Jewish Website Ask: Why do people hate the Jews?

[Blackrook]

Why Do People Hate The Jews?

It has been said that the history of almost all of the Jewish holidays can be summed up succinctly: "They wanted to kill us; we won. Let's eat." Why has anti-Semitism been so pervasive in so many countries, in so many time periods and for so many reasons? (One begins to wonder. Perhaps there is something wrong with the Jews and Judaism? After all, there is an old Yiddish saying -- "If one person calls you a donkey, ignore him; if two people call you a donkey, buy a saddle.")

Between the years 250 CE and 1948 CE - a period of 1,700 years - Jews have experienced more than eighty expulsions from various countries in Europe - an average of nearly one expulsion every twenty-one years. Jews were expelled from England, France, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal, Bohemia, Moravia and seventy-one other countries.

Historians have classified six explanations as to why people hate the Jews:

1. Economic -- "We hate Jews because they possess too much wealth and power."
2. Chosen People -- "We hate Jews because they arrogantly claim that they are the chosen people."
3. Scapegoat -- "Jews are a convenient group to single out and blame for our troubles."
4. Deicide -- "We hate Jews because they killed Jesus."
5. Outsiders, -- "We hate Jews because they are different than us." (The dislike of the unlike.)
6. Racial Theory -- "We hate Jews because they are an inferior race."

As we examine the explanations, we must ask -- Are they the causes for anti-Semitism or excuses for Anti-Semitism? The difference? If one takes away the cause, then anti-Semitism should no longer exist. If one can show a contradiction to the explanation, it demonstrates that the "cause" is not a reason, it is just an excuse. Let's look at some contradictions:

1. Economic -- The Jews of 17th- 20th century Poland and Russia were dirt poor, had no influence and yet they were hated.
   
2. Chosen People -- a) In the late 19th century, the Jews of Germany denied "Choseness." And then they worked on assimilation. Yet, the holocaust started there. b) Christians and Moslems profess to being the "Chosen people," yet, the world and the anti-Semites tolerate them.
   
3. Scapegoat -- Any group must already be hated to be an effective scapegoat. The Scapegoat Theory does not then cause anti-Semitism. Rather, anti-Semitism is what makes the Jews a convenient scapegoat target. Hitler's ranting and ravings would not be taken seriously if he said, "It's the bicycle riders and the midgets who are destroying our society."
   
4. Deicide -- a) the Christian Bible says the Romans killed Jesus, though Jews are mentioned as accomplices (claims that Jews killed Jesus came several hundred years later). How come the accomplices are persecuted and there isn't an anti-Roman movement through history? b) Jesus himself said, "Forgive them [i.e., the Jews], for they know not what they do." The Second Vatican Council in 1963 officially exonerated the Jews as the killers of Jesus. Neither statement of Christian belief lessened anti-Semitism.
   
5. Outsiders -- With the Enlightenment in the late 18th century, many Jews rushed to assimilate. Anti-Semitism should have stopped. Instead, for example, with the Nazis came the cry, in essence: "We hate you, not because you're different, but because you're trying to become like us! We cannot allow you to infect the Aryan race with your inferior genes."
   
6. Racial Theory -- The overriding problem with this theory is that it is self-contradictory: Jews are not a race. Anyone can become a Jew - and members of every race, creed and color in the world have done so at one time or another.

Every other hated group is hated for a relatively defined reason. We Jews, however, are hated in paradoxes: Jews are hated for being a lazy and inferior race - but also for dominating the economy and taking over the world. We are hated for stubbornly maintaining our separateness - and, when we do assimilate - for posing a threat to racial purity through intermarriages. We are seen as pacifists and as warmongers; as capitalist exploiters and as revolutionary communists; possessed of a Chosen-People mentality, as well as of an inferiority complex. It seems that we just can't win.

Now we know what are NOT the reasons for anti-Semitism.

****
This Jewish website asks why (many) people hate Jews, but none of the answers they give are even close to the right answer.

So I'm going to throw it out there to all forum Jews, why do you think (many) people hate the Jews?

My guess is, none of you will know the answer to this question.

 

[Blackrook]

No one?

 

[aaronleland]

They killed Jesus!!!

 

[Lumpy 1]

That was a great and informative OP, Thank You, I appreciate your efforts quite often actually....

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Why don't you tell us why you don't like Jews, instead of playing guessing games?

