A recent article from National Review Magazine featured a discussion about political tensions involving Orthodox Jewish communities in New York, which had a notable quote in it from an anonymous Jew who said that people do not dislike Jews because of their being Jewish, but because of behavior.
One of the most crucial features of these communities is that ultra-Orthodox Jews vote en masse as a bloc in elections for candidates agreed upon by community leaders. This can transform the local political landscape in their favor. Rural and suburban towns have fought against what they see as development for one specific religious group out of fear that the ultra-Orthodox voting bloc will render longtime residents politically powerless. This can be seen particularly in the realm of public education: Non-Jewish residents question why ultra-Orthodox representatives may sit on a public-school board when ultra-Orthodox children generally use private yeshivas, and only use public-school funds for busing and special-education purposes. (New York state law requires the public-education budget to provide busing services for private schools.)
The ultra-Orthodox population is also a heavy user of government resources such as Medicaid and food stamps. This is due to the fact that many of the men either don’t work or make low salaries, choosing instead to devote their time to studying religious texts.
“Many in the community look at the Hasidim as locusts, who go from community to community . . . just stripping all the resources out of it,” said a Jewish, but not ultra-Orthodox, resident of upstate New York. The resident, who vociferously objects to ultra-Orthodox development and asked not to be named for fear of retribution by the ultra-Orthodox community, added that “nobody here doesn’t like them because they’re Jews. People don’t like them because of what they do. Rural, hardworking people also want to live our lives too.” (source)
National Review magazine has many of its own issues, some of which we have covered on Shoebat.com. However, this article is of note because this quotes, as I have highlighted in bold, identifies in near-ideal language a proper articulation of the answer to much of the social criticism of Jews that exists.
Jews often complain about “hatred” against them, but when asked to specify what this hatred is, many will just define it as “Jew hatred” and will not provide any more details. If pressed further, many will claim “anti-Semitism”, which is just another way of saying hatred because of race but without answering the question.
A consistent thing that the great Catholic writers of old and recent-modern times have articulated over and over is that criticism of Jews and Judaism is done as an evangelical imperative based upon beliefs and actions. It is not done for the sake of the people themselves.
Were the twelve apostles evil? Was St. Paul a bad person after his conversion? What about many of the great early saints? Nobody will contest this based on their lives, and all of these people were Jewish. The greatest saint in the Church, St. Mary, is herself a Jew, and the model for fathers and men, St. Joseph, is a a Jew.
The Church has never taught that racial hatred of Jews is acceptable, because it is not acceptable for any group. What applies to Jews applies to all people because all men are made in the image and likeness of God, and while differences exist, the fact is that all people are distinguished in the eyes of God not on the basis of race, but on their willingness to submit to His grace.
If one is going to be a Christian, one must confess that Jesus is God. This is something that Judaism denies, and being that Christianity teaches that she is the fulfillment and perfection of Judaism, then what is called Judaism is necessarily defined as a false and incomplete Judaism that leads people into error. This is not a racially-charged statement, but a simple logical proof given the conditions.
For a Christian to criticize Judaism is an evangelical responsibility because as Christ desires the salvation of all men, this means Jews, and the Gospel must be preached to them.
Likewise, there are many evil things in the Talmud that call upon a hatred of Christ and Christians, as well as all non-Jews. Since such things are false and Christianity is meant to bring the whole of humanity to salvation, these things need to be criticized because they are evil. There is only one true tribe upon which God has bestowed His favor, and that is those who want to love Him. It has nothing to do with race, blood, or identity.
There have been many Jews throughout history too who, knowing and seeing these things in their own communities, have criticized them for the sake of righteousness, because while such things may be justified and approved of by Rabbis and the Talmud, divinely revealed truth never changes. Indeed, one cannot attempt to use the distortion of the spirit of the law by the letter and then the distortion of the letter itself by way of rhetorical manipulation to attempt to trick God, for as the Bible states, “God will not be mocked”, and yet this is what so much of the essence of the legalistic “pilpul” of Talmudic and Cabbalistic rhetoric is, to attempt to abuse the law to ‘trick’ even God Himself.
The common trope in modern times of Jews accusing people who criticize them for engaging in deceptive, destructive, dishonest, underhanded, or disgusting behavior and then attempting to use laws to stop people from discussing their actions, while they will gladly criticize and attack other people for far less, is a major reason why people have attacked and expelled Jews from society. This is not to legitimize abuse, but to say that as the Jew in the above quote noted, Jewish behavior is often the main cause of the suffering of Jews, for while sin knows no racial boundaries, a simple admission of sin, apology, and making a just recompense with one’s neighbor fixes many problems, for as the Bible states, “love covers a multitude of offenses”. Unfortunately, a combination of unforgiveness, refusing to hold one self to the same standard as others, and legalism masquerading as intelligence and then using that to mistreat people for one’s own benefit results in the creation of negative impressions and experiences that, if repeated too much, bring violence.
It is not the fault of others for being angry with perverted, sick, or immoral behavior, and then getting angrier after the criticized refuses to apologize and then turns to hurt the person who noted said criticism. This does NOT justify immoral behavior. It is rather to put actions into context, that actions have consequences, and just even the kindest of dogs will eventually attack a person who keeps kicking him, any person can only tolerate systematic abuse for so long before somebody loses their temper and reacts with violence.