Getting stuff done.

[gridlore]

Couple of hundred words on my intensely detailed outline/time line for the Concordat. isomeme will be pleased, the first ship ever to make a FTL jump was built by a team from Harvey Mudd and was named the West Dorm.

One of things sitting in my notes and ideas folder is what I'm doing with the Jews in this setting. One of the big points in my history is the Last Jihad. This sis the result of what fusion power does to oil prices, and the economies of the oil-producing states. (Can you say "crash and burn"? Knew you could!) This creates a whole new crop of frothing radicals, who go on a fifteen year rampage. Part of this, of course, is trying to destroy Israel. With bioweapons.

This is the last straw. When FTL becomes available, the Israelis are in the forefront of scouting. They find a garden world, claim it, and move there lock, stock, and Western Wall. (Yes, they take the whole thing with them.) Once they get to their new home, they convert the colony ships to war craft, and post "Stay out (unless you're Jewish, then come in.. we have cake!)" signs on all the approaches. While the rest of humanity scrambles to reach more systems, the Israelis develop their one.

By the "present day" (2466, in my concept) New Israel is still independent, restricts gentile visitors to certain sections of the planet, and is armed to the teeth.

Never again, indeed.

But something occurred to me. Here we have a world surrounded by the Concordat, yet independent. With the muscle to back it up. Know what that suggests to me? Switzerland in space. And what did the Swiss become famous for?

Banking. Yes, without intending it, I've put the Jews of the Future right into the stereotypical role of being bankers. It's not like the don't have the experience. And being a financial center for the whole of human space is certainly lucrative. I'm just amused at that image.

BTW, for my Hebrew speaking friends.. please help me with a better name for this new homeland than New Israel. I'm trying to avoid too many "New This" and "New That" in my world names.

Comments

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

Well, depending on how influential the Qabbalists were in the foundation of the new homeland, you could call it "Malkuth," aka the World in the Aether.

[arib.livejournal.com]

I'll see if I can think of something. I could at least give you "New Israel" in hebrew, if you'd like. Names of Jewish cities from the Bible (Shilo, Hebron, etc.) might be appropriate. Maybe Masada, after the ancient stronghold?

Also, the Western Wall is just a wall, they'd probably try to take the whole Temple Mount with 'em, it's what really counts, if you attach meaning to geography. :-)

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

Huh. Well, the Islamists certainly consider that place rather sacred. Might make for an interesting plotline or historical note, the attempt(s) of Islamists by that period to retake that particular hill.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

New Israel in Hebrew would be nice. If nothing else, it would probably fly right by most English readers. (I recently had to explain the meaning of Nova Scotia to someone.)

I'm certain there will be a fair number of Biblical names, but given the nature of the world, you're also going to see Russian, Yiddish, and English names as well. "Welcome to New Queens!"

[arib.livejournal.com]

"New Israel" would translate as Yisrael HaChadash. I still think Masada might be an appropriate name for a planet/continent/what have you, based on what you've described. (Following military assaults, Jews hid away somewhere and armed themselves to the teeth.)

[kengr]

However, I think there's an author of militasry SF who uses either Masada or a rather obvious variant on it as the homeworld of jhis Jewish mercernaries.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.. Make Masada the code name for a series of asteroids in the system outfitted as an emergency shelters/cultural lifeboats/bad ass battle stations. If it ever becomes necessary to run for it, the Masada stations will ensure that as many citizens as possible will escape, along with enough material to start over somewhere else.

After frying as many invaders as possible.

[arib.livejournal.com]

So, they're all Type 2 Jews?

A comedian, maybe Jon Stewart referred to the two different types of Jews in the world.

Type 1 Jews are the most common, you see them in most parts of the world. They're nice folks, and they'll be your doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc.

Type 2 Jews are primarily found in Israel, and can be typically found saying sentences like, "Hey Shlomo, hold my M-16, I'm taking a piss..."

:-)

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

LOL!

Well, considering what happens during The Last Jihad (2030-2045), Type 2 Jews are going to be in the majority, for a time.

[10binary-cats.livejournal.com]

What *does* happen in The Last Jihad?

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

After the development of reliable fusion power, the world market for oil crashes. As do the economies of the OPEC nations. Radicals, seeing their money and political power skipping, launch increasingly desperate attacks on anything they deem unholy. This culminates with an all-out biowar attack on Israel.

This makes Israel even more paranoid, and aggresive. By 2045, IDF tanks are overlooking Mecca.

[dafydd.livejournal.com]

And what did the Swiss become famous for?

Shoot. I was thinking mercenaries...

[aurictech.livejournal.com]

Which brings to mind Joel Rosenberg's Metzadan Mercenary Corps stories, thus nicely closing the loop.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

There's another good possibility. After all, every military needs to blood its troops occasionally.

Makes me wonder how many troops in the Colonial Legion will be from New Israel?

[10binary-cats.livejournal.com]

Could make for an interesting mix/clash of cultures in La Legion. Could make for a fair smattering of french bistros on the Jewish homeworld. Is the wildlife on >New Israel< compatible with human biology? Is it Kosher?

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Currently, I'm making New Israel biologically close to Earth norms. (In fact, I'm going with the idea that a lot of worlds with life were influenced by space-born viri, allowing cloeser biologies that you'd expect from random chance abiogenesis.) We can eat the local life, and some of it can also eat us.

The Kosher arguments will keep rabbis happy and fully employed for the first few generations. Based on my li,ited knowledge, and a qick set of Google searches, the primary qualifications for the dinner table for animals is that they have cloven hooves and chew cud. The odds of evolution producing those characteristics on NI are slim, at best.

However, I could see where after much deliberation, the rabbis would decide that since the restriction refers to "beasts of the Earth" (Leviticus 11:2) that the animals on NI represent a new class, and need to be judged on a case by case basis.

[caprine.livejournal.com]

Fascinating premise.