Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism (alternatively spelled antisemitism) is hostility towards or prejudice against Jews, which can range from individual hatred to institutionalized violent persecution, of which the highly explicit ideology of Adolf Hitler's National Socialism was the most extreme form. Anti-Semitism has historically taken different forms:

Religious Antisemitism

Anti-Judaism in the New Testament

Christian theological anti-Semitism was stimulated by the New Testament's replacement theology (or supersessionism), which taught that with the coming of Jesus a new covenant has rendered obsolete and has superseded the religion of Judaism. It was believed that "the perfidious Jews", as a people, were responsible for the death of Jesus. A number of Christian preachers, particularly in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, additionally taught that religious Jews "choose to follow a faith that they actually know is false" out of a desire to offend God.

Related Topics:
New Testament - Supersessionism - Covenant - Judaism - Jesus - Renaissance

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Examples of passages in the New Testament that are seen as anti-Semitic, or have been used for anti-Semitic purposes:

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:Jesus said to them , "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears the words of God; the reason why you do not hear them is you are not of God." (John 8:44-47)

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:You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it. (Acts 7:51-53)

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:Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie -- behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and learn that I have loved you. (Revelation 2:9).

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Some biblical scholars hold that verses like these reflect the Jewish / Christian tensions that were emerging in the late first or early second century, and do not originate with Jesus. However they could also be seen as continuing a tradition of prophetical teaching highly critical of the Jewish establishment that exists at least as far back as Ezekiel.{{fact}} Today, the major Christian denominations de-emphasize verses such as these, and reject their use by anti-Semites.

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Early Christianity

Prejudice against Jews in the Roman Empire was formalized in 438, when the Code of Theodosius II established Christianity as the only legal religion in the Roman Empire, although already as early as 305, in Elvira, a Spanish town in Andalusia, the first known laws of any church council against Jews appeared. Christian women were forbidden to marry Jews unless the Jew first converted to Christianity. Jews were forbidden to extend hospitality to Christians. Jews could not keep Christian concubines and were forbidden to bless the fields of Christians. In 589, in Christian Spain, the Third Council of Toledo ordered that children born of marriage between Jews and Christians be baptized by force. A policy of forced conversion of all Jews was initiated. Thousands fled, and thousands of others converted.

Related Topics:
Roman Empire - 438 - Theodosius II - Andalusia - Concubine - 589

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http://www.nmhschool.org/tthornton/mehistorydatabase/christian_persecution_of_the_jew.htm+pope%C2%B4s+persecution+jews&hl=es

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Anti-Semitism in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages a main justification of prejudice against Jews in Europe was religious. Though not part of Catholic dogma, many Christians, including members of the clergy, have held the Jewish people collectively responsible for killing Jesus (see Deicide), a practice originated by Melito of Sardis. As stated in the Boston College Guide to Passion Plays, "Over the course of time, Christians began to accept... that the Jewish people as a whole were responsible for killing Jesus. According to this interpretation, both the Jews present at Jesus? death and the Jewish people collectively and for all time, have committed the sin of deicide, or God-killing. For 1900 years of Christian-Jewish history, the charge of deicide has led to hatred, violence against and murder of Jews in Europe and America."http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/pdf/ViewersGuide.pdf This accusation was repudiated in 1964, when the Catholic Church under Pope Paul VI issued the document Nostra Aetate as a part of Vatican II.

Related Topics:
Middle Ages - Catholic - Dogma - Deicide - Melito of Sardis - 1964 - Pope Paul VI - Nostra Aetate - Vatican II

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As the Black Death epidemics devastated Europe in the mid-14th century, rumors spread that Jews caused it by deliberately poisoning wells. Hundreds of Jewish communities were destroyed by violence.

Related Topics:
Black Death - Epidemics - 14th century - Poisoning wells

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"Never mind that Jews were not immune from the ravages of the plague; they were tortured until they "confessed" to crimes that they could not possibly have committed. In one such case, a man named Agimet was ... coerced to say that Rabbi Peyret of Chambery (near Geneva) had ordered him to poison the wells in Venice, Toulouse, and elsewhere. In the aftermath of Agimet?s "confession," the Jews of Strasbourg were burned alive on February 14, 1349. (Source: Jews: The Essence and Character of a People by Arthur Hertzberg and Aron Hirt-Manheimer, p.84)

Related Topics:
Plague - Geneva - Venice - Toulouse - Strasbourg

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Among socio-economic factors were restrictions by the authorities, local rulers and frequently church officials who closed many professions to the Jews, pushing them into marginal occupations considered socially inferior, such as local tax and rent collecting or moneylending, a necessary evil due to the increasing population and urbanization during the High Middle Ages. This provided support for claims that Jews are insolent, greedy, engaged in usury, and in itself contributed to a negative image. Natural tensions between creditors (typically Jews) and debtors (typically Christians) were added to social, political, religious and economic strains. Peasants who were forced to pay their taxes to Jews could personify them as the people taking their earnings while remaining loyal to the lords on whose behalf the Jews worked.

