Since there are on going border clashes between Ashkenazian and Ukrainian forces, I felt it might be pertinent to have this discussion. Ashkenazia is the only country in Europe that can't trace its history beyond the 20th century. It is also, if we don't count the nutters in Jaffa, the only majority Jewish state in the world, bordering as it does the Danubian Federation to the West, Romania to the south. aforementioned Ukraine in the East, along the Bug River and Russia to the North. Its not exactly the best neighbourhood. Danubia mostly likes Ashkenazia, as a bulwark against Russia, Russia itself is grudgingly accepting of the new management in Zhitomir, as it has been of most things since 1905. But its Ukraine that has the historic biggest problems with Ashkenazia, the country sits on what Ukraine thinks should be its western half, it also occupies Odessa, arguably the best port on the Black Sea, a huge chunk of Ashenazia's population is ethnically Ukrainian, it pushes Ukraine even further away from Europe etc, etc. The list goes on, Ukrainian nationalists view Ashkenazi as a massive gaping wound. And one that not going away any time soon.
Weirdly there are members of the Orthodox Jewish community that wouldn't disagree with this stance, for some amongst that community, Ashkenazia is an insult. See Ashkenazi was founded at a critical time for the diaspora, just as the Russian Empire, the historical bulwark of anti-Semitism, was failing through Nicholas's hands, Jewish emigration to the Levant, the historic site of... Israel, was starting to take off, the was in 1905, the beginning of the hope of reclaiming Zion. Then, Ashkenazia pops up, proclaims itself a haven for Jews, and at a stroke, the hope of a Levantine Jewish state died, seemingly forever, and the Orthodox hardliners have not forgotten nor forgiven. Well at least Arabia normalised relations with Zhitomir, before Pressburg did if you can believe it. The question facing the Orthodox is whether or not to accept Ashkenazia as the closest to Israel they're going to get, or if there should be a hard separation between 'Israel' and 'Ashkenazia'. For the moment though calling the place Israel, seemingly just leads to fights.
There is also the question of whether or not Ashkenazia can be seen as 'European', on the one hand its slightly to eastern, despite being very western, slightly too religious, despite having a secular constitution. Its seems firmly in-between, neither one nor the other. Ironically this is more than likely the result of the nation slowly fusing different identities over the decades as jews have emigrated from all over the world. But what are your thoughts on Ashkenazia?
Luath.
Weirdly there are members of the Orthodox Jewish community that wouldn't disagree with this stance, for some amongst that community, Ashkenazia is an insult. See Ashkenazi was founded at a critical time for the diaspora, just as the Russian Empire, the historical bulwark of anti-Semitism, was failing through Nicholas's hands, Jewish emigration to the Levant, the historic site of... Israel, was starting to take off, the was in 1905, the beginning of the hope of reclaiming Zion. Then, Ashkenazia pops up, proclaims itself a haven for Jews, and at a stroke, the hope of a Levantine Jewish state died, seemingly forever, and the Orthodox hardliners have not forgotten nor forgiven. Well at least Arabia normalised relations with Zhitomir, before Pressburg did if you can believe it. The question facing the Orthodox is whether or not to accept Ashkenazia as the closest to Israel they're going to get, or if there should be a hard separation between 'Israel' and 'Ashkenazia'. For the moment though calling the place Israel, seemingly just leads to fights.
There is also the question of whether or not Ashkenazia can be seen as 'European', on the one hand its slightly to eastern, despite being very western, slightly too religious, despite having a secular constitution. Its seems firmly in-between, neither one nor the other. Ironically this is more than likely the result of the nation slowly fusing different identities over the decades as jews have emigrated from all over the world. But what are your thoughts on Ashkenazia?
Luath.
