Are Jews the most kind and just people on earth?

Question

A co-worker of mine is Jewsih and has said repeatedly that his people are the most kind and just people throughout history, often suffering at the hands of evil regimes. If this is the case why are Jewish people repeatedly singled out for mistreatment, etc. Why does this happen again and again?

Answer 1

Islam and Christianity, the "daughter" religions of Judaism, have hundreds and thousands of years of war and suppression to their names. The original, Judaism, is peaceful and never made a religious war on those who believe differently.

You have, of course, the Crusades as the prime example.

The reason for the conflict between Israel and the Arabs is that the Arabs, plain and simple, refuse to accept a Jewish state in their midst. They invented this whole idea of a "Palestinian people who deserve a state" just to use as a tool to dismember Israel.

Arab violence against Jews has been going on long before there was an occupation, long before there was a refugee problem--indeed, long before there was a political Zionist movement. Need I present more painful examples? Perhaps even further back, where I hope everyone will agree that the Zionist movement did not yet come into being:

In the centuries after Muhammad there have been periods when the Jews were able to live in relative peace under Arabs, but their position was never secure. They were generally viewed with contempt by their Arab neighbors, and their survival was always predicated on their abject subordination and degradation to them. Mass murders of Jewish "protected people" started in Morocco as early as the eighth century, where Idris I wiped out whole communities. A century later Baghdad's Caliph al-Mutawakkil designated a yellow badge for Jews (setting a precedent that would be followed centuries later in Nazi Germany), and synagogues were destroyed throughout Mesopotamia in 854-859. In Tripolitania, Jews were considered the property of their Arab masters, who would bequeath the Jews to their heirs upon death. In the 12th century, after anti-Jewish riots, the contemporaries commented that their population had 'greatly declined.' ( Middle East Digest, September 1999)

As to how to solve the problem, the only way would be for Israel to defeat the Arabs overwhelmingly, and then dictate the terms for peace. Otherwise, the Arabs will never stop trying to destroy Israel.

Answer 2

The Jews have been singled out throughout history because they refuse to abandon their identity and be assimilated into other societies. At the time of the Maccabees the ruling Greeks tried to get them to abandon their religion and adopt paganism, and they ended up with a major revolt on their hands. The Romans had the same basic problem but had more military success.

Whether consciously religious or not, as a group they have clung to their covenant with God and have suffered the consequences of their apartness as a result of it.

As for being the most just and kind, no. There are just and kind people in every culture and there are jerks in every culture. No culture has a monopoly on either.

Answer 3

Well, thank your friend for the compliment, but we do have our good and bad people just like any other group of people on earth. As to why we're singled out for mistreatment--it's complicated. I have found most people attributing the reason to stereotyping of the Jews over the centuries.

Peace

Answer 4

"All generalizations are dangerous, even this one" Alexandre dumas

Your co-worker is ignorant. How can you even make that statement! Wow your people suffered alot we already know this get over it you didn't suffer personally. Maybe I should decide to become jewish so i can play "victim" and everyone will feel sorry for me. Yes we know the Holocaust was horrible, but what is she trying to prove by saying this?

Answer 5

God cast them off as his people after repeatedly taking care of them. They were called stiff necked and rebellious.
So no they are not the most kind or just people on earth.
One of the main reasons they were hated for so long was not only the killing of Christians but going along with wicked governments until one of those governments turned on them and killed them. But that is stereotyping a certain people.
Some Jews are good like Jesus, Paul, Peter and the other apostles. But their are some good people in all races.
The Ethiopian Eunick mentioned in the bible was also a good man. The truth is a lot of people are bad and a lot of people are good.

Answer 6

It's a little stereotypical, but I have found most Jewish people i have talked with to be as your freind as said.
They are targeted in the religious aspect, for the way that a Jewish follower was supposed to have betrayed Jesus or what not that ultimately led to his crusifiction.

Answer 7

Well they are really determined people, who act very protective or stubbornly of what they believe. I think that their suffering comes from the times Jesus was crucified. Since, on the day He was crucified, they screamed a whole crowd of them and pharisees. "Let His blood be on us and on our children". So here they have it, but also because many people liked to destroy them completely. however God still loves them. One day all Jews will be back in their homeland.

Answer 8

Read the History of Civilizations, you will learn a lot about the Jewish people. They are not persecuted because of the religious beliefs as they would have you think. They are retaliated against for what they do to other people. They are probably the most unkind and unjust people on earth.

Answer 9

This is quite a broad generalization. We are not all equal, even when we belong to a certain ethnic group.
The reasons for Jewish persecution, even if they are not valid, are extremely complex.
Some Palestinians might disagree with that statement.

Answer 10

People can be nice or mean no matter what their beliefs are.

But to really answer your question, no, they are not. I'm not at all saying they're mean or bad in anyway, but I'm just saying that you cannot conclude that all people of a group, or even most people of a group, have one definite trait.