What's wrong with being a Jew?

Question

I keep seeing in the media and history books that a good amount of people don't like Jewish people. Can anyone tell me why or where it stems from? I've never met a Jewish person who wasn't nice and respectful, so I'm a little confused.

I prefer to dislike individuals based on their attitudes and lack of respect rather than their religion or race.
Oh, and do people still think that Jewish people killed Jesus? (That would be crazy since nowhere is it proven or even suggested that I've seen.)

Answer 1

There is nothing wrong in being a Jew. Nothing at all. The Jews I knew were very friendly and nice people. Right or wrong most people somehow believe that Jews were the people who schemed and were eventually responsible for Crucifixion of Jesus. In medieval Europe Jews were money lenders and were considered exploiters of the poor. and hence hated by working class. Remember Shylock in merchant of Venice? There is a peculiar love hate relationship between Islam and Judaism. The Prophets such as Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus..are common in both religions. Muslims believe that Jews are not to be trusted. This is because they did not help Prophet Mohammad during his initial exile in Medina (during the period 622to 632AD) and in fact acted against his interests when he was involved in bitter battles with Meccans. To cap it all the Balfour declaration in the beginning of 20th century and eventual carving out of the land of Israel from Palestinian lands in the Middle east has been cause of bitter feeling among Muslims. All the Arab-Israeli wars have further added to the acrimony. The present devastating conflict between Israel on one side and Hamas and Hezbollah on the other has alienated Muslims all over the world. Jews are known as chosen people of God. But these unfortunate people had to go through generations of distress subjugation and finally genocide at the hands of Fascist Hitler. What is in store for the chosen people of God only time will Tell.

Answer 2

Absolutely nothing! Jews gave us the basis of our Western Civilization with its Judeo--Christian roots in laws and ethics. In 70 AD when the Romans destroyed the Temple, they let the Christians go free and killed the Jews and destroyed the Temple. Ever since then, the two groups have not trusted each other. Then the early Church Fathers decided that the Jews killed Christ and it has been downhill from there, culminating with the Holocaust and Hitler during WW II.
All during the ages, Jews were restricted to certain occupations which were deemed "below that of a saintly Christian" like banking, etc. That is why there arose so many rich Jewish banking dynasties. Orthodox Jews are also in the diamond cutting business. There are historical reasons why the Jews held these positions that eventually made them rich and forced them into learned professions.
Even Martin Luther, on his death bed, cursed the Jews.
I am pro-Jewish. I grew up listening to a Reform Rabbi and I know that I have dreamed his Hebrew prayers at least 5 times in my life.
There is no such thing as a "Jewish Race". They are either an ethnic (genetic) or religious group. I wish that my grandfather had been Jewish.

Answer 3

There is nothing wrong with being Jewish. Jewish people are like any other people. Most are respectful hard working individuals, who's main concern is just like everyone Else's, just getting through the day. The people who spew such venomous hate are either misinformed or just looking for someone to direct derision towards too make up for their own shortcomings in life. I find it amusing that so many people who would never consider making a comment about an African American for fear of being called racist, think nothing of slandering Jewish people. Get a clue here, anti-Semitism is racism people.

For the people who post that they killed Jesus I feel the need to point out that Jesus was crucified by the Romans, not the Jews. You guys remember the Romans don't you? The same people who had a habit of feeding Christians to the lions.

Before anyone gets the wrong idea in their head. I am not Jewish. I just don't agree with racism in any form, and I believe all people have a right to exist.

Answer 4

Nothing is wrong with being a Jew. In my opinion, they were merely the "incumbent" religion during Christ's lifetime and thereby some christians (small c or big C, take your pick) consider them to be complicit. But this attitude ignores the politics of the era. As for Muslims, the issue is partially that of land, since Israel holds regions that are holy and meaningful to both faiths. Muslims respect those that have a faith, but in general would prefer that Israel did not exist.

Jewish people did not kill Jesus. The Romans, pagans at the time, put Jesus through a process that led to his death. Jewish power, such as it was at the time, basically considered Jesus to not be the Messiah (therefore a threat) and therefore they had no business supporting him. Within a short span of time, any remaining Jewish power in Palestine was destroyed by the Romans.

Remember that all religions have their zeolots, so it pays to also listen to those that don't speak loudly.

