ANTI-SEMITISM – PERMANENT, OBSESSIVE, INFECTIOUS
Their names are Struthers and Fishbein and the incident happened 70 years ago, give or take one or two years. It was an event that had such an impact on me that their faces and names were never forgotten. In the summer I played tennis at Beatrice Park which was near Harbord and Grace Streets in Toronto and in the winter they flooded the tennis courts for skating. It was a small park that attracted kids, usually under the age of 15. There were no supervisors and the only adults in attendance came at night from the parks department to flood the rink. The park was used primarily on week-ends. It was in a Jewish area and populated by Jewish kids. On occasion some young people came over from Christie Pits, a park north of Beatrice and Bloor St. They would man-handle the Jewish kids pushing them around and swearing at them, calling them dirty Jews. We were always fearful that they would be coming but it never entered our minds to defend ourselves. They were bigger and older. Usually they were led by a boy called Struthers. We never knew who these boys were and never saw them except at the rink. We were never attacked to the extent that we had to go to the hospital. We just felt demeaned. One day, for reasons unknown, Struthers came by himself and began his usual routine. He pushed a stocky kid called Fishbein to the ground and it appears Fishbein slammed his head on the ice. He, of course, was wearing his skates. Without saying a word Fishbein rose up on his skates and began fighting with the astonished Struthers, who very quickly fell to the ground. Fishbein had him on the ground and was hitting him at will, until he saw that Struthers was helpless. Fishbein got up, took off his skates and casually left. I was so happy that at least one of us had the courage to fight back. I could never understand why they came over to bother little kids, who had had no dealings with them in any way. It is many years later. I am 81 years old and I still play tennis but I am much wiser about the problem at Beatrice Park. It was anti-Semitism. At church, or in the home, or at the playground these kids were taught to hate Jews. The incidence of anti-Semitism has increased substantially due to the ability, with the use of the internet, to quickly disseminate hate and mostly lies, throughout the world. As well, the continuing Israeli- Palestinian conflict allows anti-Semitism to be hidden under the guise of anti-Zionism. When Israel is held to a far more rigid standard than any other country, it is not anti-Zionism, it is blatant anti-Semitism. An 18th century author Jonathon Swift wrote, “you cannot reason someone out of something he has not been reasoned into”. Anti-Semitism is part of the behavioral pattern of some people in Western society and I intend to outline how this pattern was established and how it was instigated, beginning with the Christian era and maintained over the centuries by the church. The behavior of humans can in most instances be predicted. It follows a pattern. Persons, nationalities, countries, religions, races are interested in “power” over their own lives. They do everything to benefit themselves which can be referred to as “self-interest” and they may employ “hypocrisy and lies” to achieve their ends. Anti-Semitism is the result of the use of power, self-interest, hypocrisy and lies. Before the birth of Christ, the Hebrew tribes were just one of many making alliances and warring with each other. Anti-Semitism was not a factor at that time and I believe the onset of this horror for Jews started with Christianity. I am outlining from a book called “A Convenient Hatred: The History of Anti-Semitism” by Phyllis Goldstein. What surprised me, as an interested caring Jew, was how little I actually new about anti-Semitism and how it affected Jewish life for 2000 years. Anti-Semitism as practiced in the Western World CHRISTIANITY A bishop in Sardis, in what is now Turkey, was the first to talk about Jews crucifying Jesus, therefore guilty of deicide. In fact Jesus was killed by the Romans as a Jewish trouble-maker. It is not known as an actual fact if Jews were somehow involved in his death. Because Jesus was a Jew, Christianity which stems from Judaism had a natural competition with Judaism, as some early adherents were both Christians and Jews at the same time. When the Jewish Temple, which was extremely sacred, was destroyed, Christians felt it as a sign from God that Judaism was passé. It became a disagreement between two religions both relatively small, as most people had their own Gods or no Gods at all. John Chrysostom, born about 347 C.E. and a persuasive orator, attacked Christians who also went to synagogues. It made sense to Christians that if Christianity is to supersede Judaism, it would grow more quickly if the original died. The Seellsburg conference in 1947 examined the roots of anti-Semitism and was attended by Jewish, Catholic and Protestant religious leaders. The starting point was written by Jules Isaac who before the second world war was France’s Inspector General for education. He came to the conclusion that these early Christians distorted the truth and that these new truths could be called myths. These were arguments between the scholars of the old law (the rabbis) and those of the new church, referred to as Church Fathers. The result is that these myths have become part of Christian thinking, and not only for Christians, but educated people living in a Christian society. . Conversion In the 1800`s many European and American scientists believed that humankind was divided into races, one of which was the “Semitic Race”. There is no Semitic race as modern scientists have deduced. Jews are part of all races. Conversion to Christianity is not a way to avoid anti-Semitism. Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli of England, a member of the Anglican Church and a converted Jew, was considered a Jew and not a Christian. Edith Stein, a converted Jew and a nun became a respected Catholic educator. She wrote to the Pope about the Nazi German government and their racial policies towards Jews. The pope made a deal with Hitler to save Catholics but ignored Stein’s letter to him. Conversion or not, Stein was considered a Jew and murdered as part of the final solution. Hitler’s Germany passed a law that a person with 3 Jewish grandparents was a Jew. If it is in the “self-interest” of a leader of a country to attack Jews, conversion will not save them. Loyalty to the State Because Jews help each other throughout the world they have been charged with disloyalty to their own state, but history shows otherwise. Great Britain felt it was a wise move to solicit support for the allies during the First World War and consequently issued the Balfour Declaration. This was a political move by Britain and not a sign, as stated by the anti-Semites, that Jews controlled Britain. The United States did declare war on Germany but not with American-Jewish help, as the Americans declared war 7 months before the Balfour Declaration came into being. German Jews and Austria-Hungarian Jews remained loyal to their counties and served in the army against the British and the Americans regardless of the Balfour Declaration. Hitler and General Erich Ludendorff, a war hero in Germany, told the German people that the Jews were responsible for losing the First World War. How could they have been responsible if they only accounted for less than 1% of the population? Statistics showed that 100,000 Jews served in the German army in the First World War. Although 300,000 Jews served in the Russian army the Russian generals blamed the Jews for being defeated. As one can see, they were made a convenient scapegoat for inept Russian generals. In the Second World War 500,000 Jews served in the Russian army and 200,000 died in battle yet Joseph Stalin, the Russian dictator, accused them of disloyalty. In contradiction to the statements of anti-Semites, Jews are loyal wherever they are citizens of a country. Expulsions and Deportations In contrast to Northern Europe where Jews faced persecution, Spain was a haven. Jews were welcomed by both Christian and Muslim rulers. One out of 10 Spaniards was a Jew, many of them prominent in the professions but in 1492 attitudes changed and the Jews were given a choice…to convert or leave. This was called the “Spanish Inquisition”. Depending on the political situation and the whim of the leaders of each individual country, Jews were evicted from the following nations: France in 1182, 1306 and 1394, England in 1290, Germany in 1348 and 1498, Hungary in 1349 and 1360. On occasion Jews would be allowed to return if they paid a large sum of money to the government. Perennial Outsiders In conflicts and wars between Catholics and Protestants and Christians and Moslems, Jews were always the outsiders. Because they had prominence in the communities, they were asked to support one side or the other, but no matter which side won, the Jews were always marginalized. From 1200 to 1666 Poland rose in prominence and was looked on as a safe haven for Jews. Although Jews were treated as a free people, the merchants, traders and the church in Poland did not favour freedom for the Jews as they saw them as competitors. Poland conquered parts of the Ukraine and the Polish nobles used Jews, who were financially astute, as tax collectors, police and judges. Ukrainians under the leadership of Bohdan Chmielnicki, revolted against the Poles and Jews and one quarter of the Jews in the area were killed in the uprising. When World War 1 ended, three Empires that controlled eastern and central Europe and western Asia came to an end .Russia, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had begun to break apart. Dozens of ethnic groups were looking for freedom and power and Jews were caught in the middle. There were no permanent winners and in most cases the Jews were the losers. Money It is impossible to discuss anti-Semitism without a discussion of money and financial dealings. The perception that all Jews are “clever with money” is, of course, nonsense and Shakespeare’s portrayal of Shylock in the Merchant of Venice did the image of Jews a great deal of harm. In 1096 Jews had been engaged mainly in trade and provided luxury goods to kings and nobles. Christian merchants traded locally. By the end of the 11th century Jews were squeezed out of trade, ownership of land was forbidden and government jobs were not open to them. Under these circumstances they had to go into money lending since there were no other ways to earn a living. Since all faiths forbad money lending, Christians