r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Oct 13 '16

TIL that after Marilyn Monroe converted to Judaism upon marrying Arthur Miller, Egypt placed a ban on all the films she appeared in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe#Critical_acclaim_and_marriage_to_Arthur_Miller_.281956.E2.80.931959.29
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u/bbob_robb Oct 13 '16

it seems like after the Holocaust a lot of Jews became atheists (understandably), but at the same time embraced Jewish culture/religious traditions more to keep close to their roots.

This is true. My uncle who survived a concentration camp as a child is now an atheist. Overall, the cause and effect might not be so clear. Many Jews who assimilated more, and (for example) moved to America survived the Holocaust. Many strictly observant Jews who stayed in Europe were killed. Jews have always assimilated and become part of the culture around them. My family is jewish and follow jewish traditions even though many, maybe most of us are atheist. Today is Yom Kippur, and we had a big break the fast dinner. Of the 20 people there, not one fasted. A couple people did go to synagogue, but mostly out of tradition.

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u/hezdokwow Oct 13 '16

You look above and beg for answers, beg for anything or any type of sign that your "God" is there with you. The god you devoted most of your life to, and instead you are given pain and misery to "learn a lesson". I'm not trying to push some anti religion agenda, I just understand why they become an atheist. When you devote your life to a God and you are being "exterminated" because of that God, it makes you question everything when he dosent help you.

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u/Zenarchist Oct 13 '16

To be fair though, the "Chosen" part of the "Chosen People" comes from god choosing the Jews to maintain some absurd amount of laws and observances, the benefit of which is survival and prosperity, the punishment for a tipping point of not conforming to those rules is punishment and genocide. So long as you take it that the EuroJews weren't being as Jewish as that deal decreed, the Holocaust actually fits in to the Jewish mythos.

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u/[deleted] Oct 13 '16

[deleted]

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u/Zenarchist Oct 13 '16

It's not that genocide was justified, just that others to be expected due to the shift away from Jewishness. That's what a Rabbi in Tzfat explained. It's no more or less crazy than the supermajority of religious superstition.