Welcome to the Opium Merchant
2 Iyar, 5784 (May 10, 2024)
What is The Opium Merchant?
Once upon a time in the colonial days of India lived a family of Baghdadi Jewish merchants named the Sassoons. Dubbed “the Rothschilds of the East,” the Sassoons were among the wealthiest families in India. Their willingness to work with the British while wholly embracing their Jewish culture enriched their trade empire which included cotton, financing and opium . As Sassoon patriarchs were dining with English royals, Jews passing through their global trading posts were stopping to pray with their on-site Rabbis. This was the epitome of Jewish mercantilism in the East.
Unfortunately, we’re not the Sassoons. The only opium we have to offer is our stimulating content.
The reason we’re starting this Substack is because we believe that Jews are lagging behind in a pivotal moment in Western history. For 1,500 years, Jews were the only notable stateless minority to be found across the Christian world, and this was a fact we were constantly and unpleasantly reminded of. Just as things began to change, just as it seemed like a tide of liberalism was sweeping across the West, bringing with it the emancipation of Jews, and an end to nearly 2,000 years of persecution, one of the greatest calamities in Jewish history wiped a third of our people out of existence. It was as if G-d Himself was giving us a reminder that things will never truly change. Deep lessons have been learned from this cruel poetry.
Since the disaster of the Shoah, however, things have changed. Jews aren’t stateless today, nor are we the only minority anymore. In fact, there is no country in the Western world today where Jews are the most notable national minority, and the minorities who took our place in the West are far more foreign to the Western tradition than we are. The leading nation of the Western world (for those that need clarification, it’s the United States) has a culture of philosemitism going back 300 years. When anti-Western belligerents around the globe impotently scream “death to America,” their chants are always paired with or preceded by “death to Israel”. It begs our attention and analysis to understand why this is the case.
For the first time in history, Jews can no longer understand ourselves as outsiders to Western civilization. Today, Jews are Westerners. Most people in the West see us as such, as do those who hate the West. The only people who haven’t seemed to have caught up to this reality are Jews themselves.
To be clear, this is not a call to abandon what makes us as Jews unique and assimilate into non-existence. What it is is a call for a fundamental shift in our understanding of where Jews fit in the world. It’s a call to understand that the continued success and wellbeing of the Jewish people is inherently tied to the continued success and wellbeing of the West. It’s a call to understand that what is in the broad interest of the Western world is, generally, also in the interest of the Jewish people. It’s a call to understand that Western civilization is not a force of persecution that Jews need fear anymore, but a force of liberty and freedom that we have a shared duty to defend. Nobody ever said we can’t participate in global Western trading empires while putting Rabbis in all our trading posts. This also does not preclude Jews or Jewish organizations from expanding relationships in the East. The UAE and fraternal emirate states are embracing access to Western markets like never before. Jews have historically been a bridge between the economies of East and West and, with this growing cooperation, Jews have a chance to once again play that central role. The Abraham Accords are a positive step in that direction.
I’m sure many of our readers already agree with this basic sentiment but, for those who don’t, we invite you to follow our Substack with an open mind. Sincere, well-informed, and spirited debate is one of the most admirable traditions of our people, and we will always keep our comment sections open so that you can share your thoughts with us. We will of course delve into other tangential topics as well that we think will be of interest to you.
And with that, allow us to briefly introduce the contributing Merchants:
Abba Eben is a maple syrup sabra autist who reads academic works that none of the other merchants read, and is a self-described “expert agent provocateur”. A short king if there ever was one.
Beau Chasse is a Jewish Canadian who serves as a backroom Conservative Party political influencer by day, and a right-wing Zionist shitposter by night. He also has a background as an activist and a journalist, through which he has developed a healthy disregard for both.
Lawless Levite is a Jewish American with an Israeli and Indo-Iraqi background. He’s been the primary operator of LEZM instagram account, and when not obsessing over firearms as a G-d fearing American, he’s watching his investments and building a farm.
In closing:
As the Substack evolves over time, we are determined to expand our media to include a podcast. Some followers have already pledged monetary contributions to our Substack. Though we’re currently not asking for it, we wholly appreciate the material support of our endeavors here. We can promise that the shekels given to us will be spent to expand our content and acquire any audio video infrastructure needed for future projects.
Have a blessed Shabbat on this day of 2 Iyar, 5784 (May 10, 2024)