# Why are Jews hated so much? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 25, 2002, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749 "2002-07-25T13:00:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/21 "2002-07-25T16:33:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SUPERKARLENE \* > \*\*The Black Death started to plague Europe in the mid-1300s. It is now believed that it was transmitted to anyone and everyone through fleas. > \*\* > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zev\_steinhardt \* > **Hatred of Jews started well before the Black Death of the 1400s. I could point you to the Crusades, the homilies of John Chrysostom, etc. show that there was plenty of hatred for Jews well before the Black Death.** Battle against Ignorance -2 NurseCarmen - 0 Thanks for straightening me out. My old jewish neighbor had many stories that were flat out hooey, but I, for some reason, I always took him at his word on these points. Made enough sense I guess. Keep up the fight. ---
**Author:** ![jlzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jlzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlzania)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/22 "2002-07-25T16:34:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Not to be offensive, but have they really done anything to make themselves liked. It’s statement like that lead me to drink ---
**Author:** ![p\_cific\_812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@p\_cific\_812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/p_cific_812)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/23 "2002-07-25T17:59:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SUPERKARLENE \* > **I think most of it is rooted in Christian misconception - up until fairly recently, it was taught in many places that the Jews had killed Jesus. EEEP! Christian revenge aroused! Kill mode engaged!** There are so many things that amuse me in this statement that I had a hard time not laughing out loud. But sadly, I had friends who completely bought into this mentality. I’ve often wondered about this point so I came into the thread because I was hoping someone would have a definitive answer. I’ve heard the money lending and dietary plague resistance theories before, but neither seems to provide an adequate rationale for this stigma. Whatever the reason was, it seems like its a habit now for a large population of the human race to hate Jews. I guess I’ll just blame religion in general for making a distinction between groups of people that ultimately leads to irrational hatred. Personally, my only specific complaint is that my Jewish roommate always leaves his damn socks in the living room-- but unless there is some sort of “Thou shalt leave socks in the living room despite minor annoyance to roommates” passage in the Book somewhere, I can’t really hold his faith accountable. Besides, hes a wonderful human being. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/24 "2002-07-25T19:20:36Z")
1: They keep starting tornados 2: They won’t share the immortality potion ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/25 "2002-07-25T20:28:03Z")
I blame the Romans. Jews were strongly monotheistic, unlike the other peoples the Romans conquered. Usually, the Romans would equate the local pantheons with their own. “This fellow is obviously Mars under another name. This goddess is our Juno.” To a Jew, this is highly offensive. “Your Yaweh is the same as our Jupiter.” “Claudius, you ignorant slut! No, he’s not. Futhermore, our God could utterly destroy your false idols.” “Well, let us put this statue of the emperor in your temple.” “That’s it, I’m joining the Judean People’s Front…” Further compounding the religious divide was the fact that the Roman just didn’t get congregational worship. To them, religion was a personal thing. “All those Jews together in the temple, they must be plotting something…” Then there was the fact that the Jews were constantly revolting. The Roman dislike of Jews was reflected both in their own works, and later in Christianity, which was centered around the remains of the empire, after all. Their ideological heirs (all of Europe) picked up on it. Further, the Romans utterly destroyed Israel, causing the diaspora, and forcing Jews to become stranger all about Europe. Since they were strange “others”, and lacked a nation to back them, they made easy targets. BTW, I thought the case was the usury was forbidden to both Jews and Christians, but only amongst themselves. Since Jews were in a better position to lend money to the majority, they got the money lender label. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/26 "2002-07-25T21:16:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LolaCocaCola \* > \*\* > > Jealously of what? \*\* Our superior proofreading abilities. ---
**Author:** ![G.Nome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c89c15/32.png) [@G.Nome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.Nome)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/27 "2002-07-25T23:03:17Z")
Whenever I want to remind myself about the realities of human nature and society I think these thoughts: By the 1930s Jews had lived in Germany for at least 500 years. They started moving there in the Middle Ages. They fought for Germany (The Fatherland) in the First World War. They spoke German. Nazis were, in effect, exterminating other Germans. Human capacity for categorising, separating, for seeing difference and rejecting it is unfathomable. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/28 "2002-07-25T23:11:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by p@cific@812 \* > I’ve often wondered about this point so I came into the thread because I was hoping someone would have a definitive answer. Odd. Just today our NPR station did an interview with George Fredrickson about his new book, _[Racism: A Short History](http://pup.princeton.edu/titles/7243.html)_, which concentrates on antisemitism and white supremacy. Unfortunately I didn’t catch a lot of the show, but the book may provide some insights. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/29 "2002-07-25T23:21:50Z")
