The Phoenix Jewish news., 1960-04-08
What Is An+i-Semi+ism?

Golden, editor of the Israelite.)
The accumulated literature on anti
Semitism would fill several warehouses.
Yet none of it has established the social
pattern of anti-Semitism. Antl-Semltlsm is
q virus that cannot be isolated. 1t is like
cancer.
1t has coursed through the feudal sys-
tenn. through the absolute monarchles,
through the relationships, and it has af-
flicted democracies and republics 1t has
occurred both when Jews achieved wealth
and prestige and when they lived in the
ghettos in abject poverty. Antl-SemltlSm
has spread it's virulence in communities
where there were large numbers of Jews
and where there were no Jews at all.
Anti-Semitism has history, a present,
and an alarming future. No Jews who calls
for an honest discussion of remedies can
be called "oversensitive."
The only thing we know about the anti
Semite-be he bully, murderer, polite
critic, desecrator, or what have you, is that
he is sick. The anti-Semite has blind, un-
reasoning hatred not only for the living,
but for children as yet unborn and for
people long since dead.
In short, the anti-Semite is psychotic-
insane. Psychotics are made by abnormal
degrees of anxiety and Illustration. The
impotent, woman frigid, these prime
causes of the psychOses. The early f-nan-
cial supporters of Hitler were the bored
wives of rich industrialists and the inhibit-
ed spinsters and widows with an income,
who interested themselves in charity and
cultural works and stood screaming, with
spots of rust staining their necks, "Raus
Juden!'
No one who is concerned with insanity,
particularly as that insanity may affect
his own interests and well-being, can be
called oversensitive.
The swastikas on the synagogue walls
admittedly have been painted by hood
lums, delinquents, and pranksters. Ihe
response that swept the world after the
first had been smeared on a West German
synagogue is akin to the response that
sKilroy was here" ignited in the United
States Army after the end of World War
II and the response the hula hoop ellclted
two years ago-with this difference: 1t is
not an innocent response. The sWastlka Is
symbol of mass murder, and the man
who paints a swastika on synagogue has
murder in his heart. The antl-Semlte,
armed with black paint and brush, a. s
has this advantage: He knows he is COM
mitting symbolic murder, but he knows
he cannot be punished for it.
on its own grounds 1t is never enough.
The slaughter of 100000 Jews between
1910 and 1945 does not begin to satisfy the
anti-Semite. He has to paint the window
of Jewish merchant. And if all the Jews
were dead, he would still invade the
cemeteries to overturn the headstones OF
those he has already killed.
Yet people seek some sort of relief in
anti-Semitism. 1t started $4,000 years ago
when primitive man was walking PACK
to his cave with the carcass OF slain AMI
NAL slung over his back. companion
walked with him. After the third steep
hill primitive man shifted the carcass
from his back to that of his companion.
While he had not yet developed intellect
to the point where he could connect his
relief with someone elSeS SuIIerlng, ne
did know he felt good. At bottom TINS
explains both the start and continuance OF
anti-Semitism. If it were not this and tnls
alone, an escape, therapy would long ago
have cured it. If the crops fail, II de-
preston envelops the economy. II hai1 tne
nonnlation is unemployed, if initiation
wipes out savings, shifting the burden by
Furnishing the Jews brings relief from guilt
and an easing of tension-for while.
Why the Jews? You can shift burden
onto anyone, make anyone nearby scape-
goat. Why Jews? After all, for centuries
the Jews have prayed for the welfare OF
their Gentle neighbors. The Jew is always
hoping for the continued prosperity ana
happiness of the majority group. He may
not offer an hour-by-hour prayer, but MS
instinct tells him that once the majority
meets trouble, the minority is immediately
exposed Why not pick on some group not
particularly interested in the well-being OF
the majority, some group Indifferent to it,
even inimicable?
It is a complicated reason why the Jew
ia chosen. as complicated as history itself.