This is an archived copy of a thread I made on the microblog side of the fediverse.

The content discussed in this post will be deeply upsetting.

A Disclaimer

As a disclaimer: I am not a rabbi and I am only one Jew, and when there is nuance of opinions amongst Jews I will try my best to highlight it. I also cannot fully condense the complexities of antisemitism into a single fedi thread so I will as well highlight some resources as well for those curious. I will likely continually add replies to this thread today too.

This is not a thread about Israel or Zionism. Zionism and Israel is a touchy topic even amongst the Jewish community. This threads highlighting of antisemitic tropes is something that you can look to if you desire but beyond that this is more a general antisemitism discussion. I may make a specific thread about talking about Israel and Zionism and when critique crosses the line into antisemitism, but that's such a clusterfuck even amongst Jews I really do not have the energy to really unpack that right now.

What is antisemitism?

Antisemitism is an ancient form of hatred that is nearly as old as modern human civilization. It is like a play that nearly every generation learns how to perform, with occasional tweaks for the time frame it falls under.

Antisemitism is a unique form of bigotry in that exists typically outside the bounds of other forms of bigotry. It adapts to whatever purpose it serves. It is at its root a form of racism & xenophobia.

Hatred of Jews has existed since antiquity, but antisemitism in its specific usage towards Jews was coined by a German journalist and “racial scientist” in the late 1800s who wanted to give more legitimacy for hatred of Jews with a specific name. It's usage in the modern day is explicitly used to refer to Jews and only Jews. It was effectively reclaimed by Jews to refer to our own hatred by the people who hate us. As well, this is why in some settings (especially academic) you will see the lack of a dash. Instead of anti-semitism, it is antisemitism. The purpose for this is that it is a separate word entirely.

What makes antisemitism so unique?

Antisemitism manifests based upon what is most convenient as a means to scapegoat the ills of society at that time. There is no sense to it, and it is not worth trying to find sense in it either.

Jews have been portrayed as evil communists at times, and others evil capitalist pigs. Rootless cosmopolitans, or chauvistic nationalists. Backwards religious zealots, or G-dless heathens.

Most, if not all, antisemitic tropes that often manifest are actually in direct contrast to how Judaism as a religion functions and the cultural dynamics within the community. It's absurd and is why at times Jews will laugh at some of the manifestations of it.

There is no logical sense in the allegation that Jews caused the California widlfires a few years ago using space lasers, and the common trope of blood libel exists in direct contrast to the fact that blood is not kosher. Cannibalism isn't kosher either!

It would be funny if it hadn't caused so many of us to die.

You cannot reason with an antisemite, “debating” is platforming.

Antisemites more often than not try to force Jews to prove reality to them in a public setting. It is an ancient tradition, and is not unique to Nazis. And they never come to an argument in good faith.

There is no sense or reasoning with an antisemite. They are not there in good faith. They know what they are saying in most cases is absolutely fucking nonsense and they just don't care. When they request a debate, they want to spread their hatred to others and intentionally inflict trauma upon Jews. It is a means of power, and the only way to win their game is by not engaging and explicitly removing their platform.

Do not fall for their shit.

Jews are not white

Antisemitism often exists outside the bounds of other forms of racism, and a big aspect is the way that Jews are not white.

Jews in most contexts especially in the western world and in the presence of white passing Jews (primarily the European Jewish ethnic group, Ashkenazim) are often seen in the modern day as “conditionally white”

Conditional whiteness is an extension of the way that antisemitism is often extended and manipulated based on whatever is convenient at that time. When it is convenient to disregard Jewish concerns, we are white. When Jews are seen as outsiders of a group, we aren't. It's hard to understand, and that's pretty much the entire point. We really are just white when it's convenient and aren't when it's not especially in contemporary American society. That does not erase the fact that Jews are Middle Eastern.

Seems confusing huh? That's sadly the point. Like I said above, there is really no logic to antisemitism. It is fully whatever is just most convenient at that time.

