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Anti-Semitism: Myth and Hate from Antiquity to the Present
In this provocative book, Marvin Perry and Frederick M. Schweitzer analyze the lies, misperceptions, and myths about Jews and Judaism that anti-semites have propagated throughout the centuries. Beginning with antiquity, and continuing into the present day, the authors explore the irrational fabrications that have led to numerous acts of violence and hatred against Jews. The book examines ancient and medieval myths central to the history of anti-semitism: Jews as 'Christ-killers', instruments of Satan, and ritual murderers of Christian children. It also explores the scapegoating of Jews in the modern world as conspirators bent on world domination; extortionists who manufactured the Holocaust as a hoax designed to gain reparation payments from Germany; and the leaders of the slave trade that put Africa in chains. No other book has focused its attention exclusively on a thematic discussion of historic and contemporary anti-semitic myths, covering such an expansive scope of time, and allowing for such a painstaking level of exemplification. Anti-semitism is an essential book that will serve as a corrective to bigotry, stereotype, and historical distortion.
- GenresNonfictionHistoryJewish
329 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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September 24, 2022
“Antisemitism—Myth and Hate from Antiquity to The Present” (309 pages; 2002) by Marvin Perry and Frederick Schweitzer; six chapters including, 1) The Trial and Death of Jesus, 2) Ritual Murderers, 3) The Diabolization of the Jews, 4) Homo Judaicius Economicus, 5) Denying the Holocaust, 6) Antisemitic Myths Blackwashed.
This powerful work was initially of interest to me for the first three chapters and while reading I diverted to a side study on the “deicide” charge (“The Trial of Jesus” by Haim Cohn, “Who Killed Jesus? Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of the Death of Jesus” by J.D. Crosson, and separately several papers on Nostra Aetate). Chapter 4, focusing on the “Shylock” or “Parasite” slur, also brought to this reader much new material and insight helping explain the jealousy / envy of local populations that fed Jew hatred. Chapter 5, on Holocaust denial, examines another stage of antisemitic mythmaking; the authors point out among other things, “… A nationalist Ukrainian newspaper argued that concentration camps were really intended to save Jewish lives—an expression of Nazi humanitarianism….” (page 178); that David Irving (who lost a prominent legal battle to Deborah Lipstadt), “In 1990 … told an audience at Latvian Hall, Toronto, that Jews even had themselves tattooed with numbers to bolster their claims that they were survivors and therefore entitled to compensation” (page 186); and that, of course, “The Diary of Anne Frank” was a fake (page 209). Chapter 6, “Blackwashed”, explores in painful detail how the Nation of Islam (Louis Farrakhan, Muhammad Khallid, et al) and others in the African American community engaged in AS mythmaking and destructive rhetoric. Below are passages that caught this readers attention as particularly noteworthy.
From Chapter 1:
“It is not just a matter of deportation. You will not die there of hunger and disease. They will slaughter all of you there, old and young alike, women and children, at once—it is the punishment that you deserve for the death of our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ,--you have one solution. Come over to our Catholic religion, and I will work to annul the decree.” Bishop Kmetko’s reply to Rabbi Ungar, who asked him to intervene … to prevent the deportation of Jews from Slovakia in 1943 (Page 17).
From Chapter 2:
“In 1955 Anglican authorities had dismantled the shrine of Lincoln Cathedral of ‘Little St. Hugh’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_...) and declared that the fiction of ritual murder had cost the lives of many Jews. But as recently [1990] … local clergy in the cathedral were reported to have retold the myth to tourists. Newsweek magazine reported on one church in Poland: The Holy Mary basilica of Sandomierz, Poland, built in the 17th century. Within the church there is a large painting entitled ‘Infanticida.’ It depicts a band of caricatured Jews kidnapping, stabbing and dismembering Christian babies as part of a religious ritual. A plaque claims the Faithless members of the Jewish community killed two Sandomierz babies in 1698 and 1710. A nun walks by. Did Jews really do these things? ‘Certainly’, she says, ‘They once did, but no longer—there are no Jews left in Poland.’” (Page 72).