Thank you all for your input! Unfortunately, there won’t be definitive answers, I’m afraid. Any other ideas are more thanwelcome, however! ;j ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/30 "2002-07-25T23:56:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by epolo \* > \*\* > > Except that, by all reports, Jews were more assimilated in pre-WWII Germany than at any other time and place in history until present-day US. > > Not the most objective of sites, but: > > [Why the Jews](http://www.aish.com/seminars/whythejews/index.htm) \*\* Hmm, according to this one it’s because Jews are the driving force behind civilization and that anti-Semites don’t want the peace and order that Jews bring to the world… ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/31 "2002-07-26T00:21:36Z")
They are God’s chosen people. Satan likes to inspire hatred of allthingsGod. IMHO;j ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/32 "2002-07-26T00:42:46Z")
Speaking as a Jew with a head cold I certainly wish we were more resistant to disease. And as for this… > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > **Perhaps because gentiles are overly litigious?** This may be so but watch them fight to have us as their lawyers! ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/33 "2002-07-26T01:38:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SUPERKARLENE \* > \*\*The influx of Muslims in the Holy Land didn’t help either. \*\* Isn’t this a bit unfair to the Muslims? If you review your medieval history, you’ll find that Muslims generally gave Jews sanctuary and protection from Christian persecution, while allowing them to practice Judaism within Muslim society. Jewish civilization in Islamic Spain flourished as nowhere else in the Middle Ages (Maimonides, Ibn Gabirol, and Isaac Luria all came from there). When the Spanish _reconquista_ expelled and persecuted the Jews, many of them went to Muslim North Africa; the Ottoman sultan Bayezid II invited them all to migrate to Turkey _en masse_. He positively _wanted_ Jews to immigrate and enrich the level of civilization in his country, recognizing the value of their contributions to civilization as a learned, skillful people. ---
**Author:** ![benlormat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d26b3c/32.png) [@benlormat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benlormat)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/34 "2002-07-26T02:53:15Z")
\*\*Why are Jews hated so much? \*\* Why? I don’t know why. But it’s a tradition… ---
**Author:** ![Michele\_in\_SoCal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Michele\_in\_SoCal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michele_in_SoCal)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/35 "2002-07-26T03:21:29Z")
To Jonathan Chance: You might have already figured it out (through the fog of your head cold) , but **jimm** said “Perhaps because gentiles are overly litigious” as a clever reply to **liirogue’s** post “Why has such a tiny percentage of the world population been so consistently and adamently _prosecuted_?” (instead of persecuted) … :smack: Hope you feel better soon! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@Belowjob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/36 "2002-07-26T03:58:31Z")
There’s a Cal State Long Beach psych prof, named Kevin MacDonald, whose academic specialty is explaining anti-Semitism through sociobiology. In short, he thinks that people hate the Jews because it makes evolutionary sense for them to do so. He’s written three books on the subject, A People That Shall Dwell Alone, Separatism and Its Discontents, and The Culture of Critique. It’s true that MacDonald is a racist crackpot pushing pseudo-science, but it’s also true that he’s a tenured professor at a major state university. Mainstream scholars ignore his work, as they should, but MacDonald does have quite a following among the same crowd that likes Phillipe Rushton, Michael Levin, Charles Murray et al. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/37 "2002-07-26T04:11:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Michele in SoCal \***“Why has such a tiny percentage of the world population been so consistently and adamently _prosecuted_?” (instead of persecuted) … :smack:** Harper Lee skillfully used that little pun, as an offhand remark, to make a point in _To Kill a Mockingbird_. A kid in school (named Cecil :)) says “Adolf Hitler’s been prosecutin’ the Jews.” The teacher corrects him: “Persecuting, Cecil.” This was a telling moment, since _prosecutin’_ was exactly what the town had been doing to the innocent Black guy, and Lee subtly and very deftly links that with _persection_ of the Jews at the hands of Fascism by making it an innocent mixup of words from the mouths of babes. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/38 "2002-07-26T04:16:20Z")
Argh! I meant persecution, of course, not \*persection (whatever that might be; sounds painful, though). Please don’t Gaudere me. ---
**Author:** ![WV\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@WV\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WV_Woman)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/39 "2002-07-26T04:19:48Z")
**They are God’s chosen people. Satan likes to inspire hatred of allthingsGod.** Yeah, what **vanilla** said. Plus, the Messiah (Jesus) came from the Jews. satan can’t be liking them too much for producing the Savior of mankind. ---
**Author:** ![WV\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@WV\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WV_Woman)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749/40 "2002-07-26T04:22:32Z")
**2) To my knowledge, I’m not aware of any reliable Jewish source that states that the Jews were any more resistant to the plague than anyone else.** Well, Zev, if you believe the Jews are blessed (I do), wouldn’t it follow that God would give them special protection? I mean, not that NO Jews at all would ever die, but certainly enough would survive to ensure the next Jewish generation? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-so-much/120749.md?page=3)