The Theological Roots of Antisemitism

Let me share a story with you. A few years after moving to Israel, my wife and I considered returning to Canada temporarily. I flew there and took the chance to visit my mother in Windsor, Ontario. We were looking at Toronto as a potential new community, so my mother kindly agreed to drive me from Windsor to Toronto, where she stayed with her sister while I explored our options.

The drive from Windsor to Toronto took about four hours, giving us plenty of time to catch up on family matters and what had changed in Windsor since I’d been away. On the return trip, though, the conversation lagged, and there were many comfortable stretches of silence.

At one point, my mother asked a question I didn’t expect: “Why do people hate the Jews so much?”

To understand her question, you need to know the context. At that time, there were two high-profile trials in Canada involving Holocaust deniers: Ernst Zundel in Toronto and James Keegstra in Red Deer, Alberta.

Without hesitation, I responded almost instinctively:

“Mum, let’s try to set aside our usual skepticism for a moment. Imagine that over 3,000 years ago, an entire people had a direct encounter with the creator of all existence. In that encounter, they were given a set of absolute moral laws, the foundation for a thriving society. Picture how that story would be passed down through generations, with the belief that these moral absolutes were revealed by the creator of reality itself.

“Throughout history, anyone who wanted to promote beliefs or behaviors contrary to these ‘absolutes’ first had to undermine the Jewish people and their beliefs. Initially, efforts were made to convert the Jews to these new ideologies. When that failed, the focus shifted to delegitimizing Judaism. And when even that didn’t work, the extreme step was taken to try to erase every Jew who was recognizable as such.

“This idea isn’t new. Around 750 BCE, the Jewish prophet Isaiah spoke about this very concept. He suggested that the mere existence of the Jewish people is a testament to the presence of a creator and the truth that there are absolute values of right and wrong.

“So, when you see hatred towards the Jewish people, or efforts to undermine their beliefs or worse, to eradicate them, it’s because the very existence of the Jewish People challenges the values of those who hate them. Their existence is testimony that is a fundamental challenge to their entire worldview.”