Jewish History question

[kwg]

Really showing my ignorance- but we looked at a PBS documentary and it is not exactly what we are looking for. I think a book would be better.

 

 My son is 12 and has asked why Jewish people were hated so much.  He had just finished The Book Thief.

 

 I  told him I thought it had to do with the death of Jesus but then I started thinking and really they have been persecuted throughout much of history right?  Just sort of conflict of religions (can you tell we aren't passionate religious people?)

 

Maybe we need a good book. Anyone read one? Or a better documentary/website/explanation/whatver!

 

 

(I kinda feel like apologizing for my lack of knowledge but ...sigh) :lol:  :leaving:

 

 

 

[shawthorne44]

I am following.  I've tried to self-educate myself but I have no idea what a good spine might be.  I've just read this and that.  But, of course, it spans such a long time period.  

 

I think some of the persecution might be because they kept themselves separate.  

 

Long time ago I listened to a lecture series on the Inquisition.  In the Spanish Inquisition, he said that one of the resentments was because those that converted to Christianity still ate Kosher.  When you realize that people back then ate meat from animals that died of disease, and things in general weren't very clean.  Then you throw in familiarity with the food, of course they kept kosher.  Sort of the same reason I only eat Kosher hot dogs.  I figure less chance I'll be eating floor scrapings.  

 

I know the Romans were a bit testy with the Jews because of one God meant that all theirs were rejected.  The Romans were "The more the merrier" in religion.  Probably was a problem with other groups too.  

 

I think success can bring envy, too.  Some life philosophies are more likely to lead to success.  In church recently the priest was talking about a trip to someplace the church is doing missionary work.  The local guy pointed out that you could tell which houses had Christians in them because they were in better shape.   Recently they all looked the same.  But the conversion meant they were more likely to fly straight, which meant money wasn't wasted on drugs, etc.  Which meant they could afford things like replacing the curtain rod when it broke.  

 

 

[3in9th]

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Jewish History and Culture might be appropriate for your son's age.

 

Two pre-Christian factors that might come into play. 1- Hebrews (the terms Jew/Jewish came into play later) were fierce warriors and often decimated their enemies. 2- Jews (once the 12 tribes were reduced down to Judea) didn't conform and assimilate like the rest of the peoples of the ancient world, so they had some major cultural clashes with the Greeks (think the Maccabees and Hanukkah) and the Romans.

[YaelAldrich]

I've got to go to bed, but here is a great series about "Why the Jews?"

 

http://www.aish.com/jl/jnj/ash/82875402.html

[HS Mom in NC]

They Thought They Were Free was incredibly helpful in addressing how different factors fed anti-Semitism in Germany in medieval and modern by interviewing Germans who lived it in modern times.

 

http://www.amazon.com/They-Thought-Were-Free-Germans/dp/0226511928/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426223325&sr=8-1&keywords=they+thought+they+were+free

[kwg]

I signed up for a class - I will review it for myself and see about ds.  Wanted to pass it on for anyone interested.

 

Genocide" MOOC, offered by the Open University of Israel.
The course start date is March 18, 2015.

 

 

Thank you for the website and book recs!  

 

[kewb]

The simple answer to the question is because they are different.  People fear what they don't understand.  It is easy for a charismatic leader to turn fear into hatred.  Find a scapegoat, direct the fear, and the masses will be distracted from the real cause of their problems.  They will take that fear and blame all the ills in their life on what or who they fear. One does not want to admit they are afraid so they use hatred to cover up the fear.

 

This hatred is still going strong today as noted by watching the news.

 

 

[historymatters]

In response to one of your assertions is, yes, since the second century, the early church fathers promoted anti-Judaism; collectively blaming the Jewish people for the crucifixion (hence the heinous term "Christ-killer" used through the centuries), taking New Testament verses out of context, as well as replacement theology. All promoting anti-Judaism and later, anti-semitism as it became about "race". It wasn't till the 20th c., after the Holocaust, Vatican II, the new scholarship of the NT context, and general changing of views that the ingrained anti-Judiasm has decreased; though only to increase again in the last few years. Old stereotypes are being recycled and new expressions of old forms of anti-semitism are resurfacing.