Antisemitism often connects itself with other bigotry as well

Jews are often blamed for the ills of the world and the key cultural focus amongst Jews on fighting for justice makes antisemitism a target to connect other bigotry to.

Where antisemitism arises, other bigotry nearly always follows shortly after. It is not a coincidence that LGBT people were targeted under the Nazis. Jews were distinctly connected to the supposed “degeneracy” of LGBT people. In the modern day this is still very clear, with many transphobes with large platforms often leaning into antisemitism or directly becoming involved in antisemitic circles. JK Rowlings association with antisemitism and her friendliness with prominent antisemites is a pretty big example.

Jews were targeted by the KKK because of our advocacy and participation in the civil rights movement.

The shooter of the Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 posted on Gab a rant against a refugee aid organization that the synagogue had direct affiliations to before entering the synagogue.

This is why Nazis and fascists try so hard to drive divides between other marginalized groups and Jews. Jews cultural desire for justice is a threat that must be snuffed out.

Judaism is an ethnoreligion: whats that?

Another aspect of antisemitism that is unique is that Judaism is an ethnoreligion. Being Jewish is both a religious and cultural identity, and an ethnicity. There are a collection of Jewish ethnic groups and communities with distinct traditions in the diaspora, the most highly represented in the western world does tend to be Ashkenazi (European) but there are others as well. Sephardic (Spanish), Mizrahi (Middle Eastern), Beta Israel (Ethiopian), and a few more.

Jewishness is older than concepts like religion, ethnicity, race, etc. These are concepts that are imposed on Jews and its extremely complicated to navigate those concepts due to the way Jews often exist outside the bounds of those modern concepts. What it means to be Jewish is defined in terms of religious laws (halakhah) and customs specific to different communities (minhagim).

Jews refer to ourselves as a “tribe”, because in large ways we are. You are able to convert to Judaism but it is very difficult to and there is no requirement for non-Jews to. The context of the conversation of “who is a Jew” and what it takes to fully convert is a VERY nuanced topic in the Jewish community overall (and there unfortunately exist discrimination against converts within the Jewish community in many regards too..)

But those nuances do not matter to antisemites. A Jew looks like a Jew so they are a Jew. The minute a Jewish person is associated with their Judaism they are unable to disentangle that from themselves.

What are antisemitic canards

Earlier I made the analogy that antisemitism is like a play that nearly every generation learns. In a way of expanding that analogy, antisemitic canards are the songs to that play. The lyrics are tweaked but the roots tend to stay the same.

Antisemitic canards or tropes, both used interchangeably, are ancient pieces of antisemitism that are a cornerstone of how antisemitic functions.

These are tropes in the literal sense, and they more often than not are conspiratorial with little to no basis in reality as well as will commonly directly contradict each other. We've established antisemitism makes no sense, and canards are no exception. Tropes morph based on convenience, but at their roots they are similar and if you know what the most commons tropes are you can spot them as they happen.

In the next reply I will highlight some antisemitic canards. I already have previously on this account as well, and theres no way I can fully unpack every single one but I'll instead focus on some of the most common ones that exist in the modern day.

Common antisemitic canards to know of

One of the most common one that many, many, MANY conspiracy theories rely on is the idea of Jewish control. Whether it be of the economy, political system, media, etc. At its the root the allegation is the same: Jews possess so much power and as such are responsible for the ills of the world. These are untrue and as well imply that Jews don't deserve any means of power due to a supposed innate sinister agenda.

Religious tropes exist as well. From accusations of collective responsibility for the death of Jesus, supposed ritual murder and blood libel (supposedly kidnapping gentile babies and baking them into matzah, or stealing non-Jews organs), well poisoning as a means of pinning the blame of the black death onto the Jews, as well as accusations of host desecration (allegations of stealing communion wafers and supposedly using them to “re-enact” the crucifixion of Jesus)

In medieval times there was also a trope that proclaimed Jewish men menstruated, supposedly as punishment for Judas betrayal of Jesus.

