, second, when he denies himself all camouflage and all consolation for his misery; third, and above all, when he makes an effective decision to put an end to it. The uncontaminated egotism of both authors, however, is stifling—since both write as if being a marginal Jew is equivalent to knowing everything of value about all Jews, past and present.
