Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: notesfiles - hp 1.2 08/01/83; site hp-pcd.UUCP
Path: utzoo!lsuc!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!hplabs!hp-pcd!nathanm
From: nathanm@hp-pcd.UUCP (nathanm)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Historical Persecution of Jews
Message-ID: <16200012@hpcvre.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 18-Mar-86 15:30:00 EST
Article-I.D.: hpcvre.16200012
Posted: Tue Mar 18 15:30:00 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 20-Mar-86 18:12:28 EST
References: <852@leadsv.UUCP>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard - Corvallis, OR
Lines: 61
Nf-ID: #R:leadsv:-85200:hpcvre:16200012:000:2196
Nf-From: hpcvre!nathanm    Mar 18 12:30:00 1986

Anti-Jewish persecution is a complex historical issue that will
not yield to a single, simple theory.  For an example, consider
one particular historical occurrence:

Once upon a time, during and after a period known as the dark
ages, Europe's society was feudal.  A feudal society has three
types of people:

  -- The serfs
  -- The nobles
  -- The clergy

The serfs eked out a miserable existence on the land,
the nobles employed the serfs and fought the wars,
the clergy served the church.

Q: What is missing?
A: Commerce.

Q: Who conducted commerce?
A: A nation that existed outside of feudalism: the Jews.

Since feudalism protected the church's interests and vice versa,
it muddled along for a long time through history, offering the
Jews a somewhat priveleged position, punctuated, to be sure, by
a fair share of anti-Jewish incidents.

When, after the crusades, feudalism came crashing down in the
face of mercantilism/capitalism, the Christians found themselves
freer to pursue activities that had been previously outside of
the feudal system.

But who already had the good jobs in commerce, medicine, etc.?
The Jews.

How to correct the situation?
Legislation.  Persecution.  Expulsion.

----

The point here is that, in this particular slice of history (using
this particular method of historical interpretation), we can discern
causes and motives (not very noble ones, at that) that explain a
*particular* period in which *particular* actions were taken.  But
it is certainly simplistic to explain away all persecution as due to
a perception that Jews have privelege.  We can just as easily find
periods where persecution has been a sincere attempt by sincere
Christians to force Jews to accept the sincere truths of Christianity.

----

Incidentally, for what it's worth, the term "anti-Semitism" was
not coined until 1879, when it was used in an anti-Semitic pamphlet.
Some historians choose to distinguish the anti-Jewish actions of
the olden days (which had, in their context, some sort of rationale)
from the completely paranoid "psychological" anti-Semitism that
brought us the Holocaust and other wonders of the modern age.

---------------------
Nathan Meyers
hp-pcd!nathanm