There exists the trope that Jews are responsible for the ills of the world such as wars and loss of wars, and can exist outside of Jewish control tropes too.

There is a more modern accusation of Jews turning people LGBT.

There is the accusation that Jews supposedly control the weather or are responsible for other natural disasters.

Another large one that exists in the modern day is dual loyalty tropes, that Jews are only loyal to other Jews and exist in sinister tandem with each other.

There as well is a big one that states that Jews lie or exaggerate antisemitism. Or in some cases, allegedly deliberately bring it upon themselves to supposed victimize themselves. Or at times just innately deserved it because they brought it upon themselves. When people are innately suspicious of Jews claims of antisemitism, that in of itself is an antisemitic canard.

There are many more but these are some of the most common ones.

Antisemitism is on the rise, and violence is near

Antisemitism is on the rise worldwide.

What does that mean exactly?

These tropes are gaining ground around the world both on social media and in real life. Like many, many other difficult moments in history as the world faces peril, the world turns to a scapegoat.

Antisemitism is a threat regardless of political leaning. No one is above perpetuating antisemitism, and the idea that the only way antisemitism can manifest is if it's from a Nazi is dangerous. Antisemitism existed long before Nazism, and has been perpetuated both by left wingers and right wingers. No one is immune, and falling in the trap that you are above falling down the rabbit hole of antisemitism and engaging in antisemitic tropes is a dangerous misconception. Be mindful of that fact.

Expanding on the play allegory, this generation has begun to learn the songs. And the dance is being taught as well.

That dance is our violent murder.

Antisemitism causes Jews to die. It is the end result. It always has been. It is the culmination. And that violence is a very real present threat and has grown dramatically over the past 10 years.

As of right now, Jews represent some of the largest statistic in hate crimes in the US and other places around the world as well. There exists perpetual violent threats to synagogues and Jewish organizations in the US and around the world. From SWAT-ings, actual mass murder (such as the Pittsburgh mass shooting, Poway, etc), public harassment, violent assault, murder. These are happening. These are not a hypothetical of whats to come, they are already here. My own synagogue has faced regular bomb threats at numerous intervals. I have personally faced direct threats of antisemitic violence. I have felt genuine fear for my own safety in public as someone who is visibly religious Jewish.

Just last week there was gunshots fired at a Jewish girls' school in Toronto. But these things have limited media reporting. Right now many Jews as a result feel largely ignored and brushed aside as the very real threat of mass violence against us grows.

There is going to be an attempt at a massacre against Jews in the diaspora in the modern day again. That's something that's reasonably easy to predict, and whether or not it results in our deaths is only a matter of waiting and seeing. We exist with that fact now.

How to actually advocate against antisemitism

Being Jewish right now feels pretty bleak and that last post I made exemplifies that. The general feeling is that for the most part non-Jews really just do not give a shit about antisemitism. This dejected and isolated feeling is growing and many young Jews are now having to learn to live with a level of antisemitism that hasn't been as prevalent since their grandparents were young. We try to talk about antisemitism and are either ignored, shouted over, or used as political props when its convenient then chucked aside. Our communities and lives are facing real danger right now, and the isolating feeling grows ever stronger.

There is a very real growing doubts about many Jewish communities having an actual future in many countries as a result of this.

It's a feeling you grow accustomed to, that no one cares. And it's something I feel very much at times. Even on here.

But you can prove us wrong. I've had it happen before, and I know it can happen again.

The biggest piece of fighting back against antisemitism is educating yourself on antisemitic tropes and history, and calling it out when you see it. Both in real life and online. Learn to read between the lines and maintain vigilance against antisemitism. Antisemites try to sneak antisemitism in slyly when they can and count on you not knowing the tropes they use. Don't let them do that. Do not let them invade your spaces, especially activist spaces. If something seems off, publicly question it. Ask them to elaborate further. Making it clear that it is not socially acceptable to engage in antisemitism is something that Jews notice and pay attention to. And yes, this applies to friends as well.

