Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth since 1991. He is the spiritual leader for the mainstream British Orthodox[…]
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The modern incarnation of anti-Jewish sentiment is “demonic anti-Zionism,” which is focused on Israel, rather than on Jews as individuals.
Question: Why are we in the "fourth mutation" of rnanti-Semitism?
rn
rnLord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: Anti-Semitism is a virus that rnmutates. I begin, you know, with the Hellenistic Age where a lot of rnpeople think anti-Semitism began. Actually I say although the Greeks rnand Romans didn’t all like the Jews, there was nothing personal. It’s rnexactly like the mafia say when they’re about to shoot you, nothing rnpersonal, strictly business.
rn
rnSo anti-Semitism stage one, really got personal with the birth of rnChristianity and the disappointment of Christians that Jews did not rnaccept one of their own as the messiah. And that really was personal rnbecause that was a hatred of Jews not of people in general.
rn
rnThe next mutation took place around 1096 with the massacre of Jewish rncommunities in northern Europe during the First Crusade. And that’s rnwhen Jews became not just the people who rejected Christianity but a rndemonic force. They became the infidel, the anti-Christ, the children rnof Satan who poisoned wells, desecrated the host and killed Christian rnchildren to use their blood to make matzo, the blood libel, that was rndemonic antic-Judaism.
rn
rnMutation three, we can date to 1879 with the birth of this new word, rnanti-Semitism. And that was not religious hostility to Judaism but rnracial hostility to Jews and that was serious, because in the end rnChristians could work for the conversion of Jews. You can change your rnreligion but you can’t change your race. And therefore all you could rndo, was, to, God forbid, work for the extermination of the Jews so I’m rnafraid the Holocaust was already implicit in that word itself.
rn
rnThe fourth mutation that we’re living through now is demonic rnanti-Zionism. It’s focused not on Jews as individuals but Jews as a rnnation in their own sovereign state and it accuses Israel of essentiallyrn all the ills that medieval Christians… you know, we don’t poison wells rnbut we do poison the world peace. We we’re responsible for every kind rnof distress in the universe. Seventy percent of Pakistan in the days rnfollowing 9/11 thought that it had been done by the Israelis. The rnIsraelis were blamed for the tsunami at the end of 2004. They’ve been rnblamed for more or less everything and since ipso facto, every Jew is a rnZionist, then every Jew is a legitimate cause for attack. And that is rnthe new anti-Semitism that’s been born in our time.
rn
rnIt’s every bit as dangerous as the others but my argument is that Jews rnmust never fight anti-Semitism alone. The victim cannot cure the rncrime. The hated cannot cure the hate. And so I’m glad to say Britain rnhas become the first country and surely won’t be the last, where the rnfight against anti-Semitism is led by non-Jews.
rn
rnQuestion: Who is leading the fight in Britain against anti-Semitism?
rn
rnLord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: Well, it’s led by a parliamentary rncommittee on anti-Semitism. People of all parties who monitor on a rnregular basis, all forms of anti-Semitism, that report is fed back into rngovernment which assembles an inter-departmental committee, all the rndepartments of government that have any bearing on it, education, rnhealth, home office and all that stuff, and all of those committees comern together and interface with the Jewish organizations that deal with thern symptoms of anti-Semitism. So it is basically a government led rnactivity. And in 2009, the British home office and foreign office rnconvened for the first time, an international conference of rnparliamentarians to fight against anti-Semitism. Almost all the rnparticipants were not Jewish. And this conference was held and hosted rnby the British government. The next government to do so has been the rnCanadian government which will be doing so this year. And so we’ve rntaken this and refused to live by this maxim that we are the people who rndwell alone. It is true that we have enemies but it is also true that rnwe have many very good friends.
Recorded on May 24, 2010
Interviewed by Jessica Liebman
rn
rnLord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: Anti-Semitism is a virus that rnmutates. I begin, you know, with the Hellenistic Age where a lot of rnpeople think anti-Semitism began. Actually I say although the Greeks rnand Romans didn’t all like the Jews, there was nothing personal. It’s rnexactly like the mafia say when they’re about to shoot you, nothing rnpersonal, strictly business.
rn
rnSo anti-Semitism stage one, really got personal with the birth of rnChristianity and the disappointment of Christians that Jews did not rnaccept one of their own as the messiah. And that really was personal rnbecause that was a hatred of Jews not of people in general.
rn
rnThe next mutation took place around 1096 with the massacre of Jewish rncommunities in northern Europe during the First Crusade. And that’s rnwhen Jews became not just the people who rejected Christianity but a rndemonic force. They became the infidel, the anti-Christ, the children rnof Satan who poisoned wells, desecrated the host and killed Christian rnchildren to use their blood to make matzo, the blood libel, that was rndemonic antic-Judaism.
rn
rnMutation three, we can date to 1879 with the birth of this new word, rnanti-Semitism. And that was not religious hostility to Judaism but rnracial hostility to Jews and that was serious, because in the end rnChristians could work for the conversion of Jews. You can change your rnreligion but you can’t change your race. And therefore all you could rndo, was, to, God forbid, work for the extermination of the Jews so I’m rnafraid the Holocaust was already implicit in that word itself.
rn
rnThe fourth mutation that we’re living through now is demonic rnanti-Zionism. It’s focused not on Jews as individuals but Jews as a rnnation in their own sovereign state and it accuses Israel of essentiallyrn all the ills that medieval Christians… you know, we don’t poison wells rnbut we do poison the world peace. We we’re responsible for every kind rnof distress in the universe. Seventy percent of Pakistan in the days rnfollowing 9/11 thought that it had been done by the Israelis. The rnIsraelis were blamed for the tsunami at the end of 2004. They’ve been rnblamed for more or less everything and since ipso facto, every Jew is a rnZionist, then every Jew is a legitimate cause for attack. And that is rnthe new anti-Semitism that’s been born in our time.
rn
rnIt’s every bit as dangerous as the others but my argument is that Jews rnmust never fight anti-Semitism alone. The victim cannot cure the rncrime. The hated cannot cure the hate. And so I’m glad to say Britain rnhas become the first country and surely won’t be the last, where the rnfight against anti-Semitism is led by non-Jews.
rn
rnQuestion: Who is leading the fight in Britain against anti-Semitism?
rn
rnLord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: Well, it’s led by a parliamentary rncommittee on anti-Semitism. People of all parties who monitor on a rnregular basis, all forms of anti-Semitism, that report is fed back into rngovernment which assembles an inter-departmental committee, all the rndepartments of government that have any bearing on it, education, rnhealth, home office and all that stuff, and all of those committees comern together and interface with the Jewish organizations that deal with thern symptoms of anti-Semitism. So it is basically a government led rnactivity. And in 2009, the British home office and foreign office rnconvened for the first time, an international conference of rnparliamentarians to fight against anti-Semitism. Almost all the rnparticipants were not Jewish. And this conference was held and hosted rnby the British government. The next government to do so has been the rnCanadian government which will be doing so this year. And so we’ve rntaken this and refused to live by this maxim that we are the people who rndwell alone. It is true that we have enemies but it is also true that rnwe have many very good friends.
Recorded on May 24, 2010
Interviewed by Jessica Liebman
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