HCJ Seminar Paper. Nationalism and the Jews.

From one country to another, from one religion to another and from one culture to another, lifestyles and philosophies have been extremely different, but there is one thing all of the people in the world had in common. They all at one point or another, had individuals and groups in their populations who did not like Jews. But why have people hated the Jews? There have been a mixture of economic, political and religious factors. To even try and understand why people have hated the Jews, we must look at who the Jewish people are.

The Jews belong to a race that has been inferior throughout history. Since the eighteenth century, men have been classified in defined groups and categories for example working class, middle class and upper class but the most prominent classification of people has been skin colour. However, there is no race that has two original ancestors without any mixture of other races because strictly speaking, there is no such things a race. This means that the sorting of man has no value, unfortunately it has been dominant for mankind, largely due to people’s ignorance.

At first, the white race was divided into the Aryan race and the Semite race, the Aryans were considered to be the perfect race. We are indebted to them for religious and philosophical ideas and writing as well as great works of art, the Aryan race has also proved its superiority by resisting the Semites. This is a race which hasn’t really produced any artwork, but its religious and moral work has benefited man greatly. History shows Aryan vs. Semite conflict for example the Median Wars between the Greeks and Persians, with the Greeks being the Aryans and the Persians being the Semitic race. Although conflict has taken place between the two races, Aryans and Semites have shared civilisations and both have each other’s blood.

Anti-Semites admit that there are superior and inferior Semites, with the Jews being inferior. The Jews have adapted to the different places they have lived in and as a result they haven’t really remained the united group that they used to be, there are great varieties in the Jewish people, for example there are black Jews. This is basically why the grievances of anti-Semites have no foundation and also why the opposition between the Aryans and Semites is artificial.

 

The biggest hate campaign against the Jewish people came in 1894. The Dreyfus Affair divided the left and right politically minded people in France, the country was so militaristic and were worried about another war with Germany. The army was largely Anti-Semitic at the time as well. The Dreyfus Affair started because secret French military information was found in the Germany embassy, an army general Dreyfus was found guilty of giving information to the Germans and his conviction was largely based on the fact that he was a Jew. Even after Emile Zola wrote J’Accuse, the French army decided to keep Dreyfus on the Devil’s Island to avoid their own embarrassment.

Now on to the topic on nationalism and the Jewish people. To understand nationalism in the context of the Jews, we must define what a ‘nation’ actually is. A nation is generally considered to be a group of individuals who share a common territory, language, law and customs. However, it could be argued that there is no such thing as a race that shares the same origin, because there is not one country where all people are of the same the blood and spirit. However, according to Bernard Lazare, nations do exist, these may not share a common government or share their fatherland, but the nation continues as long as the consciousness of that community and its thought and interests have not disappeared, then that nation still exists.

Many would argue that there is no such thing as a Jewish race, but that the Jews are part of the nations that they currently live in. It would be easy to assume that because Jewish people are scattered around the world, mixing with many different people, that they would simply disappear. However, 3 things have stopped this: the first one is that their religion keeps them together, it acts like a glue that bonds all Jewish people, no matter where they are. The second cause is the social conditions that they are responsible for and the third is the social conditions they are not responsible for, therefore the conditions placed upon them by others.

The Jewish religion puts ethics and metaphysics together, along with being a ‘law’. To become part of the Jewish ‘nation’, you had to accept God, also called Yahweh as well as God’s laws. It has been said that without the laws, Yahweh may have disappeared into everyone who had received him. However, the Jews preserved God by following his law, also called Torah and after the fall of Jerusalem, the Torah held Israel together. Even when Jewish people spread themselves around the world, they still view the world in the same way. This also applies to the literature and philosophy that they read and follow. Jews also had similar living conditions, similar customs and were subject to the same moral laws. Many would argue that this is enough for the Jews to be called a ‘nation’ because nations have the same customs and laws, as do the Jews.

However, this cohesion may have led to the anti-semitism that they have experienced. Due to them surviving many struggles, they have considered themselves the ‘elect people’ and superior to all others. This is shown in an article written by Rabbi Manis Friedman, who says that “a Jew is a unique creation, so the soul of a Jew is inherently and basically different than the soul of a non-Jew”. However, he goes on to say that Jews can’t explain why they are ‘different’.

History may give us some clues to why Jewish people have been hated so much throughout history. At Rome, Jewish people were not subject to the municipal laws and weren’t required to appear in court on Saturday, which is their Sabbath. The Jews had in fact created a nation within a nation and had their own government and their own ruler, Jewish people were also exempt from paying taxes and eventually rose to a position higher than other people in the communities that they lived in, this led to them attracting jealousy and hatred from the people of the municipalities that the Jews were living in.

It has been argued that Jewish people gained their wealth at this time at the expense of Christians, through deception and oppression. Bernard Lazare calls it “the moral charge of the anti-Semites”, he also says that “the Jew is more dishonest than the Christian”.

However, there could be some reason behind this apparent dishonesty and exploitation of Christians. Young Jews are taught from the Talmud, which is a collection of Jewish laws and rules. Any deviation from these laws results in being shunned from the Jewish community, but Jews tried to get around these laws and the punishments with cunning, therefore it could be argued that the Jews have developed a sly nature, this is certainly implied in Lazare’s writing.

We have seen that all throughout history, the Jews have been hated, but the answer to why this is will probably remain an answered question, however some factors could include people’s ignorance and maybe even the Jews’ religion and customs.