Another piece is knowing that Jews are not mythical creatures that died out long ago. There is a common idea that has been dubbed “people love dead Jews”, where people commonly ignore us until we die. Don't do that. We are real people and our communities are very much alive. Many of our communities are actually a lot less isolated than people realize as well. Specific aspects of Jewish culture is closed, but in large part Jews are welcoming to outsiders who possess a genuine desire to engaging in positive cultural engagement.

If you organize locally or engage in local politics, include us in your activism if you can. Pay attention to ongoing threats against our communities and organize against them.

Antisemitism against Jews you dont like is still antisemitism...

Look. I abhor Ben Shapiro. I think he is truly a piece of shit. But when people say antisemitic shit about him, I still call it out. Antisemitism against Jews you don't like is still antisemitism. Antisemitism against Jews you feel have shitty politics is still antisemitism. Engaging in a metric of “good Jew” vs “bad Jew” and using that to examine if a Jew is worth fighting for is a form of antisemitism. Don't fall into that trap. Antisemitism regardless of where it is directed places all Jews in danger.

Fediverse link: https://grimgreenfo.rest/notes/9u7ywv505vb600cc

Tags: #Judaism, #Antisemitism, #JewishEducation

This is an archived copy of a post I made for Yom Hashoah on the microblog side of the fediverse.

The content discussed in this blog post will be deeply upsetting.

How the Holocaust still impacts Jews today

It's easy to think this was ancient history and create a disconnect from what happened when you don't live with the long term inter-generational impact it has held.

But it must be noted clearly: the holocaust occurred in contemporary Europe. There are people alive right now who lived thru the horrors and impacts of what happened. Unfortunately the survivors who carry their trauma are dying off as time goes on, so its especially important to listen to their stories as you can.

The pain these people carry is so immense and reverberates throughout modern Jewish culture. These are our parents, grandparents and great grandparents. And their trauma has been carried between generations as well. The trauma they endured is so intense in fact, that it still holds long term health impacts. Children and grandchildren have higher rates of mental health disorders due to this. This occurrence actually has served the basis of some modern research.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgenerational_trauma)

This is still a fresh wound, and Jews still struggle to grapple with it. It is why holocaust inversion is so harmful and antisemitic. It is detaching a trauma Jews still collectively try to grapple with and move forward on.

Every Jewish person remembers when they first learned about it as a child. It changes you and the way you view the world in a way that's difficult to describe.

The elephant in the room of who still is alive as well

When you reflect on the fact that there are survivors who are still alive from that time..... it should be obvious the inverse is true as well.

The perpetrators of the Holocaust and what contributed to it occurring are still alive and well too. Many escaped justice and will likely never face any. That's the unfortunate fact of life.

What happened after the camps were liberated?

The immediate aftermath of the Holocaust was a humanitarian disaster that's difficult to fully gauge in words. The trauma that survivors held was not over, and many died as a result of refeeding syndrome due to their previous malnourished or died of diseases they caught from the concentration camps.

When the camps were liberated it wasn't an immediate relief, but a new stage of trauma entirely. People were crowded into displaced persons camps and some were there for years awaiting migration to any country that would take them. Many of these people were effectively stateless and desired to emigrate to somewhere new instead of returning to where their original trauma began. It was a mess of trying to figure out which country wanted to take these people in, and many refused or accepted only a limited amount of Jews.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-aftermath-of-the-holocaust https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/displaced-persons?series=89

In these displaced persons camps people struggled desperately finding whatever remained of their families.

Another aspect of these displaced persons camps were the orphans. Because children were separated from their families and systemically slaughtered in ways akin to culling cattle, there were MANY orphans that were within these displaced persons camps. Life was extremely difficult in trying to attain some form of new normalcy and the unique trauma these kids had isn't something that is often discussed.

