Anti-Semitism isn’t a ‘Jewish problem.’ It affects us all, says Cal Poly professor

In early February, the Jewish fraternity at my university awoke to images of swastikas emblazoned on the sidewalk in front of their home. While I would like to think that the subsequent outpouring of support by members of the university and community better represents the values we hold, this hateful act is sadly part of a trend that is on the rise and is part of a long pattern that has stained human history for thousands of years.

Anti-Semitism occurs when Jews are persecuted not for anything they have done, but for who they are. As one commentator put it, “Jews are not hated because they have evil qualities; they are given evil qualities so they can be hated.” In every decade of the past 2000 years, there have been incidents of anti-Semitism somewhere in the world. As a religious studies professor, I am often asked why Jews are so frequently and vehemently targeted. My answer is that it is more about the environment of the persecutor than the character of the persecuted.

Historians of religion have recognized that anti-Semitism tended to spike during periods of social and economic crisis, where Jews were a minority within the population: the Black Death of 14th century Europe, the internal wars of 15th century Spain, the political and economic strife of Russia at the end of the 19th century, and the failed reconstruction of Germany after World War I, to list just a few examples.

Widespread insecurity and uncertainty lead people to search for easy explanations and seek to place blame on something other than fate, an unjust God, or themselves. Today seems to be one of those uncertain times, and Jews are once again bearing the brunt of the crisis of identity infecting large swaths of America.

Why Jews? Well, in part, we should recognize that scapegoating and villainization is on the rise generally. Studies show that the highest correlation to harboring anti-Semitic sentiments is holding resentment toward Muslims, Asians and immigrants. “Othering” seems to be an equal opportunity vice. But there is also something distinguishable about the roots of anti-Semitism.

Despite Jesus being an observant Jew who spent his entire life in Jewish lands speaking to fellow Jews about Jewish matters, the Jewish people came to play a negative role in the overarching story constructed by later Christians in power. Jews generally were blamed for Jesus’ mistreatment and death in the first century. The Gospel of Matthew reports that when asked about releasing Jesus, “all the Jewish people answered and said, ‘His blood be on us and on our children.’” (Matthew 27:25)

This Scriptural passage, together with harsh words in the writings of the Evangelist John and the Apostle Paul, has led to a history of anti-Semitic rhetoric from the most renowned Christian theologians of all three branches of Christianity.

In Orthodox Christianity, St John Chrysostom called synagogues “a criminal assembly for the assassins of Christ.” In Catholic Christianity, St. Augustine asks God to “slay the Jews with your two-edged sword.” The founder of Protestantism, Martin Luther, advocated burning the synagogues and homes of Jews, who are a “desperate, thoroughly evil, poisonous, and devilish lot…who have been our plague, our pestilence, and our misfortune.” The knife of anti-Semitism, you see, cuts deep into Christianity’s past.

While the vast majority of Christians today do not harbor such anti-Semitic ideas, Christians today should be the first to repudiate this past, stand with their fellow people of faith, and call for justice against those who use their religion to justify their hate.

The example of Jesus, who reached out to those members of his Jewish community who were the most scorned and targeted, demands nothing less. Anti-Semitism is not ultimately a Jewish problem, or even only a Christian problem, but a human problem. If our community does not stand up for our fellow humans, who will?

Tribune columnist Stephen Lloyd-Moffett is a professor of religious studies at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.