Why the Jews?
Today, my son and I were driving in the car, and began having a discusison about why Jews have been hated so deeply and for such a long period of time. Is it because of the issue of them being labeled as Christ killers (even though we now know the Romans actually killed Jesus), does it have to do with their levels of education, affluence, or presence in many top level jobs? Although we are only about 1 percent of the entire world population, just about everywhere you go, you see Jews as a thriving presence in some form or another. Are Jews hated because they are different, were designated as God's chosen people, or is anti-semitism something that has nothing truly to do with Judaism at all?
My son graduated this year from a very good Ivy league university, and indicated that he took an entire class devoted to this very subject of Jew hatred. According to his professor, Judaism, is one of the few religions where people are encouraged to ask questions rather than accept things blindly. Even the most pious of Rabbis can be challenged, when speaking about the mysteries of the Torah or on subjects as complex as the Kabbalah, without offense. Questioning is something very Jewish, and also very different. According to my son, many other religions ask that their followers accept the tenants and principles without questions, thereby making it easier, to a large extent, for those who are in a position of power and control to become even more powerful. Just take a look at how we all argue in blogsville as an example of our inability to conform to opinions. Each question it seems brings about a new questions, the very slogan of my blog.
As we have faced the withdrawal of 9,000 Jews this past week from Gaza and now sections of the west bank, anti-semitism continues to exist and is a very real concern, especially in the middle-east and in many European countries today. Synagogues are burned, people assaulted, and racial slurs abound as many memorials and places of worship are desecrated in the name of Jew hatred. Need the horrors of the programs and the extermination of 6 million Jews alone during the Holocaust even be mentioned as the worst forms of anti-semitism to exist in history.
After 9/11, many people in this country experienced what it meant to feel hated because they were a member of a certain class of people, i.e. Americans. Is it truly the case that many in the Islamic and Arab rule hate Americans in the same way that they hate the Jews? Citizens of this country are beginning to acquire a sliver of understanding of what it means to be hated because of who you are.
Here is the question of the day: Why is do people hate the Jews? Is there something about Judaism and its values that defines the basis of anti-semitism in the world today? Is Jew hatred truly a value issue, relating to economics, ethnicity or education, as well as a religious issue? Does anti-semitism in any way, shape or form, dove tail on anti-Americanism today and if so, in what way?
Anticipating lots of discussion, this post will stay up for several days. Please be respectful and kind, as I know you will, in your comments.
Thank you for your minds.
My son graduated this year from a very good Ivy league university, and indicated that he took an entire class devoted to this very subject of Jew hatred. According to his professor, Judaism, is one of the few religions where people are encouraged to ask questions rather than accept things blindly. Even the most pious of Rabbis can be challenged, when speaking about the mysteries of the Torah or on subjects as complex as the Kabbalah, without offense. Questioning is something very Jewish, and also very different. According to my son, many other religions ask that their followers accept the tenants and principles without questions, thereby making it easier, to a large extent, for those who are in a position of power and control to become even more powerful. Just take a look at how we all argue in blogsville as an example of our inability to conform to opinions. Each question it seems brings about a new questions, the very slogan of my blog.
As we have faced the withdrawal of 9,000 Jews this past week from Gaza and now sections of the west bank, anti-semitism continues to exist and is a very real concern, especially in the middle-east and in many European countries today. Synagogues are burned, people assaulted, and racial slurs abound as many memorials and places of worship are desecrated in the name of Jew hatred. Need the horrors of the programs and the extermination of 6 million Jews alone during the Holocaust even be mentioned as the worst forms of anti-semitism to exist in history.
After 9/11, many people in this country experienced what it meant to feel hated because they were a member of a certain class of people, i.e. Americans. Is it truly the case that many in the Islamic and Arab rule hate Americans in the same way that they hate the Jews? Citizens of this country are beginning to acquire a sliver of understanding of what it means to be hated because of who you are.
Here is the question of the day: Why is do people hate the Jews? Is there something about Judaism and its values that defines the basis of anti-semitism in the world today? Is Jew hatred truly a value issue, relating to economics, ethnicity or education, as well as a religious issue? Does anti-semitism in any way, shape or form, dove tail on anti-Americanism today and if so, in what way?
Anticipating lots of discussion, this post will stay up for several days. Please be respectful and kind, as I know you will, in your comments.
Thank you for your minds.
22 Comments:
Why does one group of people resent another group to the point where they desire to kill one another?
I just don't get it. Sure, they are people whom I hate, loathe, won't tolerate in my life, but I wouldn't kill them. Rather, I just ignore them.
I've always felt that it was probably envy. Still that can't be the entire answer.