Jews prior to the holocaust were quite assimilated, all things considered

Jews (much like in the United States presently), for a period of time prior to the Holocaust and the rise of Nazi Germany made major contributions to the academics and the arts across Western Europe but especially Germany. For the most part, most Jews could not be distinguished from their non-Jewish neighbors in Germany. They participated in all aspects of life. In Eastern Europe there was less assimilation but Jewish life still thrived as well.

It only took a war and economic crisis for the tide to be completely turned against Jews across Europe. All their contributions to German society at the time were thrown to the side and Jews went from just usual Germans to being seen akin to bugs.

It took less than a generation. Children watched as their neighbors went from being warm to them and interacting with them in civil society, to being discriminated against and later murdered by them. We see a glimpse of this change in Anne Frank's diary. She was one of many Jewish children who witnessed this happen.

https://www.yadvashem.org/articles/general/teaching-about-jewish-life-before-the-holocaust.html

The depth of the cruelty is worse when you understand basic tenets within Jewish culture

Every aspect of the Holocaust in nearly every single way was done in a way to be as cruel and defiling towards Jews and Jewish bodies.

Within Jewish religious philosophy, the body is sacred and both cremation and tattoos are seen as taboo. The fact Jews were mass cremated was a direct insult to Jews after murdering them. Akin to kicking someone while they were down.

Religious items and artifacts and even personal items were all looted and stored with intentional callousness. There were even plans to make a “museum” about us and other “inferior” cultures when they finished us off. Entire torah scrolls were taken to warehouses and just left to rot for years on end.

The other groups are important too, and Roma still face horrendous treatment today

The victims of the Holocaust were not just Jews. A big group that's often overlooked is the Romani people that were also victims of the Holocaust as well. Antiziganism is still a big thing across modern Europe, and the way Roma are treated at times exists in tandem to how Jews are treated. Our trauma is unique, but we seem to exist in union with one another in the way people hate each of us. In the modern day it seems that when hatred of one rises, the other follows shortly after as well.

And unfortunately with antisemitism on the rise worldwide, this remains the case.

https://www.amnestyusa.org/updates/roma-persecution-antiziganism-intensifies-in-europe/ https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/genocide-of-european-roma-gypsies-1939-1945

Many people abandoned or began to hide Jewish religious identity due to trauma, and that aftermath is visible in certain Jewish religious movements

Many survivors of the Holocaust responded to the trauma in many ways, but a big one was rejection of religiousity. A rage against G-d for allowing this misery to happen to them was adopted by many, and this attitude of both hiding and rejecting Jewish identity is something many survivors taught their children and is still a struggle to be undone.

As well, some people who were alive during the Holocaust as well abandoned their Jewishness or began to hide it as a result of survivors guilt.

Some became more religious after.

The responses were unique to each person, but the impact is no more clearer than how Jewish practices exist and have evolved over the past decade, particularly reform Jews both in Europe and especially the United States. Reform Judaism and the way it practices religious services has changed significantly over time.

This has been one of the common causes of strife against the Reform Jewish movement in the United States by more orthodox leaning Jewish movements, as for a long time religious and prayer services (and even ritual ceremonies) were effectively Jewish mirrors of similar Protestant practices. From the abandoning of Hebrew, to embracing “confirmation”, these practices are being replaced by more traditional jewish ritual practices but the impact is still there nonetheless. It's interesting just how different most Reform services in the United States were only 30 years ago compared to today. And this trauma response was very likely a big impacting factor to that.

Most collaborating companies never faced justice

Most companies that collaborated with the Nazis have never faced justice in any way. There exists numerous companies that were stolen completely from Jewish families that were never returned or forced to pay reparations in any capacity . These companies hide this fact, but it's a skeleton that exists in many European companies closets (and even some American companies as well.)

