Understand the specialty of Antisemitism


We need to thank Whoopi Goldberg and the many who answered her so well with the renewed realization that Antisemitism is Racism.

Jews are not overprivileged. Just like Asians living in their Diaspora, Jews just work super hard to try and get a handle on the oppression. That’s not privilege—that’s sweat, blood, and tears.

However, there is a good reason not to just call Antisemitism only a form of Racism. It’s an animal with very specific rules since there is no culture or religion like the Jewish one. While all Peoples are unique, some are more special than others. Which doesn’t mean, as adorable as we are, that we’re more worthy than others. To be specific, when G^d calls us the Apple of His Eye, He doesn’t mean He’s going to treat us with favoritism. Instead, He means that He will hold us to a higher standard. But, to make things complicated for starters, when bigots hold Jews to a higher standard, that’s—you guessed it—bigotry. When we Jews live up to our potential we are equal to Gentiles who live up to their potential. (If the latter could live up to the Jewish standard, they are invited to join us Jews.)

‘Race’ is actually culture. We’re all homo sapience sapience: one race. Western racists (Nazis) got obsessed with genetics, build, and skin color. But non-Western racists often don’t care about lineage, only about religious practice, loyalty, and identity.

Considering one ethnicity, one culture better or worse than all others is Racism. No one is completely defined by their background or identity. And among all pastry, you have bad cookies. Don’t discriminate.

Yet, Jews are the only Nation not just based on practice, location, or beliefs. Jews are the only People based on an assignment. And their Divinely ordained task is to be exemplary to all of humanity. To be G^d’s ambassadors on earth, fighting for the good of everyone.

That means that when one says that Jews are just like everyone else, you’re a bigot. You don’t need to look down on Jews to be Antisemitic.

When our parents say they want to be our friends, that’s nice. But we better also respect them as teachers. Totally equalizing them is demeaning them and arrogant of us. When Jews say they want to be everyone’s friends and allies, that’s nice. But Gentiles better also give them respect as their teachers. Totally equalizing them is demeaning them and arrogant. NB: We are not Christians ‘Older brother.’ Too many older brothers in the Hebrew Bible were passed over by younger sibs. We are their parents.

And, the idea that Jews should be no different than Gentiles already implies opposing Jews. As if they should adjust to majority norms, integrate, and assimilate away.

Being against mixed marriages is racist. Two cultures in one couple enrich both partners. But many Jews marrying out helps Jews to die out. It also means going along with self-hatred as if anything non-Jewish would give a personal safe passage out of the Antisemitic danger zone. European and Arab Jews marrying each other is enough marrying out already. And that happens in Israel to an unprecedented degree. Outside of Israel, nowhere do we find such a percentage of Whites marrying non-Whites.

Saying the N-word is racist. It dirties your mouth. But, when discussing Antisemitism, it’s good to list all the stereotypes because part of the oppression of Jews is to deny it.

Bias against homelands can hurt minorities in the Diaspora. Prejudices against Africans (‘primitives,’ ‘hotheads’) devalue Black migrants around the world. Prejudices against Asians (‘mystical people’) dehumanize Asian migrants the world over. But propaganda against Israel hurts Jews in their Diaspora like no other minority. Zionism is to Jews what feminism is to women. Men who ‘like women but not feminists’ show they don’t like women; rather, they like being served. Jews and Gentiles who ‘like Jews but not Zionists’ show they like Jews as long as they feel scared all the time so that they can be manipulated to serve and comfort the Gentile powers to be; but not when they are independent and proud of themselves.

Judaism laid much of the foundation of all Monotheism (One G^d), Science (One Universe), and Democracy (Equality) in the world. That’s why hatred of Jews is the ultimate ungratefulness, throwing mud on Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Einstein, and Herzl. And therefore, the Holocaust doesn’t compare to any other genocide, Armenian included—though they are all horrific.

It seems that Intersectionality was designed to promote Antisemitic. It advocates comparing oppressions and seeing how they are all interwoven. Because Antisemitism is so unique, and because Jews are kept hostage by the top level of societies (and blamed for all ills), it often ends up uniting all oppressed groups against the Jews, the victims of the oldest hatred.

And so, you see there is reason not to just regard Antisemitism as one of the forms of Racism. Jews-oppression is too specific. It’s a special bigotry.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, an almost daily blog contributor to the Times of Israel, and previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. 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. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. He doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit about what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and education contribute to his visions. * To find less-recent posts on subject XXX among his over 1600 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, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. Yet, 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 who don't deserve that. 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), 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. * His most influential teachers (chronologically) 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. * 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. 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, anti-elitism, anti-bigotry and supremacy, for Zionism, Intersectionality, and 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. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to 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. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. * 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, empowering therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids non-violently. 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 being a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. He lives with his library in Jerusalem. Feel free to contact him. * His writing has been made possible by a (second-generation) Holocaust survivors' allowance 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.

Source: The Times of Israel, archived URL:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220731092435/https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/to-dislike-
certain-ethnicities-is-racist-to-see-jews-as-equal-is-antisemitic/