saw this occupational shift as proof that Jews would go against their faith to make money, and they blamed Jews for charging high interest on loans they needed. Jews needed high interest rates because many nobles did not pay their debts. The irony, of course, is that the authorities needed money lenders for the economy to thrive. This stereotype of the “greedy Jew” exists to this day. Ghettos In many European countries Jews were forced to live in designated areas. This was especially true in Russia. They could leave the ghetto only with special permission and as long as it proved of value to the authorities. It never gave Jews in the ghettos the chance to mix with the majority population. Power The limited power of a few wealthy and prominent Jews like the Rothschilds was seen as the power of all Jews. Nothing could be further from the truth. This was exemplified by the “Evian Conference” held in France in early 1938 to discuss the refugee crisis. Refugee was a code word for the Jewish crisis, as Jews were leaving Germany with no where to go. No country wanted the Jews, and Hitler saw this as a license to do with them as he wished. The Jewish refugees were powerless and the Holocaust followed. The power of Jews is fiction, used by anti-Semites to entice people not normally with anti-Semitic views, to become anti-Semites. The Romanian government encouraged repression of Jews and by the end of the 19th century of the 250,000 Romanian Jews only a handful were allowed citizenship. Between 1881 and 1914, 74,000 Jews emigrated to the U.S. Western Jews had defended the rights of Romanian Jews with determination, passion and skill but they were unsuccessful in all their methods. The fact that Jews had tried to influence the Congress of Berlin, was proof that Jews had a world government that threatened the citizens of every country, a myth perpetuated to this day using a fictional document, fabricated by a Russian Tsar, titled “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”,which called for Jewish domination of the world. Black Death Throughout the world in the 14th century people died from the bubonic plague called the Black Death. Jews had been accused of poisoning wells long before the plague struck. In September 1348, officials in Savoy France became the first to accuse the Jews of causing the plague by poisoning the wells. Christians increasingly blamed non-believers, and Jews were the most common target. The disease spread throughout Europe, the Middle East and North Europe. In Savoy, after being tortured to confess, eleven Jews were burned alive. Jews were victims of the Black Death, as were people of all religions, but these arguments did nothing to ease the fears. Many Jewish communities were decimated by the disease, but there are no figures on how many Jews were murdered Blood Libels. From the 12th to the 16th century Jews were accused of taking Christian children, killing them and using their blood for religious ceremonies or for matzoh at Passover. The fact that in the Jewish religion it is forbidden to eat blood in any manner had no effect in stopping these lying accusations. Desecrating the Host In many Christian Churches as part of the Eucharist liturgy, unleavened bread and wine are blessed in remembrance of Jesus` words and actions at his last Passover meal. He is reported to have said “This is my body, this is my blood. Do this in remembrance of me”. Some interpretations of these words put his body in the bread (the host) and the wine. And so started the false accusations that Jews stole the “hosts” and desecrated them or in other words they were killing Jesus again. Holocaust Deniers It is not in the interests of anti-Semites to have to contend with the pity generated by the Holocaust, and so they deny it happened. For a leader like Ahmadinejad of Iran to advance this idea, shows how far leaders of some countries will go to advance their political interest. Democracies and Anti-Semitism Democracies are not free of anti-Semitism. In the 1800s there were 75,000 Jews out of a total of 39 million in France, a democracy, and they participated fully and successfully in French life. In the late 1800’s Edouard Dumont wrote a book “Jewish France” in which he claimed that Jews would never act in the best interests of France. The first edition sold 100,000 copies and it was reprinted 200 times over a period of 25 years. Wilhelm Marr, the German journalist who coined the term anti-Semitism, founded a newspaper in France called “The Free Word”. It accused Jews of corrupting France, especially Jews in the French army. Many non-Jewish Frenchmen resented the accusation but still in 1894 the French general staff accused Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew, of treason. Although there was no solid evidence, he went to jail but was later released. The case made world headlines and divided the country. The French army needed a scapegoat and this Jew would do. Although a French officer by the name of Esterhazy was found guilty, nevertheless the French public attacked Jewish synagogues, homes and businesses. In Canada the Liberal government of Mackenzie King refused to accept Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, a clear case of anti-Semitism. In the United States Henry Ford, a prominent industrialist, serialized in his newspaper