Holocaust: Classic, Christian Medieval, and Modern Anti-Sematism
Christians call Jews
Deicide Charge -means "God Killing" -Jews killed Jesus; all Jews everywhere forever are responsible for his death* -This is a corruption of the Passion story of Jesus' death in the Bible where a small segment of Jewish people standing by the cross of Jesus say to the Romans, "Let his (Jesus') blood be on us and on our children."
Christians believe that God the Father sent his Son as a Redeemer for all mankind. However...
Some in the early Church chose to ignore these theological ideas and instead focused on the verse, "Let his blood be on us and on our children," to justify a Christian stance against the Jews.
Jews could NOT
build synagogues, gather in public places, or celebrate Passover before Easter
The biological sciences
classified all living things
Christains could NOT
convert to Judaism
Church fathers accused Jews of being
idolaters, gluttons, adulterers, cannibals, Christ-killers, stubborn, and rejected by God.
Christians and Jews could NOT
intermarry, have sexual relations, and eat together
Modern anti-semitism differs from previous froms of anti-semitism because...
it was NOT based on the religious practices of Jews, but on the theory that Jews comprised an inferior race
This myth has remained powerful overtime, causing...
the details of the myth have been published in book form for many years, on audiotape, and even in video "re-enactments," perpetuating the lies of the myth
To distinguish them from Christians, Jews had to
wear special clothing
Classical Anti-Sematism was caused by the...
Conflict between the Jewish religion preventing Jews to worship any other gods and their conquerers seeing such worship as showing political respect
When and where did involuntary segregation (the first ghettos) of Jews begin?
-1462 in Frankfurt Germany -The idea caught on to the rest of Eurpoe, and by the 16th century became the norm. -Unlike the Nazi ghettos, the 16 century ghettos allowed Jews to leave during the day to do their business. -Conditions were often corwded and inadequate. -It was not until the Enlightenment that Jews had the opportunity to participate in modern society in Europe, free from persecution.
Influences on modern anti-semitism
-The biological sciences -Darwin's theory of natural selection -Applied social darwinism -Count Arthur Gobineau -Houston Stewart Chamberlain
How did Martin Luther describe the Jews?
-Founder of a new Christian faith, Protestantism, in the 16th century, preached against Jews -His writings described Jews as anti-Christs, worse than devils. -They were prisoners, ritual murderers, parasited and should be expelled from Germany. -All synagogues should be burned to the ground
Reasons it was difficult for Jews to bond with their non-Jewish neighbors in the Classical period
-Jews had strict dietary laws, therefore they could not share a meal at a non-Jews house -Minority religions would worship their conquerer's gods while continuing to worship their own. Jews could not do this according to their religious laws -Jews could marry outside their faith, preventing bonding with others and becoming a greater target -Political rulers who understood the Jewish religion knew that refusal of Jewish subjects to bow down and worship their gods was not political disrespect, just a religious conflict. They would make exceptions for Jewish subjects, which only made other non-Jewish subjects jealous of the exceptions Jews received. -Jews dressed differently, making them easily identifiable and subject to discrimination.
What was the accusation made toward Jews regarding the blood libel?
-Jews were accused of all kinds of slanders and scapegoats for the problems of the day. -1144; the myth began in England that Jews murdered Christian children and Jews used the blood for their Passover matzohs. -Ironic because the consumption of blood is prohibited by Jewish law.
Why did Jews get a stereotype that they were "sinful"?
-Jews were allowed to be moneylenders and financers in the Medieval economy. -These occupations were considered to be sinful by Christians.
What anti-semitism was exhibited with the Black Death
-The Bubonic Plague (killed quarter of Europe in 14th century) was blamed on the Jews in Europe and Asia. -The Pope made a statement declaring Jews were not responsible for the plague, but not before many Jews were burned alive or hanged by enranged mobs.
How did the Inquisition target Jews?