 

[Blackrook]

Why don't you tell us why you don't like Jews, instead of playing guessing games?

I think it's because Jews don't even care if people like them. That's why.

 

[theliq]

No one?

Well I don't Rook,but many do...Why?????I think that no matter where Jew abide they are always Jews/Israelis first and foremost,most American Jews would be on Israels side if there was a Schism between Israel and America....but we should ask them.

They have a disproportional amount of wealth as a % of the population but I can understand why.....others cannot though.

People are not impressed with the way they treat/ed Palestinians,considering their past......

I think Jews have an inferiority complex generally......they are happy to SLAG OFF the Semetic Palestinians but Cry Wolf when others criticize them,...Out comes the "Anti-Semitic" Whinging.

Most Jews in Israel are not a Semitic peoples but converts from Central Asia,Kazars,Tartars etc and their decendants, but under the Zionist Banner claim they are,methinks I have more Jewish Blood than most of these "Jews"

I find they, considering the size of their population,and have far too much influence generally, their Lobbying in America inparticular sic is too much but they are a clever people.

I have dealt with Jews and found most of them are pretty good,mind you most I have dealt with are secular Jews in the main........,Zionists,Settlers usually I cannot abide in any positive way.

The Right Wing Israeli Government are a complete disgrace but Israel changed when the Zionists Assassinated their own Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin........Assassinated

I am not Anti Jewish but I am Anti-Zionist.....which is not the same as being Jewish......as the Ultra and Secular Jews will tell you.steve

ps Yes the Christians did and some Moronic Christians still believe today that Jews were responsible for Christs DEATH,but I think this type of thinking is complete Bull Shit.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Why don't you tell us why you don't like Jews, instead of playing guessing games?

I think it's because Jews don't even care if people like them. That's why.

You're right that we don't give a shit if you like us or not. You're not the first to hate us, and I'm sure you won't be the last either.

But how does that justify your hatred of us, exactly?

 

[yiostheoy]

Why Do People Hate The Jews?

It has been said that the history of almost all of the Jewish holidays can be summed up succinctly: "They wanted to kill us; we won. Let's eat." Why has anti-Semitism been so pervasive in so many countries, in so many time periods and for so many reasons? (One begins to wonder. Perhaps there is something wrong with the Jews and Judaism? After all, there is an old Yiddish saying -- "If one person calls you a donkey, ignore him; if two people call you a donkey, buy a saddle.")

Between the years 250 CE and 1948 CE - a period of 1,700 years - Jews have experienced more than eighty expulsions from various countries in Europe - an average of nearly one expulsion every twenty-one years. Jews were expelled from England, France, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal, Bohemia, Moravia and seventy-one other countries.

Historians have classified six explanations as to why people hate the Jews:

1. Economic -- "We hate Jews because they possess too much wealth and power."
2. Chosen People -- "We hate Jews because they arrogantly claim that they are the chosen people."
3. Scapegoat -- "Jews are a convenient group to single out and blame for our troubles."
4. Deicide -- "We hate Jews because they killed Jesus."
5. Outsiders, -- "We hate Jews because they are different than us." (The dislike of the unlike.)
6. Racial Theory -- "We hate Jews because they are an inferior race."

As we examine the explanations, we must ask -- Are they the causes for anti-Semitism or excuses for Anti-Semitism? The difference? If one takes away the cause, then anti-Semitism should no longer exist. If one can show a contradiction to the explanation, it demonstrates that the "cause" is not a reason, it is just an excuse. Let's look at some contradictions:

1. Economic -- The Jews of 17th- 20th century Poland and Russia were dirt poor, had no influence and yet they were hated.
   
2. Chosen People -- a) In the late 19th century, the Jews of Germany denied "Choseness." And then they worked on assimilation. Yet, the holocaust started there. b) Christians and Moslems profess to being the "Chosen people," yet, the world and the anti-Semites tolerate them.
   
3. Scapegoat -- Any group must already be hated to be an effective scapegoat. The Scapegoat Theory does not then cause anti-Semitism. Rather, anti-Semitism is what makes the Jews a convenient scapegoat target. Hitler's ranting and ravings would not be taken seriously if he said, "It's the bicycle riders and the midgets who are destroying our society."
   
