My friend Ed recently shot me a note, asking if I could recommend a good book on the history of the Jews. He's been reading a lot lately about the Arab/Israeli conflict, and has been curious about why the Jews have been such a hated group for so long.
I wrote him a response that I thought you all might like to read too, and it is as follows:
Ed,
If you're looking for really in-depth, try this one:
A History of the Jews by Paul M. Johnson.
My Jewish friends* all speak highly of it as an excellent and very fair reading.
My own, take, for what it's worth: The real problem with the Jews is that theirs is an hereditary religion. You can convert to Judaism, of course. They are open to that. But a Rabbi is supposed to at least try to talk you out of it. Unlike Islam or Christianity, they don't go out of their way to get people to join--although, oddly enough, non-Jews are always welcome to come worship the God of Israel in (almost) any Synagogue without being asked to convert.
Anyway, the bottom line is, you mostly become a Jew through birth. Secondarily, sometimes through marriage. Simply doing it for personal reasons is rarest of all, and isn't very common. Furthermore, as with most religions, sometimes kids fall away from the faith. Thus you usually have "ethnically Jewish" people who really have abandoned the faith--and when a lot of those have kids, they cease to raise them as Jews, and wind up blending into whatever the majority ethnicity or religion is.
This means the Jews are a minority most anywhere they go, because their religion is mostly hereditary, and a certain percentage of the kids always fall away. Those who stay faithful, however, are usually pretty fierce about it. As a result, the Jews are almost always separate and distinct from the other people they live among in any given land. It's been that way the last 2000 or so years as they've spread across the world.
Throughout history, when things start going really badly, there is usually someone who wants to start blaming a minority group, or taking things away from a minority group. Jews are usually handy that way. So they've been kicked around by just about everyone in the last 2000 years. Although that's the thing: unlike other minority groups, the Jews have also managed to survive. This is rather inspiring, to me anyway. Other minority groups have been wiped out of history (including some of my own tribal ancestors), but the pesky Jews just refuse to die out. Stubborn of them, eh?
Anyway, the fact that they, as a people, regularly find peace only to, after a few centuries, wind up getting kicked around again, is the whole reason they wanted the state of Israel in the first place. They wanted a nation where they were no longer a persecuted minority, but actually had a place of their own.
Israel remains a subject of passion for Jews not just because it's central to their faith, although it is, but also because the great hope of the Zionist project--the creation of a secure, stable Israel--looms large in the minds of a people who have for thousands of years wanted a permanent home where they as a people could feel safe. Or a place to flee to if things start to get crazy wherever they're at.
Anyway, Paul Johnson's book seems to be the one to read.
* - No, I'm not a Jew. But I play one on TV.
An awful lot of groups are hated. The reason Jews are famous for being hated, is that we're still around to complain about it.
I would recomend Why the Jews? It is a book that rather bluntly states why Jews have been and are hated by various groups all over the world. It is after reading this book that I no longer use the word anti-semiticism but use the word Judenhass.
'bout the only famous Judaism convert not through marriage that I can recall is Sammy Davis Jr. of the Ratpack fame.
I would recommend Jews, God and History by Max Dimont
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0451628667/)
His writing is a bit florid, but he really make the story of Judiasm come alive much more then many of the other histories.
I don't know many Jews. I don't think I had ever met one before I was about 24...if I did, I didn't know it, at least.
It seems to me that there is much to admire about the Jews, particularly in their ability to retain their cultural and religious heritage despite intense persecution and a lack of a homeland for millenia. The only comparable situation I can think of is the Kurds, and they've been holding on without a homeland for far less than that. Or maybe the Roms, but I don't know much about them.
I'm not trying to perpetuate stereotypes, however, when I say that according to my understanding, most of the resentment against Jews has been due to money. According to my understanding (again), most of the bankers/moneylenders in Europe during the age of royalty were Jews. That isn't to say all were Jews, nor were all Jews rich. But a significant enough portion were, so that when royalty needed money, they often borrowed from wealthy Jews. When they were unable to pay back the loans, it was easier to stir up the anger of the people against Jews and have them thrown out of the country rather than pay back what they owed. The task of stirring up resentment/hatred was aided by the the perservation of culture/religion that helped the Jews survive as a race/culture/religion, in that an unassimilated minority is easier to resent. Throw in the "God's Chosen People" perceived arrogance, and you have a recipe for resentment.
