The roots of Antisemitism -- a fight against God

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Sep 10, 2016 at 12:11

Hi, Anon. You said,

"I am not Jewish but I don't understand the reasons for anti semitism at all. Jews are a model minority and the world should be celebrating Jews as an example for everybody else but the opposite seems to happen (although not in every precinct)."

Not only don't YOU understand the reasons for anti semitism; but I don't think even the anti semites understand them, nor the Jews who suffer from them. Here is my understanding:

The root of the issue is in the Bible. Around 2000 BC, civilization centered mainly on what is now Iraq, in a belt that extended roughly from Iran to Egypt. Less important centers arose in what is now Pakistan and China. The Pakistani civilization, centered on the Indus Valley, fell into decline and was replaced by invaders from the Middle East, giving rise to the Hindu culture of the Indian subcontinent. Chinese civilization developed locally in East Asia, with some influence from Indian elements. Iraqi civilization was destined to overwhelm Egypt, Iran and most of the world with its customs, technology and, above all, its writing system and literature. The Bible and Qur'an came out of that civilization. In the rest of the world, such as where my ancestors lived in Europe, people were barbarians dressed in animal skins (if dressed at all).

In the world of 2000 BC, Iraq consisted politically of city-states, each with its own king and its own gods. There were gods for everything: creator gods, destroyer gods, storm gods, gods of the harvest, gods of love, gods of hate, gods of the hearth and gods of the rivers; gods of the planets, gods of the seas, gods of the wind and gods of the trees. I'm starting to sound like Dr. Seuss; but in 2000 BC, that's the way it was.

Then God, the God of the Bible, called Abraham and told him to leave the Iraqi city he lived in (he was a donkey caravaneer, something like a modern long-distance trucker), its society and its gods, and to go live as an alien in a land he did not know, what is now Israel. Abraham heard and obeyed God; and this was the basis of the Bible, of the Jewish people, of their religion, and of their connection with the land that the Arabs now want to control.

Abraham was promised a son by God, through his wife Sarah. This was Isaac, the father of the Jewish people. Abraham also had a son by Sarah's servant woman, Hagar, who became the mother of the tribe of Arabs that gave us Islam. He later had children by other servants, who, along with Hagar's son, mingled with the tribes of Saudi Arabia and surrounding countries. There was an intense hatred and jealousy between the descendants of Hagar and the descendants of Sarah, a hatred and jealousy that continues to this day. That is the root of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East: a land where people forget, but never forgive.

You said, "Jews are a model minority".

Abraham was a minority of one: He worshipped and followed the One God of the Universe, in a land of polytheists. In Israel, which was then Canaan Land, he was a resident alien. For a while, during a drought, he became an alien in Egypt, as did his son Isaac and Isaac's son Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel). In Egypt, the descendants of Israel became slaves, until God delivered them and returned them to Israel. This happened, abound 1400 BC, about 2000 years before Muhammed was born.

Israel had to fight to take and keep the land. They contended with the Canaanites, against their own kinsmen, the Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites, most of whom eventually were assimilated as Jews; they fought and defeated the Philistines (from which the name "Palestine" comes), who were invaders from Europe; they contended with the Iraqis, Syrians and Iranians, Egyptians and Greeks -- not just in the "Six Day War" in 1967, but throughout their 4,000-year history. Whenever they were in control of the land, and living at ease, they fell into worshipping the gods of their enemies, shamefully treating God's messengers, the prophets. Ultimately, they were driven out, for the most part, for 2,000 years. After that, and after countless persecutions and attempts by their hosts to wipe them off the earth, they became what you call "a model minority".

During their entire sojourn, both as a minority and as a small nation surrounded by fierce enemies, the Jews continued to maintain, as Abraham their ancestor had, that their God is the one true God; and that the gods of others -- including the Christian Trinity and the Muslim Allah -- are idols. THAT is the basis of antisemitism: They were and are surrounded by people, and continue to live among people, who are jealous of their covenant relationship with the God of Abraham.

The Father of modern Antisemitism is probably Martin Luther, who wrote a treatise, "On the Jews and their Lies" (1543):

http://vho.org/aaargh/fran/livres9/Luthereng.pdf

This was the foundation of antisemitism in Germany, which ultimately influenced Adolf Hitler and his followers. It continues today in "Neo-Nazi" movements. Other cultures, such as the French, the British and the already-mentioned Arabs, have their own traditions of antisemitism, going back to the Roman Empire.

Ultimately, antisemitism is not against the Jews. It is against their God.

Have I covered the matter?

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