 

There's nothing new under the sun :crying:

 

The reasons for previous exiles Before the Common Era and the 1st c. under Rome weren't based on the same prejudices created by historical Christianity, though they were traumatic and need studying, too. They reverbarate throughout time and affect currect issues, amazingly.

Also, the forms of oppression of Jews (and Christians) under the historical calipates are different than what existed in Europe.

 

As for good History spines, I have several options.

For you:

Wanderings: Chaim Potok's History of the Jews (excellent)

Our Hands Are Stained with Blood: The Tragic Story of the Church and the Jewish People – Dr. Micheal Brown

5000 Years of Jewish History in 5 Hours – Rav Berel Wein audio lecture  

Though obviously, he is not an historian on the issues presented in Acts and the Epistles, as he promotes the old perspectives on Paul that are being dismatled by new scholarship of the time and of the NT, and inaccurate religious views of America's Founders (he repeats the inaccurate progressive view and IMO, wrongly connecting the Enlightenment with secularism); otherwise, he shines with his specialty-Jewish history)

Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know about it's People and It's History – Joseph Telushkin

Echoes of Glory: The Story of the Jews in the Classical Era – R. Berel Wein

Herald of Destiny: The Story of the Jews 750-1650 – Rabbi Berel Wein 

Triumph of Survival: The Story of the Jews in the Modern Era 1650-1996 – Rabbi Berel Wein

Faith and Fate : The Story of the Jewish people in the Twentieth century – R. Berel Wein

* SIr Martin Gilbert books

Judaism in the First Three Centuries of the Christian Era – George Foote Moore – Three Vol. Work -highly regarded as unbiased and uses primary sources for research

* Read what Martin Luther wrote (among other sermons he gave), which gave much of the moral authority behind actions committed in Nazi Germany: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/Luther_on_Jews.html

* and the forgery that was circulated by Henry Ford in America and is still circulated and influential:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/protocols.html

 

For your son:

I have a long lost of living, historical fiction books that if you want, I can email the list to you. Just PM me. Otherwise, any of these  would do well:

The Time-chart of History of Jewish History – Chartwell Books (for that helpful visual)

or for the more in-depth history buff:

A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People: From the Time of the Patriarchs to the Present - Eli Bar Navi

 

The Atlas of Great Jewish Communities: A Voyage Through History -Sondra Leiman – ages 9-12- primary sources, bios; 1st. Cen. Jerusalem to Modern-day Israel 

 

Sand and Stars: The Jewish Journey Through Time Vol. 1 : A Jewish History for Young People– From the Second Temple to the 16^th Cen. - Berel Wein - age 10-16

Sand and Stars: The Jewish Journey Through Time Vol. 2: A Jewish History for Young people – From the 16^th Cen. To the Present – age 10-16

(again, same caveat as above on his promoting the old perspective on Paul and the Progressive view of America's Founders, otherwise, good)

 

The History of the Jewish People – Behrman House – gr. 5-7

    Vol. 1 Ancient Israel to 1880's America

    Vol. 2 The Birth of Zionism to Our Time

 

My People: Abba Eban's History of the Jews

    Vol. 1 – Genesis-1776 -gr. 6-7

    Vol. 2 - 18th Cen. To Our Own – gr. 7-8

 

This Land of Liberty: A History of America's Jews – Helene Kinvin/Behrman House-

primary source documents – Gr. 7-9

 

From Ur to Eternity Vol. 1: From Patriarchs to Spanish Inquisition – Barbera Engel – Ktav Publ.- ages 10-13

From Ur to Eternity Vol. 2: From Expulsion to Eternity – Barbera Engel – Ktav Publ. - ages 10-13

