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February 28, 2007
Jewish Jew-Hatred
In December, 2006, I published an essay with the American Jewish Committee (AJC) titled "'Progressive Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism." It slumbered for a while and then suddenly provoked the interests and passions of more people than I could ever have imagined. More about these reactions soon. For now, the facts:
With assaults against Jews and Jewish institutions annually numbering in the hundreds, anti-Semitism has once again become a serious threat, made all the worse by the rhetorical violence that helps to fuel it. Much of this rhetoric is directed aggressively against the Jewish state and those deemed "guilty" of supporting it. Often hardly distinguishable from verbal anti-Semitism at its ugliest, it issues not only from jihadist preachers and neo-Nazi hate-mongers, but increasingly from otherwise respectable intellectuals, scholars, artists, and journalists. Some of these people are themselves Jews. In the spirit of George Orwell's seminal insight--"[I]f thought corrupts language, language also corrupts thought"— I set out to examine their words and the degree to which they might be consonant with today's anti-Semitism, especially in its more virulent anti-Zionist forms.
I am not the first writer to take a hard look at Jewish authors whose statements go well beyond what most reasonable people would see as legitimate criticism of Israel and who call into question the very essence of the Jewish state and its right to continued existence. Writing in the pages of TNR about Tony Judt—who professes that "Israel today is bad for the Jews"—Literary Editor Leon Wieseltier pointed out that, to confuse the object of anti-Jewish hostility with its cause, as Judt does, is not to understand anti-Semitism but to reproduce it.
Go to Kesher where Seraphic friend Yehudit has the entire article by Alvin Rosenfeld, and all the links. A must read.
P.S. It's Tony Judt, Tony Kushner, and those of their ilk who are not just bad for the Jews, but good for jihad.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at February 28, 2007 02:37 PM
Comments
Seraphic Secret is private property, that's right, it's an extension of our home, and as such, Karen and I have instituted two Seraphic Rules and we ask commentors to act respectfully.
1. No profanity.2. No Israel bashing. We debate, we discuss, we are respectful. You know what Israel bashing is. The world is full of it. Seraphic Secret is one of the few places in the world that will not tolerate this form of anti-Semitism. That's it. Break either of these rules and you will be banned.
I could not agree more with your take on anti-semitism having become a huge problem
in the world today. It has always been
there, only under the rocks or heavily
muted so that no attention was paid to it
I also agree with you that there are Jews
who go against Israel which I totally do
not understand, unless they are Jews in name
only, then it makes some kind sense, but not much.
The world has always been and continues to be
an ugly place for decent people. The contingent
of tinfoil hatted leftist loons squirreling around the world is scary. First they don't believe in anything, but want, very much, to tell us how to live. It continues to amaze me daily at the vitroilic hatred spewing from their mouths on an hourly basis.
Posted by: Sue at February 28, 2007 04:57 PM
Sue:
From time immemorial, the Jewish people have spawned their own greatest enemies. We have endured and survived these creatures in the past, we will survive their onslaughts now in whatever form they take: professors, peaceniks, so-called rabbis—we will endure them all.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.seraphicpress.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 28, 2007 10:20 PM
I interviewed him very recently: http://campusj.com/2007/03/02/campusj-interview-with-alvin-rosenfeld/
Posted by: ben at March 4, 2007 01:02 PM
Ben:
Thanks so much for the link. Good interview. Keep up the fine work and please, do stay in touch with Seraphic Secret.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at March 4, 2007 01:09 PM