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Overview
‘Dan Cohn-Sherbok has provided us with a magisterial overview of antisemitism . . . Whatever your religion, or your politics, Cohn-Sherbok’s Antisemitism is necessary reading.’ The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury
‘A very readable overview on four millennia of Judaeophobia . . . a timely book and shows the flame of antisemitism continues to burn bright.’ Rabbi Professor Walter Homolka
Antisemitism has featured in the history of Western civilization for over 3,000 years. Dan Cohn-Sherbok traces its origins and its manifestations, from political opposition to racial persecution to religious and philosophical justification for some of history’s most outrageous acts. Against this background of intolerance and persecution, Cohn-Sherbok describes Jewish emancipation from the late eighteenth century and its gradual transformation into the parallel political and nationalistic ideal of Zionism.
Antisemitism: A World History of Prejudice offers a clear and readable account of why antisemitism has featured so strongly in world history, and provides extensive discussion of the issues that exist to this day. Unlike most studies of the subject, it does not focus exclusively on Christian antisemitism, but explores the origins of Arab and organized Communist antisemitism and Nazi racism.
Brought right up to date with an exploration of how modern-day antisemitism ought to be defined in order to combat it, this revised edition is essential reading not only for history students and theologians, but anyone interested in learning about why the Jews have been hated for so long.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780752469317 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The History Press |
| Publication date: | 08/26/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 528 |
| File size: | 16 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
| Age Range: | 12 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Antiâ"Semitism
By Dan Cohn-Sherbok
The History Press
Copyright © 2009 Dan Cohn-SherbokAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7524-6931-7
CHAPTER 1
Jews in the Ancient World
The story of Jewish suffering opens with the Hebrew Scriptures, which record the history of anti-Jewish sentiment beginning with the events of the Exodus. As the centuries passed, the Jewish nation endured repeated calamities, yet it was only in Hellenistic times that antipathy towards Jews and Judaism was fiercely expressed by both political leaders and authors. Such animosity continued throughout the Graeco-Roman period, and was crystallized in the writings of prominent figures of the age.
BIBLICAL HOSTILITY TO JEWS IN ANCIENT TIMES
The Hebrew Bible recounts the earliest known instance of hostility to the Jews in Pharaoh's persecution of the Jewish population prior to the Exodus. According to the Book of Exodus, Pharaoh expressed concern at the growing numbers and potential disloyalty of the Jewish population living in Egypt:
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, 'Behold the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and if war befall us, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.' (Exodus 1:8–10)
Even though the Egyptians mistrusted the Jews, the Jewish community grew in strength, which caused dread among the Egyptians. Eventually, Pharaoh resolved to kill all first-born sons. Speaking to the Hebrew midwives, he declared:
When you serve as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live. (Exodus 1:16)
However, the midwives feared God's wrath and did not comply, allowing the male children to live. As a consequence, the Pharaoh condemned all the people:
Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast it into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live. (Exodus 1:22)
Here the motive for such hostility was not racial prejudice, economic envy or disdain of Jewish ways; rather Scripture states that the Pharaoh acted out of fear for his own nation.
Later when the Jewish people had established itself in its own land, the country divided into two kingdoms – Israel in the north and Judah in the south. During their history, both kingdoms were repeatedly attacked by surrounding nations. In the tenth century BCE, for example, the aggressor who threatened the nation was Shoshenk I, the first pharoah of the Twenty-second Dynasty, who invaded the land and forced Rehoboam, the southern king, to pay tribute. An inscription in the Temple of Amun at Thebes refers to this conquest. Shoshenk does not mention the capture of any towns in Judah, but he does refer to some cities in the northern kingdom. Another inscription found at Megiddo suggests that the Egyptian incursion must have enveloped most of the territory. In any event, it was not motivated by hatred of the Jewish population; rather the Egyptian king invaded the country as an act of conquest.
Similarly, in the eighth century BCE the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III embarked on a policy of expansion during the reign of Menahem, King of Israel. Menahem's son Pekahiah held his throne for two years by paying tribute to the Assyrian ruler, but was overthrown by his rival Pekah. The new Israelite king formed an alliance with the king of Syria against the Assyrians. Together they attempted to persuade Jotham, King of Judah, to join them; when he refused they declared war on Judah. In the face of this danger, the southern prophet Isaiah declared to Ahaz, Jotham's successor, that this threat would come to naught: both Israel and Syria would collapse. But Ahaz was unconvinced. He attempted to placate the Assyrians and went to Damascus (which the Assyrians had just conquered) to pay homage to Tiglath-Pileser III. He returned with the plans for an altar to be erected in the Temple as a sign of Judah's submission.
