The initial denial of an anti-Jewish motive in last Saturday’s synagogue attack in Texas has dominated the Jewish conversation this week. When an FBI agent uttered the fateful words, “He was singularly focused on one issue, and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community,” that guaranteed at least 100 outraged op-eds, and for good reason. Eventually, of course, sanity prevailed and the antisemitic act was widely recognized for what it was.
But the more interesting question, for me, has never been whether some people hate Jews but rather why they do. After all, this is a hatred devoid of human logic. If you showed up from Mars one day and were asked to pick one group of humans not to hate, can’t you make a strong case for the Jews?
If you showed up from Mars one day and were asked to pick one group of humans not to hate, can’t you make a strong case for the Jews?
Seriously, has any group contributed more to humanity’s well- being relative to its size than this ancient tribe? Who could hate the people behind “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” not to mention behind and in front of virtually every social cause in this country, not to mention the famous writers and Nobel Prize winners and religious thinkers and community leaders and brilliant doctors and on and on?
Whether we want to admit it or not, the stereotype of “success” relative to Jews has merit. Yes, I know, we’re supposed to hate stereotypes and generalizations, but the evidence is pretty clear that Jews generally strive for success. This is not a judgement or a boast; and this is not to deny exceptions. It’s simply true, and few serious people would disagree.
But there is a fine line between success and power. When analysts try to explain Jew hatred, the idea of power often comes up. In his astute essay this week in The New York Times, Bret Stephens reviews the many mutations of Jew hatred throughout history, and concludes that “The common denominator in each of these mutations is an idea, based in fantasy and conspiracy, about Jewish power. The old-fashioned religious antisemite believed Jews had the power to kill Christ. The 19th-century antisemites who were the forerunners to the Nazis believed Jews had the power to start wars, manipulate kings and swindle native people of their patrimony.”
The multi-faceted uniqueness of the Jew— a people, a nation, a religion, a culture, a civilization— ends up facilitating all these mutations. But behind them all lurks the threatening notion of “too much power.”
It’s possible, however, that even without this nefarious view of the all-powerful Jew, there is enough in “Jewish success” to fuel the corrosive sentiment of envy.
“Envy often leads us to become depressed, anxious and angry,” Dr Robert L. Leahy writes in Psychology Today. “And we ruminate about what has happened… We dwell on the unfairness or our sense of futility. We avoid seeing the other person, because it reminds us that we are falling behind…We may even give up competing altogether, because we think that it just reminds us of our sense of failure or our belief that we can’t stand the unfairness.”
It breaks my heart to write this, because I was raised by my parents to emulate success, not resent it. Maybe that is what the Jews did in America. Liberated from the shackles of oppression and persecution, they met a country where success was the dominant ethos. Instead of feeling envy, they decided to emulate it.
Jew haters have no intention of emulating Jews. Perhaps when they demonize Jews with extravagant conspiracy theories, they’re trying to suppress the deep pain of envy.
Jew haters have no intention of emulating Jews. Perhaps when they demonize Jews and Israel with extravagant conspiracy theories, they’re trying to suppress the deep pain of envy. They must know, deep down, that success is a cool idea and that envy is not. Poisoning Jews and the Jewish state lets them off the hook and numbs their pain.
Seen through that lens, Jew hatred becomes a nasty price Jews must pay for striving for success. At a time when “success” in woke America has become associated with “white privilege,” we shouldn’t be surprised at the recent rise in anti-Jewish resentment. For many of us, however, if being hated by an envious segment of the population is the price we must pay for success, it’s a deal we’ll make all day long.
Here’s the ultimate irony: For Jew hatred to end, Jew haters must emulate the Jewish habit of emulating.
Shabbat shalom.