a Russian document entitled “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, which purported to show the attempts of Jews to control the world. Many Americans took the side of Henry Ford. Before 1932 there were 5 anti-Semitic organizations but between 1932 and 1940 there were over 120. Ford’s newspaper wrote about the scope of Jewish domination in the U.S. and called the “international Jew” “the world’s foremost problem”. The articles were turned into a book that sold ½ million copies. Jews who survived World War II were treated abysmally in some camps supervised by the allies. In the American zone administered by General George S.Patton Jr., this was the case. He wrote in his diary that “the Jews who were displaced persons, were lower than animals”. Arabs and Jews When the British and French retired from the Middle East and North Africa around the middle of the 20th century they were replaced by nationalistic Arab governments. Even without Zionism and the formation of Israel, Jews were perceived to be associated with the colonizers. They had welcomed the West and benefitted from it. Most Jews in the Arab countries before World War II stood with Arabs against the British, but they parted company with the Arab nationalists when they became allied with the Germans. The issue of anti-Semitism amongst the Arabs was combined with nationalistic fervor and when the state of Israel was declared most Jews were expelled from Arab countries with the exception of Tunisia and Morocco. The declaration by Ben-Gurion of statehood for the Jews precipitated an attack on Israel by all neighbouring Arab countries. Despite the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordon, the tension is still very real. By giving the land to the Jews, the Arabs feel that they are being made to pay for the cruelty of the Europeans towards the Jews. There is some credibility in that charge; however they do not take into account the long history of the Jews in the area. The term Palestinian to describe local Arabs became prevalent after the state of Israel was declared. When I was young, the Jews who went to Palestine to build the country were referred to as Palestinians. The word Israelis was never used, and one wonders what would have occurred if the Jews had called their state Palestine. Anti-Semitism Today It is not politically correct to be racist or sexist today, at least not in North America. But anti-Semitism is not kept to the same standard, as it is conveniently hidden under the acceptable label of being anti-Zionist or against the policies of Israel. In a United Nations conference in Durban South Africa, at the World Conference against Racism (WCAR), in 2001 the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) found themselves the focus of angry demonstrations by Palestinians and their supporters at the forum for youth organizations. The demonstrators insisted they were not anti-Semitic but were simply showing their outrage at Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. When it was pointed out by the Jewish students that they were not Israelis, they found no one willing to listen. At the forum on anti-Semitism the youth group fared even worse. They were assaulted with these words: “Why haven’t the Jews taken responsibility for killing Jesus? They have sucked our blood all these years. We don’t want you here.” And as in the past, the anger was directed not just at Israel or at Zionists but at all Jews everywhere. The forums were sponsored by the U.N. but they did not intervene nor take down the anti-Semitic posters on display at the WCAR. There were 18,000 human rights activists from 166 nations, and nobody intervened in the catcalls, chants or physical intimidation of the Jewish participants. And this took place at a World Conference against racism under the aegis of the United Nation. In 1972 11 Israeli athletes were killed at the Olympic Games in Munich. Since then, every four years at the summer games, Israel has asked for 1 minute of silence to honour the murdered athletes but they have consistently been refused. Could this happen to any other nation? Not very likely! Conclusions There is one indisputable fact about anti-Semitism. It was started and maintained by the Christian religion for most of the last 2000 years. In areas of the world where the Christian religion is not dominant, there is little or no anti-Semitism. Section four of the “Nostra Aetate”, proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church in 1965, repudiates the centuries old deicide charge against all Jews, and stresses the religious bond shared by Jews and Christians. In any case, Jews alive today are no more responsible for the death of Christ than Christians living today. Anti-Semitism is as prevalent today as it has been for the last 100 years. Europe and North America are faced with a tremendous influx of Moslems whose attitude towards Jews is prejudiced by the situation in the Middle East. When Israel is held to a different and higher standard than any other country, it is anti-Semitism, not anti-Zionism. After the Second World War, the British left India. Two nations were formed, Pakistan and India, the Hindus in Pakistan immigrated to India and the Moslems in India went to Pakistan. In total seven million were absorbed by both countries, leaving no refugees. In contrast, when the British left Palestine, two independent nations were also to be formed. 