Do you hate jews?

It has
been said that the history of almost all of the Jewish holidays can be
summed up succinctly: "They wanted to kill us; we won. Let's eat." Why has
anti-Semitism been so pervasive in so many countries, in so many time periods
and for so many reasons? (One begins to wonder. Perhaps there is something wrong
with the Jews and Judaism? After all, there is an old Yiddish saying -- "If one
person calls you a donkey, ignore him; if two people call you a donkey, buy a
saddle.")

Between the years 250 CE and
1948 CE - a period of 1,700 years - Jews have experienced more than eighty
expulsions from various countries in Europe - an average of nearly one expulsion
every twenty-one years. Jews were expelled from England, France, Austria,
Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal, Bohemia, Moravia and seventy-one other
countries.

Historians have classified six
explanations as to why people hate the Jews:

1. Economic -- "We hate Jews because they
   possess too much wealth and power."
   
2. Chosen People -- "We hate Jews because they
   arrogantly claim that they are the chosen people."
   
3. Scapegoat -- "Jews are a convenient group to
   single out and blame for our troubles."
   
4. Deicide -- "We hate Jews because they killed
   Jesus."
   
5. Outsiders, -- "We hate Jews because they are
   different than us." (The dislike of the unlike.)
   
6. Racial Theory -- "We hate Jews because they
   are an inferior race."


As we examine the
explanations, we must ask -- Are they the causes for anti-Semitism or
excuses for Anti-Semitism? The difference? If one takes away the cause, then
anti-Semitism should no longer exist. If one can show a contradiction to the
explanation, it demonstrates that the "cause" is not a reason, it is just an
excuse. Let's look at some contradictions:





1. Economic -- The Jews of 17th- 20th century
   Poland and Russia were dirt poor, had no influence and yet they were
   hated.
   
   
2. Chosen People -- a) In the late 19th century,
   the Jews of Germany denied "Choseness." And then they worked on assimilation.
   Yet, the holocaust started there. b) Christians and Moslems profess to being the
   "Chosen people," yet, the world and the anti-Semites tolerate them.
   
   
   
3. Scapegoat -- Any group must already be hated
   to be an effective scapegoat. The Scapegoat Theory does not then cause
   anti-Semitism. Rather, anti-Semitism is what makes the Jews a convenient
   scapegoat target. Hitler's ranting and ravings would not be taken seriously if
   he said, "It's the bicycle riders and the midgets who are destroying our
   society."
   
   
4. Deicide -- a) the Christian Bible says the
   Romans killed Jesus, though Jews are mentioned as accomplices (claims that Jews
   killed Jesus came several hundred years later). How come the accomplices are
   persecuted and there isn't an anti-Roman movement through history? b) Jesus
   himself said, "Forgive them [i.e., the Jews], for they know not what they do."
   The Second Vatican Council in 1963 officially exonerated the Jews as the killers
   of Jesus. Neither statement of Christian belief lessened
   anti-Semitism.
   
   
5. Outsiders -- With the Enlightenment in the
   late 18th century, many Jews rushed to assimilate. Anti-Semitism should have
   stopped. Instead, for example, with the Nazis came the cry, in essence: "We hate
   you, not because you're different, but because you're trying to become like us!
   We cannot allow you to infect the Aryan race with your inferior
   genes."
   
   
6. Racial Theory -- The overriding problem with
   this theory is that it is self-contradictory: Jews are not a race. Anyone can
   become a Jew - and members of every race, creed and color in the world have done
   so at one time or another.


Every other hated group is
hated for a relatively defined reason. We Jews, however, are hated in
paradoxes: Jews are hated for being a lazy and inferior race - but also for
dominating the economy and taking over the world. We are hated for stubbornly
maintaining our separateness - and, when we do assimilate - for posing a threat
to racial purity through intermarriages. We are seen as pacifists and as
warmongers; as capitalist exploiters and as revolutionary communists; possessed
of a Chosen-People mentality, as well as of an inferiority complex. It seems
that we just can't win.




Now we know what are NOT the reasons for
anti-Semitism. QUOTES:
“Of all the extreme fanaticism which
plays havoc in man’s nature, there is not one as irrational as anti-Semitism. …
If the Jews are rich [these fanatics] are victims of theft. If they are poor,
they are victims of ridicule. If they take sides in a war, it is because they
wish to take advantage from the spilling of non-Jewish blood. If they espouse
peace, it is because they are scared by their natures or traitors. If the Jew
dwells in a foreign land he is persecuted and expelled. If he wishes to return
to his own land, he is prevented from doing so.”


- Lloyd George stated in 1923


"The uniqueness of anti-Semitism lies
in the fact that no other people in the world have ever been charged
simultaneously with alienation from society and with cosmopolitanism, with being
capitalistic exploiters and also revolutionary communist advocators. The Jews
were accused of having an imperious mentality, at the same time they're a people
of the book. They're accused of being militant aggressors, at the same time as
being cowardly pacifists. With being a Chosen people, and also having an
inferior human nature. With both arrogance and timidity. With both extreme
individualism and community adherence. With being guilty of the crucifixion of
Jesus and at the same time held to account for the invention of
christianity."


- A speech about the irrationality of
anti-Semitism
by professor Michael Curtis, of Rutgers University,
1987