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August 16, 2006
by Rabbi Daniel Lapin
We can go no further without first investigating just who are the Jews. Once upon a time and later I'll explain how long ago the change occurred, it would have been really simple to explain who the Jews are: Jews were those who lived by their unique covenant with God as defined by the Jewish constitution, the Torah. Today, however, some view Jewish identity as ethnic, others as nostalgic or tribal, and a few see Jewish identity as religious. Many of my Christian friends have expressed bewilderment upon hearing of self-described Jewish atheists. That is because becoming a Christian, as I understand it, requires a purposeful decision to embrace Christ. Thus any Christian professing atheism, knows that he has adopted a philosophy incompatible with his former faith. However, many secularized Americans with Jewish ancestors, though unsure of exactly what their Jewishness means, nonetheless are convinced that their Jewish identity imposes no philosophical limitations. Somehow, their Jewishness is something other than having to do with God; therefore it is perfectly compatible with atheism. A test I regularly perform is to ask Christian acquaintances to list the twenty-five most important Christian leaders in America. Almost without exception, they name twenty-five pastors or priests. Furthermore, there is considerable congruence between their lists. That is what made it possible for Time Magazine in January 2005, to run a cover story entitled "The 25 Most Powerful Evangelicals." My regular test continues with me asking fellow Jews to list the twenty-five most important Jewish leaders in the country. Almost without exception, their list contains no rabbis. Their lists also offer little by way of congruence other than movie director, Steven Spielberg whom I find on most such Jewish lists. Once upon a time, there was widespread agreement on the essential principles of Judaism. Today it would be difficult if not impossible to find any definition of what a Jew is, let alone what a Jewish principle is, on which a hundred Jews taken at random off the streets of major American cities, would all agree. During the lead up to the November 2000 presidential election, hundreds of rabbis and Jewish community activists implored Jewish voters to vote for the Gore/Lieberman ticket because it would be "so wonderful to have a Jew as vice-president." Exactly the same voices can regularly be heard sputtering in indignation whenever Christian voters are asked to vote for a particular candidate on account of him being a deeply committed Christian. They saw no contradiction. Voting for Lieberman, as they saw it, was not a vote for any set of religious values. It was an expression of ethnic pride. However, voting for a Christian candidate would violate the separation of church and state. Needless to say, during that 2000 presidential campaign, many religious Jews took grave exception to the exhortations on behalf of Lieberman. They rightly saw them as appeals to a primitive tribalism. In other words, vote for this man because he is from the same tribe as you whether or not his values and political beliefs share common ground with yours. These Jews were far more comfortable voting for a Christian candidate who could be counted upon to agree with them on issues of importance, though he might pray in a different house of worship from them. It is important to see that the question of why the world hates the Jews absolutely demands that we recognize that there is no such thing as "the Jews" or "the Jewish community" and that we set about identifying the many different groups of Jews. Failure to do so leads to nothing but statistical anomalies and wry Jewish humor. For instance, many Jews believe that anti-Semitism is nothing but irrational bigotry because "they" hate "us" for being communists and "they" hate "us" for being capitalists. The point is that the Jews advancing the cause of communism in Bolshevik Russia were not the same Jews actively practicing capitalism in the stock exchanges of Western Europe, nor were the reasons behind anti-Semitism the same in both places. As we study the question of why the world hates the Jews in this ongoing series, we shall see that there have always been many types of Jews and many different reasons for the hatred they attracted. Sometimes irrational bigotry, other times, well, how to put this? As uncomfortable as it may be to contemplate, and while certainly not excusing massacres and pogroms, is it possible that there are trends in the "Jewish community" that stimulate hatred? If this is to be a serious study, it will have to be an honest one too. I know of course that it is unfashionable to violate the nonsensical and utterly irrational rule of the left, never, ever blame the victim. As if victim-hood automatically confers virtue. As if nobody suffering misfortune can ever be thought of as having any degree of complicity in his condition. That having been said, we shall also have to understand why Jews, more than others, repeatedly through history attract hatred intense enough to stimulate coordinated programs of murder and genocide. Yes, genocide has happened to the Armenians, to the Cambodians, and to the Rwandans, but only once. With Jews it seems to crop up in repeated epochs. There must be an explanation, and indeed there is. In forthcoming chapters of this discussion, we shall see what it is.
Radio talk show host, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, is president of Toward Tradition, a bridge-building organization providing a voice for all Americans who defend the Judeo-Christian values vital for our nation's survival. Visit their website at http://www.towardtradition.org. © 2005 by Rabbi Daniel Lapin and reproduced here with permission.
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If
it wouldn't have made for an ungainly title, I
would have added on the phrase - And Why American
Christians Love Them. Though it might have appeared
as if I was asking two separate questions, in fact,
they are one and the same. The answer to why the
world hates Jews is the same as answer to why most
American Christians love them. The two questions
really blend into one because the same answer
satisfies both questions. But it will take us a
little while to reach that answer.
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