A Letter to the Antisemite: What’s there to hate?

Dear Antisemite,

Growing up on Long Island near New York City, I experienced very little antisemitism. So, I was shocked when I read about young adults standing on a Los Angeles freeway overpass making Nazi salutes next to two banners. One read, “End Jewish supremacy in America,” and the other one said, “Honk if you know it’s the Jews.” In newspapers and the Internet are stories about congressional representatives on the left and right as well as a former president fueling antisemitic rhetoric, sentiments, and acts. 

It amazes me that Jews get so much attention. There are about eight billion humans living on planet earth with a world Jewish population of 15.2 million. According to a 2020 Pew Research Center study, Jews make up .2% of the world population. In the United States 2.4% of the population is Jewish. 

Antisemites, do you hate us because you feel threatened? In 2016 at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, demonstrators chanted, “Jews will not replace us.” We have no interest in replacing anyone. And in 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania the Tree of Life synagogue was attacked by a gunman killing 11 Jewish worshippers. The oldest at 97 along with the other 10 casualties had an average age of 75 years old. Why do these elderly people threaten you?

The Anti-Defamation League reports that in 2021 there were 2,717 antisemitic incidents in the United States. This includes assaults on Orthodox Jews in Midtown Manhattan, swastikas drawn on homes, bomb threats, and a warning in Dutchess County, NY, “Jews want to take your guns.” (Which is not true. We just want you to keep your guns far away from us and out of public schools, synagogues, and grocery stores.) Perhaps if antisemites took a bit of time to learn about my people, would they have a change of heart? 

Antisemites have been around for a long time and living wherever Jews could be found. Between 250 CE and 1948 CE Jews have experienced over 80 expulsions averaging one expulsion every 21 years. Antisemites have kicked us out of England, France, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal, and more. There are several reasons for this.

First, the economic reason. It is perceived by the antisemite that Jews possess too much wealth and power. In reality, Jews are traditionally very generous, civic minded, and philanthropic. Though they make up less than half of one percent of the world’s population, 30% of Nobel Prize winners in science have been Jewish. Why is this? Jewish teachings relate directly to behaviors and attitudes steering Jews to successful outcomes. It may appear to some that Jews take more than our fair share of success and this makes us uneasy, so we downplay Jewish success and to those who brag about it are considered borderline antisemites. 

If a government is having problems, like Germany was facing after the first World War, political leaders target the Jews and blame them for their troubles. They consider the Jew an outsider whom they don’t want infecting the gene pool with their inferiority. Which brings us to Racial Theory where Jews are considered an inferior race. But Mr. and Ms. Antisemite, anyone can become a Jew. If you’d visit one of our synagogues you’ll find Asians, Africans as well as Anglo Europeans praying together. 

According to non-Jew James Cahill, an art historian, in his book, The Gifts of the Jews, “Without the Jews we would see the world through different eyes, hear with different ears, even feel with different feelings. And we would set a different course for our lives. Their worldview has become so much a part of us that at this point it might as well have been written into our cells as genetic code.” And Paul Johnson, another non-Jew agrees. In his book, The History of the Jews, he writes, “All the great conceptual discoveries of the intellect seem obvious and inescapable once they have been revealed, but it requires a special genius to formulate them for the first time. The Jews have this gift.”

A gift? Here’s an example: The weekend. If you’re a good antisemite, you’ll work weekends because the shabbat is a Jewish construct. Romans ridiculed Jews for their idleness taking a day off each week to rest and focus on something other than work. Christians adopted the concept and applied it to Sundays starting in the second century CE.  

Jews have also given us a hope for World Peace. The prophet Isaiah wrote, “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” Unsurprisingly, the United Nations, a world organization, has Isaiah’s words embedded in a sculpture donated by the Soviet Union in 1959. 

Did your parents stress to you the importance of a good education? Throughout the millenniums Jews have taught their children the importance of wisdom and learning as the highest pursuit. Too many cultures throughout history have downplayed the importance of a good education. The Medieval Church discouraged literacy for non-clergy and in the United States during the Antebellum Period it was illegal to educate a black slave. 

Conservatives will vocalize the need for governments to have limited power. Until the Magna Carta was signed by King John at Runnymede in 1215 in medieval England despots took advantage of their people for their own gain. Even before Runnymede, the Torah placed limits on the powers of the monarch. 

Judaism teaches us to make the world a better place and it’s not just for Jews but for all of us. We are taught at an early age to return lost objects, to refrain from verbal abuse and gossip, not to take revenge, protect animals, and we must love every human being regardless of race, religion, or color. One of our greatest sages, Rabbi Hillel said, “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Hillel then concluded: “That which is hateful unto you, do not do to your neighbor.” Jews are not out to hurt you. We’d prefer friendship to animosity any day of the week.

Psychologists will tell you that hatred is an intense negative emotional response towards certain people, things or ideas, usually related to opposition or revulsion toward something. Learn about the People of the Book. Read our history, our contributions to humanity, then get out and meet a few Jews. Once you get to know us, you’ll finally realize, what’s there to hate?

With hopeful regards,

Michael Thal

Michael Thal is the author of The Lip Reader, an award-winning inspirational novel about deafness.