A Tale of Two Wolves

twowolvesMy man Pepe Pringos tipped me off to Uni Avnery’s column about financier James Wolfensohn, the guy who was special envoy to the EU and UN before Tony Blair took on the job, and the much-maligned Jewish former Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz.

What Wolfensohn and Wolfowitz have in common is that both are Jews and have the same name: Son of Wolf, one in the German version and the other in the Russian one. Also, both are past chiefs of the World Bank. But that’s where the similarity ends. …. They personify the two opposite extremes of contemporary Jewish reality. Wolfensohn belongs to the humanist, universal, optimistic, world-embracing trend in Judaism, a man of peace and compromise, an heir to the wisdom of generations. Wolfowitz, at the other end, belongs to the fanatical Judaism that has grown up in the State of Israel and the communities connected with it, a man of overbearing arrogance, hatred and intoxication of power.

Here’s the whole shebang; it’s an interesting read if you have the time. But weirdly, this next bit appeared a few minutes later in my inbox as part of a mass email from a non-Jewish friend:

Two Wolves
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment,
inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Now tell me, that’s some crazy synchronistic sh*t, dontcha think?

2 thoughts on “A Tale of Two Wolves

  1. There’s no coincidences in Judaism yenta — very cool post. My family’s roots are German/Alsatian, so I hope that means we incline towards the Wolfensohnian side … either that or we’re just a domestic breed 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *