Why Do They Hate Us? – The Anatomy Of Anti-Semitism

Two drunks were walking down the street when towards them came a harmless looking Jew. One drunk elbowed the other: “Hey, Vanya, what do you say we give this Yid a good working over? Eh?”

“Well, we could,” replied the second, “except the guy looks mighty fit. We’d be lucky if he doesn’t give us a hearty thrashing. I’d say we make haste while we can.”

“Vanya!” replied his friend in surprise, “What have you been drinking? Why in the world would anyone want to harm two innocent people?”

“If my scientific theories prove correct,” said Albert Einstein, then Germany will claim that I am German by birth; France will claim I am French by residence and America will claim I am an American as a result of my new citizenship. If, on the other hand, my theories prove incorrect, they will all say I am just a Jew!”

“Just because I’m paranoid, it doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me.”

In case you weren’t sure, the “world’s longest hatred,” Anti-Semitism, is alive and well. This was confirmed in a January 2005 report on Global Anti-Semitism, released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. It’s okay; I didn’t expect you to be surprised.

According to the report, Anti-Semitism continues to manifest itself in overt and subtle ways. “Anti-Semitic crimes,” maintains the report, “range from acts of violence, including terrorist attacks against Jews, to the desecration and destruction of Jewish property, such as synagogues and cemeteries. Anti-Semitic rhetoric, conspiracy theories, and other propaganda circulate widely and rapidly by satellite television, radio, and the internet.”

“Classic anti-Semitic screeds, such as The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion and Mein Kampf,” the report points out, “remain commonplace. Jews continue to be accused of blood libel, dual loyalty, and undue influence on government policy and the media, and the symbols and images associated with age-old forms of Anti-Semitism endure.

Anti-Semitism has proven to be an adaptive phenomenon. New forms of Anti-Semitism have evolved. They often incorporate elements of traditional Anti-Semitism. However, the distinguishing feature of the new Anti-Semitism is criticism of Zionism or Israeli policy that—whether intentionally or unintentionally—has the effect of promoting prejudice against all Jews by demonizing Israel and Israelis and attributing Israel’s perceived faults to its Jewish character.”

While the world has made enormous strides in all areas of racial intolerance and chauvinism, it somehow cannot seem to shake-off its age old obsession with the Jew. What is it with the Jewish people that so frustrates and antagonizes its fellow earthlings?

Why is it that the crimes of nations, whose lands are drenched with the blood of tens of millions of innocent people, are forgiven and forgotten even before the blood has a chance to dry, yet the Jewish people, who have not fought a single war of aggression in thousands of years, suffer the wrath of the nations? What have the Jewish people done to earn the perpetual animosity of a significant segment of humanity?

The hate for the Jew is indeed an enigma; it defies all logic or rationale. The notion that it stems from a belief that Jews killed the Christian Savior, or because we’re too pushy, is simply childish. Neither does it have anything to do with a settlement or two on the West Bank.

France was the center of the Enlightenment movement. The French philosophers, led by Voltaire, attacked Jewish “particularism,” stubbornness, perversity, and greed. Enemies of Jews quoted Voltaire to prove that not only their religion but their essential character was bad, that they were narrow-minded and bigoted, as reflected in the Bible.

In Russia, most Jews were confined to the Pale of Settlement. This Pale was established by the Russian government in 1792 and consisted of parts of Russian Poland, Belorussia, the Crimea, Bessarabia, and the Ukraine. There were other forms of persecution against the Jews as well, such as pogroms, and the myth of a Jewish conspiracy which gave rise to a fabrication by Russian émigrés in France, called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. They were forged in France in the midst of the Dreyfus affair, with the assistance of the Russian secret police, and alleged a massive Jewish international conspiracy to seize power all over the globe, to start wars and depressions.

The Protocols purported to be the minutes of part of the 1897 international meeting of Jewish leaders, known as the First World Zionist Congress, called by Theodor Herzl. This forgery was poorly-written, and was totally implausible from beginning to end. Preposterous as it was, however, The Protocols were believed by those among the populace who found Jews to be convenient scapegoats. The document was translated into at least seven languages.

It was not until 1921 that a London Times newspaper reporter uncovered that the story described in The Protocols was a direct plagiarism of two obscure fictional works, one a satire on Napoleon by a French writer, Maurice Joly, and the other a story by Herman Goedsche. The damage, however, could not be erased. The Nazis relied on The Protocols to justify persecution of the Jews, and the worldwide publication of the document persisted in fanning the flames of anti-Semitism years after the hoax of this forgery was proven. It is still possible to find copies of The Protocols today, as it remains one of the most popular tracts for distribution by individuals and groups which hate Jews

During World War I, when the German war effort began to deteriorate, a new cycle of anti-Semitism was the response as Jews became the popular scapegoat. They were accused of profiteering, not participating in combat, and causing food shortages. Anti-Semitic literature proliferated.