In the northern kingdom, Pekah's position was weakened as the Assyrians pressed forward, and he was assassinated by Hoshea who surrendered to the Assyrians. When Shalmaneser V replaced Tiglath-Pileser III, Egyptian forces were powerless to help, and Shalmaneser V conquered Israel's capital, Samaria, after a siege of two years. The annals of Shalmaneser's successor Sargon II record that 27,290 Israelites were deported as a result of this conquest, which marked the end of the northern kingdom. However, as in previous centuries, this onslaught against the Jews was not the result of Judaeophobia but the consequence of political expansion.
The same applies to the Babylonian conquest of the kingdom of Judah in 586 BCE. In the seventh century BCE, the Babylonians advanced against Assyria and captured all its main cities. Later, they made a final attempt to regain the town of Harran. Embroiling himself in this struggle Josiah, the southern king, tried to halt the Egyptian army that had been summoned by the Assyrians to come to their aid. In the ensuing battle Josiah was mortally wounded, and Judah came under the domination of Egypt. Eventually, however, the Assyrian empire collapsed and the Babylonians succeeded in conquering the Egyptians at Carchemish in 605 BCE. At this King Jehoiakim, who had been put in power by the Egyptians, transferred his allegiance to King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon.
When Babylon was defeated by Egypt several years later, Jehoiakim decided the time was ripe for rebellion. Nebuchadnezzar, however, quickly responded by invading the country and conquering Jerusalem. In this siege Jehoiakim was killed and replaced by his son Jehoiachin, who was taken prisoner. Along with other important citizens he was led into captivity, and the treasures of the palace and Temple were plundered. A new king, Zedekiah, was placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BCE. The prophet Jeremiah counselled the king to accept Babylonian domination, but he was persuaded to join a rebellion led by Egypt. After a siege of eighteen months, Jerusalem was conquered; all the main buildings were destroyed, and Zedekiah was blinded and exiled to Babylonia. As had occurred centuries earlier in the north, the southern kingdom was overpowered by the might of Assyria. Here, then, in the history of ancient Israel, it is clear that the Jewish nation endured centuries of upheaval, oppression and conquest. Yet, such suffering was not due to animosity against the Jewish nation, but to the aims of foreign powers who engaged in a policy of expansion and conquest.
Nonetheless later events in Jewish history illustrate that foreign powers were disdainful of Jewish beliefs and customs. During the Hellenistic period, the kingdom of Judah was dominated by foreign powers. In 198 BCE the Seleucid king, Antiochus III, defeated Scopus, the general of the Egyptian king, Ptolemy V. Initially Antiochus III had a positive attitude towards the Jews; he reduced their taxes and made a donation to the Temple. In time, however, he reversed these policies for economic reasons. In 190 BCE he was defeated in a battle against the Romans at Magnesia near Ephesus. By the terms of the ensuing peace treaty he was forced to hand over his territory in Asia Minor, the richest part of the empire. A year later Antiochus III was killed while robbing the Temple in Jerusalem to increase his revenue and was succeeded by his son Seleucus IV, who, in his turn, dispatched his chancellor Heliodorus to plunder the Jerusalem Temple.
Later in the second century BCE, Seleucus IV was murdered and succeeded by Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Jason, a member of the Oniad family, bribed Antiochus IV to make him High Priest and on his appointment to this position, Jason attempted to Hellenize Jerusalem. This involved the introduction of Greek games in which athletes competed naked – a sight shocking to traditional sensibilities. Many Jews found such changes abhorrent, and Jason was deposed. In 168 BCE Antiochus IV invaded Egypt, but this time he encountered the Romans, who drove back his onslaught.
