ON THIS AUGUST DAY . . .

a.k.a., Why do many of us Jews “Just Don’t Get It”, i.e., ‘Why aren’t there that many “Jewish-Christians”?’ #fightantisemitism #justice4all

So named in 08 BCE to honour emperor Augustus Caesar, literally ‘Venerable Caesar’… It is the first day of August of my attempt to write and post this; and, after plodding along with my reading amidst personal items, I finally was able to finish ‘Understanding Antisemitism: An Offering to our Movement’ <https://www.jfrej.org/.../JFREJ-Understanding...>. Therefore, here is also why I’ve felt so ‘august’ much of this first August day.

To a few of my Gentile or non-Jewish friends who might ask a question such as the above, the KEY answer for me is: ANTI-SEMITISM. As the PDF ‘Understanding Antisemitism’ states: ‘Antisemitism was something European Christians created and brought to the Middle East within the last 150 years. [I believe, European Christians also brought antisemitism to the Americas even before then when colonising the New World.] Before colonization, there may have been discrimination against Jews, even moments of escalated violence. However, there were rarely specific laws—institutional oppressions—that targeted Jews because they were Jews. …According to Riaz Hassan: “After reviewing the history of Jewish-Muslim relations, [historian Bernard] Lewis concludes that in general Jewish and Muslim theology are far closer to each other than either is to Christianity. Jews have lived under Islamic rule for 14 centuries and in many lands and, while it is difficult to generalise [sic] about their experience, they were never free from discrimination BUT WERE RARELY SUBJECTED TO PERSECUTION AS THE CASE WAS WITH CHRISTIANS', emphasis, mine.

What to me is confounding, even pernicious, is that ‘antisemitism is often described as “cyclical.” The Jewish experience in Europe has been characterized as cycling between periods of Jewish stability and even success, only to be followed by periods of intense anti-Jewish sentiment and violence…and signs we are seeing today of increased visible antisemitism hint at this pattern.’ What also struck – even renewed – my curiosity was that ‘European capitalism developed hand-in-hand with antisemitism, and as such the oppression of Jews has been a systemic feature in the functioning of capitalism for centuries.

Though I no longer consider myself a Marxist-Leninist, my life experience continues to show overwhelming evidence that ‘Capitalism isn’t oppressive because Jews are ruining it; capitalism is oppressive because capitalism IS oppressive’! (Emphasis, also mine!) As well, ‘Antisemitism and Islamophobia are not only entangled, but deeply rooted in the same systems of white supremacy and Christian hegemony that have also driven ongoing genocide against indigenous people, and bigotry toward non-Christians from other parts of the world.’

In addition, ‘European Jews and Arab Jews have been central to leftist movements, which is part of what makes ruling elites fear us. Jews were at the heart of the labor, Socialist, and Communist movements that swept Europe in the late 19th Century and the Middle East and North Africa in the 20th Century…Jews brought their organizing skills, socialist ethos and political analysis with them in their mass migration to the United States in the early 20th century, and were critical to the American labor movement and important to the Civil Rights movement, the women’s movement and the gay rights movement.’

What also struck my curiosity was the following: ‘We must be careful to draw a distinction between white supremacists—including neo-Nazis and white nationalists—and the system of white supremacy (especially as it developed in the United States). Both draw on the same ideological roots, but the former describes—in broad terms—a group of people who are preoccupied with particular aspects of that ideology, and with either maintaining it through violence and the threat of violence, or overthrowing the current multicultural order in favor of a white ethnostate. The latter is the air we breathe, the water we swim in — the prerequisite soil for American capitalism to flower.’

The paragraph above reminds me of what Rev. Jim Conn published some ten years ago: ‘My friend, mentor and colleague, Rev. James Lawson, calls our economic system “plantation capitalism.” Lawson was the nonviolent strategist for Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement and the key figure in the desegregation of Nashville. His reference, of course, pulls forward the image of enslaved field workers in the Old South.’ https://capitalandmain.com/plantation-capitalism

At this juncture, I think I need to make it ‘crystal clear’ by pointing out also the following quote from the PDF: ‘Notice the operation of Christian dominance in U.S. society, and how it shows up in the political and social landscape, and in your organizational practice, culture, and policies. You don’t have to stop loving Christian culture, just be thoughtful about how and where it shows up* [my emphasis].

Finally, the only possible serious critique of ‘Understanding Antisemitism’ I have is the absence of the role that the State of Israel, its government and representatives, have played, especially *AFTER* the 1967 ‘Six Days’ war in further alienating Jews – predominantly White Jews like me – from Blacks and other People Of Colour (or, as the PDF mentions, ‘POC’s - including Jews of colour, which there are), as well as from the universal left – which began to take a more critical view of Israel.

Furthermore, the nature of Zionism itself – especially political Zionism – which largely saw itself as a colonist movement in service to British, German, Austro-Hungarian colonialists, et al., cannot be overlooked. For now, at least, it is reassuring to read the following tip from the PDF: ‘If your politics extend to Israel/Palestine, take care to distinguish legitimate anti-Zionism from antisemitism.’