Addressing Anti-Semitism: Positive Jewish Responses

Jewish communities, regardless of denomination, are facing various questions in relation to society at large. Arguably, the most prominent of these questions, is a contemporary and fundamental issue: anti-Semitism. In the present day, Jewish marginalization is often ignored, meaning that individuals do not consider anti-Semitism as a serious enough problem. Media apathy is thriving in regards to this issue as the notion that anti-Semitism is over is one which is being absorbed. In order to overcome this, Jewish communities and individuals are attempting to reinforce positive virtues found in the Tanakh as a way to express their interest in human rights for society at large. Additionally, Jewish activists continuously devote their time to movements that enhance the rights of women, the pursuit of world peace, environmental sustainability, and other issues of social justice. For this reason, an in-depth analysis of positive Jewish responses to anti-Semitism is of utmost importance.

The methodological approach of this paper is one which aims to discuss Judaism, a religion which the vast majority of the world is uninformed about.

By highlighting the presence of anti-Semitism around the world, the objective of this paper is to raise awareness regarding a form of discrimination that is generally ignored. Throughout this paper, there will be examples to support the idea that the Jewishness of Jews who do remarkable things is often erased; however, the Jewishness of Jews who do unacceptable things is emphasized. Subsequently, this paper aims to introduce and briefly discuss Jewish activists and politicians who have made profound contributions to society as well as their advancements in thought surrounding topics such as politics, interreligious dialogue, gender, and the

environment.
To the anti-Semitic mind, any Jewish influence is too impactful, which is indicative of not allowing Jews to be trusted with power or, possibly not mentioning an individual’s Jewishness when discussing their contributions to society. Correspondingly, this sentiment is evident in the present day in the United States whereby a democratic candidate, Bernie Sanders is being referred to as the “most Christian candidate” because he advocates for the downtrodden and empowers the disenfranchised. Needless to say, it is unsurprising for Jews to deem this as anti-Semitic, since there is failure to consider that these are also tenets of Judaism, the religion that Bernie Sanders in fact, belongs to. In truth, it is unnecessary to say that a Jewish man is acting Christian for practicing Jewish values as that undermines Judaism. As a result, it is more appropriate to say that he reflects the words of the Torah as the Hebrew scripture details one of the earliest social welfare systems, a system Sanders supports, teaching people to leave the corners of their fields and the gleanings of their harvest to the poor (Leviticus 19:9) and to lend to people whatever they need (Deuteronomy 7:11). By characterizing Bernie Sanders as a Christian, Gentiles are indirectly stating that Jews are inherently less compassionate than Christians and to have a Jewish person be “better” than a Christian is deeply shameful and perhaps, an almost unbelievable occurrence.
To the anti-Semitic mind, any Jewish complaint is unjustified, meaning that Jews must suffer in silence or there will be consequences that shall make them suffer loudly. Undoubtedly, there is an exhaustion that comes from living in the dissonance of contemporary society where no one will care if a Jew is terrified for their people in other parts of the world because no matter how much data, how many news reports, how many photographs, videos, anecdotes, shown about anti-Semitism it will only register if they are having genocide perpetrated against them and by then it will be far too late. On account of this, and at its root, anti-Semitism becomes an eliminationism form of prejudice. Furthermore, Jewish complaint tends to be discreetly neglected as the commonly upheld naïve belief is one which assumes that society accepts Jews merely due to the fact that the majority are light skinned.