In Jerusalem it was rumoured that Antiochus IV had been killed, and a rebellion took place. Antiochus IV, however, reacted speedily; he conquered Jerusalem and led off some of the people as slaves. In addition he banned circumcision, Sabbath observance and the reading of the Torah. He also decreed that the Temple be dedicated to the worship of the Greek god Zeus, pigs sacrificed on the altar, and that all people, including Jews, should be allowed to worship there. In response, many Jews were willing to die rather than violate their traditions. Eventually a guerrilla band led by a priest, Mattathias, and his five sons engaged in armed revolt; on Mattathias' death, this movement was spearheaded by his son Judas Maccabaeus. After a series of military engagements, the oppressive policies of the Seleucids were reversed. Jewish law was reinstated, and the Temple was restored and rededicated, an event subsequently commemorated by the festival of Hannukah. In this struggle, the Seleucids – unlike the Egyptians, Assyrians and Babylonians in previous centuries – were critical of the Jewish way of life, and in particular appear to have been disturbed by what they perceived as Jewish xenophobia and misanthropy. In their place they championed Hellenism as a superior civilization. In this respect, the Seleucids served as a model for future forms of anti-Semitism.
The antipathy towards Jews and the Jewish religion expressed by the Seleucids was indicative of the view of Hellenistic society in general. In the Graeco-Roman world Jews did not occupy positions of economic influence that aroused envy, as frequently occurred in subsequent centuries. Nor were they subject to racial persecution as in the Middle Ages and, most horrifically, in modern times. Instead, both Greeks and Romans objected to Jews on social grounds, giving rise to a general polemic against the Jews and their faith among classical writers such as Cicero, a Roman orator of the first century BCE.
In a famous speech Pro Flacco, delivered in 59 BCE, Cicero argues that the Jews represent an element within society which is contrary to the values of Rome. They are the embodiment of barbaric superstition. In his view, superstition is opposed to religion – religion is the essence of the political, cultural and spiritual ideals of ancient Rome. Because the Jews represent superstition, they stand for everything that opposes these values. Judaism, he continues, is inimical to the religion of Rome because it is incompatible with ancestral customs and institutions. In this diatribe he expresses contempt for the Jewish people, their behaviour and customs, and their growing influence in society, which he fears threatens the value-system of Rome.
In Egypt, where the Jewish community was particularly numerous, Jews frequently served as middlemen between rulers and the general populace. In this context Egyptian intellectuals relied on the biblical account in the Book of Exodus to castigate Jews who lived in their midst. According to the Hebrew Bible, the ancient Egyptians perished on account of Pharaoh's unwillingness to allow the Israelites to flee from Egypt – the ten plagues were sent by God to persuade him to relent. This biblical account provided the basis for anti-Jewish riots which took place in Alexandria in the first century CE, and stimulated anti-Jewish polemics in Egyptian literature of the period.
This diatribe was expressed in an alternative account of the Exodus, according to which the Jewish people were initially a diseased population that had married slaves. Their flight from Egypt was caused by the Egyptians themselves, who wished to be rid of these lepers. According to Egyptian tradition, the observance of the Sabbath was caused by the disease-ridden condition of the ancient Israelite population: Jews were only able to travel for six-day periods because they were so unwell. In the third century BCE similar stories were recounted by the Egyptian priest Manetho, and later repeated by such historians as Cheremona and Lysimachus of Alexandria and Apollonius Molon and Pompeius of Trogus.
Paralleling such contempt, Hellenistic society in general reacted against what was perceived as Jewish exclusivity and the particularistic character of the Jewish community. Jews were determined to live apart from their neighbours and largely refused to embrace Greek customs. In their opinion, the gods of the Greeks were false deities, and Greek culture was seen as unclean. As a consequence, the Jewish population and non-Jewish society lived in a state of constant tension. Nonetheless, Jews were protected by Rome. Even though most Jews were not granted citizenship, they were permitted to practise their faith. Another factor which mitigated pagan animosity to Judaism was the fact that Jewish thought in Palestine and the diaspora (outside the Holy Land) borrowed various Hellenistic features. This helped to diffuse what otherwise might have led to an outburst of anti-Jewish feeling.
When Hellenistic writers expressed hostility towards the Jewish populace, a number of Jewish apologists stressed that Greek thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle had learned about philosophical concepts from Moses. As a result, Judaism contains a higher and purer religious system than that which is found among Greeks and Romans. Convinced of the correctness of their beliefs, Jews attempted to convert gentiles to the true faith. Thus in the Graeco-Roman period Judaism was missionary in its outlook and sought to establish itself as a universal faith. Converts were viewed as having the same status as born-Jews, and in addition numerous sympathizers of Judaism, known as God-fearers, became active participants in synagogue worship. For such gentiles, it was necessary only to keep the Noachian laws – those given to Noah – rather than the entire corpus of Jewish law. Such righteous gentiles, together with faithful Jews, could be assured of entering the World-to-Come.