750,000 Muslims left the territory slated to be Jewish and approximately the same number of Jews left Arab/Muslim lands. Today not one of those Jews remains a refugee but there are 5 million Palestinian refugees. This number includes all the descendents of the original people leaving Palestine. Why the difference in the result of the transfer of populations? The Arab world knowingly and intentionally are keeping the Palestinian populations in the second class status of permanent refugees. In the overwhelming majority of Arab states, Palestinians have no citizenship rights. Western society, in general, does not look favourably at racism or discrimination by religion, sex, or nationality. Why then the resurgence of anti-Semitism? The idea of anti-Semitism hidden under the guise of anti-Zionism or as the killers of Christ is clear to all, but is there another factor in the western world? 500 years ago, Jews were 50% of the doctors in Europe while they made up 1% of the population. They were the doctors for the highest levels of society. And even today Jews represent a larger proportion of doctors than their numbers warrant. Doctors represent a high level of education and status. In 1938 after the Germans invaded Austria they dug up the grave of Johann Strauss, the father of the first waltz king, and grandfather of Johann Strauss II, who wrote the Blue Danube, etc. The first Strauss came from Hungary in 1804 and he was buried as a Jew. The anti-Semitic Austrians could not tolerate such a successful composer being a Jew. Moses Mendelssohn, the Jewish philosopher, was the grandfather of Felix who was raised as a Christian although he was called Jewish by the Nazis. His violin concerto is world-renowned . Jacques Offenbach, the so-called “French” composer of Gaite Parisienne was, in fact, a German Jew called Jacob Eberst who left the anti-Semitism of Germany. Other Jewish composers from Europe were Ernest Bloch, Gustav Mahler, Darius Milhaud, Arnold Schoenberg. No doubt the leading American Jewish composer was George Gershwin followed by Aaron Copeland with Leonard Bernstein of West Side Story following closely behind. But there are so many Jewish American composers we can list only their names and not their works. Harold Arlen, Burt Bacharach, Irving Berlin, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Art Garfunkel, Marvin Hamlisch, Oscar Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Frank Loesser, Frederick Lowe, Richard Rodgers, Neil Sedaka, Paul Simon, Stephen Sondheim and Kurt Weill. The great violinists, pianists and singers of Jewish heritage are too numerous to mention. Prior to the twentieth century the only major figures in physics that were Jewish were Carl G.J. Jacobi, Heinrich Hertz* and Albert Michelson. Hertz was the discoverer of electromagnetic waves which led to radio, television wireless communication and radar. Michelson who won the Nobel Prize in 1907, performed critical experiments on the speed of light that proved crucial to Einstein’s theory of relativity. Any reasonable objective listing of the 25 most influential physicists would include 15 Jewish persons including Niels Bohr*. Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr were the “true revolutionaries” whose ideas would dominate most of physics for the 20th century. Many Jews were involved in the practical applications of theoretical physics. Leo Szilard conceived and then co-invented the nuclear reactor .The technology of the information age is based on semiconductor microelectronics and photonics .The transistor was invented and patented by Julius Edgar Lilienfeld. Jews constitute over 40% of the combined membership of the divisions of physics and applied physical sciences of the US National Academy of Sciences. *Hertz had a Jewish father and Bohr had a Jewish mother. It is the perception of non-Jews that Jews have an extraordinary ability to earn money. Around the world there is a view that all Jews are rich, an idea that makes no sense and is not borne out by statistics, but reason does not motivate an anti-Semite. In the US 15% of Americans believe that Jews have too much power and 20% believe they have too much power in the business world. In Europe 40% of people believe that Jews have financial savvy and deal unfairly with the public, where they are the only ones who emerge ahead. To have to point out that most of the corporate titans who profited during the recent bubble were not Jewish, gets you nowhere with the committed anti-Semite. It is not a crime to be financially astute, but one would believe so by the attitude towards successful Jews. What in my opinion is a cause of anti- Semitism now? I make this statement without the benefit of any in-depth study but by my knowledge of human behaviour and the life experience of an 81 year old person. Simply said, Jews in many fields are more successful and have done more for the world, in proportion to their numbers, than any other similar sized group. JEALOUSY of Jews and ENVY of the success of Israel are the root causes of attitudes toward Jews. Jews are not successful because they are Jews; they succeed in spite of being Jewish. Why they succeed is a truth I cannot explain and would be worth an in-depth examination.
