Brazil, the promised land E-Book

Bruno Feigelson

• Herausgeber: Ed. 5W
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 200

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Do you really know the story of the Jewish people? Do you know the most fascinating aspects of their immigratory movements around the world? With great mastery, writer Bruno Feigelson recount the creation of a nation that relied greatly on the contribution of the Jewish community – and the reasons of why it will become a true paradise on earth.

Leseprobe

Copyright © 2016 by Bruno Feigelson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any eletronic or mechanical means without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Ed 5W , 2, Praça Mahatma Gandhi, Cinelândia, Rio de Janeiro, RJ – CEP 20031-100 : 

Design by Leonardo Miranda and Verônica Paranhos

Translation by Wide Traduções Técnicas

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

AUTHOR’S NOTE

INTRODUCTION

WHERE WE COME FROM

WHERE WE ARE GOING: POSSIBLE PATHS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To God, in the broader sense; the One that regular human instruments – despite man’s arrogance for believing that we’re the great masters of this world – are not capable of understanding, but that the most innocent and ignorant of souls can naturally learn to love.

To my ancestors, whose identities were mostly lost over the course of history, but who somehow manifested, even if subconsciously, their inner Me. I thank you for having lived the way you lived, for having been who you were, for having chosen what you chose and, in doing so, making it possible to get to this point where I fortunately have the opportunity to live in a place like Brazil, which is certainly the closest we’ll ever be to the biblical prophecies on paradise, and where I can practice Judaism after centuries of persecution in a free and integrated fashion within a society that has much  to improve, but also so much to teach the world.

I would like to extend a special thank you to my father, who always candidly and affectionately shared his perception on the past and tried, in a visionary fashion, to show us the challenges and beauties that are yet to come into fruition in this world. To my mother and to my brother, with whom I share an indescribable bond and without whom life would be meaningless. And to Nice, who has tagged along with me over the past decade embarking on journeys of knowledge and discovery of Brazil, Israel, the world and the day-to-day, making me company in this beautiful adventure we call life.

Last but not least, I’d like to thank my editor, Guilherme Tolomei, my long-time friend, adventure and project companion, whose participation and comments were imperative to get this work in the hands of readers.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

This work has been created aiming to provide a great and effortless reading. In this regard, we chose not to present footnotes. When necessary, there are references about the works and authors that evoked particular excerpts in the text body. In addition, it should be highlighted that the material used as basis to many topics in this project was widely researched.

Thus, the following book does not present academic features, but empirical analysis, that in many moments is based in data and renowned authors. Therefore, it is about a reflection chain, aiming to contribute somehow to this country. It is a book elaborated by someone who really believes in Brazil, and has the understanding that it is possible to help with a different perspective from the ones that already exist.

Some questions still remain in relation to the origin of the term that names our nation. Some studies mention that “Brazil” is related to a Celtic legend, in which the word designated a blessed land, full of delights, that was in a certain way hidden by dense clouds. Therefore, we face an area that reckoned on a large range of mysticism and expectations even before its formal “discovery” by Portuguese people. A promised land in European imagination, which will need lots of investments from Brazilians to became the paradise they aim at.

In the prologue to the Hebrew translation of Totem and Taboo, written by Sigmund Freud, there is a reflection expressed about his Jewish condition. The author ask about what is left of Jewish in him, as he had abandoned all the common signs to his fellow countrymen. The founder of psychoanalysis answers this question exposing that what is left is a huge part of it, probably its own essence. However, Freud mentions that in that moment he could not express this essence clearly in words, but that someday, with no doubt, it would be accessible to the scientific spirit.

In despite of a mystical perception of what can be considered of this Jewish essence, it seems necessary try to understand it by the light of reason. Jewish people, throughout history, even though in a small number – in different historical moments, the percentage regarding humankind as a whole varied, but an average that does not exceed 0,2% can be worked with –, always contributed to society’s evolution in a substantial way, in different areas of human knowledge. This fact cannot be denied not even by the most extreme Anti-Semites.

It is understood that such incidence did not happen due to genetics, or even religious issues, considering that even Jews that are, or will be, in the greatest list of personalities in human history, overwhelmingly, were or are in the secular group. If mysticism was the predominant element of great Jewish deeds in history, its main characters would certainly be orthodox.

Consequently, what is determined, in accordance with a more progressive vision of Judaism, is that this people’s role is to contribute with the improvement of the world. It is about an eminent tradition related to acting, to doing, to building, and also ruled by breaking the status quo.

