On Dec 28, 5:07*pm, Aussie1
> wrote:
> it has been said that the history of almost all of the Jewish holidays
> can be summed up succinctly: "They wanted to kill us; we won. Let's
> eat." Why has anti-Semitism been so pervasive in so many countries, in
> so many time periods and for so many reasons? (One begins to wonder.
> Perhaps there is something wrong with the Jews and Judaism? After all,
> there is an old Yiddish saying -- "If one person calls you a donkey,
> ignore him; if two people call you a donkey, buy a saddle.")
>
> Between the years 250 CE and 1948 CE - a period of 1,700 years - Jews
> have experienced more than eighty expulsions from various countries in
> Europe - an average of nearly one expulsion every twenty-one years.
> Jews were expelled from England, France, Austria, Germany, Lithuania,
> Spain, Portugal, Bohemia, Moravia and seventy-one other countries.
>
> Historians have classified six explanations as to why people hate the
> Jews:
>
> * *1. Economic -- "We hate Jews because they possess too much wealth
> and power."
> * *2. Chosen People -- "We hate Jews because they arrogantly claim
> that they are the chosen people."
> * *3. Scapegoat -- "Jews are a convenient group to single out and
> blame for our troubles."
> * *4. Deicide -- "We hate Jews because they killed Jesus."
> * *5. Outsiders, -- "We hate Jews because they are different than
> us." (The dislike of the unlike.)
> * *6. Racial Theory -- "We hate Jews because they are an inferior
> race."
>
> As we examine the explanations, we must ask -- Are they the causes for
> anti-Semitism or excuses for Anti-Semitism? The difference? If one
> takes away the cause, then anti-Semitism should no longer exist. If
> one can show a contradiction to the explanation, it demonstrates that
> the "cause" is not a reason, it is just an excuse. Let's look at some
> contradictions:
>
> * *1. Economic -- The Jews of 17th- 20th century Poland and Russia
> were dirt poor, had no influence and yet they were hated.
>
> * *2. Chosen People -- a) In the late 19th century, the Jews of
> Germany denied "Choseness." And then they worked on assimilation. Yet,
> the holocaust started there. b) Christians and Moslems profess to
> being the "Chosen people," yet, the world and the anti-Semites
> tolerate them.
>
> * *3. Scapegoat -- Any group must already be hated to be an effective
> scapegoat. The Scapegoat Theory does not then cause anti-Semitism.
> Rather, anti-Semitism is what makes the Jews a convenient scapegoat
> target. Hitler's ranting and ravings would not be taken seriously if
> he said, "It's the bicycle riders and the midgets who are destroying
> our society."
>
> * *4. Deicide -- a) the Christian Bible says the Romans killed Jesus,
> though Jews are mentioned as accomplices (claims that Jews killed
> Jesus came several hundred years later). How come the accomplices are
> persecuted and there isn't an anti-Roman movement through history? b)
> Jesus himself said, "Forgive them [i.e., the Jews], for they know not
> what they do." The Second Vatican Council in 1963 officially
> exonerated the Jews as the killers of Jesus. Neither statement of
> Christian belief lessened anti-Semitism.
>
> * *5. Outsiders -- With the Enlightenment in the late 18th century,
> many Jews rushed to assimilate. Anti-Semitism should have stopped.
> Instead, for example, with the Nazis came the cry, in essence: "We
> hate you, not because you're different, but because you're trying to
> become like us! We cannot allow you to infect the Aryan race with your
> inferior genes."
>
> * *6. Racial Theory -- The overriding problem with this theory is that
> it is self-contradictory: Jews are not a race. Anyone can become a Jew
> - and members of every race, creed and color in the world have done so
> at one time or another.
>
> Every other hated group is hated for a relatively defined reason. We
> Jews, however, are hated in paradoxes: Jews are hated for being a lazy
> and inferior race - but also for dominating the economy and taking
> over the world. We are hated for stubbornly maintaining our
> separateness - and, when we do assimilate - for posing a threat to
> racial purity through intermarriages. We are seen as pacifists and as
> warmongers; as capitalist exploiters and as revolutionary communists;
> possessed of a Chosen-People mentality, as well as of an inferiority
> complex. It seems that we just can't win.
>
> Now we know what are NOT the reasons for anti-Semitism.
>
> --
> Peter Lucas
> Brisbane
> Australia
>
> sticking it to stupid ''Politcal Correctness'' since 2008

Lithuania actually was a surprisingly ( and unusually) great place for
Jews. Especially in the Middle Ages ... The 1495-1503 period was a
mistake and never happened ever again as far as an official government
of policy towards them . The calamities of WW I and WW II was caused
by outside forces ...