The
evil of Hitler lay not in his understanding of who the Jewish people
are. His evil grew from his reactions to that understanding.
Ironically, Hitler had a clearer understanding of who the Jewish
people are, and what they have accomplished, than many Jews have
today.
Prejudice,
it seems, is a standard fare of life. In his folksong entitled
"National Brotherhood Week," Tom Lehrer sings:
Oh
the Protestants hate the Catholics,
and the Catholics hate the
Protestants,
and the Hindus hate the Muslims
and everybody
hates the Jews.
In
this song, Lehrer expresses the truism that hatred for the Jew is
uniquely commonplace. The Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, blood
libels, pogroms, countless expulsions and the systematic murder of 6
million.
The
question is: Why? What lies behind these millennium of hatred? Why
has the undercurrent of anti-Semitism bubbled and boiled and exploded
against Jews everywhere, time and again throughout history?
In
this 8-part seminar, we will examine the root reason for the world's
longest hatred.
Causes
versus Excuses – How Can We Tell the Difference?
When
we study any theory, it is important to distinguish between a "cause"
and an "excuse." The difference is not difficult to
recognize:
When
one thing causes another, if we remove the cause, the effect should
vanish. If, on the other hand, one thing is an excuse for another,
then even after taking away the excuse, the effect will remain.
A
child who is chronically late to school may say in his defense, "But
I don’t have a watch. How do you expect me to get to school in time
if I don’t have a watch?"
If
his parents would buy him a watch and he would still be late for
school, then it is clear that the lack of a watch was just an excuse
for his lateness, not its cause.
Concerning
anti-Semitism, if we succeed in identifying the reason for
anti-Semitism, then eliminating that should put an end to hatred for
the Jews. However, if we can eliminate it and the hatred remains,
then we know that what we thought was a cause is
actually an excuse.
The
Six Common Reasons for anti-Semitism
Keep
this distinction in mind as we explore the six most frequently
offered reasons for anti-Semitism. As we touch upon each of these
explanations, we will try to ascertain whether it is the cause of
the hatred, or merely an excuse.
Historians
and sociologists have come up with numerous theories to explain
anti-Semitism. We will examine these one by one, and discuss the
validity of each.
Economic:
Jews are hated because they possess too much wealth and power.
Chosen
People: Jews are hated because they arrogantly claim they are the
chosen people.
Scapegoat:
Jews are a convenient group to single out and blame for all the
troubles.
Deicide:
Jews are hated because they killed Jesus.
Outsiders:
Jews are hated because they are different than the rest of society.
Racial
Theory: Jews are hated because they are an inferior race.
Let
us examine these six frequently-given reasons and determine if they
are truly causes or excuses.
The
Economic Theory of Anti-Semitism
The
Economic Theory of Anti-Semitism postulates that Jewish wealth and
power arouses the envy of other groups, and this in turn leads to
great resentment.
This
theory has surfaced in different guises throughout history. One of
the ways it became popularized was through The Protocols of
the Elders of Zion,the minutes of fictional “secret meetings”
in which Jewish leaders conspire to rule the world. Protocols is
a viciously anti-Semitic book created by the Russian secret police.
This
fictional account has provided an excellent excuse for campaigns of
persecution against Jews, influenced the masses to believe the myth
that Jews control governments. It is the second most widely published
book in history.
Do
people today still believe that Jews have some mysterious financial
and organizational advantage over the rest of humanity?
Ancient
Chinese Secret
A
True Story:
A
Jewish physicist who works for Exxon Corporation spent many months
working on a project in coordination with a world-renowned scientist
from China. The two men developed a good working relationship and
became friendly with one another.
One
day the Chinese scientist commented to the Jew, "You know, ever
since we first met I've been meaning to ask you a question: Why did
you become a physicist? Why didn't you just go into business?"
"What
kind of question is that?" \ the Jewish scientist replied. "I
became a physicist because I wanted to be a physicist!"
"But
aren't you Jewish?" the Chinese man persisted.
"So
what difference does that make?"
"Well,"
the Chinese scientist patiently explained, "there would be
countless risks involved if I would go into business, but for you
it's risk-free!"
"Forgive
me, but I'm not following you," said the Jew. "What sort of
business is risk-free?"
"For
you – any business! Come on," he said with a
conspirational wink, "we all know you have the Organization
behind you."
"Huh?
What 'organization' are you talking about?"
"Come
on, everybody knows that all Jewish men get money from the
Organization when they get married. That's how all the Jews get
started in business. There's no risk involved, because if the
business fails, the Organization buys out the debt and then funnels
more start-up money to the Jew. This goes on until the fellow hits
upon a business that prospers!"
No
such fantastically endowed international organization exists. Yet the
assumption of this world-class scientist demonstrates that the myth
of Jewish access to unlimited wealth is alive and well today.
Applying
the Litmus Test
Does
this attitude explain anti-Semitism? Is the Economic Theory
a cause or anexcuse for anti-Semitism?