Abraham, the first Jew, abandoned his idolatry-based country, and presented a new way to understand the existence, based in an almighty and omnipresent creator.  An extremely avant-garde and rebel perspective for  the age. Moses, in turn, established moral concepts that would rule life in the Western millennia later. Besides that, he led a slave group, facing one of the most powerful empires in ancient times. The confrontation of the established situation is in the people’s DNA, as Rabbi Nilton Bonder observes, in a work that has the same name of the term that he develops throughout the book; this will for innovation, for breaking paradigms is a manifest of “immoral soul”. The apparent paradox that is determined in a traditional group, that in an unique way crossed different eras of humankind, being present in three quarters of civilization’s history – even without a national home and a main place great part of the time–, and the people that innovate in different human knowledge areas may be a side to the Jewish essence exposed by Freud.

Therefore, it may be possible to search in the essence of what Judaism would be, the answers to some of the dilemmas in Brazilian life. Judaism, as all the other elements that are part of the Brazilian society, should work hard to contribute with a country that will have a leading part in the world. In a highly troubled period of human’s history, in which economical, religious, provisioning and environmental issues which challenges human race’s future, a stronger country that really knows itself will be essential to contribute to the conflict’s resolution process.

Brazil’s success is relevant not only for Brazilians, but for the whole planet. Just by understanding such premises is that the country will move forward. It is possible that the ticunolam principle, that is, “perfecting the world”, something that all Jews should follow, has to be taken over by the Brazilian nation, notably facing its marrano origin.

As there will be, shortly, the opportunity of a more detailed exposure, Jews, besides being one of the religious groups currently located in Brazil – individuals that have good social exposure, due to their contributions in different areas, in spite of a low proportion of such group facing the largest population in the country –, are also one of the ethnicities that compose the Brazilian population.

From the ethnic point of view, Jewish percentage is high. The number of marranos – the term, that can also be replaced by New Christians, mainly designates Jewish individuals, especially from the Iberian Peninsula; who while facing Inquisition were forced to convert themselves, keeping Judaism, in many cases, as secret, sometimes for several generations – that colonized the country in the first few centuries is huge, which could suggest that, as we discuss the composition of Brazilian’s population, we then define that we consist of Natives, Africans and Portuguese people, largely Jews forcedly converted.

And as important as it is that Brazilians deeply know the Native, African and Portuguese culture influences, as they are the national identity roots, it is also essential to understand what is Jewish, even though it is unconscious, in the Brazilian soul, considering that Jewish blood runs through Brazilian veins – even if such ancestry is unknown by most of the population.

The Greek aphorism “Know thyself” is applicable to Brazil. It is necessary to know your origins, your roots, to effectively understand who you are and your role in the world. In an interesting study called “Out of Focus: diversity and ethnic identities in Brazil”, Simon Schwartzman, former IBGE president, demonstrates the existing relationship between family origins’ knowledge and people’s income in the country. A summarized conclusion is that individuals who identify their origins tend to have a higher income than the ones who cannot specify their family ancestry. What is noticeable is that the Brazilian population in general does not know much about Judaism, which means that they know little about one of the elements that compose their existence.

Explaining the history of a nation that has been present in over three quarters of humankind history is obviously a hard task, and it is practically impossible to be exposed in a single work. Also, because of the fact that there are lots of controversies involved in understanding this history. Works such as Simon Schama’s, which is based on archeological findings, are opposed in many ways to biblical evidences, just to mention a single example of what can be found in a minimal research about Jewish history.  Even the book   The invention of the Jewish people, by Shlomo Sand, that deeply questions certain classical Jewish perceptions, could give a whole different perception concerning who Jewish people are to a reader with little background about the theme.

Freud himself, in his classical work Moses and monotheism, raises the hypothesis that Moses, one of the greatest figures in Judaism, would be Egyptian, and, more than that, the people he led would have killed their savior in an uprising moment. Independently from controversies, it is clear that the author’s ideologies always influence the way of narrating the same episode, or searching an explanation for this fact.

This is not a book to analyze revisionist theories about Jewish people,  nor does it intend to trace an eminently religious analysis. We will  try,  in the best possible way, to pick out certain aspects from the huge concept that composes the term Judaism.

Jewish identity is one of the greatest challenges in the modern world, which in a certain way draws and intensifies deep discussions that were already called upon in the last centuries. Understanding what it means “to be Jewish” is not a simple task. So, I am not proposing to offer the reader a simplistic conception. Saying if Judaism is a religion, a national group, a philosophical perception, and seeking for its origins through a non-linear history, are not the main objectives of this work.

The aim is, throughout both parts that compose this work, to analyze Judaism’s strong elements, related to religious, national, people’s and even in certain moments mystical perceptions, to contextualize them with the Brazilian reality. Certainly, it is a subjective task. That is, if the current work was written by another author, the highlighted elements would be different.