LGBT survivors were treated terribly

The topic of LGBT people under the holocaust is a tricky subject but something that needs to be known clearly is that the hatred of LGBT people that nazis held was in DIRECT consequence of their hatred of Jews. They felt that LGBT people were a clear representation of Jewish degeneracy. German Jews did have rising allyship with LGBT people in Germany too and this only served to contribute to this linking of LGBT people with Jews. It did not help either that the founding researcher of Institute for Sexual Research was Jewish.

https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/life-before-the-holocaust/pre-war-homosexual-life/

After the camps liberation though, for the most part the LGBT people were nearly universally placed back into prison by the Allies. This is something that people commonly debate its authenticity when its spread online, but this is unfortunately true. This is why you likely have never heard of the LGBT Holocaust survivors. It's not that they didn't exist, it's that their nightmare never truly ended.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/gay-prisoners-germany-wwii/ https://theconversation.com/lgbtq-history-month-gay-victims-and-survivors-of-the-holocaust-are-often-forgotten-we-need-to-tell-their-stories-154417

Jews & whiteness

The idea of Jewishness and whiteness is complicated, but in Europe without a doubt Jews were not seen as white. More often than not antisemitism exists outside of the bounds of most forms of bigotry and it doesn't help that Judaism is both an ethnicity and a religion and can exist independently of each other at times as well. It sometimes results in this occurrence of “conditional whiteness” where ashkenazi Jews are given white privilege until it's no longer convenient for their oppressors. The fact exists in that ashkenazi Jews are capable of both contributing to white supremacy whilst being victims of it at the same time. This is why it's alarming to dismiss American Jews as just another form of whiteness because it's more nuanced than that.

Ashkenazi Jews although faced the brunt of the Holocaust, are not the only Jewish ethnic group and antisemitism contrary to what some may believe is not a uniquely European concept. The next post will talk about Jewish ethnic groups as well.

Jews are not European, and antisemitism isn't uniquely European either

European antisemitism although historically insidious is not the only form of antisemitism. Antisemitism has existed across cultures around the world and unfortunately exists heavily across the Middle East.

Jews are a Middle Eastern diaspora group, and there exists numerous ethnic groups across Jewish culture. We are all united mutually by Jewishness but we still have our own independent cultural traits and traditions between each groups.

There exists Ashkenazi Jews who are broadly European Jews, Sephardic Jews which are Hispanic and Latin Jews, Mizrahi Jews who are broadly Middle Eastern, Keifeng Jews of Asia (specifically China) and Beta Israel which are the African Jewish ethnic groups.

Each of these groups have all faced antisemitism and hatred in their own unique ways. No Jewish ethnic group in the diaspora has ever known true peace. None.

Sephardim faced the crusades and forced conversions at the hands of the catholic church, as well as mass violence and expulsions from countries on numerous occasions.

Kaifeng Jews are actively suppressed by the Chinese government even in the modern day. Most are largely assimilated into Chinese culture today.

Mizrahim in the Middle East have faced endless violence and persecution. Mizrahi Jews were not treated with kindness, and at best were merely tolerated. They were treated as sub-class citizens and taxed heavily as a direct consequence of their Jewishness. Modern day Middle Eastern culture is extremely culturally antisemitic with casual antisemitism existing in many aspects of modern Middle Eastern countries day to day society and media.

Ashkenazi Jews are not the only Jewish ethnic group, but we are merely over-represented in the minds of most of the Western world and in conversations about Jews. There are key cultural differences and what many people in the Western world see as “jewish culture” is more often than not really just Ashkenazi Jewish culture. From bagels, klezmer, etc. That's Ashkenazi specific.

Even large portions of African Jewish populations have had to largely flee their home countries due to violence and hatred as well.

Fediverse link: https://grimgreenfo.rest/notes/9sz4aqupqckd04ej

Tags: #Judaism, #Antisemitism, #JewishEducation

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