First,
consider universal attitudes toward the rich. We don’t see any
sustained historical persecution against wealthy non-Jews. Thus,
if the haters decide to single out wealthy Jews and ignore wealthy
non-Jews, economics cannot be regarded as the cause for hatred.
Second,
if we remove the element of wealth and power from the Jews, does the
anti-Semitism vanish?
The
Jews who lived in the shtetels of Poland and Russia during the
17th-20th centuries were poor and powerless, utterly lacking any form
of influence whatsoever. Yet they were hated. Often they were
persecuted and subjected to unspeakable torments. On many occasions
entire villages were ransacked and their Jewish inhabitants massacred
in cold blood. Under those circumstances, anti-Semitism did not
distinguish between rich and poor, between strong and weak, between
powerful and powerless.
Likewise,
anti-Semites in the Middle Ages initiated countless pogroms against
Jews (without first investigating their bank accounts or investment
portfolios).
When
the Nazis liquidated the Warsaw Ghetto, there were no Jewish
businesses to destroy. In fact, the impoverished conditions there
were appalling. The Jews in the ghetto could not have been thought of
as "rich" by anyone’s standards, and yet the Nazis felt
they had to be eliminated.
Poor
Jews have always been hated equally as rich Jews. When a Jew meets
with financial success, it may set the anti-Semite’s teeth on edge,
but the Jew’s success is clearly not what created the anti-Semite.
Money therefore cannot be the cause of anti-Semitism.
The
Fugu Plan
How
about power? Can it be the cause of anti-Semitism?
If
someone who is rich and powerful comes to you for a favor, would you
persecute him? No, you help him – having such a person indebted to
you is a great insurance policy. Case in point is the Arab
oil-producing countries who are widely appeased, despite their
standards that often fly in the face of Western values.
There
was one nation that did treat the Jews as if they were powerful and
rich. The Japanese never had much exposure to Jews, and knew very
little about them. In 1919 Japan fought alongside the anti-Semitic
White Russians against the Communists. At that time the White
Russians introduced the Japanese to the book, The Protocols
of the Elders of Zion.
The
Japanese studied the book and, according to all accounts, naively
believed its propaganda. Their reaction was immediate and forceful –
they formulated a plan to encourage Jewish
settlement and investment into Manchuria. The Japanese decided that
these wealthy and powerful Jews are precisely the people with whom
they want to do business!
The
Japanese called their plan for Jewish settlement "The Fugu
Plan." The "fugu" is a highly poisonous blowfish.
After the toxin-containing organs are painstakingly removed, it is
used as a food in Japan, and is considered an exquisite delicacy. If
it is not prepared carefully, however, its poison can be deadly.
The
Japanese saw the Jews as a nation with highly valuable potential,
but, as with the fugu, in order to take advantage of that potential,
they had to be extremely careful. Otherwise, the Japanese thought,
the plan would backfire and the Jews would annihilate Japan with
their awesome power.
During
World War II, the Japanese were allies of the Nazis, yet they allowed
thousands of European refugees – including the entire Mir Yeshivah
– to enter Shanghai and Kobe during the war. They welcomed these
Jews into their country, not because they bore any great love for the
Jews, but because they believed that Jews had access to enormous
resources and power which could greatly benefit Japan. (This is all
detailed in the book, The Fugu Plan, by Marvin
Tokayer.)
If
anti-Semites truly believe that Jews rule the world, then why don’t
they relate to the Jews like the Japanese did?
The
fact that Jews are generally treated as outcasts proves that people
do not really believe that Jews are as wealthy or powerful as
claimed. In other words, the anti-Semites do not take their own
propaganda seriously.
Whatever
Happened to Jewish Power?
If
there is any truth to the notion that Jews control governments, why
couldn’t those powerful Jews convince any country to accept the
refugees who were struggling to escape the European inferno during
the Holocaust? If "World Jewry" is so powerful and wields
such political influence, surely at least onegovernment
would have agreed to take them in as refugees and allowed them to
stay until the end of the war...
The
film Voyage of the Damned dramatically demonstrates
how government buried its head in the sand while the wholesale
slaughter of Jews went unchecked. As such, the claim that Jews
control governments rings painfully absurd.
Jews
as Moneylenders
In
this same vein, many people say that anti-Semitism has been caused by
the fact that Jews were money-lenders in many societies and
supposedly extracted their "pound of flesh" from their
non-Jewish compatriots.
In
fact, just the opposite is true. Jews were forced to become
moneylenders precisely because of the severe employment limitations
which anti-Semitic trends imposed on them. Anti-Semitic laws made it
impossible for Jews to own land, to attend universities or to enter
any common occupations. Money was the only commodity in which they
were allowed to deal, so lacking any other option, they became
money-lenders.
Hence,
we see that Jews were not hated because they were money-lenders;
rather, they were money-lenders because they were hated.
Powerful
Jews or weak Jews, rich Jews or poor Jews – they’ve all been
hated equally.
Obviously,
the economic reason for anti-Semitism is really an excuse.
Photo posted here.
Photo postée ici.
