{"id":74295,"date":"2015-09-11T07:57:31","date_gmt":"2015-09-11T15:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=74295"},"modified":"2023-09-10T03:37:02","modified_gmt":"2023-09-10T11:37:02","slug":"author-psychologist-delves-inside-the-israeli-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=74295","title":{"rendered":"Author, psychologist delves inside \u2018The Israeli Mind\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Kirsch writes<\/a>: <\/p>\n

He describes how he witnessed a lighthearted conversation in a Jerusalem coffee shop between a graduate student and a young teacher about classroom cheating. \u201cWell, if I caught a student cheating, I wouldn\u2019t view it as a negative,\u201d the teacher said. \u201cI would see it as an indication that he wants to succeed.\u201d Gratch concludes: \u201cThe Israeli mind\u2019s failures at empathy, its lack of regard for reality, and its relentless drive for success, all produce a predilection for cutting corners, bluffing, and lying.\u201d<\/p>\n

The values and behaviors that make up what Gratch calls the Israeli national character can be seen as a form of psychological self-defense. \u201cIsraeli psychologists \u2026 have noted that everyday belligerence in Israeli society is rooted in unconscious anxiety,\u201d he writes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think you can see the Israeli mind as a distillation of the Jewish mind.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Robert Orkand writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\nIsraelis are oppositional and quick to say no, Gratch says, which, as a reaction to danger, serves as a survival mechanism. It is rooted in the Jewish Diaspora experience, and it continues to operate in an independent Jewish state, even though it is no longer essential and even counterproductive.<\/p>\n

This psychological defense mechanism, Gratch says, is largely responsible for Israel\u2019s success, but \u201cto the extent that the oppositional character of the Israeli mind drives or shapes Israeli actions, reactions, or policies, it is imperative for Israel\u2019s as well as the world\u2019s security, that we understand it and learn how to deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

…Despite their achievements, Israelis have not been able to fully free themselves from what Gratch calls \u201cthe ideology of affliction.\u201d In the Israeli mind, he maintains, ingrained feelings of insecurity clash with the reality of Israel being the most powerful and advanced country in the region. <\/p>\n

…Annihilation anxiety, combined with hyper-masculinity and a narrative of self-sacrifice, Gratch says, all clash with the nation\u2019s aspiration for normalcy or even greatness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kirkus Reviews<\/a>: <\/p>\n

On one hand, the Jews\u2019 self-identity as the chosen people allowed them a self-aggrandizing role in history; on the other hand, their \u201coutsized\u201d accomplishments in all fields over the ages have resulted from a \u201ccompensatory drive\u201d to overcome their sense of insignificance. Another facet of Israeli narcissism, Gratch notes, is the lack of empathy, revealed in the inability to understand and experience the plight of their neighbors, the Palestinians. More troubling than the Israeli disrespect for authority and penchant for cutting corners is the deeply internalized sense of victimization that manifests in paranoia and defensiveness\u2014a frightening mix vis-\u00e0-vis the Iran nuclear crisis and conflict with the Palestinians.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Kirsch writes: He describes how he witnessed a lighthearted conversation in a Jerusalem coffee shop between a graduate student and a young teacher about classroom cheating. \u201cWell, if I caught a student cheating, I wouldn\u2019t view it as a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[605,37,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anti-semitism","category-israel","category-jews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74295"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151516,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74295\/revisions\/151516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}