Anti-Semitism Key question of the week: WHY THE JEWS? WHAT HISTORIC, CULTURAL AND OTHER FACTORS HAVE MADE THE JEWS A TARGET FOR DISCRIMINATION? MONDAY: JEWISH CULTURE AND DISCRMINATION TUESDAY: READING DISCUSSION BLOCK DAY: ANTI-SEMITISM’S KEY EVENTS FRIDAY: ???

JUDAISM…what is it? WHO OR WHAT ARE JEWS? IS IT A RELIGON? IS IT A ETHNIC GROUP? ARE THERE DIFFERENT TYPES OF JEWS?

JUDAISM-THE RELIGION FIRST MONOTHEISTIC RELIGION IN HISTORY (ONE GOD) ANYONE CAN BE JEWISH BY RELIGION, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CONVERT AND PRACTICE THE JEWISH RELIGION IS VERY MUCH A COMMUNITY RELIGION, THEY USE THE TERMS WE AND US IN THEIR HOLY BOOKS OVER I AND ME JUDAISM TRADITIONALLY HAS DEMANDED THAT FAMILIES STAY JEWISH

JEWISH ETHNICITY Being Jewish is also a cultural and ethnic idea. The Jewish culture, like many cultures developed throughout history to its current form. Ethnic Jews are people who can trace their ancestry back to Middle East when their was a Jewish Kingdom. ANTI-SEMITE-the word Semite refers to a group of people from the Middle East that had similar ethnicity.

Jewish Ethnicity Jews have their own sub-cultural groups as well Ashkenazic Jews and Sephardic Jews are the two main sub- groups Ashkenazic Jews tended to be in places less accepting of Judaism and so have integrated into cultures less. Ashkenazic Jews speak Yiddish and mostly were in Central and Eastern Europe, then many came to the US Sephardic Jews integrated into culture much more, they speak Ladino and are more from the Mediterranean countries

So what??? What does any of this have to do with persecution?

Jewish Diaspora

Jewish Disapora Jewish communities remained strongly cultural as they migrated across Europe/Asia The strong belief in keeping their faith and that the Judaism remained strong made Jews a truly amazing culture. Usually when cultures fall and populations disperse, there culture tends to fade away or immerse with other cultures. BUT…this amazing historic characteristic by Jews is also why they are persecuted.

ITS AS SIMPLE AS “WE AND THEY”

Because jewish communities have fought so hard to remain jewish, they have also been easier to identify and scapegoat!

Jews and Banking Jews have also been associated/stereotyped as bankers, usually in a negative light There is a historic tie between Jewish communities and banking: Three major reasons for this: Jews were often forbidden from owning land so to make money banking was a viable option Many Christian communities saw money lending as a sin, and so Jews were the only ones who could run banks sometimes The Jewish religion focuses on reading the scripture for yourself, and so education was emphasized, which made Jewish communities more able to bank

This put another target on jews backs, in tough times you blame people with money!

Summarize Make a list of all the reasons Jews have been targeted for persecution