Why are Jews so hated through history?

[ILikeSprite]

<< Move to south Florida. You'll never ask that question again. >>



That's only Southeast Florida.... most of the jews I know here in Southwest Florida are actually quite nice.

 

[jjones]

<< I think people are angry that after all the attempts to exterminate them, they are still here. >>


Kind of like cockroaches.















Sorry, I just couldn't let that one pass.

 

[pulse8]

<< Ever been to Miami or Boca Raton? >>

Miami doesn't count. They have more hispanics than Jews.

 

[Turkey]

Excuses, excuses. Every social system has restrictions.

 

[Amused]

<< Move to south Florida. You'll never ask that question again. >>



Actually, this is more of a New York/New Jersey thing than a Jewish thing. And I agree, the majority of people I met in and around the Palm Beach/Miami area were complete east coast jerk offs.

 

[Carbo]

<< Miami doesn't count. They have more hispanics than Jews >>

True. But they're a pain in the ass, too. On the other hand, them mamacitas are sweet as honey.

 

[Amused]

<< I hate all religious groups that make their fellow cultists eat only food that meets certain standards....along with religions that force a person to dress the way they want the followers to - be it a stupid beanie, no jeans on women, not shaving sideburns (jesus that's ugly), wearing full body coverings, etc...

Religion should be about freedom and self expression too. >>



Religion is all about tradition. The restrictions on foods made MUCH sense 2000+ years ago when they were made, and bacteria was unknown.

Not shaving also made sense in a time with no antibiotics. Why risk cutting yourself when you can't cure an infection?

As for dress codes and sexual identities, well, that kept order.

When religion rules, all social laws automatically become religious laws. These laws were carried forward by tradition when government was no longer religious.

If you read the Old Testament objectively, you can see knee-jerk reactionism/nanny-state ideology at it's worst. A plethora of oppressive laws and rules passed in efforts to cure social and medical ills.

 

[skeletor]

So, if I read that correctly, the Jews refused to 'join' with either Islam or Christianity and people hold that against them?

Questions though:

1) Why would any religion try to join with another? (some people said they're very similar, but another countered saying there was HUGE differences between the two).

2) Why did the Romans so hate them in the first place?

3) Are the stereotypes of Jews being tight with money, generally wealthy etc true? (obviously there'll be the reply from someone saying 'Hey I'm a jew and I'm poor!" etc etc. I mean in general.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[Marty]

The anti-semitism which exits today has its roots in Europe during the middle ages. During this time the Catholic Church had incredible influence over the population. The policy of usury or lending money with interest was forbidden by the church. Because of this you could borrow money from a Catholic because it wouldn't make any economic sense for anyone to lend it to you. If you needed money the only people who would lend it to you were Jews, who obviously didn't follow the directives of the church. However, they did follow their own sets of rules laid out in their scriptures which prevented them from extracting high intrest from fellow jews but allowed it for any other group of people. In essence, jews were loan sharks during this era. This led to the creation of the stereotype of jews as greedy.

Other anti-semitism springs from the fact that the jewish religion preaches that jews are chosen amongst all people and therefore are superior. I can't think of any religion other than judaism which sets up different criterion for dealing with people bsed on their belief. From personal experience, I know that some jewish families raise their children to be this way. So it is not just ignorance of non-jews but also that of jews which leads to the perpetuation of anti-semitism.



<< they are in general a succesfull group of people >>



I don't see how the jews are any more successful than many other groups, if someone could clear that up i'd be happy.

Marty

 

[Nefrodite]

its just the same reason why people have always had war

religious societies in which the jews were always minorities were a tad fundamentalist. wasn't it the christians that weren't allowed to lend money, so only jews could? stuff like that

religion is at the root of all evil?

 

[WarCon]

Other anti-semitism springs from the fact that the jewish religion preaches that jews are chosen amongst all people and therefore are superior.

Um, my Bible says that they were/are his chosen (it doesn't say superior as far as I remember, but it might be interpreted that way). It even says that its the Christian that will be grafted into his chosen. But I also feel this is probably where the root of this issue stems from. But to excuse the wrong that has been done to them with this premise would be just that "trying to excuse wrong, when wrong is just that, wrong". Just because your father likes your brother better than you, is it any reason to kill him? "Cain"