Apparently some also believed that Jews had tails as well as, or instead of horns.
My grandmother told me that while bathing my father when he was a baby, their new Spanish maid was surprised to find that he did not have a tail. This would have been the late 1930s.
Now that I think about it, the “Yankees have tails” thing enjoyed wide currency in the American South for a while, so I guess people can make themselves believe all manner of odd things.
I think that Jewish in this context means those of the tribe of Judah. Abe Ike and Jake were Judah’s ancestors and Moses was a Levite. So if all the tribe stuff is true then all are Hebrews and Moses would be a Hebrew of the tribe of Levi. David would be a Jew, a Hebrew of the tribe of Judah or a Jew.
I’ve heard it, but always in the context that "my grandmother said . . . ". Nobody has ever owned up to actually believing it themselves. Me, as a prematurely balding Mormon, I would love to have something on my head.
The definition of “Jew” before the Exodus is somewhat fuzzy. Generally, people regard Abraham as the first Jew (being the progenitor of the Jewish nation). That would make Isaac, Jacob, etc. all Jews.
From a halachic standpoint, the status of individuals before the Revelation at Sinai is a disputed matter. But all authorities agree that as of the Revelation the people present became Jews. Thus Moses, unquestioningly, was a Jew.
That’s basically what I meant - except that Moses was technically an Israelite (Ben Yisrael), and not just a Hebrew. There were, presumably, Hebrews who were not descended from Jacob, although the Bible does not have much to say about them.
The term “Jew” (Yehudi) does not appear until fairly late in Scripture - I’m not sure where it pops up first, but it’s definitely after I Kings, and possibly not before Esther (Is it in Jonah? I can’t remember). It certainly does not exist in the Torah
I’m not sure where Yehudi first appears, either, but there is definitely a distinction between “Hebrew” and “Jew” as late as the book of Esther - where Mordechai is described as “Ish Yemini” (A man of the house of Benjamin) – which almost has to be in order to differentiate him from the scions of Judah – these were the two remaining houses (or tribes) by then, the events in Esther having taken place after the exile of the ten Tribes.
I grew up in Oklahoma, major Bible Belt country. The only time I’ve ever heard the ‘Jews have horns’ thing was on an episode of Little House on the Prairie. I never knew it was a prevailing belief. People will believe the dumbest things.
Seriously, it does not surprise me that the mistake in both grammar and the painting cited already have fed into this. To be fair all around, Jews have suffered persecutions since Day 1. It doesn’t take a genius to see why folks back then would put these together and make such blanket statements.
Needless to say, I’m not condoning such blind sickening racism. I’m simply saying that it is not a stretch to understand how such a thing came about.
Cartooniverse, whose family name is ridiculously Biblical.
Heehee! Mine too! Maybe we’re related!
I’m not really a grandmother.
Thank you everyone, who answered my questions on when the old testament peoples became Jews. I had always assumed everybody after Abraham was Jewish, so I’ll try to keep the other theories in mind.
