Oded J. K. Faran & Walter E. Block
Rabbi Dov Fischer. Image via AI.
See Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE
The following was written to one of the authors of the present essay by his friend and co-author (Fischer & Block, 2021) the late Rabbi Dov Fischer. It is highly apropos:
“1. Jews gave the Torah to the world. The Torah set rules for behavior, like that it is wrong to steal from old people, rape girls, or murder people on subway stations . Ruffians resented those rules. So they hated Jews.
“2. Some looked upon Jews by projecting ‘Oh, you people think you are so special because you gave us the Law.’ So they hated Jews.
“3. The Torah speaks of a concept of a ‘Chosen People.’ Although the concept does not mean we are better than anyone else, many misinterpreted the term as meaning we think we are better than others. So they hated Jews.
“4. Unfortunately, people who never met Jews heard we killed Jesus, and that we all want to kill Jesus. In reality, we all just want to pay our bills and keep our spouses and children from yelling at us. So they hated Jews.
“5. Mohammed adapted Torah laws and then asked the Jews of Mecca and Medina to follow him. He thought we would follow; we didn’t. So he taught his followers to hate Jews.
“6. Martin Luther taught that Catholics were doing it all wrong by trying to coerce us to become Christian by slaughtering us during the Crusades and burning us at the stake during the Inquisition. So he tried the nice way, but we still did not convert. So he wrote a booklet urging his followers to burn our synagogues. We still did not convert. So he hated Jews.
“7. During the Black Death of 1348-1351, Jews seem to have died of bubonic plague at a lesser rate than the surrounding European populations because we have strict ritual laws that require us to maintain cleanliness and other washing rituals. We have to wash before eating bread and wash when leaving the restroom. This was unique in Medieval times. So we were more hygienic. So they hated Jews.
“8. Because we stress universal education of all our children reading writing, math, and logic we do OK academically, win a fair share of Nobel Prizes, and such. That enables us to prosper in many cases. We also speak grammatically correct and know how to spell. So people who do not educate as well hate Jews.
“9. Because many have hated Jews, and therefore would not employ them, Jews often found themselves forced to go into business for themselves or to create family businesses or whole industries for themselves and fellow Jews who likewise could not get employed. Industries like Hollywood. Then, when they succeeded, people hated Jews for it. Similarly, Mayer Rothschild had to send his five sons to try opening five banks in five cities in five different countries so that, at least one, always would be able to operate and offer jobs for the brothers if the other four countries closed them down. So that’s how the Rothschilds succeeded in international banking because no one would give Mayer Rothschild a chance. So they hated Jews.
“There comes a point when, after 2,000+ years of the above sorts of things multiplying and aggregating, it just becomes natural for every person or society who fails, and searches for a scapegoat to blame, to settle on the Usual Suspects the Jews. So, for example, whenever Tsars in Russia feared the local populace would rise and kill them, they would point the people at the Jews. Same with Hitler when Germany’s economy hit the toilet in the 1930’s.
“Although we Jews tend to stand out in country-after-country as ‘Success Stories’ more than do Bulgarians or Albanians, for example, we always are very few in number outside Israel. Even in America, we comprise only 2 percent of the population. So when a bunch of drunk, sloven, uneducated lifetime-loser muzhiks in 1800’s Ukraine or 1900’s Germany are told ‘Your problem is the Jews,’ they figure ‘OK, let’s kill the Jews.’ So they kill the Jews. Sleep it off. Wake up a bit less drunk. Beat up their wives. And then they find that they still are sloven uneducated lifetime losers. So they hate the Jews. And when their wives recover from the beatings, they hate the Jews, too (for not killing their husbands).”
Do we regret the contemptuous attitude with which all too much of the rest of the hold holds the Jews and with which we are ill-treated? Of course we do. It is also human nature to wish to be liked. “If you prick us, do we not bleed” (Shakespeare, 1600/2023) like the rest of humanity? We are not behindhand compared to anyone else in that particular regard, given the events of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Do we fear the rest of the world? If we had any sense, we would. But, at least sometimes, we have none. We are comforted by the fact that Israel already has the fourth most powerful army in the world (Staff, 2023). Given the Jewish state’s comparative advantage in high technology, this ranking may well move up in the future. A note to Jew-haters, Sampson pulled down the walls of the temple. Consider this a word to the wise the next time you violate our rights. Take this as a warning: the Israeli Defense Force is the Jewish Defense League writ large. In addition to “Never Again,” our motto should be “We are Jews, we fear no one on earth.”
References
Amnesty International. (2025, March). Iran: Authorities target women’s rights activists with arbitrary arrest, flogging and death penalty. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/03/iran-authorities-target-womens-rights-activists-with-arbitrary-arrest-flogging-and-death-penalty/
Arendt, H. (1977). The life of the mind. Houghton Mifflin.
Bloodhound Gang. (1996). Why’s everybody always pickin’ on me? [Song]. On One Fierce Beer Coaster.
Fischer, D., & Block, W. E. (2021, October 21). Launching missiles. Arutz Sheva. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/315456
Human Rights Watch. (2025, January 16). World report 2025: Iran. https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/iran
Mill, J. S. (1867). Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.
Murray, C. (2003). Human accomplishment: The pursuit of excellence in the arts and sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950. HarperCollins.
Murray, C. (2007, April 1). Jewish genius. Commentary Magazine. https://www.commentary.org/articles/charles-murray/jewish-genius/
Quote Investigator. (2010, December 4). The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/12/04/good-men-do/
Shakespeare, W. (2023). The merchant of Venice. Royal Shakespeare Company. (Original work published 1600).
Staff, T. O. I. (2023, January). Israel ranks among 10 most powerful countries in annual list; 4th strongest military. The Times of Israel. https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-among-10-most-powerful-countries-in-the-world-in-annual-list/
UN Watch. (2024, November). 2024 UNGA resolutions on Israel vs. rest of the world. https://unwatch.org/2024-unga-resolutions-on-israel-vs-rest-of-the-world/
UN Watch. (2024, December 19). UN condemns Israel 17 times, rest of world combined 6 times. https://unwatch.org/un-condemns-israel-17-times-6-on-rest-of-world-combined/
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.