The Eyes of a Jew…

The Eyes of a Jew…

What if the world could
experience itself through the eyes of a Jew?
What would be seen?  How would they feel?
What would be its reaction to
impossible situations where it is believed
that the only good Jew is a dead Jew?
You think me paranoid?  You think I exaggerate?
Slip your feet into a pair of shoes
embossed with the Star of David
and take a good long walk around -

I would be most interested
in hearing just exactly what
your view looks like - through the eyes of a Jew…
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The past, present and future mesh,
Centuries take their pound of flesh;
Each generation marked in black -
Ready for hatred’s brute attack.

Every hated group stands despised for a defined reason.
Jews, however, are hated in paradoxes:

They say the Jew is lazy and inferior
~ but also
That we are dominating the economy!
We are hated for maintaining our separateness
~ but
When we try to assimilate we pose a threat to racial purity.
We are seen as war-mongers
~ and also
As pacifists.
We are exploiters of capitalism
~ but also
We are radical socialists.

What do your eyes see?  Can you still see through the eyes of a Jew?
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Look, here comes Menachem, the Jew,
He’s wearing his beanie - exploiting his views.
He’s choking us all with his habits and ways;
He’s greedy and lazy and lives in a haze…

*Historians have classified six explanations
as to why people hate the Jews:

Religious Disparity -- "We hate Jews because they killed Jesus."
Cultural Identity -- "We hate Jews because they claim, conceitedly, that they are the chosen people."
Racial Bios -- "Jews are an inferior race."
Pigeonholing  -- "Jews are as good as anyone to single out and blame for our troubles."
Economic Profiling -- "We hate Jews because they have too much power and wealth."
Us vs. Them -- "We hate Jews because they are different than us."

There are so many reasons for their hate,
So many horrors that linger and wait.
So much confusion in reasoning why -
So many people who want us to die…

-- Are the above explanations the causes for anti-Semitism or its excuses?  What are the differences?  If you take away the cause - shouldn’t anti-Semitism no longer exist?  Were you to show a contradiction to the explanation, it reveals that the ‘cause’ is not a reason, but an excuse.  Here are some inconsistencies:

Religious Disparity – The Christian Bible says the Romans killed Jesus.  Jews are mentioned only as accomplices.  So how come there isn’t an anti-Roman movement throughout history persecuting the killers of Jesus?  And why are the ‘accomplices’ the ones being persecuted for the deed?  In 1963, the Second Vatican Council officially absolved the Jews as the killers of Jesus.  Unfortunately, even with this information, anti-Semitism was not lessened.

Cultural Identity - In the late 19th century the Jews of Germany worked on assimilation; reshaping worship to reflect Christian models and separating Jewish cultural identity from Jewish religious identity. These and similar efforts to assimilate did nothing to dissuade anti-Semitic sentiment in western cultures. 

Racial Bios – There is a paramount problem with this particular theory, it is self-contradictory!  The simple fact is Jews are not a race.  Anyone can become a Jew.  It has been done so by almost every race, color and creed on earth at one point or another.

Pigeonholing - to be an effectual scapegoat a group must have identifiable differences that can be exploited. Jews have been a small populous amid western European cultures for 2000 years.  Being a scapegoat does not cause anti-Semitism.  Rather, the anti-Semitism is what makes the Jews a suitable scapegoat and a target in the first place!

Economic Profiling – In the 17th- 20th century’s vast majorities of Polish and Russian Jews faced dire economic hardships. Though this had no influence on reducing anti-Semitism, Jews who were economically successful would later be exploited by European governments, especially the Nazi War Machine, as it marched across Europe.

Us vs. Them – in the late 17th and 18th centuries during the period of Enlightenment, many Jews pursued assimilation seeking to diminish anti-Semitic thought.  It was a fruitless attempt and instead only tore away Jewish unity and cultural individuality.  -Jews sought to preserve Jewish identity while existing as people in the Diaspora (the scattering of the Jews to countries outside of Palestine after the destruction of the first temple and their subsequent Babylonian captivity in 587 B.C.E.).  As a small, unique enclave within a greater maxim, Jews are easily targeted and identified - making them the recipients of ostracization and social unrest.

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I wish you could see through the eyes of a Jew,
Such valuable history staring at you;
Full of achievements and visions and goals -
Godly commitments and sanctified scrolls…

**Anti-Semitism is a very unique hatred that surrounds
the world with four characteristics:

1) Continuity – anti-Semitic thought has been persistent in western culture since the adoption of Christianity as the sanctified religion of Rome - several hundred years after the death of Jesus, precipitating nearly 1900 years of anti-Semitism.
2) Mutual discrimination – divisions among the Judeo-Christian-Islamic cultures have spread around the world as a universal religion of hatred with Jews being the minority focused on the majority of the time. With Christians and Muslims as the most widely disseminated global religions, Jews are universally focused on as a people needing further religious/spiritual development.
3) Impact – Jews are commonly viewed as those left behind as opposed to the chosen people.  Many Christian and Muslim scholars see Jews living a lifestyle that has become inconsistent with the evolution of their faith.  Both perspectives see Jews as misled and thus morally and ethically suspect. This leads to generalized suspicion of Jews.
4) Misinformation – astonishingly, reasons for anti-Semitism vary and generally lack in moral substance. The practice of keeping Jews at arm’s length and under thumb speaks to the universal fear of and lack of willingness to understand Jewish people.

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So what are your reasons? Why do you detest
A people who give the world all of their best?
In laughter and science and medicine too;
The theater, music - to just name a few…

The resiliency of the Jewish people has staggered the greatest minds. Despite our small numbers (1/4 of 1% of the world’s population), the Jewish People always seem to occupy a disproportionate place as a focus of world attention, both positive and negative.

Over three hundred years ago King Louis XIV of France asked Blaise Pascal, the great French philosopher of his day, to give him proof of the existence of miracles. Without a moment's hesitation, Pascal answered, "Why, the Jews, your Majesty - the Jews."

In September, 1899 in an interview with Harpers Magazine, Mark Twain wrote of the Jew:
"He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk.  His contributions to the world's list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning, are also way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers."
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Jewish people continually defy the laws of nature and the laws of history! 
Not only have we survived, but we impact the world even though
our numbers are infinitesimal compared to other peoples. 
We have been exiled countless times from countries who felt
they would be better off without Jews.
And yet, the Jewish culture has emerged with many brilliant minds
seeking to share the best they have with the world.
(22.4% of all individual Nobel recipients worldwide between
1901 and 2020 were of Jewish descent)
Though we have been beaten, burned, killed and exiled from one nation to another,
many Jewish hearts continue to reach out to the world – finding new ways to help.

As for the attitude of a people who have had so much put upon them for so long -
When you ask a Jew why they celebrate a certain holiday - they will ultimately tell you with an old Jewish paradigm, "They tried to kill us; we won; let's eat!”

This is the truest testament to the resilience of my people…
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So tell me, have you changed your views
About the quandary of the Jews?
And have you seen enough to know
That there are ways we all can grow?

I’ll leave you with one final thought,
Creation stems from what God wrought.
We all are part of The Divine -
We all deserve a chance to shine…

* Loosely based on the 6 tiered model
** Loosely based on the 4 tiered model located at:
http://www.aish.com/seminars/whythejews/index.htm