Unitarians actually have the highest educational level on average (in the U.S.) Unitarians question everything except having coffee after the service. Nobody bothers to hate Unitarians.
But Jews are way over represented in all of the arts. They are good at a lot of things.
Maybe it's because Judaism is a successful group, INTO WHICH YOU MUST BE BORN. Anyone can become a member of other religions, but Jews are born. True, a person can convert, but they are just Jews religiously. They can never be Jews ethically.
I wonder if your son would write a blog article on what he learned in his class, other than the questioning issue.
Tan lucy,
Great idea! I will ask him if he is interested in doing so. Let me see if he will give up his surfing for a day, lol)
Thank you for the interesting information about the Unitarians as well. These facts were unknown to me.
Actually, there is an excellent book on this very subject that I read a few years ago by Dennis Prager & Rabbi Joseph Telushkun called WHY THE JEWS.
I just thought of this. I don't want you to think in any way that I'm un-validiating you--and Jews by extension-- I'm not. I'm looking at this through the same lens. My perspective, which comes from another misunderstood spirituality, could be summed up by the same question:
Why the Pagans?
We've been slaughtered, hunted, banished. We've been burned at the stake, had our children taken away, had laws made against us, just as the Jews have. We have a lot more in common than at first realized.
One of my favorite books, Yentls Revenge, is an anthology of Jewish womyn writers. "Compost Judiaism" by Sharon Wachsler (whom, oddly, I went to high school with) was one of my favorites in the book (and not because I knew who she was. I didn't figure that out until after I finished the book). She talks of how her childhood rabbi was very Earth centered and always revolved around nature, farming, and moon phases.
Reading her words, as I was sitting on York Beach, days before I was to be married, I realized that Judiasm and Paganism certainly have a lot in common (besides the torture from other religions). And that made sense. Judiasm has been around for--what?--4000 years. Of course it would revolve around Earth, Moon, farming, seasons, animals food. Paganism is concerned with the same things as we consider Earth to be Our Mother.
If the current trend in the US continues, those who practice Islam will be able to say "Why the Muslims."
Like I said above, I just don't get hating someon so bad you kill them. I can understand *wanting* to kill someone--I wanted to kill my mother's husband every time he beat me-- but actually doing it? No way, I can't fathom it.
I think you hit most of the reasons... the false "Christ killer" idea... the disproportiate success... the "Chosen People" concept... All that. But I agree with TLP: Mostly envy. And she makes another interesting point about the "being born into" thing. I mean, one CAN convert to Judaism, of course. But the perception among most gentiles (I think) is that perhaps we're not that welcome. That could be a misperception, but I think it exists as a common perception.
Barbara, I'm sorry you're having trouble with seeing the comment verification letters on my blog. I tried taking it off, and got 5 spam comments in just 10 minutes! Seriously. It's gotten very bad in Pezland, for some reason. Sorry. I had to put it back on.
ap3: I've been gettin spam also and many of the blogs I read have been spammed by the same people/persyn. Me thinks it's a government conspiricy.
Spam, btw, are the only comments I delete from my blog.
No problem..AP3..Thank you for trying.
I think it is that reading glasses, contacts combination..Now I have the glasses on and see fine.
That is sweet.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
My Answer is I DO NOT KNOW WHY? But I have many opinions....
*Unfortunately I wrote a very long comment and it did not work when I hit publish.....so I will have to come back to this. Very frustrated, so sorry. Out of energy for tonight...bye for now.
Your friend!
I can't relate to NJ simply because I'm pretty uneducated on the subject of global anti-semitism... and I've made no secret of that. So I'll stick to what I know personally.
The Jew-hatin' people I've met are ignorant... far too ignorant to even acknowledge the parts of the bible that hail the Jews as "chosen." At least they don't EXPRESS that as a reason... and their knowledge of the bible was unimpressive.
Some people I've met are WASP, pure race, cross-carrying, neo nazi types. And I can only attribute it to brain-washing. They believe what they've been told over and over again, and have no interest in questioning any of it. They are armed with a handful of bible verses which are supposed to justify their intolerance and hatred.
It is difficult to debate people who've let themselves be swallowed, but I still try.
I wish I could say that these people were all easy-to-spot redneck types, but I can't. I've also met people I could get along with just fine, if not for some archaic, non-sensical, hateful view of the world. Many of them are christian type who feel that peace toward Jews will bring the end of earth. There are a couple of things in Revelations that indicate as such - according to their interpretation.
I really don't understand how anyone who calls himself a loving Christian can justify such a caustic view of his fellow man.
One thing that the redneck neo-nazzi types, and the less noticeable anti-semitic christians have in common, is that I've yet to meet someone who felt that way, who has actually known a Jewish person. And that is why I'm so comfortable in calling them ignorant. Its wrong to judge what you can't understand... and it seems especially wrong to judge that which you have never even bothered to try to understand. That seems obvious to me. I simply cannot understand why they aren't coming to that same realization
Anyway, I probably shouldn't even have commented, because I know so little knowledge of this issue in the broad scheme...
Umm...TLP? I respectfully beg to differ. Converts become Jews. If they're female, their children are Jews. Period. And they can't go back. 'Cause once you join, you're part of the tribe. Forever.
As for the hating Jews thing...I don't think there's a logical reason for it. It goes along with the question of why people care so much about the "Israeli/Palestinian conflict," whereas much fewer care about the ethnic cleansing and mass murders in...wherever.
Honestly, I don't have a well-developed, consice answer. There's a phrase from the sages-loosely translated it's "It's a well known fact that Esau hates Jacob." This carries on to their children as well. And...it's the only answer that really makes sense. 'Cause nothing else does. I posted an article on my blog once about how everyone hates the Jews. Why? They're always the bad guys. They're communists, they're the capitalists. They're poor beggers, they're rich misors. They keep seperate, they try to assimilate. No matter what the excuse, there are always some Jews doing the opposite.
So it doesn't make sense.
'Course, then there's also Hitler's reason: They're the concience of the world. They brought morality and G-d. And that's just plain yucky, right? Hmmm....
the reasons for antisemitism is a two fold issue.
1.ignorance definately plays a large part. large segments of the population have no interactions with jews, so believe what others have told them. some tales are amazing and like the game telephone become distorted over time. other tales have their origins in history and now have a life of their own. ex: all jews are into money. historical fact was moneylending was one of the few "trades" if you will that a jew could have in medival europe. this has morphed into some weird ideas about jews, banking and money.
2. segragation. in many communities jews were segragated by the society in which they lived. this allowed for the development of wholesale prejudices about jews, since the "others" didn't know what "they' did over there. afterall they kept to themselves, dressed differently and acted differently.
our religion segragates us from society. depending on the era this selfsegragation can set us further apart from the society inwhich we live. we become out of step with society and consciously do this. this makes the others uncomfortable. discomfort leads to judgements which then lead to prejudice. simplist, yes but take one person and multiply it by hundreds and you have antisemitism.
just read the comments- (sorry should have done so before)
re: converts
judaism doesn't actively seek converts. you may convert if YOU truly want to. that is the key - YOu must want to. once converted you become a jew and are no different than any other jew. same rights, same obligations.
not seeking converts is a historical isssue due to persucution. there were death penalties if a jew was accused of prostelatizing in medival europe.
I was raised in the South where we are taught to be pleasant and "sweet" even through gritted teeth. I grew up with a very militant and cruel mother--I learned very early on that there is no such thing as "people pleasing". There are some people you just cannot please. I consider myself to be a kind and generous person to those I love, but a people pleaser I am not. Most of the time when someone is a people pleaser they are not happy about it. They are sacrificing their own wants and needs to please others. I call this being passive aggressive. I cannot stand it.
You ask, Why the Jews? I wonder this too. I learned so much at the Holocaust Museum in D.C.
I hope to someday talk to you about my heritage in person Barb, and learn a lot from you about Jewish History as I am totaly fascinated by it. Where I was raised, in the church I attended, I was taught to never question the Preacher, or the Bible. You should not even wonder about the Bible--if you are lukewarm, God will spit you out. This is an actual Bible verse. I do not have it memorized as I long age gave up and decided I was VERY lukewarm, almost cool. HA
Have a great day Barb!
Jen
Barb, I think it may be a function of two things. First, as a group Jews are very succesful in most societies and success unfortunately breeds jealousy. Secondly, as a group jews do not completely blend into the societies they live in.
Take the two, envy and visibility and the only thing left is to decide what color to paint the target on your back.
In my mind, the LDS (mormons) are more clannish, more "chosen" and just as succesful as the jews, but they are not as visible. No one is gunning for them
I do hope that someday we will grow beyond this foolishness
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
my belief is that the reason for hatred towards jews is because god wants us to remain stuck together as a nation and not mix with goyim therefore if everyone hates us we have nowhere to go just be together as brothers
JMHO
There is a certain aloofness in Judaism than comes out of the nature of the religion. We were the original monotheists the onus is on Christianity and Islam to prove that somehow God changed his mind about us and that's a big burden. If your whole religion is BASED on our debasement and abandonment by God and yet..here we are flourishing and so sure of ourselves that we're the only religion that actually discourages people from becoming converts.