Um, and I think the reason many Jews were in banking or other occupations of wealth was because it takes funds to maintain independence as a minority, so they had greater motivation to be successful. Additionally, the Catholic Church had strong prohibitions against charging interest for loans, but Jews weren't inhibited by threats of ex-communication, obviously.
And then, the final factor was that once a race has been reviled, it easy to revile them again. From what I perceive, it seems like that's what happened in Germany and Russia this century, and in the US as well.
I find it despicable, myself. We are all just people under the skin, and are unifying aspects are simply that everybody just wants to be safe, loved, and comfortable...
All more or less correct, Nathan, with one caveat that you've missed:
Some time in the last few centuries, Jews got heavily involved in professions like banking, medicine, law, merchantry, and so on, because of laws that often made it illegal for them to work at standard trades.
There were times and places in European history where a Jew was not allowed to be a mason, a carpenter, etc. In some places, they were not allowed to own land.
So what do you do for a living? Well, something where you don't work with your hands, and probably don't own any land.
Which would be....?
You got it. Professions involving the handling of money, academia, law, and so on were often the only practical choice for them if they didn't want to be just grunt labor. As it turns out, however, such trades were far more profitable than anyone would have thought when they first restricted Jews to them.
So, yes, you do see an overabundance of Jews in such fields throughout history, and still do to this day. At least in the West, as a people, they have learned over the centuries that this is how you get ahead.
Of course, it is once again important to remember the difference between a generalization and a stereotype. There are plenty of poor Jews, always have been. But there is an overabundance of them in certain fields that are fairly profitable.
The stereotype says "rich greedy Jew." That's wrong. There are plenty of poor Jews, and as for "greed," hell, some of the most influential socialists and Communists of all time were Jewish. (In fact, there's a whole topic of discussion all by itself that we probably don't need to get into.)
This is terrific, Dean.
I'd better mention that some of the strongest anti-Communists have been Jewish also, e.g., Ayn Rand (Alyssa Rosenbaum), Arthur Koestler, Elia Kazan, Moshe Decter, Morrie Ryskind, Roy Cohn. Jews have been prominent in Marxist and Leftist movements, true, but they have been prominent in most of the intellectual movements of the Western world since the Enlightenment, including physics (Einstein, Feynman), psychoanalysis (Freud), Objectivism (Rand, Branden, Peikoff), New Deal liberalism, neo-conservatism (Podhoretz). Just about every other name I encounter among intellectuals or artists seems to be Jewish. A conspiracy? or... ....a Chosen People?
I won't draw the obvious parallels this time. I'll just say that I support Israel and the Jewish people 100%.
I don't think this adds to the discussion but...
I stand with the Jews.
When they come for the Jews (and they will) they'll face me as well.
Never again.
And they'll face me, too. Never again. I support Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership.
Thanks for the assist. I wasn't aware of those laws, and it certainly makes sense.
I also completely agree that the "greedy" stereotype is absolutely silly. People are people, and we are all greedy to greater and lesser extents. It seems that the people who accuse Jews of being greedy are merely coveting the money they don't have themselves.
The Pho-eater (What the hell is a Pho, might I be so bold as to inquire?) is correct about the anti-Communist Jews, including Kazan, who was blacklisted for his views. Even of those who supported more leftist movements, one must remember that the Russian Czars were hostile persecutors of the Jews and perhaps a new government that was secular, not Russian Orthodox, would end this persecution. It did not turn out that way, but remember that Russian Catholics at first thought things were improving with the end of the Czarist Orthodox established church. There was a Roman Catholic archbishop who once condemned the "political excesses" of the Bolsheviks. What the hell are their political non-excesses? He also condemned "extreme socialism". What is non-extreme socialism? This guy was excommunicated in 1988 for being too far to the right! I guess in France that counts as being too right wing! Things to keep in mind. I have always realized the necessity of a Jewish homeland. There was a time in our old Italian neighborhood where the only other people who would have anything to do with us were Jewish. Standing up for the outsider has always been an endearing trait of theirs. Remember, two of the biggest increases in Democratic voting amongst them occurred in '28 and '60. Always support their nation's right to exist. They ain't the ones blowing themselves and others up!