Painting with large strokes

As long as there have been Jews, there has been anti-Semitism.

From the Biblical enslavement in Egypt to the Holocaust, from the attacks at IU last semester to the recent spate of celebrity remarks, Jews have been the focus of anger and hate.

And for no other reason than because we are different.

What makes us different? Thousands of years ago, it was monotheism in an age and place where the dominant religions were polytheistic. Now it is, perhaps, that Jews are too monotheistic — that we don’t accept the Trinity or the Prophet.

Or perhaps it’s because a hatred of Jews is so ingrained that some people don’t stop to wonder why they hate Jews — they just hate.

In this day and age, in this country, I don’t understand why such virulent anti-Semitism still abounds.

I don’t understand why it is such a public trend.

Hollywood’s biggest “winner” Charlie Sheen recently attacked his “Two and a Half Men” producer, Chuck Lorre, referring to him as “Chaim Levine.” Dior designer John Galliano was fired after he was caught on camera spewing anti-Semitism. Glenn Beck compared Reform Jews to Islamic terrorists.

Why?

Sheen, who is very publicly battling CBS and Lorre, was definitely hitting below the belt. Galliano was a friend of Oscar-winning Israeli-born actress Natalie Portman until his video hit. Beck is a schmuck.

History is rife with stories about the abuses against Jews. Historian Lester Little believes that much of the hate stems from the rise of commerce and many Jews’ roles as moneylenders. More believe that the hate is because of the belief that Jews killed Jesus.

And yet, the pope just exonerated Jews.

For those who hate — because of Jesus, because of Israel, because of that guy down the street who drives you nuts — stop and think for a moment. Even if a group of Jews were responsible for Jesus’s death, those Jews lived and died millennia ago. Not all Jews support every move Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu makes. Just because your neighbor annoys you doesn’t mean all Jews are evil.

It’s wrong to condemn a whole group of people just because you don’t like the actions of a few in that group.

Mussolini has been called a Christian. Mussolini committed heinous war crimes in Africa and allowed the deportation and killing of thousands of Italian Jews during the Holocaust.

Those two things have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

People of all races, religions and sexual orientations do bad things. That doesn’t make every person bad.

So why should all this anger be taken out on the Jews?

We’re not alone. In the decade since Sept. 11, Muslims have been subjected to unreasonable hatred.

A century and a half ago, blacks were kept as slaves in much of the country. Homosexuals have been condemned and killed for thousands of years.

But that doesn’t make it right.

Hitler and his fellows believed that Judaism was more than a religion, more than a culture. It was a race, and it was ingrained in people’s blood, no matter their actions or beliefs.

But it’s not.

Today in the United States, there are some people whose Ashkenazi looks just scream “Jew.” There are some people who you can look at or talk with and instantly think, “That person is Jewish.”

But the Jewdar isn’t always correct. The man with the dark hair and long nose has ancestors from Eastern Europe, but none of them were Jewish. The girl who acts and talks a certain way has Catholic parents who live in New York.

The redhead eating a cheeseburger on a Friday night is a Jew.

You can’t tell what people believe just by looking at them. Even in a group of people, specific values differ.

And even if they didn’t — even if they all talked and acted and prayed the same way — why does that give you reason to hate them?

Christian Tsar Nicholas II approved pogroms against the Jews in Russia that left countless dead, but everyone doesn’t hate the Christians.

Some Jews have done things to be ashamed of, but no one should hate every Jew for the actions of a few.


E-mail: hanns@indiana.edu