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The demonizing of the Jews

From around the 12th century through the 19th there were Christians who believed that some (or all) Jews possessed magical powers; some believed that they had gained these magical powers from making a deal with the devil. See also Judensau, Judeophobia.

Related Topics:
12th century - 19th - Devil - Judensau - Judeophobia

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Blood libels

Main articles: blood libel, list of blood libels against Jews

Related Topics:
Blood libel - List of blood libels against Jews

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On many occasions, Jews were accused of a blood libel, the supposed drinking of blood of Christian children in mockery of the Christian Eucharist. According to the authors of these blood libels, the 'procedure' for the alleged sacrifice was something like this: a child who had not yet reached puberty was kidnapped and taken to a hidden place. The child would be tortured by Jews, and a crowd would gather at the place of execution (in some accounts the synagogue itself) and engage in a mock tribunal to try the child. The child would be presented to the tribunal naked and tied and eventually be condemned to death. In the end, the child would be crowned with thorns and tied or nailed to a wooden cross. The cross would be raised, and the blood dripping from the child's wounds would be caught in bowls or glasses. Finally, the child would be killed with a thrust through the heart from a spear, sword, or dagger. Its dead body would be removed from the cross and concealed or disposed of, but in some instances rituals of black magic would be performed on it. This method, with some variations, can be found in all the alleged Christian descriptions of ritual murder by Jews.

Related Topics:
Blood libel - Eucharist

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The story of William of Norwich (d. 1144) is the first known case of ritual murder being alleged by a Christian monk while the story of Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (d. 1255) said that after the boy was dead, his body was removed from the cross and laid on a table. His belly was cut open and his entrails removed for some occult purpose, such as a divination ritual. The story of Simon of Trent (d. 1475) emphasized how the boy was held over a large bowl so all his blood could be collected. Simon was regarded as a saint, and was canonized by Pope Sixtus V in 1588. The cult of Simon was disbanded in 1965 by Pope Paul VI, and the shrine erected to him was dismantled. He was removed from the calendar, and his future veneration was forbidden, though a handful of extremists still promote the narrative as a fact. In the 20th century, the Beilis Trial in Russia and the Kielce pogrom represented incidents of blood libel in Europe, while more recently blood libel stories have appeared a number of times in the state-sponsored media of a number of Arab nations, in Arab television shows, and on websites.

Related Topics:
William of Norwich - Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln - Divination ritual - Simon of Trent - Pope Sixtus V - 1588 - 1965 - Pope Paul VI - Beilis Trial - Kielce pogrom

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Host desecration

Jews were falsely accused of torturing consecrated host wafers in a reenactment of the Crucifixion; this accusation was known as host desecration.

Related Topics:
Crucifixion - Host desecration

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Disabilities and Restrictions

Jews were subject to a wide range of legal restrictions throughout the Middle Ages, some of which lasted until the end of the 19th century. Jews were excluded from many trades, the list of excluded occupations varying in different communities, and being determined largely by the political influence of various non-Jewish competing interests. Frequently all occupations were barred against Jews, except money-lending and pedling?even these at times being prohibited. The number of Jews or Jewish families permitted to reside in different places was limited; they were concentrated in ghettos, and were not allowed to own land; and they were subjected to discriminatory taxes on entering cities or districts other than their own, forced to swear special Jewish Oaths, and a variety of other measures, including restrictions on dress.

Related Topics:
Ghettos - Jewish Oaths

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Clothing

Main article: yellow badge, Judenhut

Related Topics:
Yellow badge - Judenhut

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The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 was the first to proclaim the requirement for Jews to wear something that distinguished them as Jews. It could be a colored piece of cloth in the shape of a star or circle or square, a hat (Judenhut), or a robe. In many localities, members of the medieval society wore badges to distinguish their social status. Some badges (such as guild members) were prestigious, while others ostracized outcasts such as lepers, reformed heretics and prostitutes. Jews sought to evade the badges by paying what amounted to bribes in the form of temporary "exemptions" to kings, which were revoked and re-paid for whenever the king needed to raise funds.

Related Topics:
Fourth Lateran Council - 1215 - Judenhut - Guild - Leper - Heretic - Prostitute - Badges

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The Crusades

The Crusades were a series of several military campaigns sanctioned by the Papacy that took place during the 11th through 13th centuries. They began as Catholic endeavours to capture Jerusalem from the Muslims but developed into territorial wars.