-The Inquisition was a tribunal established in the Middle Ages by the Catholic Church in Rome designed to suppress hersey. -Established in 1478 by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella -One of the goals was the conversion of Jews to Christianity. Torture was not an approved method of extracting confessions of guilt from heretics, but it was practiced. -Ordianry penalties were penance, fines, and imprisonment - All converted Jews were accused of being insincere, and were tortured until they confessed to practicing Judaism, which caused them to be burned to death en masse in what was called an auto-da-fe. -After about 14 years, in 1492, all Jews were given the option of exile or baptism, and almost all Jews chose to leave Spain
As Christianity began to lose its "Jewishness," disdain for Jews began to grow within the Christian Church since they would not accept Jesus as the Messiah. As a result, the early Christian Church began to promote ideas that condemned Jews. Some examples were:
-The blessing to Israel in the Hebrew scriptures was now the exclusive property of the Church -God has cursed and rejected Israel, and now the Church is the "true" or the "new" Israel
Examples of Classic Anti-Sematism
-Under Roman Rule, 4,000 Jews were deported to Sardinia (an island) during the reign of Emperor Tiberius -First pogrom, an organized act of violence against Jews, took place in 38 CE during the reign of Emperor Caligula.
How were Jews targeted during the Crusades?
-the Catholic Church launched 9 holy wars (1096-1272) to liberate the Holy Land from the Muslim "infidels" who refused their journey from Europe to Jerusalem. -All "infidels" were massacred who refused to be baptized on the spot to Christianity. -Thousands of Jews were murdered in Germany and France.
Count Arthur Gobineau of France
1853; took a linguistic term, Aryan, and used it as a racial term. He argues that the troubles of western civilization were cause by the degeneration over time of the original white superior Aryan race.
Houston Stewart Chamerlain of England
1900; satted in his writing that through genetics, the huma race could be improved and a superior race developed, just as one could breed better stock of other living creatures.
The Justinaian Code
6th century Roman law code, negated civil rights for Jews.
Who was the founder of Christianity?
Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew -His mother, the Apostles, and the founders of the Church were also Jews
More Christian anti-Semitic statements became popular, such as:
Jews only exist as a testimony to the truth of Christianity
Was there always conflict between Christians and Jews
No
There were also___ reasons for the separation between Christians and Jews
Political
In the Classical period, most Jews were ruled by
Polytheists
Some say that the ___ put Jesus to death
Romans
Applied social darwinism
applying the theory of natural selection to humans (if it's true for other living creatures, why not humans?)
When was the beginning and end of the Classical period?
The beginning of recorded history (3500 BCE) to the fall of the Roman Empire (500 BCE)
Where was the first reference to an Anti-Semitic act?
The book of Ester -5th century B.C.E., the King of Persia wanted to kill all of the Jews in his kingdom because one Jewish official refused to bow to the King's top aide. Jews narrowly escaped destruction because the king's wife, a Jew, Queen Esther, pleaded for her people and saved the Jews from mass murder.
The New Testament says that the death of Jesus was...
The plan of God the father, not an accident of murder
Protocols of the Elders of Zion
a Jewish myth created by modern anti-semitism. It stated that the protocols were the minutes (written records) of an 1897 meeting of Jewish leaders to seize power all over the world, and start wars and depressions.
When did the division begin?
When more people started to convert to Christianity who weren't originally Jewish (they were polytheistic) -The Church decided, after much argument, that the new converts did NOT have to follow Jewish laws and practices, and most significantly, the men did NOT have to be circumcised.
Were the first Christians also Jews?
Yes, and at times, they worshipped alongside their mainstream Jewish peers who were not Christian. -But a number of religious and political events in the latter half of the first century and the early part of the second century began to drive a wedge between church and synagogue.
Darwin's theory of natural selection
only the strong will, and should survive
The thinking that Jews were an inferior race was dangerous because...
religious practices can be changed, but race cannot. Jews are now deemed inferior from birth and can NEVER change their status.
Applied Social Darwinism makes the nation and the superior races almost a...
secular religion
