Jews were ”chosen” for special hate?

For those of you who can’t tell from my name, I am Jewish. That is a necessary disclosure for what follows.

I am a quietly proud Jew, a secular Jew who notes Jewish holidays as a cultural phenomenon, but observes only Yom Kippur, the most holy Day of Atonement, by staying home. I do not go to synagogue, I have a quiet conversation with God, whose existence I question.

He tells me Judaism is built on questioning, so that is all right with Him. (As a journalist I have long published a conversation with God around Christmas.) 

Anti-Semitism has the reputation of being the oldest form of hate. Except maybe for snakes. People have hated snakes longer. 

That comes from the Bible.

So does anti-Semitism, in my opinion. 

Jesus was crucified and for 2,000 years the church blamed the Jews.

Until, God bless his memory, Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council and wrapped his arms around the Jewish people, whom he called “brothers.” But it wasn’t until 2011 that the Catholic Church officially exonerated Jews for the death of Christ.

It was the longest lockup in history.

That brings us to the present, where anti-Semitism is on the rise in the U.S., generally, and illustrated by recent remarks and actions by African-American celebrities Ye (formerly Kanye West), an admittedly bipolar musician and garment designer, and Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, an admitted 6-2, Australian-born point guard.

Both engaged in an anti-Semitic action and each was punished financially, by commerical partners breaking contracts with them and walking away. Irving has been suspended for at least five games for tweeting out a link to a reportedly anti-Semitic movie called “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up, Black America.”

Sales of the movie immediately climbed.

Why? Anti-Semitism by Christians, or curiosity by Jews? Or both? The movie is based on a book of the same name, from what has been reported, shopping anti-Semitic tropes that Blacks are the original Jews. That’s the same garbage that the goofball Black Israelis have been peddling at the Clothes Pin, Liberty Place and Market Street for years.

A bunch of major companies — these — broke with Ye after his comments about Jews. 

“On Twitter, West claims he is going to go ‘death con 3 on Jewish people,’ an apparent misspelling of ‘defcon,’ and says it was not anti-Semitic for him to say so because ‘black people are actually Jew also’ —his account is promptly locked by the social media platform,” reported Forbes, along with other controversial statements.

For its part, Nike dumped Irving after his comment, and his initial failure to apologize. He eventually did, but the Nets suspended him for five games without pay. The team also wants him to meet with Jewish leaders.

Why?

As a private entity, it legally can force a behavior code on employees, but it troubles me.

Courts have ruled that ugly speech and hate speech is protected speech. But how “protected” is it when you can be punished for using it? 

The First Amendment refers specifically to government, banning it from interfering with free speech — short of direct calls for violence — as it prohibits interference with the free exercise of religion.

It does not prohibit private entities from doing what they like, providing they do not violate the Constitution. (In 2020, the Philadelphia Eagles penalized wide receiver DeSean Jackson for posting anti-Semitic quotes he attributed to Hitler on Instagram this week. The Eagles did not provide details about the penalty, but said it acted because of “conduct detrimental to the team.” Jackson accepted the consequences and apologized, according to the team statement.)

I don’t know if Irving is anti-Semitic, clueless, or just garden-variety stupid. I don’t expect athletes or musicians to be deep thinkers. The major problem with his tweet is that is spreads misinformation, while Kanye’s approaches a physical threat.

As with racism, I need solid proof before I label someone an anti-Semite.

So I don’t know about Irving or Ye, who hasn’t (to my knowledge) explained why he is going “death con 3 on Jewish people.”

As to Irving’s second attempt at an apology, how sincere is it, if it is forced?

I don’t need it. I would have been fine with the Nets putting out a statement saying they disapprove and disavow their point guard’s statements. They didn’t have to punish him financially, which plays into the slur that all Jews care about is money.

Or that they rule big business. And the media. And communism. And that they are “taking over” and “replacing” you.

That gives Jews an enormous amount of credit, being as they are 2.4% of Americans, and 0.2% of the world’s population.

Yes, 0.2% of the world, a tiny, tiny fraction.

So why the fear? Why the hate?

Because they are the “chosen people?”

That term has caused a lot of pain, I think, yet all it means is “chosen” to proclaim the existence of one, singular God.

It does not mean they get to go to the head of line or receive special favors. If anything, it has brought unique misery throughout history, culminating in the Holocaust in which 6 million were “chosen” to be murdered.

That toll was one-third of the world’s 16 million Jews in 1939, a number larger than the world’s Jewish population today, 80 years later, of about 14 million.

At the beginning, I said I was a quietly proud Jew.

Here’s why — in certain fields, we are wildly disproportionate.

Remember the 0.2% worldwide.

20% of 900 Nobel laureates are Jews.

Almost two-thirds of Tony awards for Broadway musicals went to Jews.
In Pulitzers, Jews claimed 14% of the prizes for fiction, and 46% of the prizes for nonfiction

From psychiatry (Sigmund Freud) to physics (Albert Einstein) to literature to medicine, Jews are greatly over represented.

I don’t want this to come off like bragging, but how could so few people bring so much to the table? And for this, they are hated?

I don’t know, but it’s been suggested that the love of reading and education is the root, along with debate and questioning, which is fundamental to Judaism. 

Like I said, I don’t know why. I also don’t know why people are punished for unpopular, even hateful, opinions.