Anti-Semitism

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Anti-Semitism

Dr. Leo Pinsker, a physician and Zionist philosopher living in Odessa, Russia, wrote in the late nineteenth Century that anti-Semitism was like a disease or virus. In his book Auto-Emancipation, he observed that it was useless to try and persuade anti-Semites to stop hating Jews. It just would not work. It was necessary for the Jews to emancipate themselves, to reestablish themselves in the land of their forefathers, the land of Israel. Now the Jews have reestablished their state of Israel, but anti-Semitism has not disappeared. Six million Jews were murdered by the Nazi Germans and their collaborators, and yet the lies and hatred against Jews continue to exist. The human race has not been able to conquer the virus of anti-Semitism. But for that matter it has not been able to conquer the virus of prejudice and hate that is part of the human personality.

In the United States today there are anti-Semitic forces at work. There are those like Louis Farrakhan (the Muslim minister) and the Ku Klux Klan, who claim that Jews control Wall Street, Hollywood, and the media. It may be that prejudice against Jews in the United States is not as bad as it was when Henry Ford promoted hatred of Jews in the 1920s, with his Dearborn Independent, but hatred of Jews is still part of the American scene.

Anti-Jewish feelings can even be found within elements of the Christian Religious Right. For the most part, its leadership has been supportive of brotherhood and has not been anti-Semitic. They have been most supportive of Israel, and many believe that the existence of Israel will encourage Jesus to return. In particular, the Rev. Jerry Falwell has observed that to be "against Israel is to stand against God." He has contributed handsomely to Israeli institutions and has even led tours throughout Israel. Falwell testified in Congress in favor of the United States moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and in 1980 Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin awarded Falwell Israel's Jabotinsky Medal. But, at times, some of the leadership of the Christian Right has given expression to some anti-Jewish remarks. At a "Love America" rally Jerry Falwell asserted, "A few of you don't like Jews and I know why. He can make more money accidentally than you can on purpose." Jerry Falwell later apologized for that remark.

But then there are others. While Jerry Falwell has made an occasional anti-Jewish remark, there are others, like Donald Wildman of the American Family Association, who contend that Jews control the media and that the mass media is involved in an organized conspiracy against Christianity and Christian values. Jack Van Impe, an evangelical and fundamentalist writer, wrote in 1979 that anti-Semitism was a punishment for the Jewish people's failure to accept the Messiah and that the "Jews marched toward Hitler's ovens ever since the fall of their beloved city in a.d. 70."

Anti-Semitism does not seem to be a major element of the American Christian scene, but every now and then it raises its ugly head, and we are reminded of times when it was an integral part of American life, when Jews were excluded from their basic right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" from professional life, as well as from recreation and residency. It may be that we are living in a more enlightened age. It may be that the United States has overcome some of its prejudices and bigotry, but the virus is still there and may some day develop into more dangerous strains. Of particular concern are certain missionary groups, some Southern Baptists, and groups like the Jews for Jesus, who believe that their mission is to convert the Jews. According to Mark Powers, of Jews for Judaism, there are more than 450 missionary groups who specifically target Jews in the United States, Canada, and Israel. They are reminiscent of the menace which the Inquisition, Nazism, and Communism posed to the existence of the Jewish people and to all freedom-loving peoples. There are also more directly anti-Semitic splinter groups like the Christian Identity Movement, whose numbers are relatively small.