Q&A: Antisemitism
Antisemitism
Question
Good evening. Does the Rabbi think that antisemitism is really a mystical phenomenon, in the sense of “it is a known fact that Esau hates Jacob” — a kind of fate that all non-Jews are born with, so that when they vote against us at the UN, for example, there is no point in listening to their arguments or talking with them, because obviously they do it because they hate us, and everything they say is just a fig leaf for good old-fashioned antisemitism (these are things I’ve heard from people around me)? Or is antisemitism based on ordinary human factors, problematic as they are in themselves — for example, that usually the source of antisemitism is racism and the interests of non-Jews to pin the blame on people who look different and are in positions of power, in order to get out of various troubles or to bring them down — but there is nothing mystical here and nothing fated, and there can also be good non-Jews who will never hate us… Or maybe it’s neither of these and it’s more complicated? What does the Rabbi think? Thank you.
Answer
There is an element in antisemitism that is hard to understand. Whether to define it as mystical is a matter of definition. It may be that there is a “natural” explanation here, against the background of hostility connected with Christianity and the like. It is clear that on the level of international politics there is also irrelevant antisemitism. But from this one should not conclude that there is no need to listen to the arguments. It is always possible that there are also substantive arguments there.
It is clear that there are non-Jews in the world who do not hate us (those who do not come from a Christian or Muslim background). Some of them do not know us at all. But because the world media and the academic elites and so on are to a large extent based on Christian and Islamic factors (including those that have undergone secularization), our media image is unbalanced, and in this way groups of this kind can also end up becoming antisemitic.
I’d recommend, for most of the answers on this issue and in general for the fascinating questions about the Jews — like, are they really more talented? Or is there really a Jewish gene? Is antisemitism real? etc. — Rosner’s book, The Jews: Seven Common Questions. It’s a book that gives background (though maybe a bit superficially) on all these matters, and gives the answers that have been offered throughout history this way and that by studies, etc. etc. Recommended.