4. Deicide -- a) the Christian Bible says the Romans killed Jesus, though Jews are mentioned as accomplices (claims that Jews killed Jesus came several hundred years later). How come the accomplices are persecuted and there isn't an anti-Roman movement through history? b) Jesus himself said, "Forgive them [i.e., the Jews], for they know not what they do." The Second Vatican Council in 1963 officially exonerated the Jews as the killers of Jesus. Neither statement of Christian belief lessened anti-Semitism.
   
5. Outsiders -- With the Enlightenment in the late 18th century, many Jews rushed to assimilate. Anti-Semitism should have stopped. Instead, for example, with the Nazis came the cry, in essence: "We hate you, not because you're different, but because you're trying to become like us! We cannot allow you to infect the Aryan race with your inferior genes."
   
6. Racial Theory -- The overriding problem with this theory is that it is self-contradictory: Jews are not a race. Anyone can become a Jew - and members of every race, creed and color in the world have done so at one time or another.

Every other hated group is hated for a relatively defined reason. We Jews, however, are hated in paradoxes: Jews are hated for being a lazy and inferior race - but also for dominating the economy and taking over the world. We are hated for stubbornly maintaining our separateness - and, when we do assimilate - for posing a threat to racial purity through intermarriages. We are seen as pacifists and as warmongers; as capitalist exploiters and as revolutionary communists; possessed of a Chosen-People mentality, as well as of an inferiority complex. It seems that we just can't win.

Now we know what are NOT the reasons for anti-Semitism.

****
This Jewish website asks why (many) people hate Jews, but none of the answers they give are even close to the right answer.

So I'm going to throw it out there to all forum Jews, why do you think (many) people hate the Jews?

My guess is, none of you will know the answer to this question.

In my own studies of history I have also wondered the same thing.

After all, nobody hates Hindus. Nobody hates Buddhists either.

My own conclusions were as follows.

Rebellion -- the Romans persecuted the Jews at Jerusalem because they rebelled.

Superstition -- the Europeans persecuted the Jews because the Europeans thought God was punishing the Europeans over the Jews anytime there was a plague or famine etc.

Envy -- the European persecuted the Jews because they were envious of their wealth from the banking and the jewelry industries.

Greed -- the European kings wanted to confiscate the Jews' wealth.

Bureaucracy -- Adolf claimed that during WW1 there was a disproportionate amount of Jews working behind the lines and not at the front.

Monopoly -- Adolf claimed that the Jews were controlling unions and banking.

 

[Blackrook]

If you care whether people like you, there's certain things you say, and certain things you do, and certain things you don't say, and certain things you don't do.

But most Jews I have met do not feel bound to any of this, they do what they damn well want to do, and say what they damn well want to say, and if people don't like it, they don't really give a damn.

I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I'm the same way. But I have made many enemies in my life because I act this way. So I know of what I speak.

 

[Blackrook]

Why don't you tell us why you don't like Jews, instead of playing guessing games?

I think it's because Jews don't even care if people like them. That's why.

You're right that we don't give a shit if you like us or not. You're not the first to hate us, and I'm sure you won't be the last either.

But how does that justify your hatred of us, exactly?

I don't hate Jews, I just don't like most of the Jews I've met. There have been Jews I did like, and I've had Jewish friends. But with Jews, you always have to make allowances, saying to yourself, "He can't help himself acting that way, he is a Jew and doesn't know any better."

 

[yiostheoy]

You're right that we don't give a shit if you like us or not. You're not the first to hate us, and I'm sure you won't be the last either.

But how does that justify your hatred of us, exactly?

Hate is a disease which once it infests the mind it becomes like a cancer and devours it.

Having said all that, I really hate Islamists.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Why don't you tell us why you don't like Jews, instead of playing guessing games?

I think it's because Jews don't even care if people like them. That's why.

You're right that we don't give a shit if you like us or not. You're not the first to hate us, and I'm sure you won't be the last either.

But how does that justify your hatred of us, exactly?

I don't hate Jews, I just don't like most of the Jews I've met. There have been Jews I did like, and I've had Jewish friends. But with Jews, you always have to make allowances, saying to yourself, "He can't help himself acting that way, he is a Jew and doesn't know any better."

I'm saving this post for the next time you start acting like a sanctimonious asshole in between insulting me.

In fact, I think I might make that last line part of my signature, and put your anti-Semetism on display for everyone.

