Early in 2019, European Commission President,
Jean-Claude Junker made this statement:
Mr. Junker is of course expressing his concern
that seventy years after the end of World War II
and the horror of the holocaust,
radical movements from the far right and far left
are once more raising the spectre
of anti-Jewish movements.
At the same time, a small number of extreme elements
within the refugee population,
who arrived in Europe in the years since the Arab Spring
and the Syrian civil war, enhance the tension
within the European Jewish community.
Anti-Semitic sentiment has been around
for a very long time.
Many ask why some people are filled with hatred
toward individuals they have never met.
Others who are not involved sometimes ignore
the issue and feel that since it does not affect
them, why should they be concerned?
In today's program we will explore the history
of this problem, and why it should matter to you.
Stay tuned!
What is Anti-Semitism?
The International Holocaust Remembrance
Alliance defines it as the following:
The term "anti-Semitism" was coined by a German
named William Marr, himself an opponent
of the Jews, in 1870.
Anti-Semitism was a sanitized version
of the term used previous to 1870
which was simply "Jew hater".
Globally Jews make up less than one quarter of one percent
of Earth's population.
Why then has this people, which has contributed
so much in the areas of science, medicine,
philosophy and religion, been so vilified
by so many and for so long?
How could the same people be accused of being both ardent
communists and capitalists at the same time,
or despised because they were too conservative
or too liberal?
The story of Jew hating goes back many centuries.
In 333 BC the Macedonian Alexander the Great
and his Greek forces, overwhelmed the Persian Empire
and in the course of the conquest absorbed
both Egypt and the Middle East into his empire.
Alexander showed great favour to the Jews,
and hence many Jews, especially scholars
and skilled craftsmen, moved and settled in the new city
named after the emperor, Alexandria.
Here they flourished for many years,
yet by the early 200's BC a wave of anti-Semitism
was rearing its head in Egypt.
Renowned Cambridge scholar and author, Michael Grant,
in his book "The History of Ancient Israel",
indicates that one of the advisors of Ptolemy I
had written quite objectively about the Jews.
Later, an Egyptian priest, one Manetho of Heliopolis,
wrote in the days of Ptolemy II a vitriolic set
of charges against the Jews, such as cruelty
and the spreading of disease, for which there was no evidence.
Manetho also falsified a list of Egyptian kings
or Pharaohs specifically to try and push Egyptian
history back further than that of the Greeks,
and, as Grant states on p. 202,
to contradict the Biblical account of the Exodus,
which he deemed offensive to Egyptian
national pride.
The Alexandrian Jewish community realized
they needed a response to this malicious attack,
which was turning sentiment against them.
They realized that the Greeks did not know Jewish
history or religious teachings and to help
them better understand the Jews they embarked
on a very ambitious project.
As Grant writes,
This is today known as the Septuagint
(the work of 70 scholars), a Greek translation
of ancient Hebrew manuscripts that are no longer extant.
The purpose was twofold: to enable many Jews
who no longer spoke Hebrew to know the Scriptures
and more importantly to enable the Greek world to better
understand Hebrew thought and history.
If that were understood, they reasoned, it would serve
to thwart the effect of the deliberate spread
of lies and hate.
Alas, the problems continued to rise up from time
to time, even to our day.
Today, in general, the English-speaking world
is a refuge from anti-Semitism,
but this was not always the case.
Very few if any Jews were in England in the days
prior to the Norman conquest in the year 1066.
After the conquest, Jews were invited to settle
in England by the new king William I (the conqueror).
European laws at the time generally prevented
Christians from being involved in money lending.
Jews were not so prevented and became gradually
engaged in lending and early forms of banking.
Jews from Spain to England to Germany and even Rome,
became critical for the funding of many projects,
palaces, castles and support for the king's expenditures.
This made them powerful, yet vulnerable.
When nobles became more heavily indebted to Jewish
lenders the Jews became vilified.
Henry II (1152-1189) protected Jews,
but under his son Richard, public sentiment became
so hostile to Jews that royal support eroded.
During and after Richard's rule severe anti-Jewish
fervour created mobs which massacred
whole Jewish communities.
Often, Christian religious clerics at the time would
work up the mobs, calling them "Christ-killers".
They somehow forgot the prayer
of Christ on the stake,
All Jews who refused to convert to Christianity
were ordered expelled from England.
England was not alone.
Other nations also began expelling Jews
from their territory:
Hungary (1360), France (1394), Austria (1421), Spain (1492),
and Portugal (1497).
Many are surprised to learn that General Ulysses Grant,
commander of the Union army in the U.S. Civil War,
in 1862 ordered all Jews expelled
from Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi.
This order was revoked after the intervention
of President Abraham Lincoln.
In modern times, all are familiar
with the Holocaust and the well-documented,
systematic and brutal slaughter of millions of Jews
at the hands of Hitler and the Nazis in World War II.
We can rightly ask, "Why?"
Why has such hatred been focused on a small
population of highly capable people,
who have actually made very significant contributions?
Truly as in any population some are going to be problems,
but the Jews have no greater number
of people who are deviant than other groups,
so why have they become so singled out?