 

As for other media:

This may be the one you watched. I think it is valuable becuase it brought forth characters and issues not generally touched upon in other documentaries:

The Story of the Jews - Based upon Simon Schama's book- PBS 

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/story-jews/

 

Hope this helps,

Rachel

 

[Tanaqui]

Kewb has summed it up neatly. People who are different are an easy target. Remember, of course, it wasn't just the Jews that were attacked in the Holocaust - other minority groups, such as the Roma, homosexuals, and disabled individuals were also targeted, as were non-Jewish Poles. (Many people don't know this, but some 2 - 3 million Christian Poles were killed in the Holocaust, and half of the Jews murdered were Polish Jews.) Why? Well, with the exception of the Poles who were, of course, the majority in their own country, the five million non-Jews murdered were minorities.

[Melissa in Australia]

it  wasn't helpful that the church banned money lending by 'Christians', and during the whole middle ages it was one of the few jobs that Jews were allows to do. of course when you  are a ruler/ robber baron or whatever and owed a lot of money because of never ending wars etc. then you just had to drum up hatred for the Jews and have them driven out of your country- end of  money debt woes for a short time.

[poppy]

Minorities without powerful representation are very vulnerable. Until the creation of Israel, the Jews were a nation without a state.

There is a complicated set of histories involving moneylending and the roots of capitalism at play as well - I think the prejudices are economic and political more than theological.

[Katy]

A while back I listened to an audiobook by Rabbi Daniel Lapin called Thou Shall Prosper, about money and ethics.  His theory was that one thing that contributed to it is financial success - ie the Christian worldview is complicated when it comes to money - we may want it, but have mixed feelings as to whether it is evil.  The Jewish worldview is that money is a direct result of how much you've served your community - the more valuable what you have to offer, the more money comes to you.  So there is never a guilt associated with money, or wanting more money. 

 

My interpretation of the above: Frequently in war money is stolen and redistributed.  When you have money, you're a target.  When you have an ethos that values things that cannot be stolen (education, hard work, service to the community), it's easy to rebuild wealth and become a target again.

[historymatters]

Though I agree with the 'scapegoat' theory and leading the masses (why 'the mob' is so dangerous), especially after the way Germany was handled after WWI, setting the stage for someone like Hitler to manipulate the mob, it's only partially true that "being different" has been a cause. History doesn't bear that out, really.

If 'being different' was a good portion of the situation with the Jewish people, then the Jewish Haskalah (Enlightenment of the 18th-19th c.) would have resolved those differences. Assimilation would have taken away that stigma. In fact, that's exactly what the haskalah movement taught and it took root the strongest in the Germanic lands. The leaders said to look gentile on the outside, learn your country's language and culture, be Jewish only on the inside; that your differentness is the problem.

 

Though prior to the Enlightenment,the same issue applies in Spain during the centuries-long Inquisition. The Sephardi Jews who had converted to Christianity were not immune to questioning, torture, and either banishment or death. Even those who had risen high in the church's ranks as devoted New Christians, were not immune.

 

It didn't work in the Dreyfus Affair in France, an assimilated Jewish officer who was falsely accused where historical anti-semitic attacks were used against him in the press (drawings, renderings, and in the court). A case which propelled a young, assimilated journalist, named Herzl, who believed in the Enlightenment theory, to conclude that that theory's promise had failed.  At which time political Zionism began. http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-dreyfus-affair/

 

And in the mass-scale eugenics program, the protection assumed by assimilation did not work for Germany's assimilated Jewish community (who had fought in huge percentages for the "Fatherland" in WWI and were very patriotic Germans), nor for those in other occupied lands, who became clumped in together with their distinctly Jewish "in appearance" brethren in the camps.

 

There are many other examples. In America, it has generally proven more successful; though until recently, as we see within the Universities.

 

So, I agree with Herzl that the promise of assimilation has proved a failure.

