Amnesia

I thought of titling this “The Jewish Problem,” but then I thought better. There is no “Jewish Problem,” but there is a broadening chasm of a “Humanity Problem.” Evil always seeks out a scapegoat, a focus against which to draw together those who are confused, in want, and who lack a star to guide them (a guiding light).

Okay, you can laugh at me for using the word “evil.” You can laugh even harder when I say it is a very real spirit that is ever so actively busy in our world today. Some argue whether or not it can take physical form. I say maybe, maybe not. But, even as a spirit, it can take over the thoughts and perceptions of people who feel empty inside, and having done that, can certainly influence their words and actions. And by bringing these people together, it can influence a movement, even an entire culture.

It overtook the German people just a generation ago. Those who took the bait were Nazis. That corporeal spirit of evil was so overpowering that even those who quietly tried to fight it largely succumbed to it in the name of self-preservation. Don’t believe me? Try reading a few books! You don’t even have to buy them. They are at your library.

I’ll add one more note of speaking “spiritually.” Whether you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, what-have-you, all religions, even pagan ones, believe in spirits. Only a true atheist (and I am not talking about new-agers or Satanists) do not in some way pay homage to a spirit of some kind.

This morning, I watched an online post by a Jewish man, maybe American, maybe Israeli, who before traveling to Europe was warned by his father not to wear his necklace with the Star of David. He just couldn’t take his father’s warning seriously. After all, still living among us are elderly tattooed survivors of the Holocaust and a handful of very old veterans from World War II who liberated them from the death camps. And those who were not sterilized in the camps have living children, now grandparents themselves, living among us, our friends, our neighbors.

The world seemed to agree as the truth of the horrible Nazi campaign was revealed, “Never again!” we all shouted, “Never again!” And yet, look what is happening on college campuses. History-illiterate students have attacked and threatened their innocent companion students because they are Jewish. These are COLLEGE students who are so ignorant and hateful! How did they ever graduate from high school? And this innocent traveler, when he arrived at the airport in France was harassed, questioned, searched, his luggage “lost” at the airport, simply because they saw his necklace. He couldn’t hail a cab to his hotel because the cab drivers refused to transport a Jew. He was not physically beaten, no. But this is how it started back in the 1930s in Germany.

Are we really going to let this happen again? Has this evil spirit erased both our memory and our conscience? What happened to values of “right and wrong?”

In case you have heard some half-assed case against the Jews (aka the Israelites), excuses for making them legitimate targets for destruction, let me give just a spark of perspective in the other direction.

In the ancient world of pantheism, the Jews were monotheistic, refusing to bow down and worship other “gods” whom some call, even today, representations of demons. This was reason enough to punish them according to rulers who considered themselves to be gods. They were taken as slaves and/or persecuted in many ways by the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, and the Romans. Because the Jews (as a people) would not give up their covenant with the one true God, they suffered under many different oppressive rulers, repeatedly. No single people have been more oppressed and yet maintained their spiritual wholeness more than the Israelites or the Jews.

As Christendom overtook pantheism in Europe and spread westward, the Jews, still locked in the diaspora caused by Roman destruction of the Holy Land, were able to flourish in some areas, but with severe limitations. (Let’s face it, all through history there have been bad actors among Christian leaders). Unable to own land in many Christian societies, they learned specialty trades, like tailoring or smithing in gold and silver, which led them to become expert traders and then lenders. Thus, especially along the trade routes, some became wealthy “bankers.” As the saying goes, blossom where you are planted, use what you are allowed to have to your best advantage.

But, most in eastern and central Europe eked out livings on small farms, in small villages on the outskirts of larger “Christian” cities. Because they kept their own religious laws (which did no harm to anyone outside their communities), they were considered outliers and were not trusted by people like the Russian Tzar. Repeated pogroms drove them out of Russian controlled lands and pushed them into other lands.

Now, when Hitler came to power after World War I, in which many Jews served as German soldiers, he saw how well many of them were doing, businessmen, doctors, educators, etc., in fact, many considered themselves fully assimilated Germans before Jews. But Hitler needed someone to blame for Germany’s diminished world standing following WWI. He also saw a way to extract their wealth, largely by demonizing them. And so, they were labeled “Christ-killers,” which could be used to enflame the European Christians, even though the Jewish communities had never raised a hand against their Christian neighbors.

Here’s where people get fooled. The Jews were no more “Christ-killers” than you or I. What do severely oppressed people do when their lives and the lives of their families are threatened? Sometimes they are heroes and stand up for their beliefs. Often those heroes are captured, tortured, and killed, as are their wives, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and children. Sometimes they can go underground and escape.

When the danger is so very real, and you are watching this happen to your next-door neighbor and the bad guys come to “question” you, what are you going to do? Are you going to watch them torture and kill your wife and children or are you going to cave in and turn in the guy around the block who is hiding “believers” to save yourself or your child?

In the time of Yeshua, the Jews had seen many “prophets” come and go and heard the priests confirm or deride them. If they did not witness miracles personally, it was not only hard to believe, but DANGEROUS to believe. Most Jews did not know who to believe and most were in fear of their lives, having witnessed the horrors of crucifixion. They were just people trying to survive, like any of us.

And the priests who were dealing directly with the Roman consulates, what about them? Some might have been on the take, receiving money and favors to force the oppressed people to comply. Others might have been earnestly trying to save the whole community from destruction by the Romans (which eventually happened, anyway). If they could quiet the rabble-rousers, they could avoid a riot and maybe “save” the people. I expect there was some of both. But those Jewish people who did not see the miracles, who did not have personal contact with Yeshua, whom Christians believe to be the Jewish Messiah, were innocent victims. As Yeshua said from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

If you’ve read the Old Testament, you know it is a blood and gore book, lots of war, lots of destruction, lots of sacrifice, and lots of punishment. That is basically the history of mankind. But if you look at the more modern history, since the great diaspora, the Jews have never been the aggressors. They have sought to live in peace with their neighbors, not forcing their religion upon them, but willing to trade with, befriend, and help their neighbors in need. They’ve not flown any airplanes into populated buildings. Every single war fought in the Holy Land has been begun AGAINST them, and they have successfully DEFENDED themselves. That is historic fact.

So please, before you help to plunge us into World War III, learn your history. Understand the world you were born into. And if I’m singing to the choir, raise your voice so that we may be heard more clearly.