The shortest and best answer to why Jews are hated

Why did no one tell us this before?

First, a couple of disclaimers. Jews are also loved. Not always were Jews more hated than loved. Not all Gentiles hate Jews. Some Jews hate Jews. Jew-hatred is always 100% based on lies. People lie about hating Jews.

Many Jewish children are deeply pained and puzzled that people they never met hate them so much they even want them dead. But why?!

Part of the hurt comes from the fact that we can’t imagine such hatred. And that is because Jews, through the generations, train their children that human life is so costly one should only murder as a last resort to prevent murder and never as revenge or from anger. Human life is deeply holy.

Part of that hurt comes from our collective task to teach all people the wisdom and ethics that G^d revealed to us to teach to all of humanity. We are for all people—no questions asked—because they are our students.

Why are Jews so hated?

My short answer is this. Throughout human history, we find that groups hate other groups. That is not a law of nature. It should be stopped—and the wars that it causes. But it’s been a stable part of the human condition.

Originally, Jews must have been hated, as every group was hated. But Jews persevered. So did the hatred against them. And they endured because their moral message was superior to that of other groups. And that built tremendous irritation and jealousy among non-Jews. Instead of honoring Jews for giving the world so much moral clarity, we were often despised.

We can’t help it. Just by being ourselves, we hold up a mirror to the world, and the world doesn’t like the reflection it sees. So, the murderers must whitewash themselves by calling the Jews murderers. The thieves call the Jews thieves. The poor call the Jews rich. The rich call the Jews poor.

Jewish excellence, that ’causes’ Antisemitism, or better, Gentiles’ inability to appreciate Jews’ excellence motivates them to hate us. The Jewish attempt to be so humble that no one would notice us often failed.

Judaism is so right on so many things that systems that heavily borrowed from it (Monotheism, Science, Democracy, and Equality) have a huge staying power too, even when they also preach all kinds of nonsense.

That Judaism is a tremendous source of wisdom and justice is not a hollow phrase. The Torah text (OT), even in the lousiest translation possible, has great power. This Torah is just some Scribbles; the full Notes to the Talk, the Talmud, has 63 gigantic volumes in tersely written telegram-style. No single library in the world could contain all books explaining the Talmud!

Jews are here to teach. Not because we are better people, but because we have some good stuff to pass on. Antisemitism will stop when the world becomes so elevated that it rather profits from the Jews than kills them.

Part of the cause is that Judaism doesn’t encourage conversion to Judaism. That means that Jews must marry in not to disappear. That too irritates.

NB: We should not confuse the moral success of Judaism with the disproportional societal success of a small percentage of Jews. That’s just a reaction to the genocidal threat—an attempt to survive by overworking.

To stay in top shape for our role as humanity’s teachers, we must keep up our honesty and humility and honor and respect all people and cultures as our Tradition teaches us on close inspection. Being outstanding is, fortunately or unfortunately, not just inherited. It requires keeping it up.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1