There is a saying that expresses: “Ask two Jews and get three opinions.” As it is noticeable in this book, even though it is a group composed by a limited number of individuals, the consistency of opinions is not something typically Jewish. This is an attribute that, by the way,  is highly interesting,  as it demonstrates an absence of dogmatic in its essence and exhales a true democratic spirit.

Throughout history, Jews debated uncountable questions, including their own identity. Therefore, I alert the reader: I do not speak on behalf of the people, but in my name, even though, as a Jew, I am entitled to understand reality from a Jewish point of view - whether it is accepted by the majority of people or not.

Having made preliminary considerations, followingthe message writtenby Jeremiah to the people, during the exile period imposed by Nebuchadnezzar, which said: “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper”, I believe it is possible that a Jewish perception may help Brazil to prosper and, in this way, that the nation’s mission to contribute with the future of humankind materializes.

INTRODUCTION

HA-ARETZHAMUVTACHAT

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)

“Brazil, country of the future”, saying that torments Brazilian hearts, but that has become one of the most relevant slogans of the nation, was created by an European Jew, who among many others have seen in fertile lands of South America a salvation path to Nazi persecution. Unfortunately, many others did not have the same opportunity – approximately six million Jews, over than a third of this population that inhabited the globe at that period, were brutally and mechanically murdered, simply because of their ancestry.

Among the victims of this atrocity were atheist communists, small village religious people, great industrialists from the bourgeoisie, doctors, scientists and peasants. Men, women, children and elders. It means, completely different types of people, that just had a Semitic ancestry in common. From  a practical point of view, that did not mean a thing, their ways of living and reality perceptions were in some points strongly different and even opposites.

Bernard Wasserstein, in his work On the Eve, that discusses Jewish life in Europe during the period before World War II expresses that “economically, they went from a discrete elite of rich plutocrats to a horde of poor hawkers, street vendors and beggars. A great minority, mainly from Mid and Eastern Europe, was rigidly orthodox; another part, particularly in Western Europe and in the Soviet Union was completely secularized; a broad and ordinary majority  of  semi-traditionals  were  comfortably  selective  in  their  degree of religious practice. Politically, Jews were deeply divided, but none of the ideologies in which they trusted, whether liberalism, socialism or Zionism, offered any immediate solution to their unpleasant situation.”

It is not hard to conceive that, in this terrifying environment, Stefan Zweig, Austrian writer, in 1941, published a work in which he considered the country as the future. The own vision of the foreign writer, especially his immediate and sincere love for Brazil, attracted thousands of individuals in different periods of history to the country. Yet, even though many people do not know the content of his work, certainly the book title is normally recognized by itself, as if the term followed the country’s fortune since the early days. Who would not complete the expression “country of the future” with the word “Brazil”?

This sentence, however, has two different connotations, that well expresses Brazilian’s popular ambivalence. In certain moments, especially in peaks of huge economic cycles, mainly of a specific commodity – as it was the case of the second decade in 21st century –, we say “Brazil, country of the future” in  a confident, proud and lucky way to live in one of the most promising lands of the world. On the other hand, in depression moments, notably  in the end of economic boom years, the sentence is used with a high level of mockery, announcing reproach. It is as if, as a last resource, it is proven that the future reserved to Brazil will never arrive, and that we are destined to live in a country that will never be in the present, that will never become what we expect.

We can suppose that a similar thought must have been through many Jews’ minds throughout diaspora millennia. During the centuries that separated the departure of Jews from their territory, in the 1st century, and the reconstruction of Israel State, in the 20th century, long period in which the people wandered through different parts of the world, certainly the spark that indicated the return to their homeland, also included in prayers and cultural expressions of the people, was not constantly strong, leading to episodes of disbelief and despair.

However, the incredible conservation of beliefs while coming back    to Jerusalem that lasted for many generations for approximately two thousand years was essential for that dream to come true. The spark was never off and even while facing persecution and adverse conditions, Jews have always kept the dream of coming back and refunding their State alive.

The same way, Brazilians cannot lose their faith that there will be a day in which Brazil will become their dreamed land, even if for that a lot of effort has to be made.

Brazilian’s self-criticism, that in some moments could be seen as certain collective bipolarity and that goes from euphoria to depression in record speed, should be understood and explained by several factors. I do not intend to answer such complex question, just admit that, in a certain level, such characteristic is a positive sign. Laughing at oneself, criticizing oneself, not having a blind arrogance or an absolute certainty of what one is, are inherent characteristics to intelligent human beings, which have a huge potential to  be memorable to many people’s lives. And, in a nation’s context, that can also be noted as a very positive sign.

