Why have Jews been so discriminated against throughout history?

Question

i need to write a one page answer to this, any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

They're a minority, but that is all I can think of. That is a very good question.

Answer 2

Here you go...I hope it helps!

It has been said that the history of almost all of the Jewish holidays can be summed up succinctly: "They wanted to kill us; we won. Let's eat." Why has anti-Semitism been so pervasive in so many countries, in so many time periods and for so many reasons? (One begins to wonder. Perhaps there is something wrong with the Jews and Judaism? After all, there is an old Yiddish saying -- "If one person calls you a donkey, ignore him; if two people call you a donkey, buy a saddle.")

Between the years 250 CE and 1948 CE - a period of 1,700 years - Jews have experienced more than eighty expulsions from various countries in Europe - an average of nearly one expulsion every twenty-one years. Jews were expelled from England, France, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal, Bohemia, Moravia and seventy-one other countries.

Historians have classified six explanations as to why people hate the Jews:

Economic -- "We hate Jews because they possess too much wealth and power."

Chosen People -- "We hate Jews because they arrogantly claim that they are the chosen people."

Scapegoat -- "Jews are a convenient group to single out and blame for our troubles."

Deicide -- "We hate Jews because they killed Jesus."

Outsiders, -- "We hate Jews because they are different than us." (The dislike of the unlike.)

Racial Theory -- "We hate Jews because they are an inferior race."

As we examine the explanations, we must ask -- Are they the causes for anti-Semitism or excuses for Anti-Semitism? The difference? If one takes away the cause, then anti-Semitism should no longer exist. If one can show a contradiction to the explanation, it demonstrates that the "cause" is not a reason, it is just an excuse. Let's look at some contradictions:

Economic -- The Jews of 17th- 20th century Poland and Russia were dirt poor, had no influence and yet they were hated.

  

Chosen People -- a) In the late 19th century, the Jews of Germany denied "Choseness." And then they worked on assimilation. Yet, the holocaust started there. b) Christians and Moslems profess to being the "Chosen people," yet, the world and the anti-Semites tolerate them.

  

Scapegoat -- Any group must already be hated to be an effective scapegoat. The Scapegoat Theory does not then cause anti-Semitism. Rather, anti-Semitism is what makes the Jews a convenient scapegoat target. Hitler's ranting and ravings would not be taken seriously if he said, "It's the bicycle riders and the midgets who are destroying our society."

  

Deicide -- a) the Christian Bible says the Romans killed Jesus, though Jews are mentioned as accomplices (claims that Jews killed Jesus came several hundred years later). How come the accomplices are persecuted and there isn't an anti-Roman movement through history? b) Jesus himself said, "Forgive them [i.e., the Jews], for they know not what they do." The Second Vatican Council in 1963 officially exonerated the Jews as the killers of Jesus. Neither statement of Christian belief lessened anti-Semitism.

  

Outsiders -- With the Enlightenment in the late 18th century, many Jews rushed to assimilate. Anti-Semitism should have stopped. Instead, for example, with the n***s came the cry, in essence: "We hate you, not because you're different, but because you're trying to become like us! We cannot allow you to infect the Aryan race with your inferior genes."

  

Racial Theory -- The overriding problem with this theory is that it is self-contradictory: Jews are not a race. Anyone can become a Jew - and members of every race, creed and color in the world have done so at one time or another.

Every other hated group is hated for a relatively defined reason. We Jews, however, are hated in paradoxes: Jews are hated for being a lazy and inferior race - but also for dominating the economy and taking over the world. We are hated for stubbornly maintaining our separateness - and, when we do assimilate - for posing a threat to racial purity through intermarriages. We are seen as pacifists and as warmongers; as capitalist exploiters and as revolutionary communists; possessed of a Chosen-People mentality, as well as of an inferiority complex. It seems that we just can't win.

Answer 3

There was also the fact that throughout the medieval period Christians were forbidden by the Church to engage in 'usury'.

At that time usury was defined as charging any interest on loans, unlike the modern usage which refers to charging illegally high rates of interest - so called 'loansharking'.

As Jews were not forbidden by their religion to charge interest they tended to monopolise the lucrative money-lending market across Europe - a trend strengthened by discriminatory laws which banned them from many trades and professions and left them with few options when it came to earning a living. The ability of Jews to make a living from money-lending roused envy, and also led to them being stereotyped as rich, grasping parasites.

It also made them prime targets - many pogroms against Jews were inspired more by a desire to strip them of their goods than anything else.

Answer 4

The jews have always viewed themselves as a unique people, and have from earliest times adopted "laws" designed to separate themselves socially from surrounding peoples. Even during times of conquest, the jews have hung onto this identity even in the face of persecution and exile. While some jews drifted away and assimulated, others held to their faith and their culture.

   Over time this would lead to resentment, especially when they lacked a nation for themselves. With the advent of christianity, rulers and ruled alike looked at the jewish communities among them as alien enclaves harboring "Christ Killers". This would lead to various forms of discrimination, including limitations on the kinds of jobs jews could perform in society, where they could live, even what they could wear. The fact that jews continued to thrive, through hard work and maintaining even closer social ties among themselves, simply angered many people into even further discrimination and outright violence against this one group.

   Remember too that human nature likes to lay blame to specific causes for bad things that happen. Since human nature also dislikes admitting fault in one's self, the jews formed a ready target to blame. they "looked different", "smelled different", "had funny customs/ways", and again, were "Christ killers" and "baby killers". So when a ruler was feeling pressure because he was running up debt, he could blame the jews and steal their property after accusing them of something. Locals could blame drought, lost children, dead livestock, even wine that turned to vinegar on witches and/or jews. Again, being a fairly isolated minority through much of history, it was easy to target them. It's a testament to the jews that they have managed to maintain an identity as a religion and a people under such pressures.

Answer 5

i think it is because they have always been rich, cuased by the fact that back then they did not have a certain home country, so they needed the money just to be on the safe side. and i think most of the time they were reluctant to financially support the wars that their govts waged.

Answer 6

(1)  Because societies often need to find scapegoats to blame for natural disasters and the incompetence of their rulers.

(2) The Jews' insistence on being the "Chosen People" of their God and their refusal to compromise their religious principles and practices to accommodate with paganism made them easy targets for the ignorant, the bigoted and rabble-rousing leaders wanting to unite their followers against an easily identifiable and vulnerable minority.

Answer 7

They make pains of themselves. Think about it: they wouldn't cooperate with any of the neighbors they had EVER. They may have been right in this regard before the time of Christ, but that didn't make them any less of a pain in the neck to gentiles. After Christ, they remained rabblerousers in the Roman Empire in the first couple of centuries AD, became especially pernicious under Christian Rome, and reached unprecedented financial power during the middle ages. when you falunt your usurious and unChristian practices in Christendom, it isn't going to make you popular. Post-reformation, the Jews have become even more powerful, because Christians no longer unite to break their financial and now political stronghold.

The long and short of it is that the jews will be hated so long as they domineer and abrogate the laws that bind Christian societies together.

Answer 8

Jews have focused on education throughout history (especially when immigrating to US). While other groups focused on farming and making profit, the Jews were educated in finance, and learned how to make money in the future. Other groups were jealous of the Jews financial welfare and needed a scapegoat. This is the case of post-WWI Germany, where the average person was absolutely broke. It is unfair how history has treated the Jewish people.