The Devil and the Jews

B"H

The medieval conception of the Jew and its relation to modern anti – Semitism

Anyone interested in Jewish history should never leave out the brilliant books of Rabbi Joshua Trachtenberg. Rabbi Trachtenberg was born in London in 1904, and passed away in 1959. For thirty years, he was a member of the American Rabbinate and devoted his life long studies to the study of progress of human thought.
His most famous books are "The Devil and the Jews (1943)" and "Jewish Magic and Superstition (1939)".

Already in his introduction, Rabbi Joshua Trachtenberg comes up with an interesting question: How is it that men believe of the Jews what common sense would forbid them to believe of anyone else ? The negative conception of a Jew has nothing to do with facts or logic but because people want to believe it. It does not matter whether the rumors about the Jews contradict each other or are simply irrational. If people want to believe it they just do.

As long as Jews have been living in the Western European world, they were subject to anti – Semitism. The Jew has always been considered as a stranger. His religion, character, language (prayers in Hebrew), his customs and even his blood (see Nazis) raised suspicion. Eastern countries, on the contrary, were just the opposite. There, Jews could gain anything in life and were not restricted. After 2000 years of Jewry in Europe, nothing seems to have changed too much. There are still people believing in the old rumours and anti – Semitism never disappeared.

After the church "conquered" Western Europe, religious tolerance vanished. No doubt, people had to become Christians and the Catholic church put enough force into it in order to reach its goal. Anti – Semitism is much older than the church itself but only the church introduced the demonological character of the Jewish religion.

With the beginning of the First Crusade, thousands of Jews were slaughtered in the German Rhineland by the Crusaders. The doctrine of viewing the Jew as the devil reached its peak at the time of the Crusades. Wherever the Crusaders arrived, the Jews were killed first. Mass killings in the name of G – d. The church declared the Jew as the worst enemy to mankind.
The reason for banning the Jews is simple. The church wanted to secure its power and gain even more might. In the Middle Ages, the majority of the population was illiterate and people just believed what their priest said. No one, except for the clergy, really looked into Jewish literature and checked if the church claims were true. Those few Christians who did investigate started to convert to Judaism. There were already such conversions during the early Middle Ages.

In order to keep its power, the church had fake or add original writings. Otherwise too many inconvenient questions and contradictions might come up and people would start realizing that Judaism is a true religion. However, not all church fathers were excited to see original writings being faked and started criticizing their superiors. Not too successfully of course, as many church doctrines based on false literature are still valid until today.

The Jews, however, did not give up their religion and could not be converted to Christianity. Why should they when Christian doctrine is so contradictory compared to the logic Jewish religion ? Therefore, the church fathers got a new idea. They declared that Jews are not human but come from the devil himself.
In Judaism, we do not really have the concept of the devil (Satan). A devil is compared to something negative or bad called the Yetzer HaRah, and this Yetzer is not an independent entity but created and controlled by G – d Himself. Our task is to overcome the Yetzer and thus, turn everything into good. After the arrival of the Meschiach, G – d will slaughter the Yetzer HaRah and everything will go back to its original source.

In Christianity, the devil is a real person besides G – d. The devil reacts independently and tries to destroy the world. This kind of thought is completely strange to Jews. The so – called Christian "Meschiach" J. fought the devil and so do his successors, the church fathers. The only question is why J. had to fight the devil when he claimed to be G – d ?
The church anti – Semitism is nothing new and has its roots in the New Testament with Luke and John. John calls the Jews "the father of the devil" (8:44). It says in Revelations (2:9, 3:9) that "synagogues are the house of Satan".

Nevertheless, the first Christians were real halachic Jews who did keep the Torah and its Mitzwot. For them, it was out of question not keeping Shabbat, Kashrut, Jewish holidays, they fasted on Yom Kippur and ate Mazzot on Pessach. The only thing distinguishing them from the other Jewish population was that they viewed J. as the Meschiach.
Only Paul started the absurd idea that the Torah is invalid and that the laws do not have to be kept anymore.

In 1277, the church published pictures showing the devil sitting together in a Mikweh with a Jew. Furthermore, Jews were accused of praying for the destruction of the Christians. Jews would drink blood, another crazy invention by the church.
When Gentiles make the claim to know the Torah well, they probably missed out the passage where G – d commands the Jews not to consume blood. For a Jew, consuming blood is strictly forbidden and you only have to watch the complicated procedure of koshering meat in order to understand the importance.

During the 9th century, the church invented the legend of the anti – Christ who would be a messenger of the devil. The Jews would anxiously expect his arrival in order to destroy the world. This thought is completely ridiculous but people believe it until this day.

Another popular prejudice until today is that Jews have a horn on their forehead. This idea stems from a mistranslation of the Torah passuk when Moshe is coming down from Mount Sinai. It says that he had a KEREN which means that his face was shining due to G – d's presents (the Shechinah). People whose Hebrew knowledge is definitely to advanced translated KEREN as horn. Big translation mistake !!!
But also the Mezuza raised Christian suspicion. Was this a devil's object ?

Throughout the Middle Ages, Jewish doctors and scientists were advanced academics in Europe. Due to their many trips to the East, they learned from the Muslims in Persia and elsewhere. Furthermore, they spoke several languages such as Arabic and Greek. Gentile European colleagues became jealous and started spreading rumours.

Not to forget the Spanish Inquisition where Jews were either forced to convert to Christianity or leave the country. Those who converted just did this to the outside world. Inside the house they kept kosher and celebrated Shabbat.

Whatever Christianity did and does they will never ever succeed of getting rid of the Jews. G – d will always keep his promise to us and no one can ever destroy the covenant. As hard as they may try, it will never be hard enough.

_______________________________


Rabbi Trachtenberg wrote this book in the dark ages of the Nazis, and he therefore knew what he was talking about. The question which remains is why intelligent people until this day believe such ridiculous ideas and theories about the Jews. How deep can mankind fall although people claim to be sophisticated ?
Obviously Rabbi Trachtenberg is right when he says that people believe what they want to believe. It does not matter how stupid and senseless it is.


Worth reading !!!