After the Third Reich was defeated, the expression of openly anti-Semitic attitudes was, to be sure, discredited in the German public, but anti-Semitism did not disappear entirely. It was instead camouflaged in various ways, and even found socially and politically compatible expression in the criticism of Israeli Palestine policy.

Rav Menachem Zemba, one of the holy martyrs of the Warsaw Ghetto, was a brilliant Rabbi. Legend has it that he was given the opportunity of freedom by the Catholic Church, but he declined the offer because he just couldn’t bring himself to abandon his fellow Jews suffering in that horrific hell-hole. In the end, he perished together with his people in the Ghetto.

While Rabbi Zemba didn’t survive, some of his writings did. In an essay on the Biblical account of Jacob’s encounter with Esau, he argues the very point of Anti Semitism’s irrationality with astonishing clarity.

In our Parsha, Vayishlach, we read about the dramatic reunion between Yaakov and his estranged brother Esau after decades of separation. Yaakov dreaded the prospect of the impending encounter – the possibility of it going bad and the potential for violence. “Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. Fear and trepidation seized him as he positioned the women and children in safety. Then he himself went on ahead of them and bowed earthward seven times until he reached his brother” (Genesis 33:2).

In the end, Esau was pacified. When the two finally met, they embraced and Esau actually kissed Yaakov.

In the English language a word is placed in bold face, italics or ensconced in quotation marks to draw attention to or to hint at an otherwise homonymic meaning. The Torah, however, seldom has extraneous enhancements of its words. Instead, it sometimes leaves out letters, or on rare occasions, adds symbols; tiny dots above the word. These symbols are meant to call attention to a deeper message, hidden beyond the words.

In the narrative of the encounter between Yaakov and Esau, the Torah uses such dots. They appear over the word ” Vayishakeihu, and he kissed him.” This suggests that there is some something amiss about Esau’s kiss.

The latter leaves the commentaries divided as to whether Esau’s kiss was genuine, or just a show (photo-op), with no true love or sincerity. Rabbi Shimon Ben Yochai maintains that the kiss was actually sincere. He stipulates, however, that this was a unique exception to the rule. The general rule, he asserts, is that Esau remains an enemy of Yaakov, it was only this one time that his heart melted and he kissed him with all his heart.

But Rabbi Shimon’s choice of words seem rather strange: “It is a ‘Halacha’ (rule of law) that Esau hates Jacob.” The word ‘Halacha’ seems inappropriate in this context. Are we talking here about legalities? Why does Rabbi Shimon use the term Halacha? What does it mean it is a Halacha that Esau despises Jacob?

Concerning this difficulty comes Rav Menachem of Zemba’s (Hashem Yinkom Domo) poignant observation: “Halacha is not only the perfect word,” he asserts, “It is the only word! The fact that the Esau’s of this world despise the Yaakov’s – the Jew, is a Halacha! What does the word Halacha, law, mean? A law is something that cannot be argued with. The law is the law whether you understand it or not – whether you agree with it or not, it is the law.”

Anti-Semitism, says Rav Zemba, is a Halacha; a fact of life that is not subject to rationale or logic. To prove his point R’ Menachem cites irrefutable evidence. In Germany, he notes, the Jews were hated because they were rich and successful – Because the Germans felt that their wealth was being usurped. Yet the Poles hated the Jews because they were poor and “Uncultured.” The Russians, on the other hand hated the Jews because they were “Bourgeois” or Capitalists. Now the Americans went on witch-hunts against Jews for being Communists!

How could the same people, in the same period of history, be faulted for being “Rich and for being “Poor,” for being “Capitalist” and for being “Communist?” And why is it that we can’t ever win, no matter what we are and what we do? Just look at Japan, it doesn’t even have a Jewish population to speak of, but that hasn’t stopped the rise of anti-Semitism in that country!

This has led Rav Zemba to the notion that Anti-Semitism is irrational. It is “Halacha” – a predetermined mindset and the reasons cited are mere excuses.

The above having been said, allow me to add an additional explanation for the ongoing Anti-Semitism despite its multiple paradoxes.

The Jewish people, the nation chosen by G-d as the “Nation of priests,” have a unique soul. The Jewish soul reflects Divine truth. Just as one truth can dispel a multitude of lies, so too the Jewish soul, by virtue of its mere existence – especially in light of all the historic discrimination and persecution – exposes the falseness of the world and its various corrupt sociological systems.

This explains why the Jew can be perceived as a threat to religious ideologies, G-d-less ideologies and hedonism at the same time – to the capitalist, socialist and communist all at once. For truth is to falseness what light is to dark. In the face of truth all lies dissipate at once. Given the above do you really expect them to like us? Could the dark really be expected to like the light?

May we merit the day that there will be only light, when darkness will be eradicated for once and forever with the coming of the righteous Moshiach B.B.A.