Where We Hope To Land

Human Attention Tends To Be Focused On The Satisfactions Relationships Are Hoped To Bring, Precisely Because Somehow They Have Not Been Truly Satisfactory. And If They Do Satisfy, The Price Of This Satisfaction Has Often Been Found To Be Unacceptable.

When Opting Out From Partnership Is So Easy, Every Minor Disagreement Is Perceived As A Major Catastrophe And Irreparable Disaster.

Some Dozens Of Years Ago, There Was A Debate Conducted Between People Insisting That "this Loaf Of Bread Must Be Redistributed," And The Others Who Said "instead Of Worrying About Redistributing It, Cutting Differently, Let's Make It Bigger." A Third Possibility Was Not Imagined: That The Loaf May Be Shrinking. But It Is Now A Genuine Possibility. It Is Even Acting Upon Already, Like In The Case Of The American Invasion Of Afghanistan And Of Iraq In Order To Secure The Supply Of Petrol For The Americans Addicted To Gas-guzzling Cars.

Throughout Early Modernity There Were Very Strong Pressures On Jews To Assimilate. Assimilating Meant Cutting Your Ties With The Community Of Origin.

As Long As Being A Stranger And Surrounded By Strangers Was Seen As A Temporary Irritant, A Smallest Departure From The Binding Rules Of Conduct By A Member Of A Minority, Was Taken For A Major Crime Justifying Deportation.