 

[Blackrook]

It's like Michael on the TV show "The Office." He completely lacks self-awareness. He knows people don't like him, but he has no clue why people don't like him. He's not Jewish, so he can't say, "they don't like me because I'm Jewish." He's not black, so he can't say, "they don't like me because I'm black." He's not a woman, so he can't say, "they don't like me because I'm a woman." He knows that the reason people don't like him is something he is doing wrong, but he can never figure out what he is doing wrong.

 

[Blackrook]

Why don't you tell us why you don't like Jews, instead of playing guessing games?

I think it's because Jews don't even care if people like them. That's why.

You're right that we don't give a shit if you like us or not. You're not the first to hate us, and I'm sure you won't be the last either.

But how does that justify your hatred of us, exactly?

I don't hate Jews, I just don't like most of the Jews I've met. There have been Jews I did like, and I've had Jewish friends. But with Jews, you always have to make allowances, saying to yourself, "He can't help himself acting that way, he is a Jew and doesn't know any better."

I'm saving this post for the next time you start acting like a sanctimonious asshole in between insulting me.

In fact, I think I might make that last line part of my signature, and put your anti-Semetism on display for everyone.

Yes, I would expect a Jew to do that. Which is why people don't like you, because you do stuff like that.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

You're right that we don't give a shit if you like us or not. You're not the first to hate us, and I'm sure you won't be the last either.

But how does that justify your hatred of us, exactly?

Hate is a disease which once it infests the mind it becomes like a cancer and devours it.

Having said all that, I really hate Islamists.

Well, that's your issue to work through, I guess.

 

[Blackrook]

I am actually trying to help you, but instead of gratitude, you threaten me. You really need to understand that it is entirely your fault that nobody likes you. I have tried my entire life to like Jews, because I was aware of the horrors of the Holocaust. But I have never seen any Jew attempt to meet me even half way on this. All I see on this forum is Jews bashing Christianity and Catholicism from one end of this forum to the other, and if I start one thread fighting back, I am branded an anti-Semite. What a bunch of hypocrites you are.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Why don't you tell us why you don't like Jews, instead of playing guessing games?

I think it's because Jews don't even care if people like them. That's why.

You're right that we don't give a shit if you like us or not. You're not the first to hate us, and I'm sure you won't be the last either.

But how does that justify your hatred of us, exactly?

I don't hate Jews, I just don't like most of the Jews I've met. There have been Jews I did like, and I've had Jewish friends. But with Jews, you always have to make allowances, saying to yourself, "He can't help himself acting that way, he is a Jew and doesn't know any better."

I'm saving this post for the next time you start acting like a sanctimonious asshole in between insulting me.

In fact, I think I might make that last line part of my signature, and put your anti-Semetism on display for everyone.

Yes, I would expect a Jew to do that. Which is why people don't like you, because you do stuff like that.

You are the gift that keeps on giving. It's truly amazing.

But let's make something clear - you don't speak for "people", you speak only for your twisted and hypocritical self.

And the fact that you don't like me is, from my perspective, perfectly fine. It just reveals your own hatred.

 

[Blackrook]

So really, Jews think it's okay to hate Christians and Catholics, but it's wrong if Christians or Catholics hate them.

 

[Blackrook]

I think it's because Jews don't even care if people like them. That's why.

You're right that we don't give a shit if you like us or not. You're not the first to hate us, and I'm sure you won't be the last either.

But how does that justify your hatred of us, exactly?

I don't hate Jews, I just don't like most of the Jews I've met. There have been Jews I did like, and I've had Jewish friends. But with Jews, you always have to make allowances, saying to yourself, "He can't help himself acting that way, he is a Jew and doesn't know any better."

I'm saving this post for the next time you start acting like a sanctimonious asshole in between insulting me.

In fact, I think I might make that last line part of my signature, and put your anti-Semetism on display for everyone.

Yes, I would expect a Jew to do that. Which is why people don't like you, because you do stuff like that.

You are the gift that keeps on giving. It's truly amazing.

But let's make something clear - you don't speak for "people", you speak only for your twisted and hypocritical self.

And the fact that you don't like me is, from my perspective, perfectly fine. It just reveals your own hatred.

You keep throwing that "hatred" word out, and you and your fellow liberals have cheapened it to worthlessness since you use it every time you run out of logical arguments. I don't give a fuck what you say about me, your opinion means less to me than a phony $3 bill. You and your fellow Jews constantly bash Christianity and Catholicism on this forum, now I've given you a tiny taste back and you flip out and make threats against me. You have no business being a Mod, and I will complain about you to the Administrator.