Citizens in Britain were startled recently when a religious-studies exam featured the question, "why do some people hate Jews?"
The question was immediately blasted as inappropriate and quickly withdrawn.
But it's an interesting and important question.
Along with many other sites, this site is occasionally visited by people whose mission in life appears to be to express hatred of Jews. (We delete these comments as quickly as we can, but they're always startling in their venom, meanness, and stupidity.)
And hatred of Jews has obviously been an ongoing theme worldwide for centuries.
Hitler, for example, hated the Jews so much that he murdered 6 million of them.
Why?
What is the source of this animosity? Why does it perpetuate itself? Where did this prejudice come from?
I'm asking this question seriously, and I'm going to Bleacher any comments that don't answer it seriously. As usual, I'm also going to ban any anti-Semitic commenters. And I'm only going to keep the comments open for 24 hours, because I know what will happen once I stop checking back in and reading them.
In the meantime, I'm genuinely mystified and curious, and I look forward to reading your responses.
Why do some people hate Jews?
Or, put in a more delicate fashion, what are the sources of the anti-Semitism that seem to play such a central role in many people's lives?
?
NOTE: The original photo in this post was of a couple of jovial Orthodox Jews, one of whom was wearing a traditional hat. Some readers found that needlessly provocative. One suggested I replace it with a picture of Natalie Portman, who, I guess, is Jewish (I don't know). So I have.
NOTE 2: The original title of this post was "Why Do Some People Hate Jews?" That made a lot of people angry. Folks seem more comfortable with the current title, which, admittedly, is less direct. So I changed it.
UPDATE: Now I see why Britain was startled when this question appeared on that religious-studies exam. Apparently, it's not a question you're supposed to ask.
UPDATE 2: Readers would also now like me to ask the following questions:
- Why do people hate ____ people [fill in any skin color]
- Why do people hate ____ [fill in any religion]
- "Why do people hate?"?
Those are all good questions, too. Feel free to add your answers to those below, too.
UPDATE 3: John Podhoretz has been kind enough to send along a list of books on this topic, written by professor Robert Wistrich. It's available here. Please let me know which is the best, and I'll read it and summarize it in a future post.
NOTE 4: Wow! Thank you. Lots of interesting comments mixed in with some more predictable ones (along with a lot of frustration with me for even posing the question). I'm going to close the comments now, because I can't keep scanning them. I'll read Mr. Podhoretz's book recommendation above and come back with the scholarly answers.
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