How has Judaism survived?

[I, Brian]

A curious question I consider periodically - how has Judaism managed to survive?

When you consider the extensive violence and dispossession endured...it always seemed amazing that Judaism actually survived as a religion.

Are there any real answers to the question? Or is the question a white elephant in itself?

[bananabrain]

well, the fact that we have survived in a more or less recognisable form not much changed from 2000 years ago and moved with the times as well is statistically so improbable as to be impossible. we simply don't obey the "rules of history". the religiously-minded tend to point out that this shows that we have been kept going for a Reason. our offshoots, christianity, islam and so on, have also required us as a reference point, although not always in a good way. however, i think i should note that the violence and dispossession occurred principally in christian europe. jews did extremely well in the islamic world and the orient, following the silk road all the way to china.

the other thing, of course, is the robustness of our religious system and its ability to evolve whilst remaining essentially conservative. our social model is also key; our stance on both intermarriage and conversion - if we had continued to evangelise we would probably have been diluted out of recognition and assimilated, likewise with intermarriage, because of the number of people involved being so small. frankly, a lot of the things people are always attacking us for (our independence and bloodymindedness about who we are and what we live and die for) are the things that preserve us.

b'shalom

bananabrain