From Chapter 3:
“In the Middle Ages, Jews had been persecuted and humiliated primarily for religious reasons. In the nineteen century, national-racial considerations supplemented the traditional biased Christian perception of Jews and Judaism. However, whereas Christian antisemites believed that through conversion Jews could escape the curse of their religion, racial antisemites said that Jews were indelibly stained and eternally condemned by their genes. Their evil and worthlessness derived from inherited racial characteristics, which could not be altered by conversion.” (Page 96).
“In 1933 … Felix Goldmann, a German Jewish writer, commented astutely on the irrational quality of racial antisemitism: ‘The present-day politicized racial antisemitism is the embodiment of myth, … nothing is discussed … only felt, … nothing is pondered critically or reasonably, … only inwardly perceived, surmised…. We are apparently the last … of the age of the Enlightenment.’ That many people, including intellectuals and members of the elites, believed these racial theories—indeed, for some it was a passion, was an ominous sign for Western civilization. It showed how tenuous the rational tradition of the Enlightenment is, how receptive the mind is to dangerous myths, and how speedily human behavior can degenerate into inhumanity.” (Page 112).
From Chapter 4: “Over the centuries, since the earliest Christian commentators, the image of Jesus’ ‘cleansing of the Temple’ and the expulsion of the money changers (Mark 11:15-19) have been used to condemn Jewish business activity, contrasting the crass materialist mentality of Judaism to the spirituality of Jesus and Christianity.”
From Chapter 6: “In a speech at Kean College in New Jersey on 11/29/1993 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7MVb...), Muhammad Khallid, then a national spokesman for Nation of Islam, launched a vicious attack against Jews that was reminiscent of Nazi propagandists. Jews, he said, controlled the White House, and the Federal Reserve System, Hollywood and the media. Their behavior in Germany forced Hitler to act the way he did. Jews, he continued, used the civil rights movement to exploit blacks…. To the familiar accusations of parasites and exploiters that antisemites have traditionally hurled at Jews, Khallid added a rarely used one—cannibals: ‘You are a European … people who crawled around on all fours …, eatin’ juniper roots and eatin’ each other.’” (Page 213).
As stated at the outset I started reading this book for the first three chapters but as useful as those were in helping understand that material, I thought I took away a lot more new learning from Chapters 4, 5 & 6. Over the many years the one thing that has been true about antisemitism is that is has always been changing. Perry and Schweitzer show how mythmaking has remained a constant element in the development of this dangerous and hateful material. Highly recommended read.
This powerful work was initially of interest to me for the first three chapters and while reading I diverted to a side study on the “deicide” charge (“The Trial of Jesus” by Haim Cohn, “Who Killed Jesus? Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of the Death of Jesus” by J.D. Crosson, and separately several papers on Nostra Aetate). Chapter 4, focusing on the “Shylock” or “Parasite” slur, also brought to this reader much new material and insight helping explain the jealousy / envy of local populations that fed Jew hatred. Chapter 5, on Holocaust denial, examines another stage of antisemitic mythmaking; the authors point out among other things, “… A nationalist Ukrainian newspaper argued that concentration camps were really intended to save Jewish lives—an expression of Nazi humanitarianism….” (page 178); that David Irving (who lost a prominent legal battle to Deborah Lipstadt), “In 1990 … told an audience at Latvian Hall, Toronto, that Jews even had themselves tattooed with numbers to bolster their claims that they were survivors and therefore entitled to compensation” (page 186); and that, of course, “The Diary of Anne Frank” was a fake (page 209). Chapter 6, “Blackwashed”, explores in painful detail how the Nation of Islam (Louis Farrakhan, Muhammad Khallid, et al) and others in the African American community engaged in AS mythmaking and destructive rhetoric. Below are passages that caught this readers attention as particularly noteworthy.