We do not need deep digressions, not even mentioning the successful role of Brazilian’s diplomacy for decades, to admit that Brazil and Brazilians are dear to a great part of this planet’s inhabitants. Just by interacting with the globe, it will be noticeable that being Brazilian is an attraction attribute, a nationality that opens doors, and that, differently from so many others, does not face resistance by the largest part of individuals. It can be said that Brazilians are generally cherished, and that happens especially due to the country’s history and the posture of the nation and their natives. We are commonly remembered as an extrovert, joyful, half-breed, musical, sports people. These are certainly favorable characteristics.

Obviously, the excess of self-criticism is something negative. As the popular saying expresses, the dose makes the poison. The overdose of self

-criticism is what Brazilians define as “mongrel complex”. The expression created by Nelson Rodrigues had the trauma that the nation suffered in 1950 as basis, when the Brazilian team was defeated by Uruguayans in Maracanã– episode famously defined as “Maracanaço”.

How can a soccer game, a single match, affect a nation so strongly? The date July 16, 1950 is certainly rooted in the national soul. The day which the victory convictions about a very positive campaign from the team, that would have the nickname of “canarinho” (little canary) in the future, originated a national mourning. My paternal grandfather, Samuel, was among the two hundred thousand people, an unbeatable record until this date of the stadium that is in the heart of Rio de Janeiro. He told me, a certain time that he was squeezed, shoulder to shoulder, with so many people, and he suffered, as all the country’s population, with the defeat.

In the documentary Dossiê 50: Comício a favor dos náufragos, Geneton Moraes Neto presents remarkable interviews with the team players who never recovered from the episode. Many of them took the bitter taste of defeat for decades, and never recovered from the trauma. In my opinion, even with the victory of the team in 1958 World Cup, the feeling was in the national subconscious, in a certain way, tormenting great international challenges. It is about a country’s trauma, a kind of collective subconscious self-sabotage trap. When we are about to materialize something big, the ghost of 1950 World Cup surrounds the nation, remembering that even in great achievement moments, of greatest certainty, something bad can happen.

It would be very important to bring this trauma back, just like many others, to the national conscious plan. This exercise can be a good way to avoid future collective self-sabotage. Judaism, as philosophy and religion, approaches its traumas in several moments of the year, in several occasions and rituals in an explicit way. A good example is related to the act of breaking a glass during the wedding ceremony.

The act holds several symbolisms, and among them, the memory of the destruction of Sacred Temple is highlighted. It is a way to remember the Fall of Jerusalem, the beginning of Jewish journey around the world, the diaspora. The Temple extermination goes beyond the loss of a physical building, the homeland loss, but the end of a cycle, and the beginning of a new instability era, the need to be an outsider in a hostile world, that does not accept differences easily.

In a joyful act, in a sharing moment between two souls, Judaism does not allow people to forget their loss, their trauma. The glass is not broken in a bitter way, but by trusting the perpetration besides challenges and difficulties. Remembering problems that happened, understanding experienced episodes, including traumas, is an important link between past and future - it helps on building a better world.

What can be said, then, about 2014 defeat, during the second Brazilian World Cup?

Somehow, new times softened traumas and glory, fast information and the speed of life and facts do not allow us to ruminate a defeat for many years.

Besides that, the billionaire market of soccer makes deeper questions related to sports get lost when there is more prosaic questions. In addition, we cannot deny that the result, seven-one against Germany, emphasizes the mongrel complex.

Brazilian’s optimism and irreverence were beaten by German’s systematic coldness, a fact that resulted in a simpler conclusion to many: more pragmatism is necessary; we need to be more methodic and less passionate. Especially against Germany, a country that would feature  one of the biggest episodes  of human massacre approximately seventy years earlier. Until today, many people cannot understand, including Jews, how such an advanced, educated and polite country was the origin and accepted so well the Nazi regime, responsible for this cruelty. It is a paradox to imagine that such a civilized nation put all their institutions to work for such barbarity. What does it mean to be civilized? Or even advanced? What does progress without content mean?

There are no arguments against facts, and there is nothing that can be done to erase the experience such a soccer shame. We lost, and we were appalled. I believe that, in the future, the episode will be unfortunately remembered as a benchmark, the end of an era, a period that comprehended a great economic growth, great euphoria. At this moment, we were finally seen as “Brazil, country of the present”, even in an international level from the BRICS acronym.

BRICS acronym, that refers to Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, was created by Jim O’Neill, in 2001, and it would become a great antidote, even if palliative, to the mongrel complex. It was a golden decade, in which we experienced growth indexes and an improvement in life conditions. Everything conspired to materializing the great national dream, by establishing a victorious and prosper nation.

It is a fact that 2015 will be considered a delicate moment in Brazilian history, a hangover year– if we can put it like that –, when all the euphoria from previous years implied in weird results for economy and politics, but mainly for the national self-esteem.