Voolavex

Why Do You Hate the Jews? Who Will Take The Test? September 8, 2015

Before I post this blog (or post this blog) I want to acknowledge and thank Bart D. Ehrman, historian, Bible scholar and Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.  I have been enlightened by and borrowed  liberally from his book: ‘How Jesus Became God’.  If I had footnoted this post the op cit would  have been Professor Ehrman and this title.  His book is footnoted extensively and there is a Scripture Index.  My best advice would be to obtain a copy and read it more than once. Some of his material has been paraphrased and others quoted.  I must also thank Alon Contino for “his shattering book “A World Without Jews”. Indescribable and researched intensely as well.  It sheds light on more recent acts of Jew hatred.  

I shall be quite surprised if anyone accepts the challenge, but it is a revealing test and it could yield revealing answers.  As people (some people) Support BDS – I have to ask why in a broader sense.  But I can see that Jew hating today in other, newer ways, is still alive and well.   Rosh Hashonah – 5776,  sees hating Jews and Israel become a global issue and people have taken sides and I am not sure they even know why.

Why do so many hate the Jews?  Is there a reasonable answer?  It cannot be that you have had a bad experience or that you had loud Jewish neighbors or you can’t stand gefilte fish.  People hate Jews.  Really hate them. Some say they don’t, but in secret they do.  No one wants to simply say “I am an anti-Semite”.  Slay them, smite them, slaughter them, set fire to them, gas them, starve them and I still have no idea why?  Why do so many people HATE the Jews?  I dislike some Jews as individuals, but this goes for any religious or ethnic group. And it is personal.   Not everyone likes everyone.  Admittedly there are some people who don’t – the people of India have no issue with them – it is my opinion that when India’s Jews left for Israel, the Indians were not delighted to see them go.  Surprisingly Albania had no problem with Jews. And this in the 20th century.  Many individuals do not.  History will show us that for brief uneasy moments Jews were not hated and shunned but by and large – people seem to have enjoyed and actively cultivated Jew hatred.  Habitually.  Why?

The Romans  in the Middle East didn’t hate the Jews anymore than they hated their other subjugated subjects who didn’t fall into line during their era.  But the business in Jerusalem on that fateful Pesach weekend was not really about “the Jews” – it was about a Jewish rabble-rouser and the disruption of the daily life of the Roman occupation religion (it was trending subject in those times).  It wasn’t Easter weekend.  There was no Good Friday and believe it or not Crucifixion was the approved execution method of the Roman times (before they decided to toss Christians in with large cats) for criminals. The Romans were what we now call “pagans” and had their own worship they hoisted from the Greeks.  The Romans named their province “Palestine” – not the Jews or anyone else.  There were no Muslims because it was long before Islam.  The land had been occupied and the Jews angered most of the conquerors by not knuckling under to their prevailing religions or gods – but I suspect it had to do with faith and not just singling out the Jews for this dislike.  Anyone who didn’t fall into the party line was not considered a really good subject. If you want a subsequent history of the Jews and their treatment by Christians it’s out there in many incarnations.  I will not revisit it nor will I revise it.

For me it is that the early Jews who began their deification of Jesus had a small problem in the light of scriptural writing. The business of the Messiah.  Remember there was no “new” testament while Jesus lived; nor was there electronic media.   Jews were and continue to be believers in the concept or idea of a messiah or savior.  He is called “Moshiach” and he is the anointed one from the line of David who will come to overwhelm the enemy and set up God’s kingdom. There is no “Second Coming”.  No Jew until Christianity was ever considered to be the messiah.  Despite claims to the contrary the Hebrew bible does not once mention the word “messiah”.  There is no mention in Jewish scripture of dying and rising from the dead as a messianic indicator. It was not a condition or factor. It is perhaps a good idea to understand that Jesus was proclaimed messiah by his apostles during his lifetime, although he never called himself that and nothing about his death or “resurrection” would have all of a sudden indicated that this alone made him the messiah.  The Messiah had to conform to conditions set down ages before and none of them included death and rebirth.  And the Jewish people were not buying it.  Consider too that the Romans were running the show and the Roman Emperor was worshipped as a god. So either worship the pagan gods or keep your own heathenism quiet.  The Jews did not worship Roman emperors; why would they worship a poor schlub from Galilee who was crucified as a traitor and enemy of the state?  And why in future would they worship Jesus who did not fulfill the requirements set down in antiquity for the presence of true Messiah.  Remember that Jesus and his friends were all Jews and knew the  Torah and the drill.

The anti-Semitism that has evolved probably started about at the end of the second century in the city of Sardis in Asia Minor in  a sermon delivered by a bishop named Melito.  In it he places the blame for the crucifixion on the Jews.  Period.  And because Jesus had attained the status of God – the Jews had killed their own God; their own Messiah.  He concludes by saying that ‘God has been murdered, the King of Israel has been destroyed by the Right Hand of Israel (that would be Jesus who was sittething on the right hand of God”).  To a small group of believers this would be wild rhetoric, but the Church had already become a majority and Constantine, born again in 312 CE (or so) and created the Holy Roman Empire.  Constantine started with a gusto by railing against the Jews as enemies of “GOD” and laws were passed to constrain Jews in their activities.  Jews had done a bad, bad thing and they were going to suffer for it.  Christianity spread.  So did anti-Semitism.  Jews suffered. And so we come back around to the question:  “Why Do YOU Hate the Jews”.  Now, right now?  An invalid choice is “Because They Killed Our Lord”.  My purpose is to find actual reasons that might sound realistic but are incorrect in the light of explanation and  proven facts.  No one has to soften it.  No one has to sugar coat.  I am interested in honest answers.   And I will be interested to see who will take the test.

This post is dedicated to a person with whom I share a birthday and who is a Muslim and whom I consider my brother.  It is for a sweeter, kinder New Year – the one my tribe celebrates and for every other human who would rather talk than shoot.  Shalom.