Related Topics:
Crusade - Papacy - 11th - 13th centuries - Catholic - Jerusalem - Muslims

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The mobs accompanying the first three Crusades attacked the Jewish communities in Germany, France, and England, and put many Jews to death. Entire communities, like those of Treves, Speyer, Worms, Mayence, and Cologne, were slain during the first Crusade by a mob army. About 12,000 Jews are said to have perished in the Rhenish cities alone between May and July, 1096. Before the Crusades the Jews had practically a monopoly of trade in Eastern products, but the closer connection between Europe and the East brought about by the Crusades raised up a class of merchant traders among the Christians, and from this time onward restrictions on the sale of goods by Jews became frequent. The religious zeal fomented by the Crusades at times burned as fiercely against the Jews as against the Muslims, though attempts were made by bishops during the First crusade and the papacy during the Second Crusade to stop Jews from being attacked. Both economically and socially the Crusades were disastrous for European Jews. They prepared the way for the anti-Jewish legislation of Pope Innocent III, and formed the turning-point in the medieval history of the Jews.

Related Topics:
First crusade - Second Crusade - Pope Innocent III

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[[Image:FirstCrusade.jpg|thumb|left|1250 French Bible illustration depicts Jews (identifiable

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by Judenhut) being massacred by Crusaders]]

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The expulsions from England, France, Germany, and Spain

Only a few expulsions of the Jews are described in this section, for a more extended list see History of anti-Semitism, and also the History of the Jews in England, Germany, Spain, and France.

Related Topics:
History of anti-Semitism - History of the Jews in England - Germany - Spain - France

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The practice of expelling the Jews accompanied by confiscation of their property, followed by temporary readmissions for ransom, was utilized to enrich the French crown during 12th-14th centuries. The most notable such expulsions were: from Paris by Philip Augustus in 1182, from the entirety of France by Louis IX in 1254, by Charles IV in 1322, by Charles V in 1359, by Charles VI in 1394.

Related Topics:
Ransom - 12th - 14th - Paris - Philip Augustus - 1182 - Louis IX - 1254 - Charles IV - 1322 - Charles V - 1359 - Charles VI - 1394

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To finance his war to conquer Wales, Edward I of England taxed the Jewish moneylenders. When the Jews could no longer pay, they were accused of disloyalty. Already restricted to a limited number of occupations, the Jews saw Edward abolish their "privilege" to lend money, choke their movements and activities and were forced to wear a yellow patch. The heads of Jewish households were then arrested, over 300 of them taken to the Tower of London and executed, while others killed in their homes. The complete banishment of all Jews from the country in 1290 led to thousands killed and drowned while fleeing and the absence of Jews from England for three and a half centuries, until 1655, when Oliver Cromwell reversed the policy.

Related Topics:
Wales - Edward I of England - Yellow patch - Tower of London - 1290 - 1655 - Oliver Cromwell

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In 1492, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile issued General Edict on the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain (see also Spanish Inquisition) and many Sephardi Jews fled to the Ottoman Empire, some to the Land of Israel.

Related Topics:
1492 - Ferdinand II of Aragon - Isabella of Castile - Spain - Spanish Inquisition - Sephardi - Ottoman Empire - Land of Israel

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In 1744, Frederick II of Prussia limited Breslau to only ten so-called "protected" Jewish families and encouraged similar practice in other Prussian cities. In 1750 he issued Revidiertes General Privilegium und Reglement vor die Judenschaft: the "protected" Jews had an alternative to "either abstain from marriage or leave Berlin" (quoting Simon Dubnow). In the same year, Archduchess of Austria Maria Theresa ordered Jews out of Bohemia but soon reversed her position, on condition that Jews pay for readmission every ten years. This extortion was known as malke-geld (queen's money). In 1752 she introduced the law limiting each Jewish family to one son. In 1782, Joseph II abolished most of persecution practices in his Toleranzpatent, on the condition that Yiddish and Hebrew are eliminated from public records and judicial autonomy is annulled. Moses Mendelssohn wrote that "Such a tolerance... is even more dangerous play in tolerance than open persecution".

