Anti-Semitism is an abject fear or hatred of the Jewish people. It has become one of the most enduring and malicious forms of racism in human history. Anti-Semitism includes, but is not limited to, racial stereotyping, anti-Jewish discrimination and the acceptance or spread of conspiracy theories involving Jewish people.
Origins
The origins of anti-Semitism lay deep in human history, dating back to ancient and medieval times. Anti-Semitic ideas and prejudices have existed wherever Jews have been found – and even, in some places, where there is little or no Jewish population.
Anti-Semitism takes different forms and is expressed in different ways. It has been driven by different factors and conditions – political, religious, cultural, ethnological, social or economic – and it has reached varying levels of intensity.
Anti-Semitism also incorporates different ideas, tropes and theories to justify its underlying prejudice. The only common attribute of anti-Semitism through the ages is the marginalisation or targeting of Jews driven by fear or hatred.
Ancient anti-Semitism
In ancient times, anti-Semitism was a basic form of racism, motivated chiefly by ethnic and cultural differences.
At different times in history, the Greeks and Romans targeted Jews not for their religious beliefs but for their alleged unwillingness to adapt or assimilate. Some rulers, like Rome’s Emperor Tiberius, attempted to force assimilation by ordering the conscription of young Jewish men into the legions of Rome.
Later Roman rulers permitted and sometimes even encouraged Jewish cultural and religious practices. The rise of Constantine, Rome’s first Christian emperor, put an end to this tolerance and gave rise to a more pungent form of anti-Jewish prejudice. From that point, anti-Semitism was fuelled not just by cultural factors but by religious divisions and tensions.
Christianity began as a sect of Judaism rather than a separate religion. In the decades after the death of Christ, some critical theological and ideological differences emerged between Christians and Jews. Christians, for example, claimed that Jesus Christ was the Messiah or Son of God. Jewish theologians rejected this and claimed that Christ was mortal.
The New Testament, much of which was written in the 1st century AD, is widely interpreted as being a rejection of Judaism and its core beliefs. By the 2nd century AD, Christianity had broken away from and turned against Judaism, its parent religion.
Some important thinkers in early Christianity offered a dangerous allegation: that Judean Jews had handed Christ over to Pontius Pilate and supported his crucifixion, so were responsible for his death.
The Middle Ages
In medieval Europe, which was dominated by Christianity, accusations of deicide (‘God murder’) had a profound impact on the perception and treatment of Jews. These prejudices were inflamed by notable Christian theologians who voiced anti-Semitic ideas in their teachings.
One of the forefathers of the Christian church, Augustine of Hippo (early 5th century AD) described the Jews as a “shamed” people, cursed by God to wander the Earth for eternity. Christ had been one of their own, wrote Augustine, yet they gave him up to the Romans and cheered as he was condemned, brutalised and executed.
St Thomas Aquinas, writing in the mid-1200s, argued that Jews should be exploited but not murdered:
“It would be appropriate to hold Jews, because of their crime, in perpetual servitude (slavery). Therefore the princes may regard the possessions of Jews as belonging to the state. However, they must use them with a certain moderation and not deprive Jews of things necessary to life.”
The ‘chosen people’
Another factor in Jewish-Christian tensions was an assertion, made both in the Torah and rabbinical scripture, that the Jews were God’s ‘chosen people’. Deuteronomy 14:2, for instance, says the Jews are “a holy people… God has chosen you to be His treasured people, from all the nations that are on the face of the Earth”.
Medieval Christian theologians considered this claim to be arrogant and blasphemous, a suggestion that Jews held themselves to be superior to Gentiles (non-Jews).
During the Middle Ages – as Jews were exposed to harassment, marginalisation and persecution – Jewish communities naturally became defensive, withdrawn and insular. Understandably, Jews kept to themselves, their families and their communities. Where there was interaction between Christians and Jews, it was usually transactional, confined to business dealing or trade. Many interpreted this insularity and social isolation as proof that Jews set themselves above Christians.
Scapegoats
Another prevailing cause of anti-Semitism is that Jews have often made convenient scapegoats for problems or disasters whose true cause was not known.
In ancient and medieval times, disastrous events like pandemics, crop failures or extreme weather could not be explained scientifically. Instead, they were deemed to be acts of divine intervention, magic or witchcraft.
Blame for these adversities or disasters often fell on the Jews. Missing children had almost invariably fallen prey to Jewish rabbis and ritual sacrifice. The Black Death was the work of Jewish well-poisoners. Crops failed because of Jewish sabotage. Price rises were the result of a Jewish conspiracy.
These conspiracy theories were often supported by religious teachings. Tolerating the presence of Jews and their heretical religion in a Christian community, some claimed, would incur the wrath of God.
Modern forms
Medievalism eventually faded as the Enlightenment (mid-1600s) and the rise of science started to provide rational explanations for events like natural disasters. But even as the modern world began to emerge, European Jews were unable to shed this role as scapegoats. Jews continued to exist as a significant “other”, living and working amongst Christians in Europe but never fully accepted or closely understood by them.
The old medieval hatreds of Jews as Christ-killers, heretics, subversives, schemers and swindlers were diluted over time – but they were never eradicated. Anti-Semitism could always be found somewhere, whether muttered in the corners of dark taverns, buried in the sermons of Christian ministers or whispered in the corridors of power.
Like all dark and radical hatreds, anti-Semitism often re-emerged during difficult times and conditions, floated as an explanation for things that could not be adequately explained.
“The Christ-killing of which Jews have stood accused for centuries is not merely a distant and abstract theological idea. It is a story endlessly repeated from childhood onwards, supplemented by an infinite number of sacred images… It is the story, above all, of a betrayal – a betrayal for money. The message it transmits is very clear: the Jew is greedy and treacherous, he conspires behind the backs of his benefactors. This Judas image – a corruption of a religious figure – ‘explains’ the real nature of the Jew for the anti-Semite. Don’t ‘Judases’ dedicate themselves to rapacious professions that exploit the poor and needy? Aren’t many usurers [money-lenders] Jews?”
Roberto Finzi, historian
1. Anti-Semitism is an irrational fear or hatred of the Jewish people. Its origins date back to ancient and medieval times.
2. In ancient Greece and Rome, Jews were targeted and persecuted for their social and cultural differences.
3. The development of Christianity gave rise to theological divisions and the accusation that Jews had killed Christ.
4. During the Middle Ages, Jews became convenient scapegoats and were blamed for a range of problems or disasters.
5. Though they caused less violence and abject persecution, these anti-Semitic ideas survived into the modern world.
Citation information
Title: “The origins of anti-Semitism”
Authors: Jennifer Llewellyn, Steve Thompson
Publisher: Alpha History
URL: http://alphahistory.com/holocaust/origins-of-anti-semitism/
Date published: July 21, 2020
Date accessed: April 25, 2024
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