Longtime readers know my view of my own Judaism. We Jews are the chosen people. Chosen to help humankind be ‘better.’ Jews are hated because they have been able to read, write, and do math for 3,000 years and virtually nobody else can or could. They have also been good at commerce, globally. And yes, those skills have included most Jewish women.
Israel’s role today is to continue the roles Jews have played in society for millennia. To improve medicine, technology, food and day to day life. Israel is the moral leader in its military behavior and in countless social issues. Menachim Begin was the true founder of the country, a moral giant. Bibi Netanyahu is one of the greatest men in human history, an incomparable leader for all time.
So what does this have to do with Ann Landers? Ann’s real name was Esther Lederer and her sister (Dear Abby) was Esther Phillips. Both Jews which is the point of this blog.
I started reading Ann’s column when she started in the Chicago Sun Times and I started at the University of Chicago in Fall 1955.
The total readership of Ann and Abby reached two thirds of the adult population of America for several decades. The advice they gave concerned all aspects of daily moral life. To put it simply, America’s moral life for an important part of the 20th century came from two Jewish women. That, to me, is the work of the ‘chosen people.’
Another Jewish moral advisor was Ruth Westheimer, Dr. Ruth. She was a powerful moral teacher to Americans for two decades, reaching audiences nearly as large as Dear Ann and Dear Abby at times. Her focus had more sexuality in it.
The demand of ‘the chosen people’ is to be moral leaders for all time. Not an enviable burden.