From Chapter 1:
“It is not just a matter of deportation. You will not die there of hunger and disease. They will slaughter all of you there, old and young alike, women and children, at once—it is the punishment that you deserve for the death of our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ,--you have one solution. Come over to our Catholic religion, and I will work to annul the decree.” Bishop Kmetko’s reply to Rabbi Ungar, who asked him to intervene … to prevent the deportation of Jews from Slovakia in 1943 (Page 17).
From Chapter 2:
“In 1955 Anglican authorities had dismantled the shrine of Lincoln Cathedral of ‘Little St. Hugh’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_...) and declared that the fiction of ritual murder had cost the lives of many Jews. But as recently [1990] … local clergy in the cathedral were reported to have retold the myth to tourists. Newsweek magazine reported on one church in Poland: The Holy Mary basilica of Sandomierz, Poland, built in the 17th century. Within the church there is a large painting entitled ‘Infanticida.’ It depicts a band of caricatured Jews kidnapping, stabbing and dismembering Christian babies as part of a religious ritual. A plaque claims the Faithless members of the Jewish community killed two Sandomierz babies in 1698 and 1710. A nun walks by. Did Jews really do these things? ‘Certainly’, she says, ‘They once did, but no longer—there are no Jews left in Poland.’” (Page 72).
From Chapter 3:
“In the Middle Ages, Jews had been persecuted and humiliated primarily for religious reasons. In the nineteen century, national-racial considerations supplemented the traditional biased Christian perception of Jews and Judaism. However, whereas Christian antisemites believed that through conversion Jews could escape the curse of their religion, racial antisemites said that Jews were indelibly stained and eternally condemned by their genes. Their evil and worthlessness derived from inherited racial characteristics, which could not be altered by conversion.” (Page 96).
“In 1933 … Felix Goldmann, a German Jewish writer, commented astutely on the irrational quality of racial antisemitism: ‘The present-day politicized racial antisemitism is the embodiment of myth, … nothing is discussed … only felt, … nothing is pondered critically or reasonably, … only inwardly perceived, surmised…. We are apparently the last … of the age of the Enlightenment.’ That many people, including intellectuals and members of the elites, believed these racial theories—indeed, for some it was a passion, was an ominous sign for Western civilization. It showed how tenuous the rational tradition of the Enlightenment is, how receptive the mind is to dangerous myths, and how speedily human behavior can degenerate into inhumanity.” (Page 112).
From Chapter 4: “Over the centuries, since the earliest Christian commentators, the image of Jesus’ ‘cleansing of the Temple’ and the expulsion of the money changers (Mark 11:15-19) have been used to condemn Jewish business activity, contrasting the crass materialist mentality of Judaism to the spirituality of Jesus and Christianity.”
From Chapter 6: “In a speech at Kean College in New Jersey on 11/29/1993 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7MVb...), Muhammad Khallid, then a national spokesman for Nation of Islam, launched a vicious attack against Jews that was reminiscent of Nazi propagandists. Jews, he said, controlled the White House, and the Federal Reserve System, Hollywood and the media. Their behavior in Germany forced Hitler to act the way he did. Jews, he continued, used the civil rights movement to exploit blacks…. To the familiar accusations of parasites and exploiters that antisemites have traditionally hurled at Jews, Khallid added a rarely used one—cannibals: ‘You are a European … people who crawled around on all fours …, eatin’ juniper roots and eatin’ each other.’” (Page 213).
As stated at the outset I started reading this book for the first three chapters but as useful as those were in helping understand that material, I thought I took away a lot more new learning from Chapters 4, 5 & 6. Over the many years the one thing that has been true about antisemitism is that is has always been changing. Perry and Schweitzer show how mythmaking has remained a constant element in the development of this dangerous and hateful material. Highly recommended read.
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