Answer 5

There is nothing wrong with being a Jew. The Jews are God's chosen race and He will always protect them and bless them. Prejudice against Jews is ignorance. I believe there is an unrighteous jealousy towards the Jews, and always has been. The Pharisees ordered the death of Jesus, and they were the Jewish high priests at that time. It's right there in the New Testament. We can't blame the whole race for what a few chose to do. That would be silly.

Answer 6

I have some Jewish Relatives (not many at all), but there's really nothing wrong with being a Jew. I'm not a Jew because I believe God already came a first time and we are anticipating his second coming and there is a New Testament to our Bible. Jewish people killed Jesus and there is proof --- The Bible... That is why most people hate Jews. Have a nice day!

I agree with ebaynut49 completely.

Answer 7

There is nothing wrong with being of the Jewish faith. For those that believe that there is, well, they need to take a close and critical look at themselves.

Understand, what you get out of most news media outlets today is more politically driven than anything else. And this is not just in the USA. It used to be news. Events, factual, some details to set up the story etc. But now days, what most 'news' has transformed into is a very biased.

It is no secret the Jews have been persecuted for a long long time. Maybe forever. And it is common knowledge that, at least in the case of the 'old typical' American news media outlets, Israel and Jews have not been always been seen in the most favorable light. Their biased reporting at times just makes it very difficult for them to disguise their prejudicial views. That is the reason I seldom watch / listen to the 'old media' any longer and have moved on to what is now referred to as the new media.

Don't let it concern or worry you. Although it looks official and is all dressed up with all kinds of money and staff, and they want you to think it is honest truthful reporting, it is still, simply an opinion. Albeit possibly more than one person's opinion, eg Editorial staff etc, it is still just an opinion.

Look around to get your 'news' from other sources. It never hurts to have more than one opinion.

Answer 8

Nothing. It is not a crime and it does not hurt anyone.

If it is not a crime and it does not hurt anyone, how can it be wrong?

It is actually the ancient Romans who killed Jesus Christ, not the Jews, according to what is written the Bible.

The Jews did not stop the Romans, according to it.

Hey, all those people lived over 2,000 years ago - and they have all been dead for 1,9000 years.

I say get over it. If you are going to blame someone, blame people who have been dead over 1,900 years - not those who were born a couple thousand years after them.

Even then, that is probably blaming far, far too many people. Jesus Christ was born over 2,000 years ago, he was a Jew, and he lived in a town in the middle east.

Isn't it kind of crazy to blame someone for something that happened before they were born?

I mean, that does kind of flout the notion of cause and effect. Most people believe that effect follows cause - not the other way around.

If you look at Christ's teachings, philosophy, and parables - he seemed to be trying to interrupt a cycle of violence. That violence, excessive blaming, elevated cruelty, and muted compassion - is what he strove to put behind humankind.

Since he was Jewish, it would be hard to respect him and claim that someone who was Jewish could not have his favorable characteristics, right?

Since he was human, it would be hard to complain that we ourselves could not have his favorable characteristics too.

We should not blame humankind, modern followers of a religion, people descended through 100 generations, or you know - people who wear sandals - for what happened to Christ.

Just be glad his parents had him, he lived for three decades, and he tried to make the world a better place by convincing people they should be nicer to each other. It works.

Answer 9

I think the Romans knew that the responsibility lies with them, the old ones, not today's generation.

With the realization of what they had done, never in history had a nation become Christian almost overnight and in such numbers.
It's why the Vatican is located in Rome.

Bigotry towards Jews has been perpetuated by parents, as most bigotry is.

If a group of children from any and all backgrounds were placed on an island together, with sustenance provided and without prejudicial input, it might be an interesting experiment.

Answer 10

I personally do not feel there is anything "wrong" as you say about being a jew, as there is nothing "wrong" with being christian, muslim, hindi or whatever...

but, antisemitism has been present throughout much of history, the "christ killer" (even though Jews did technically kill jesus), and "blood libel" myths have been around for centuries. The diaspora, or expulsion of jews from the holy land occured in BC

I am not saying these people are right or just in thier hatred. It has just been around a long time, and things like that are hard to get rid of..

Answer 11

There is nothing wrong with it. The Jews were as someone said Gods chosen people. They were also the only group allowed to handle money at some point so there was a lot of distrust built up. People are always suspicious of something they don't understand. As for killing Jesus they voted to kill him the Romans carried it out.