 

I would also point out the power of story (ex: the legend "The Wandering Jew") and art (Michelangelo's Moses 'with horns') among others, as powerful mediums of information that taught both the scholoars and the ignorant in the Middle Ages (similar to racist "art" created in the Jim Crow south to promote sterotypes).

 

Another point to consider: isn't it ironic that Jews can be both 'evil capitalists' and 'neo-cons' controlling the world, needing to be rooted out; while simultaneously, being 'communists', bringing in a world devoid of religion and trying to control everyone in that way. Both of these accusations are based on historical actions by a few individuals who happened to be Jewish, but are expanded to encompass the entire People and now, reflected in much anti-Zionism worldwide. The former based in the Middle Ages 'moneylending' and later the Rothchild's success; the latter, reflected by the fact that Marx was of Jewish descent (ignore the fact that he wasn't raised in his Covenant religion), as was secular Marxists Lenin and Trotsky (let's ignore that Stalin wasn't Jewish). The context was that a change in the governance of Russia was supported by a huge segment of the Jewish community. They had suffered under the Tzars in the progroms and under the systemic anti-semitic laws and culture so of course they wanted change, but not necessarily communism (it not being the goal of the 1905 revolution by large portions of Russia). A minority who turned away from their Covenant faith and pursued Marxism are used as examples to further the conspiracy theories of an entire people.

 

Of those that promote these and other conspiracy theories (and they exist in people in positions of government power today in Europe and the Middle East), it's amazing what they claim 0.2% of the world's population have done and are doing **sarcasm here**. It's all so illogical. :banghead:

 

So, this small slice of examples, I think shows that this is a very complex issue. IMO, much more than your average bigotry, racism, and minority oppression (not minimizing these issues, just pointing out there are distinctive differences).

 

To respond to a previous comment, after extensive and ongoing study done due to raising Jewish children (myself not being Jewish), I think history shows it has historically been mainly theological; but became more political and economic in the modern era (but still rooted in certain theological anti-Jewish and anti-semitic accusations).

 

This is a very worthwhile conversation...though I apologize for being long-winded!

 

 

Rachel

 

 

[historymatters]

A book that be helpful to him that specifically analyses Germany and the Holocaust going back to the 16th c.:

 

Hitler's War Against the Jews: A Young Reader's Version of the War Against the Jews, 1933-1945, by Lucy S. Dawidowicz by David Altshuler.

http://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-War-Against-Jews-Dawidowicz/dp/0874412226/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1433174830&sr=1-7&keywords=hitler%27s+war+against

 

 

Rachel

[goldberry]

 

* Read what Martin Luther wrote (among other sermons he gave), which gave much of the moral authority behind actions committed in Nazi Germany: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/Luther_on_Jews.html

 

 

 

 

 

That is appalling...I've never heard that before. 

[historymatters]

That is appalling...I've never heard that before. 

 

Yes, disgusting.

 

Thankfully (finally), in 1994, the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Lutheran World Federation repudiated his words:

 "we [Lutherans] who bear his name and heritage must with pain acknowledge

also Luther's anti-Judaic diatribes and the violent recommendations of his later writings against

the Jews. As did many of Luther's own companions in the sixteenth century, we reject this

violent invective, and yet more do we express our deep and abiding sorrow over its tragic effects

on subsequent generations. In concert with the Lutheran World Federation, we particularly

deplore the appropriation of Luther's words by modern anti-Semites for the teaching of hatred

toward Judaism or toward the Jewish people in our day. Grieving the complicity of our own tradition within this history, moreover, we express our urgent desire to live out our faith in Jesus Christ with love and respect for the Jewish people."

 

On the other hand, we have the wonderful Lutheran, Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the inspirational and courageous counter to Lutheran's words; who stood up for what was right during WWII, as a righteous gentile, before the age of reconciliation of the Church and the Jewish people began. A prime example of one person standing out amongst the masses.

 

 

Rachel