We will address this question in the second
part of the program.
Before we examine the question of why Jews
have been the victims of such hatred over the years,
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In the first part of today's program,
we have very briefly examined some of the history
behind the modern manifestations of anti-Semitism.
I would like to now examine the real causes
of this virulent hatred, which unfortunately seems
to be still alive in this modern era.
Historians have recorded a quote from Adolph Hitler.
It seems that he did indeed say this,
although it appears to have originated
with his one-time confidant Hermann Rausching:
Perhaps the reason for anti-Semitism is contained
within that chilling quote.
Over the centuries, mobs, clerics, and various rulers
invented or embellished fables to turn
the citizenry against the Jew.
What were the conditions that allowed the hatred
of Jews to be established and to spread?
First of all the observant Jews were different
than the surrounding populations.
1. Education
Their custom of ensuring sons were educated in a trade
and literary works made them valuable for rulers,
considering that the vast majority
of Europe was illiterate through the Middle Ages
and even during the Renaissance.
Thus, the Jews were given better positions,
and some, not all, became wealthy.
The ability to lend large sums of money resulted
in significant influence, but also fostered jealousy.
2. A Culture of Separation
There was the influence of the Talmudic traditions,
which largely came from the Rabbinical customs
and not the Hebrew Scriptures.
Some of these traditions served to encourage
a social and cultural separation
from the surrounding peoples.
It is postulated by some scholars that this separation
created an atmosphere, which fostered
the spreading of false rumors about the Jews
in the majority population.
Combined with superstition, fear and ignorance
the false rumors often led to violence.
On this point, it is interesting to note that
the Karaite Jews of Eastern Europe and Russia
followed Biblical teaching not Rabbinical or Talmudic law.
They did not separate themselves from society
in general and suffered far less from pogroms
and persecution.
3. Anti-Semitic propaganda
The publishing of fraudulent literature
purporting to have been written by Jews telling
of planned conspiracies have also led to hatred
and violence.
The worst example is the document published in Russia
in 1905, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion".
This was written by enemies of the Jews
for the sole purpose of spreading illogical
and vicious hated against the Jews, accusing them of plotting
the complete takeover of society.
While totally fictitious, it was believed
by many and continues to be believed.
4. Biblical Law
The application of some Biblical laws
made a difference in lifestyle.
Such was the case in the Dark Ages when cities
were filthy, with raw sewage thrown into the street.
Along with other refuse, it was a breeding ground
for cholera, typhoid and eventually bubonic plague.
In the Jewish quarters Biblical laws of quarantine
for the sick and disposal through burial
of human waste greatly reduced
the incidence of disease.
The mobs however considered that only a few
Jews were sick, when many of their populations were dying;
hence the Jew must be the cause of the disease.
All of the above reasons however cannot explain
the real source of anti-Semitism.
It is worth noting that the Biblical laws
referenced in the last point include far more
than quarantine.
These Biblical laws, unlike the Talmudic laws
developed by Rabbinical Judaism, which served
in large measure to separate observant Jews from society,
were also observed by the early
Church of God as taught by the Apostles,
which historians record.
Yet these Biblical laws are virtually absent today
from most Christian denominations.
Why?
Could anti-Semitism have been a force at play
centuries ago that changed Christian belief?
In the remainder of our program, we will look
at the real underlying cause of anti-Semitism.
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Earlier on today's program, we read a comment
from Adolph Hitler where he states that the problem
with the Jews is that they were guilty of spreading
conscience and morality.
Professor David Nirenberg, author of "Anti-Judaism:
The History of a Way of Thinking",
argues that anti-Semitism is in fact a rejection
of Jewish values, and that the core objective of anti-Semitism
is to negate the ethical principles
upon which Judaism is based.
The real issue is that Judaism has its original
foundation in the religion given to all Israel.
This was a religion based upon understandings
and laws given to Israel by God, the Creator Himself.
Thus, they are principles that are absolute
and not open to change.
They cannot thus be modified to adjust
to the changing mood of society or what today we might
call political correctness.
The God of the Bible who gave these directions
makes His view of changing law to meet altering
societal standards clear:
This strongly implies that the laws and way of life
revealed to man and recorded by Moses are permanent.
The nation of Israel was commanded in Scripture
to be faithful to these laws and principles,
and if they were, God would care for them and bless them.
If they were diligent in their observation,
they would become the teachers of these laws and way of life
for the rest of mankind.
It is especially noteworthy to consider
that even the first century or original
Christian Church understood the principle
that God's Law was absolute.
They reasoned that if God is God and Creator of all,
then His Law must represent absolute truth,
which must be followed and must trump any human law.
Thus, the original Christian Church
and the devout Jews believed this.
We see the half-brother of Jesus, the Apostle Jude,
make such a statement:
This commitment to retain as a standard of belief
and behavior the way of life God defined has a strong
impact on Jewish society, as well as on the Church
founded by Christ and the Apostles after AD 31.
They both believed that right and wrong
can only be defined by God, through the Bible.
