Is this the cause of Anti-Semitism?

Anti-semitism has nothing to do with the Old Testament and everything to do with intellectual laziness and the ease of scapegoating.

To assume that people are preconditioned to dislike Jews due to certain passages in the Bible is to give way too much credit to the anti-semites. The percentage of people that are Biblically literate is tiny. Of the people that are Biblically literate, the percentage that are anti-semites is smaller still.

IMHO, anti-semitism stems from xenophobia, tradition and the ease of using the Jews as a catch-all reason for the failures of others. It's much easier to point at someone else and let them take the fall for your failures then to make an honest assessment of how your life/community/country is being run.

It should also be considered that the average member of ATS most likely has an IQ and educational background that exceeds the general populace by quite a lot. The world is made up of people with very limited opportunities for education and an IQ between 90 - 100. For many people tradition or being told or reading it somewhere is good enough. Lacking the capacity for critical thought limits the ability for objective analysis.

We can sit back and scoff at people who believe that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion were 'real'. We have the luxury of being able to examine the topic at hand and coming to a reasoned conclusion. Many people can't or aren't interested in doing so.

I usually get frustrated and a bit angry with those that use the Jews as scapegoats and find them hiding behind every conspiracy and malfeasance because of hate. For those that are anti-semitic due to ignorance, I have pity.


Eric

reply to post by EricD

To assume that people are preconditioned to dislike Jews due to certain passages in the Bible is to give way too much credit to the anti-semites.

There was no suggestion of this on my part. the OP question simply demonstrates that in the Torah, Pentateuch, old Testament; one of the statutes to be followed by Hebrews is listed as such in the OP; as requested by Moses.
Taking this into account, as well, a wealth of other questionable material in this particular book of the bible.
If one were practicing judaism, why would this not be accepted as part of their cultural upbringing?

I think you have some good answers to your question, especially the post about usury, xenophobia, tradition, etc.

First, let me state categorically that anti-semitism is deeply immoral, atrociously wicked, and wrong by any system of morals and ethics.

Unfortunately, there are many alleged "causes" for anti-semitism, and a long history of anti-semitism throughout the ages.

The Jewish religion (which I greatly admire and respect by the way) has generally (though not always) made a point of not intermingling with non-Jewish cultures, and sought to retain their own identity, culture, and religious customs. This "separateness" has resulted in their persecution by others who don't understand this distinct, unique character of the Jewish people.

I am speaking in general terms - This has not always been the case, and you can certainly cite examples of Jewish assimilation throughout modern history.

This separate identity is especially true in circumstances where the Jewish people have found themselves living outside of the Holy Land in hostile, foreign territory.

In addition, I think that you will find historical situations where Jewish persecution occurred because Jews believe that God is their rightful King, not a non-Jewish human leader or authority. As a result, political authorities have persecuted the Jews for allegedly not vowing allegiance to the foreigner's authority.

The Jewish nation was created specifically as a holy people to serve God, and as a result, many wicked nations have sought to persecute them.

The Jews have and will always be God's Chosen People. It is very sad that they have been persecuted throughout the centuries for their religious beliefs.

The history of Judaism and of anti-Jewish feeling is a long one. I think Muslim anti-Jewish feeling is derived from political difficulties between Arabs and Jews, political difficulties that actually led to the founding of Islam. So, political acrimony is one source of anti-Jewish feeling.

Christianity, in blaming Christ's death on the Jews for example, as opposed to, say, blaming the Romans, (or even more outlandishly giving a complete account of the incident and all political nuances) also contributed mightily to the growth of anti-Jewishness. This point bears further examination.

Why did the Christians blame the Jews for Christ's death, rather than the Romans? Surely the Romans bear a greater responsibility!

Do you think the Romans would have exterminated the Christians and scattered them to the winds if they were being blamed by them for the killing of their founder? I think so. I think it was a matter of survival for Christians to scapegoat the Jews and tar them with Christ's murder. Doing it that way dovetailed very nicely with Roman efforts to keep the Jews under control anyway. Don't you agree that it is a sordid story?

The history of banking also comes into play. The Templars were the first powerful international bankers. They were useful to the European autocrats but they were a threat as well. They had to be crushed. After the Templars were dealt with, the Jews were given license to conduct banking activities because they were a smaller and much less powerful group than the Templars. Of course we all just love bankers, don't we?

The drafting of the Protocols of Zion by the Russian secret police for their own political purposes also lead to the stirring up of anti-Jewish feeling. It's a complicated story.

In eastern Europe I've read (in material that I haven't really had time to vet) that Jews were sometimes used by wealthy non-Jewish landowners to do various sorts of dirty work and came to be disliked for that reason.

Ancient religious practices of which the Jews have many (see the Talmud) can be distasteful to the modern reader. That kind of thing can also generate anti-Jewish feeling. It just kind of snowballs, ya know.

I think we as modern people have to use our heads a little bit and not swallow every piece of poison that emerges from the past, no matter what the source.





[edit on 2-6-2009 by ipsedixit]