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Image: Antiochus IV Epiphanes,
King of Syria (175-164 B.C.E.) led a campaign against Jews in
168 B.C.E. |
The
term antisemitism refers
to ideas and actions against Jews and Judaism. Hatred of Jews has existed
since
the earliest Jewish communities. In the pre-Christian era (Before the
Common Era, B.C.E.) Jews were the only group to follow one Supreme
Being while other groups
had
a pantheon of gods. Non Jews in these centuries were suspicious of
Jews for their monotheism and distinctive religious rituals. In the
Roman
Empire before Christianity Jews were criticized for their unwillingness
to honor the official gods of the empire.
 |
Image: Arch of Titus in Rome.
This detail depicts the destruction of the second Beit HaMikdash
(Temple) in 70 C.E. |
More
pronounced and explicit hatred of Jews can be traced back to the first
centuries of Christianity. Christian writings, including
the gospels in first century of the Common Era (C.E.), sought to
distinguish followers of Jesus from Jews who refused to consider Jesus
the Messiah.
The early Church sought to supersede Judaism as a popular religion
and to appropriate the holy texts, including the Hebrew Scriptures.
Christians claimed that Judaism was no longer a vital religion. It
had been superseded by Christianity. They referred to Jews as “Christ
killers” and they believed that Jews could only be saved by
converting to Christianity.
 Stained
Glass Windows: Church and Synagogue (Ecclesia and Synagoga)
stained glass windows in the Elisabeth Church in Marburg, Germany.
See also Dr.
Feinstein's
comments.
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During the Middle Ages
and Early Modern Period it was possible to
identify a system of religious and popular beliefs as well as everyday
practices that demonized the Jews and relegated them to the status
of pariahs, or outcasts, from Christian society.
Even in the eighteenth century when philosophes—thinkers
of the Enlightenment—pressed for the emancipation of Jews—full
civil and political rights for Jews—the great majority of
Christians continued to regard Jews as pariahs. Even the philosophes
argued that Jews should give up their Judaism in order to become
fully assimilated within European culture. |
Image: Medieval Antisemitic Image.
|
 |
Book Cover: The
Victory of Germanism Over Judaism by Wilhelm
Marr (1819-1904).
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During the nineteenth century as nation-states emancipated European
Jews, a counter movement gained support. “Scientific” thought
of the era—known as the eugenics movement--claimed that certain
races of people were superior and other races were inferior. Jews
were in the category of inferior races and as such needed to be prevented
from tainting superior races. Thus, in the very decades Jews were
assimilating
with the non-Jewish population of European nations, popular scientific
views denigrated Jews as “inferior” and “polluting” for
superior races of people. The earlier anti-Judaic religious thought
had been transformed into modern antisemitism, a term coined by the
publicist, Wilhelm Marr, in the 1870s.
By the early twentieth century, an ambiguous situation existed for
Jews. In many European countries, Germany in particular, Jews regarded
themselves members of their respective nations first and Jews by religion.
Jews made major contributions to business, culture, and education in
these countries and did not think of themselves as pariahs. On the
other hand, non-Jews had not totally abandoned their suspicions and
fears of Jews. The Dreyfus Affair in France in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth century graphically illustrated the depth of antisemitic
thought that pervaded a modern nation-state.
 |
The
National Socialists borrowed from the earlier traditions
of hatred for Jews. Their antisemitic writings and images
were not unique to Nazism: they resuscitated earlier allegations
against Jews and anti-Jewish iconography that originated
in the Middle Ages. The Nazis carried earlier policies to
their furthest extreme with the adoption of the “Final
Solution to the Jewish Problem”—a plan to make
Europe free of Jews. Hatred of Jews did
not end with the Holocaust. While antisemitism is a taboo subject
in much of Western Europe and the United States, the Soviet
Union and its satellites tolerated hostile attitudes towards
Jews into the 1980s. Since the founding of Israel in 1948,
Arab countries have expressed their antisemitic views in their
unrelenting hatred for Israel. The resurgence of antisemitism
in Europe in the 1980s and 1990s suggests the persistence of
this hatred, even when political and religious leadership seek
to curb its expression.
 |
Photo: Pope Paul VI (1897-1978) the Nostra Aetate
issued by the second Vatican Council in 1965. |
There have also been some positive efforts towards mitigating
antisemitism. In October 1965, the Roman Catholic Church issued
the Nostra Aetate. The Church deplored “the hatred, persecutions,
and displays of antisemitism directed against the Jews at any
time and from any source.” The Church also stated that
liturgical passages referring to Jews would be interpreted
to avoid prejudice. In 1993 the Lutheran Church issued a similar
statement. While such documents do not erase antisemitism,
they indicate an effort to counter the centuries of antisemitic
thought and action.
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Image: From The Poisoned Mushroom, a
children's book published by Julius Streicher. |
Image: Alfred Dreyfus, a Captain
in the French Army, was falsely accused of treason in his
case sharply divided France between antisemites and supporters
of Jews. |
Image: Contemporary cartoon from Arab media. Suggests
a link between USA foreign policy, Jews and Israel.
|
Image: From a white supremicist publication, showing
contemporary anti-semitism in the U.S.
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