Related Topics:
1744 - Frederick II of Prussia - Breslau - Prussia - 1750 - Simon Dubnow - Austria - Maria Theresa - Bohemia - Extortion - 1752 - 1782 - Joseph II - Yiddish - Hebrew - Moses Mendelssohn

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Anti-Judaism and the Reformation

Main article: Christianity and anti-Semitism

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Martin Luther initially preached tolerance towards the Jewish people, convinced that the reason they had never converted to Christianity was that they were discriminated against, or had never heard the Gospel of Christ. However, after his overtures to Jews failed to convince Jewish people to adopt Christianity, he began preaching that the Jews were set in evil, anti-Christian ways, and needed to be expelled from the German body politic. Luther's harsh comments about the Jews are seen by many as a continuation of medieval Christian anti-Semitism, and a reflection of earlier anti-Semitic expulsions in the 14th century, when Jews from other countries like France and Spain were invited into Germany.

Related Topics:
Martin Luther - Jew - Anti-Semitism - 14th century

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Anti-semitism in 19th and 20th century Catholicism

Throughout the 19th century and into the 20th, the Catholic Church still incorporated strong anti-Semitic elements, despite increasing attempts to seperate anti-Judaism, the opposition to the Jewish religion on religious grounds, and racial anti-Semitism. Pope Pius VII (1800-1823) had the walls of the Jewish Ghetto in Rome rebuilt after the Jews were released by Napoleon, and Jews were restricted to the Ghetto through the end of the papacy of Pope Pius IX (1846-1878), the last Pope to rule Rome. Additionally, official organizations such as the Jesuits banned candidates "who are descended from the Jewish race unless it is clear that their father, grandfather, and great-grandfather have belonged to the Catholic Church" until 1946. Brown University historian David Kertzer, working from the Vatican archive, has further argued in his book The Popes Against the Jews that in the 19th and 20th century the Roman Catholic Church adhered to a distinction between "good anti-Semitism" and "bad anti-Semitism". The "bad" kind promoted hatred of Jews because of their descent. This was considered un-Christian because the Christian message was intended for all of humanity regardless of ethnicity; anyone could become a Christian. The "good" kind criticized alleged Jewish conspiracies to control newspapers, banks, and other institutions, to care only about accumulation of wealth, etc. Many Catholic bishops wrote articles criticizing Jews on such grounds, and, when accused of promoting hatred of Jews, would remind people that they condemned the "bad" kind of anti-Semitism. Kertzer's work is not without critics, scholar of Jewish-Christian relations Rabbi David G. Dalin, for example, criticized Kertzer in the Weekly Standard for selectively using evidence. The Second Vatican Council, the Nostra Aetate document, and the efforts of Pope John Paul II have helped reconcile Jews and Catholicism in recent decades, however.

Related Topics:
Pope Pius VII - Ghetto - Released by Napoleon - Pope Pius IX - David Kertzer - Roman Catholic Church - Weekly Standard - Second Vatican Council - Nostra Aetate - Pope John Paul II

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Passion plays

Passion plays, dramatic stagings representing the trial and death of Jesus, have historically been used in remembrance of Jesus' death during Lent. These plays historically blamed the Jews for the death of Jesus in a polemical fashion, depicting a crowd of Jewish people condemning Jesus to crucifixion and a Jewish leader assuming eternal collective guilt for the crowd for the murder of Jesus, which, The Boston Globe explains, "for centuries prompted vicious attacks -- or pogroms -- on Europe's Jewish communities".http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/04/10/in_poland_new_passion_plays_on_old_hatreds/ Time Magazine in its article The Problem With Passion explains that "such passages (are) highly subject to interpretation". Although modern scholars interpret the "blood on our children" (Matthew 27: 25) as "a specific group's oath of responsibility" some audiences have historically interpreted it as "an assumption of eternal, racial guilt". This last interpretation has often incited violence against Jews; according to the Anti-Defamation League, "Passion plays historically unleashed the torrents of hatred aimed at the Jews, who always were depicted as being in partnership with the devil and the reason for Jesus' death".http://www.adl.org/ADL_Opinions/Interfaith/oped_2004012_pbp.htm The Christian Science Monitor, in its article Capturing the Passion explains that "istorically, productions have reflected negative images of Jews and the long-time church teaching that the Jewish people were collectively responsible for Jesus' death. Violence against Jews as 'Christ-killers' often flared in their wake." Christianity Today in Why some Jews fear (Mel Gibson's) The Passion (of the Christ) observed that "Outbreaks of Christian anti-Semitism related to the Passion narrative have been...numerous and destructive."

Related Topics:
Passion play - Jesus - Lent - Jews for the death of Jesus - Polemic - Crucifixion - The Boston Globe - Pogrom - Time Magazine - Anti-Defamation League - Christian Science Monitor - Christianity Today

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In 2003 and 2004 some have compared Mel Gibson's recent film The Passion of the Christ to these kinds of passion plays, but this characterization is hotly disputed; an analysis of that topic is in the article on The Passion of the Christ.

Related Topics:
Mel Gibson - The Passion of the Christ

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