"Passion" and Anti-Semitism

After Mel Gibson's film "Passion," anti-semitism came back under the claim that Jews were responsible for crucifixion of Jesus. Since it was God's will that Jesus die on the cross, the blame for the death of Jesus does not belong with Jews, Romans, humanity or Satan; it belongs with God. But there are even more salient and less ecumenical arguments against this ugly trend.

In 1930s and 1940s, German people, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, made it their mission to wipe out the Jews. One would think that I, as a Jewish person, would hate German people; but I do not. The reason is that very few of the German people alive now were alive during the Second World War, and they cannot be blamed for the actions of their ancestors.

Actions which many of them view with shame and embarrassment and do not want to ever repeat again.

How much more so in case of Jewish people, none of whom were alive 2000 years ago and most of whom are nothing like Caiaphas.

In matter of crucifixion of Jesus, the Jews were only following the law of Moses. The First Commandment is "thou shalt have no God before me"; and Jesus, in claiming to be God, was seen as being guilty of direct violation of the First Commandment. That - following the law of Moses, and not any kind of "wickedness" - is the reason for the Jews of the time insisting on crucifying Jesus even while letting off a murderer. According to their religious law - the law that the same people who want to kill Jews insist on putting in classrooms and court houses - Jesus committed the worst possible crime; and their insistence on crucifixion of Jesus had nothing to do with Jews being evil but with Jews following the law of Moses.

Furthermore, if Jews are to be held responsible for the alleged actions of their ancestors 2000 years ago, then English, Spanish, Portuguese, Americans, French, Germans, Japanese and many others all have vastly greater amounts of blood on their hands. This blood includes the over 100 million people in the Americas whom they slaughtered and over 100 million people in Africa whom they enslaved. And it is a stain that was acquired a lot more recently, in the last several centuries, rather than 2000 years ago.

All of these are far greater sins than anything of which Jews can ever be accused, and all have been committed in much more recent times.

What's amusing is that the same people who want to kill the Jews are the people who claim to swear by the Western civilization. I got news for these people: Jewish people contributed far more per unit of population to Western Civilization than has any other group. The number of Jewish Noble Prize-winning scientists is comparable to that of Germany and England combined. A vast proportion of great filmmakers, journalists and educators are Jewish. And Jews have astrong presence in finance, in business and in any number of pursuits that drive the economy.

So it's about time to turn the tables on this despicable trend and its sustainers. Just about any ethnic group that decides to militate against Jews is guilty of far greater crimes than the Jews, and it is crimes that have been committed much more recently.

And if I, as a Jewish person, can refrain from hating the German people even though their ancestors were Nazis, then how much more should the people whose ancestors were not mass-murdered by Jewish people refrain from hating the Jews.