I can see how that can lead to hatred.
D
It is an interesting question, but I don't think that we are going to find much in the way of logic here.
Some people need to blame their problems on someone else. They can't take responsibility for their actions so it is easier to point fingers.
We happen to be a group that has engendered a lot of fingerpointing and frankly I blame a lot of it on the church.
Thousands of years of teaching that we are responsible for killing G-d and other ills goes a long way to creating animosity and distrust.
i think most hatred just stems from jealousy of someone being different -- and is passed down from one ignorant person to the next.
Wow, what a question, and I have thought of this my whole life, mainly because I am a gay man. Gays happen to be the last socially accepted 'hateable' peoples left to trounce. I know what it means to be hated for being yourself and for no other reason.
For the Jews, there is so much to discuss on this subject. First, I must correct DAVID who posted here, Eygptians were the first monotheist,,according to many or possibly it was the Mehr religion (Zoroaster) and it is possible that this is where Jewish monotheist came from,,, such a debate, for another day,
My thoughts are very different from most,, and alot more far out/fringe than I care to admit but will. I personally believe that what is in the bible/Torah is a diluted form of Summerian religions. Gilgamesh and his story match too closely to Noahs tale to be a coincidence. And the story I see in the Bible/Torah is this,,, (truely do not mean to offend anyone)
Humans are hybrid slaves, created by some technological society thousands upon thousands of years ago. Zacheriah Sitchin, for those who know is a Jewish Summerian scholar who has done a wonderful job of showing this theory to be more than just a theory.. In fact, the 'tenth' planet just found by astronomers has Nibiru(Sitchin says this is the 'gods' home planet,,not sure myself) as one of the naming choices because of Summerian knowledge with these facts. So, anyway, my belief is that during all the hub of the Ancient Custodians who created us, the Hebrew people took the side of the Summerian god Enlil(who matches up with Y_hw_h G_d)in the battles of supremacy, and for the most part Enlil/YwHw won. The hatred stems from the fact that a friend of mine and I call the King Rat theory. Do you remember the King Rat Movie based on Clavels book? Americans in a prison of the Japanese, one becomes the snitch/goodboy to the Japanese,, thus the name King Rat because he got special privalages and such for being a good boy and helping the Japanese soldiers keeep control.
In my study of the "myths" regarding all of this, it seems this is what happened when the Annunakki came and had a few fights among themselves and hauled humans into the ruckus. The Hebrews were promised by Enlil(Abram's story) to be given goodies and genetic seed as countless as the stars if they OBEYED him. I know it sounds kookie, and I promise I am not a nut about this, just exploring and this is where I ended up in my studies. But my main point when I talk to people who are Christian/Muslim or Jewish is that the Story of the Tower of Babel is too weird,,, read it again to see what I mean. Why was g_d afraid that if humans were organized as 'one' people that ANYTHING they IMAGINED in their minds they could do?? This is something that is really looked over to simplistically in my mind. I have spoken to Rabbi before on this and other scholars who agree that the whole story is masked in Myth and sown hatred towards other humans to keep us busy I suppose,, A house divided will soon fall.
I won't go on, but LOVE TO discuss anything related to that issue.
I hate that Jews/Muslims/Christians,,, any one has every been hated,, just for who they are, I live by the principle that I am a HUMAN First, that should be enough, as my faith proclaims, We are ALL RELATED!! Brothers and Sisters all of us, damn time we realized this before we are eating Mushroom clouds.
Any group of people that are different from the majority will be hated and despised simply because they are different from the majority. Humans have a built in mental defense mechanism that instigates fear of the different and unknown. This defense mechanism then tends to blame the occurences that are negative to them on the group that is different from them-out of fear of the unknown? Probably. Bias against those different from the majority are as old as the human race and of course bias against Jews is as old as Judism. The willingness to follow an ancient religious belief and the refusal to conform to the religious beliefs of the majority no doubt plays a big part of the bias.
Monotheism such as Christianity and Islam requires unquestioning faith that the elders of the religion, ie, the priests, preachers, and mullahs have superior knowledge of the religion and or ordained by the diety to lead and it is the duty of the flock to follow. It is difficult for those who follow blindly to understand a religion where any can question.
As an agnostic deist it is difficult for me to understand any religion that forbids me from questioning it! Of all the religions on earth to day Judism is the only one of which I could ever consider as oneI could accept but even so I just have problems accepting a deity without what I consider proof.
I apologize for the long discourse. I enjoyed the article and the responses and do believe that there is no real answer to the bias against Jews-or for that matter against ole fat rednecks such as I. As long as we are different from the norm the norm will fear us because the norm doesn't understand or know us.
GUYK
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home