A Journey of Discovery

ANTISEMITISM

For centuries Jews have been persecuted, hated and even killed for their beliefs.
Many christians are ignorant to Judaism. We assume everyone is or should be christians.
If you don't believe Jesus to be the Lord you are doomed to go to Hell or If you don't celebrateChristmas there's something wrong with you. I will try to help you understand, as many have neverunderstood, the truth of Judaism and common misconceptions that have led to antisemitism.

Antisemitism is the hatred for the jewish people.
The term was first used in 1879 by a man named William Marr, a german who founded the 'League of Antisemitism'. Marr viewed that Jews constituted a distinct racial group which was both physicaly and morally inferior.
According to Marr, there was scientific evidence that jews were intended to be a "slave race". Most modern antisemitism can be traced back to early christian times when Jews were seen
as Christ Killers. Christians believed it was the Jews who killed Jesus when in fact, in the book of Mark it clearly states
that it was the Romans who crucified Jesus.
In 1144, a myth began in England that Jews were killing non jewish children and using their blood to make matzah, their Passover bread. This myth expanded to become an accusation that lasted for years. The idea that Jews were using the blood of children was ironic because the
consumption of ANY blood is strictly forbidden by jewish law.
Another common contributor to antisemitism is the fact that Jews do not worship Jesus, nor consider him to be the Messiah. Jews do not believe God had a son or that He appeared in human form.
The classical Jewish doctrine teaches that the messiah will arrive only once, and his arrival will be recognizable by the fact that the world's suffering will end.
As long as there is hunger, inequality, and injustice in the world Jews will believe themessiah has not arrived yet. Jews see Jesus as a historical personality whose work and teachings parallel those of other Jewish leaders of the time. Jesus was believed to be a leader, but not the son of G-d, nor the Messiah.
Because Jews did not accept Jesus to be the Messiah they were considered to be evil.
Over the years Jews have been forced to convert to christianity or killed if they refused.
The belief that the Jews are the "chosen people" has often times been misunderstood. What does this statement mean, anyway? Does it mean Jews are in some way better than everyone else? No.
Does it mean Jews think they have been 'chosen' to be the first ones to go to heaven? No.
All this statement means is that Jews in Isreal were willing to obey Gods laws,
because of their willingness to obey Him they were given the task to be "a light unto the nations"
and to make The One True God known to the world.
In 1938 germans desecrated and destroyed jewish homes, business' and 30,000
Jews were sent to concentration camps. On top of that the Jews were required to pay fines to cover
for the damages that occured as a result of the violence. The worst was yet to come.
In 1941, hundreds of thousands of Jews were shot to death in Germany. Germans
didn't think this method was efficient so they came up with what they called "the final solution to
the jewish problem". This solution was to wipe out the whole jewish population by genocide.

They took them to a place a concentration hell,
they thought them dead as soon as they fell.
They called them jews and gave them a big J.
they wouldn't allow them to live even for a day.
They stripped from them their religion and freedom of speech.
They gave them a number -- one for each. they told them not to yell,
they thought the jews would tell.
They must live with their actions night and day,
They must prepare to live in a hell some day.

This was written by a 6th grade student regarding the Holocaust.

Jews today are still a target for hatred and blamed for things as far back as the
crucifixion of Jesus to The Black Plague.
Leah, an 8th grader in Portland, Oregon told me of incidents where fellow students
would say, "Hail Hitler" and "when you get to hell tell the devil I said hi". She said, "Some of the comments can be ignored but not all of them"
I asked Leah how her parents prepared her to handle the hatred of others.
She told me her parents didn't think it would happen to her so, they didn't prepare her.

Another 6th grader at Kyle Elementary wrote:

The color of one's skin doesn't tell whats within.
The color of one's hair, won't tell you whats there.
No-one's quite the same, so why give the jews the blame?
Nazi's weren't superior, nor the jews inferior.
let peace be the sequel, because God created us equal.

If elementary students see that such hate is wrong why can't we as adults see what WE are doing is wrong?

We assume that everyone is or should be one way, and anyone who is different is bad. We base our judgements on ignorant assumptions, misleading stereotypes and then saunter out and hurt people. Alot of times people hate when they don't
understand. I guess hating is easier than educating ourselves.

Open your mind, open your eyes, open your heart. Learn, instead of living in ignorance. If 6th grade students can see that differences are not a reason to hate, we as adults should be able to do the same.

By Carmen Benjamin