In the first century CE, the Jewish population rebelled against Roman domination. The first revolt occurred from 66 to 73 CE, but was crushed by Roman forces. In the next century, from 133 to 136 CE, the Jews again rebelled, and this second attempt was similarly put down. As a result, the Jewish community was viewed with suspicion and contempt. Such conflict, however, did not provoke widespread persecution of the Jewish population. Rather the Romans simply desired to create a social structure that would place each ethnic group, including the Jews, into an administrative relationship with the Roman authorities. Even though Jerusalem had been decimated and the Temple destroyed, the Roman government sought to cooperate with those Jews who lived in Rome. Yet despite such accommodation, most Romans viewed Jewish religious practices as mere superstitions, and they regarded Jewish laws, such as circumcision, dietary regulations and Sabbath observance, with disdain. Although such friction was continuous, Jewish and Roman leaders nevertheless attempted to establish a basis for coexistence.
Even though antagonism existed between Jews and pagans in the ancient world, there were some Jewish writers who absorbed elements of Hellenistic culture. By translating the philosophical currents of the Graeco-Roman world into a Jewish framework, these authors sought to reconcile the Jewish faith with Greek thought. Yet, paradoxically, this quest provided the basis for Christianity's eventual spiritualization of the Hebrew Bible and that religion's subsequent attitude of animosity towards Judaism.
The Hellenistic interpretation of the Hebrew Bible is illustrated most clearly in the writings of the first-century Jewish philosopher Philo, who produced a variety of philosophical treatises. In his view, God's creative power was initially manifest as the Logos or Word of God, a concept which unified the biblical Word of God with the Platonic concepts of the Ideal World and the Divine Mind.
For Philo, the Logos was expressed in Natural Law, which rules the cosmos and is found in all things. In this context the Torah should be seen as universal in scope. Yet the Torah is also a special revelation to the Jewish nation whose mission is to be a light to all peoples. Israel's task is to enlighten the world, to draw all nations to an acceptance of God's universal truth. In this sense the Torah should be understood as an expression of the path that all human beings need but which is possessed in its fullest manifestation by the Jews. Such ideas paved the way for the Christian belief in Christ and the Logos, as well as the doctrine of the Incarnation.
Such a universalistic conception of the Hebrew Bible gave rise to an allegorical interpretation of the commandments in Scripture. The Sabbath, for example, was perceived as the day on which the Logos emanated from God and served as the basis for the created order. For this reason the Sabbath was dedicated to the pursuit of spiritual wisdom. Similarly, ritual food laws were understood allegorically; they were conceived as signalling God's characteristics of mercy and cleanliness as opposed to violence. Only animals that exhibit benevolent attributes were fit for food, whereas animals that were violent in nature were forbidden. Further, circumcision was viewed as an allegory of cutting away illegitimate pleasures as well as the sin of pride.
Such spiritualization and universalization invested Jewish ritual with mystical significance. The letter of the law was not to be disregarded, and through this interpretation of Jewish law and institutions, Philo sought to establish a link between inner and outer meaning. In his opinion it is not possible to dispose of outward observance and still experience the inner meaning of the law. Rather, it is precisely the physical observances prescribed in the Torah that express the spiritual character of the Jewish faith. Thus Philo's allegorical interpretation was designed to demonstrate that God's decrees serve as the expressions of universal, spiritual truths.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Antiâ"Semitism by Dan Cohn-Sherbok. Copyright © 2009 Dan Cohn-Sherbok. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgements,Preface,
One Jews in the Ancient World,
Two Judaeophobia in the New Testament,
Three The Early Church and Anti-Judaism,
Four Medieval Anti-Judaism,
Five The Demonic Stereotype of the Jew,
Six Jew-hatred in Western Europe,
Seven The Jews in Spain,
Eight Marranos,
Nine Eastern European Anti-Semitism,
Ten The Early Modern Period,
Eleven The Enlightenment,
Twelve Jewish Emancipation,
Thirteen Anti-Semitism in the Nineteenth Century,
Fourteen Jewry in Nineteenth-century Germany, France and Russia,
Fifteen The Early Twentieth Century,
Sixteen Anti-Semitism and Zionism,
Seventeen The Rise of Nazism,
Eighteen The Holocaust,
Nineteen Anti-Semitism in the Postwar Period,
Twenty Modern Arab Jew-hatred,
Select Bibliography,