why has there been so much hatred towards Jews over the centuries?

Question

Are there things that Jews have done to provoke this hatred?
segregation?
success?
the professions they worked in (banking, ursury)?
any other reasons?

Is it purely down the the people persecuting them?
does christianity/islam teach that the jews are evil?
jealousy?
non-jews are pure evil?
any other reasons?

Or is it maybe a mixture of the 2?

Is there anything we can learn from the past that both Jews and non-jews can do to try and prevent a resurgence of anti-semitism?

with the exception of carabatzis the general attitude seems to be that no-one knows and no-one cares...

what an odd attitude.

Answer 1

I think it had alot to do with being separate from the main line cultures. They usually lived in Ghettos even before pogroms. People of like mind usually stay together.
But I can tell you from personal experience that I have Jewish friends who trully believe that the "Jew" has done nothing wrong in history. This has lead to alot of frustration.
Jews many times have not taken responsibiliity for the bad things they have done (They caused alot of trouble for the early Christians, helped Russia become communist, and taught socialism and promoted it in various countries).
I think it is the failure of Jews to see the impact they have had on other peoples and cultures, while trying to promote their own.
The problem is that if you say the Jews did this or that, you are automatically labeled as an anti-semite. When I mentioned to my Jewish friend in Brooklyn that the Jews gave people like St Paul a hard time, he not only accused me of being anti-semite but told all his friends.
The Isreali - Paletinian problem. The British drew the line in the sand and the Palestinians suffered. They had their land taken away and made room for the arriving jews. This caused alot of frustration we are living with today.
I am not an anti-semite, I just think Jews need to fess up to the bad things they have done in History just like all the rest of us. Being the Chosen People didn't mean they were innocent. Look at the old Testament. God himself was frustrated with them so many times.
They constantly blame the Catholic Church for their troubles. Read a book called, "The Myth of Hitler's Pope," by Rabbi Dalin.
There is a side to the Jewish Christian story where the Christians are looked upon as always at fault, but history shows that Jews made mistakes also.

Answer 2

Okay, well, I'm answering this question from a Jewish perspective. I believe it was because Jews have always seemed "different" to gentiles. Jews worked in the banking professions because it was against some kind of Christian law to lend money and charge interest. Jews were not allowed to own property or join any trade guilds so lending money became the only job they could do. We feel more comfortable with each other and we have a tradition of strong family and community ties that comfort and support us. We also (in the eyes of Christians) "refuse" to accept the divinity of Christ and so are seen as stubborn or recalcitrant. We are generally well-educated (a strong belief among Jews is to educate oneself as much as possible) and so do well in our chosen fields disproportionate to our numbers. I don't know if Christianity per se thinks Jews are evil, but if you read what Martin Luther said about Jews, that's what he thought and he influenced many people. I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Alot of people don't realize that Christianity and the Muslim religions both can from Judaism(the Jews). So ignorant people hate them because they don't conform to their religion.
The only difference between the three is the Jews don't believe the true messiah has come yet. Where as Christianity believes that Jesus was the Messiah and the Muslims believe that Mohammad was the true messiah. It all comes down to splitting hairs, but both religions come from the old testament, waiting for the messiah.
So basically Christians and Muslims hate Jews because they don't recognize their (false) messiahs.
Hitler hated Jews because he felt they killed Jesus and that they were subhumans that came after the giants (arian race) and mixed by desention with them to taint their superior race.
It had nothing to do with money, FACT!

FYI: As long as there are different religions in the world, theirs always going to be religious persecution. It's just a fact of life.

The only thing YOU can learn to do is, learn to live with it.

Answer 4

I guess it was for a reason of Power (Economical one). Jewish, since they were "Earth" less, got very skilled in making money through business like "banking" and so on. I guess they have been "put down" in order to "catch" all what they were able to collect, from people who were hungry of richness .... It can be that they weren't liked, at the "Golden" time of Christianity, since they denied Jesus-The-Christ be the Messia. It can also be that they were not appreciated since they consider themselves as the "Elected" people, creating a distance between themselves and others and, better, "considering themselves better than others". This kind of attitude is, in general, not an attitude which attires "love". Inner Light.

Answer 5

I'm sure that some bofen out there with their books has created a list of reasons, but im not one of them. these are my geusses:

customs - things like the sabath, circumcision, growing beards and wearing skull caps makes them stand out, as well as kosher food.

Beliefs - they are the chosen people, and nothing will change that for the commited jew. This means its a closed club, and outsiders can't join. Also, according to christians and muslims, the jewish faith has been superceded by jesus or mohumed.

general negative views - its uncommon for jews to invite non-jews around for dinner, which is generaly considered rude by some people. Their history also counts against them - nazism, death of jesus, palastine conflicts etc.

Jews get a bad wrap from almost everyone, but its not justified i dont think. hope that gets somewhere close to what you want.

Answer 6

This is a game plan that failed in WW1 when they cried wolf about the bad treatment they received. If there was no fire/truth why all the excitement about this??? Just about every country hates them so until you know the whole story it is a mystery. There are those who used this name ( Jew) to cover there actions and crimes. This word/name was not even in the bible till 2000 years after it was written .Some one has to be the bad guy so they were chosen and it got them sympathy and hated at the same time

Answer 7

What we can learn from the past is that we must speak up for the oppressed be they our own people or a foreign culture in a distant land. We must learn to resist the majority when the majority is wrong!

Right now there is a genocide occuring in Darfur, Sudan. Write/phone/e-mail your politicians and demand that we work with the U.N. to stop the killing.

When we withdraw from Iraq, there will be another genocide as one group of Muslims slaughter another. Will we do anything to prevent that genocide? Will we allow those who worked with the U.S. in Iraq to flee Iraq with the departing soldiers?

“In the End, we will remember
not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.. Baptist minister
who led the civil-rights movement in the US, 1929-1968

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, what am I?
And if not now, when?”
Ethics of the Fathers 1:14 – Hillel

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil
is that good people do nothing.”
British statesman Edmund Burke

“Indifference in the face of evil is complicity with evil.”
.

Answer 8

One of the largest reasons for anti-semitism amongst Christians was when St. Augustine blamed them for killing Jesus in 415.

'St. Augustine wrote "The true image of the Hebrew is Judas Iscariot, who sells the Lord for silver. The Jew can never understand the Scriptures and forever will bear the guilt for the death of Jesus." '

http://www.shofars.org/persecution/default.htm

atheist (THINK)

Answer 9

Because they were God's chosen people. When they rejected Jesus as the Messiah, however, God made a way for Gentiles to have salvation and that was by Jesus' death on the cross. But, Jesus died for everybody, not just Gentiles, not just Jews, everybody. He tells us so in John 3:16.

Answer 10

human beings have the nicely suited to hate who they like, as long as they do no longer act upon it then there is no problem. Theres those that would desire to wish to wipe me and my missus her kinfolk and my kinfolk of the Earth. i can not hate them for questioning that way by using fact they have completed no longer something against me immediately. How come anti-semitism is considered a hate crime and punishable decrease than maximum international regulations yet being anti-Muslim or anti Islam is widely used? Israel do no longer want peace, they are going to shop on antagonising whoever untill they get what they and the individuals want. the finished anihilsation of whoever speaks out against them. i'm no longer leftie or rightie, yet i've got considered sufficient shi't in my existence to understand perfect from incorrect.