Dr. Owen Chadwick, master of Selwyn College,
Cambridge University, a noted scholar and writer states:
He goes on to add:
Through the subsequent centuries these two groups,
the Jews and the original Church taught
by the Apostles, found themselves as targets
of persecution, often at the hand of those who made a claim
of being Christian.
What did the Jews and the original Church taught
by the Apostles have in common
that made them a target of society?
Simply this: They shared a common value system
that was not open to reinterpretation
as society changed its values.
Holding to these Biblical standards made them both
constantly outsiders in their communities.
The more the social order around them diverged
from actual Biblical teaching, the greater the resentment.
In AD 66 and again in AD 135, Jewish forces raised
major rebellions against Roman rule.
These were some of the most difficult wars Rome
had been forced to fight, and their losses were very heavy,
especially in the revolt of AD 135.
As a consequence of these wars, Romans did not care
that the revolts had been caused by Roman
oppression, and hatred against the Jews
and things Jewish boiled over.
This manifestation of anti-Semitism spilled over
onto the fledgling Christian Church.
As keepers of the seventh-day Sabbath,
annual Holy Days and food laws of the Bible,
they too looked Jewish, even if they were Gentiles,
and often fell victim to brutal treatment.
Hence, under the pressure of growing anti-Semitic
violence many early Christians started to change
their practices so they would not look Jewish.
They abandoned the Passover, which Paul
observed and instructed to be kept,
in favour of Easter.
They moved their day of worship to the first day
of the week from the seventh, and adopted doctrines
that further separated them from Jews.
Those who faithfully held to their beliefs often
suffered martyrdom, rather than be unfaithful,
and some managed to escape the bounds of the Roman Empire
into non-Roman controlled Europe.
Even later during the inquisition of the Middle Ages,
the inquisitors did go after Jews, but focused
their hatred primarily on Christians who retained
and followed the actual teachings delivered by Christ
and the Apostles, including the Law of God.
Both these groups, Jews and those few who still follow
original Christianity, remain a conscience
to the world, a reminder of the immutable
and unchanging Law of the Creator God,
which is the only true definition of morality.
Our free booklet, Satan's Counterfeit Christianity
chronicles the sweeping changes adopted after the deaths
of the original apostles, changes
that were frequently driven by virulent anti-Semitic forces.
No man, not Hitler, not even the great apostate
forces that are yet prophesied to rise
upon the earth, will be able to negate or eliminate
the way of life outlined in the writings of the Bible.
The world, anciently and in the Middle Ages
and especially today, does not want to hear
about morality as God defines it.
It does not want to hear the laws that absolutely
define right and wrong,
and which will do so for eternity.
Neither those who preach or commit acts of hatred
against the Jews, nor those who will censure
of persecute the original Church founded
by the Apostles will succeed.
The conscience and morality preserved in the pages
of the Bible are absolute, immutable and true.
As we see anti-Semitism raising once more its ignorant head,
surely close behind will be an attempt
to eliminate the teaching of the truth and morality
of the Bible, the conscience of humanity.
Anti-Semitism and attacks on morality as defined
by the Law of the God of the Bible are an attempt
to destroy the conscience of man.
Know these evils for what they are.
They will fail and the Law of God will stand forever.
Thank you for listening and please join us next week
when Gerald Weston, Michael Heykoop
and I will bring you more about today's issues
and the incredible future of Tomorrow's World.
To learn more about today's topic,
visit www.TWCanada.org
Welcome to Tomorrow's World Answers where we answer
your questions, straight from the Bible.
In Paul's day, there were many who taught
that one needed to become a good Jew
before they could become a Christian.
Today, while we recognize that it is important
to understand the identity of the modern descendants
of the nation of Israel, the questions occasionally arises,
"Does Race, or ethnicity, matter for salvation?"
Let's be clear, in order to understand Bible
prophecy, one must understand the identity
of the nations descended from the children of Israel.
However, in terms of your personal salvation and mine,
our opportunity to be born into the Kingdom
of God does not rest on our having
the right ancestry.
God let Peter to understand this in Acts 10:
A few verses later we see that the Jews
who accompanied Peter were astonished as Gentiles
were given the gift of God's spirit.
This is a key point as Paul taught the Romans
the importance of receiving God's spirit.
The key attribute necessary for being glorified
with God is not ancestral heritage
or ethnic background-it's the presence of God's spirit.
Acts 11 records the reaction of true
Christians to this revelation.
Notice, they were not skeptical
and held no resentment.
Salvation lies not with the colour of one's skin.
Rather the heart of the matter is whether or not
one has committed themselves to living God's
way of life, has repented of their past sins
and received the gift of God's Spirit.
Sadly, even today, there are many who look down
on those of other ethnicities.
Like God, we should not show partiality.
Near the end of his life, John was inspired to include
in his first epistle
Few would argue that murder is a sin.
Hatred is also a sin, as is racial hatred.
To submit a question for the show, email us at
TWAnswers@tomorrowsworld.org.
Be sure to watch us online at TWCanada.org
or by searching Tomorrow's World Answers on YouTube.