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Thanks much. That’s a term I hadn’t heard, or had completely forgotten about along the way (I can’t ever tell any more, arrg). In any case, I looked that up.

I enjoy these types of thinking exercises because I’m always on the lookout for some odd angle. In the case of the ship, for example...

... what if the replacement boards had come from trees grown from seed of the trees that formed the original hull?

It can get pretty murky quickly.

Taking that into the questions and definitions of human identity, here’s where I might inadvertently ‘cross a line ‘ for no readers in particular. But for anyone who can appreciate the simple innocence of the thought process:

I know there are many bad actors out there, and people who will help themselves to others’ identities given the opportunity... such as, those who can trace their born-in-the-USA ancestry back several generations, yet their beliefs and actions proclaim ‘card-carrying commie hell-bent on the destruction of America.’

Something went missing in the DNA, or this was an alien seed from the start. Un-American.

So, one thing I’ve come upon repeatedly is in the topic of Jewish conversion — that a convert is not to be treated as any less of a Jew than one who was born from a Jewish mother.

The reasoning goes something like this, that the conversion is evidence that the person’s soul was present at Sinai along with all the rest, but got separated. And in fact, this soul is on a higher level for managing to make the long, arduous journey home after thousands of years of wandering through the world of Gentile nations. Ergo, that’s one motivated soul! Kol hakavod, all the respect, don’t diss the convert..

What happened is that this concept merged in my mind (I’m always looking from the outside in) along with the traditional explanation that the Temples were destroyed on account of baseless hatred.

So I thought about these Jewish souls lost in the Gentile world — stashed deep cover so to speak — yet there is so much chatter and lamentation about all the ways that Esau and gang cause trouble, maybe not in a hostile sense but through assimilation. America — ground zero for assimilation, for Jewish souls losing their way! Everyone gets along! Don’t they know better? Chanukah bushes, exhibit A.

And so this doesn’t appear to count as lashon hara because they’re the Gentile enemies of the Jewish People since time immemorial, or something like that.

Like I said, there are some truly bad characters out there, not to mention all the depravity, and everyone has a right to self-defense, and to live righteously without being attacked for it, but who’s to say in this vast sea of humanity what Gentile is actually one of those Jewish souls still on its long journey home?

As an analog to this Sinai convert narrative, Americans in their heart and soul were Americans before they made it home to the physical shoreline. That’s why they made the arduous journey.

Has this grand scheme of souls on their journeys occurred to anyone? Because if it had, it might cause a shift in how others are perceived and treated on any given day.

I’ve seen that the book of Jonah is read on Yom Kippur because Jonah is analogous to the soul on its journey:

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/430304/jewish/The-Story-of-Your-Life.htm

Well anyway, this is not in any way meant to accuse anyone of anything. I’m always on a separate frequency. That much is obvious. I like to find ways that people should *want* to get along. New ways of approaching “difficult” questions, for those truly in search of solutions far above the world where nothing ever changes.

It sort of reminds me of the trope about the king going out in disguise to mingle with his subjects, but the only person who recognizes him is a lowly maidservant. She treats him like royalty, even though he looks like something the cat dragged in.

Finally, a worthy bride for the lonely king.