Anti-Semitism: A Brief Summary

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Judaism refers to the religion, philosophy or the way of life of the Jewish people. It is one of the oldest monotheistic religions. It was founded over 3500 years ago in the Middle East. There are about 15 million followers of Judaism who are called Jews. Judaism was founded by Moses. Judaism traces its heritage to the promise of God made with Abraham and his roots that God would make them a sacred people and give them a holy land. Judaism is also a convention grounded in the religious, ethical and social laws which are expressed in the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible). Jews refer to the Bible as the Tanakh, (an acronym for the texts the Torah, prophets, and writings). Other important texts are Talmud (is a central text of Rabbinic …show more content…

It encompasses the hostile actions or discrimination against Jews as a religious or ethnic group. People who possess such feelings are called ‘Anti-Semites’. Anti-Semitism can be considered a form of racism. It tries to project the Jews as inferior to other people. In 1879, German journalist William Marr coined the term ‘Anti-Semitism’. It denotes the hostility to or hatred of Jews. It also talks about the hatred of various liberal, multinational and international political inclinations of the 18th and 19th centuries often associated with Jews. Jerome Chanes in his book Anti-Semitism: A Reference Handbook indentifies six stages in the historical development of …show more content…

Such dogma has brought the horrible consequences for the Jews. The Holocaust is the most distinguished act of anti-semitism. It is also known as the final solution, a mass devastation which happened between 1933 and 1945. Jews faced countless harassments and brutalities. They were forcefully segregated from their land. The Jewish minority achieved some rights after the Enlightenment in Europe. Gradually, Europe turned to become more secular, and Jews were assimilated into mainstream society, this led to the birth of political forms of anti-semitism. People targeted Jews for their ideas and their roles in the society. The Nazis and their associates exploited Jews during World War II, resulted in the Holocaust. It is the systematic murder of Jews in Europe. Adolf Hitler wanted to create a pure ‘Aryan Race’ in Germany. Therefore, he tried to banish the Jews from Germany. In a report of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum it is mentioned that-
In many Middle Eastern countries, anti-semitism is promoted in state-controlled media and educational systems, and militant groups with political power, such as Hamas, use genocidal language regarding Jews and the State of Israel. The former president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, repeatedly declared the Holocaust a "myth" and that Israel should be "wiped off the map." In Europe, anti-semitism is increasingly evident among both far-right and far-left political

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