Reply #7: F. Scott Fitzgerald said that

[elias7]

“the true test of a first-rate mind is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time.”

I would suggest to Ira Chernus to consider his own dissonance, seemingly unable to hold the truth of Jewish identity alongside his own sense of moral rightness; rather he separates himself from this idea, and since, knowing "both ideas can't be true", relates to his invalidated side with paternalistic analysis.

The problem is that both ideas are valid, and seen together weave an intricate and disturbing and longstanding dissonance, like many things in our lives do. Shut down or embrace it, your choice, but see both sides. Moral certainty is an illusion.:shrug: