Crash Course in Antisemitism: Why Do the Nations of the World Hate the Jews?

Antisemitism is as old as the Jewish people. Through the years, it has neither diminished nor lost its strength. It is ubiquitous and has been expressed by nations around the world in every generation. It's a genre of hatred that is fundamental and unconditional and is therefore not dependent on any objective factors - not on personal character traits or national character, not on economic conditions or social circumstances, not on the form of government or one's relationship to it, not on success or failure, not on backwardness or progress. The Jewish people have experienced all these things, yet antisemitism remains. They hate us because we are too good, and conversely because we are a burden to society. They hate us for being separatists and also for being too involved. They hate us during periods of economic prosperity and persecute us in times of difficulty. We have been subject to hate in societies ruled by kings, dictators, and even democratically elected leaders. In times of anarchy, we are the easy prey that is attacked first.  

We are viewed as responsible for every failure, and unnecessary to every success. They strike at the assimilated Jew. Every situation, in any generation, can provide a pretext for hating Jews. A brief look through our history, from the days of the Patriarchs through the long years of exile, demonstrates that antisemitism cannot be attributed to any given circumstance. It has cropped up in a myriad of different, and even contradictory, conditions, and in situations that are polar opposites of one another.

In fact, our Sages note that antisemitism is an irrefutable fact: "Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said: It is a known law that Eisav hates Yaakov" (cited in Rashi, Bereishit 33:4). This reality doesn't require any proof. It doesn't depend on anything. Eisav hates Yaakov. This hatred need not be based on something specific; it feeds on itself and erupts on its own, the external reality notwithstanding. Eisav's hatred could be detected in his mother's womb: "And the children struggled within her." Rabbi Yochanan says: This one ran to kill that one, and that one ran to kill this one (Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit 63:6).

Though the Midrash's statement doesn't identify who is the aggressor and who acted in self-defense, our Sages flesh out the picture: "Rabbi Berechiah said in the name of Rabbi Levi: Don't say that only after leaving his mother's womb did he set upon him, but even while in his mother's womb, his fist was raised against him, as it is written (Tehillim 58): "The wicked are estranged from the womb" (Midrash, ibid).

Eisav was not able to overcome Yaakov in his lifetime, and he bequeathed his animosity to his descendants: Eisav said to Amalek: 'How much I toiled to kill Yaakov, but he was not delivered into my hand. Set your mind to exact my revenge.' He said to him: 'How can I engage him? He replied: Take this tradition in your hand - when you see they have stumbled in something, pounce upon them.' Therefore, you find him coming against Israel (Yalkut Shimoni, Bamidbar 21).

Yaakov was well aware of Eisav's satanic legacy and his bid to pit all his descendants against the Jewish people and seek out opportunities to harm and destroy them, for this reason, he prayed to Hashem "Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Eisav," deliver my children in the future from the hand of his children who rise against them through Eisav's power (Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit 76:5).

Eisav's hatred is not rooted in mere human animosity. Instead, it represents the confrontation between good and evil in the eternal world, in the Satan's aspiration to uproot the Torah. This was evident in the war that Amalek waged against the Jewish people in Rephidim, shortly before they received the Torah: "Rabbi Chama bar Shakla, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, and Rabbi Yochanan said: What did the house of Amalek do? They cut off the circumcisions of Israel and threw them upward, saying, 'This is what You chose, take what You have chosen.' This is what is written (Tehillim 79): 'Your reproach with which they reproached You, Hashem'" (Tanchuma, end of Ki Teitzei).

The same trend also featured prominently during the destruction of the Temple. Our Sages describe: "Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said: When Andrianos entered the Holy of Holies, he boasted there and blasphemed Hashem. Rabbi Chiya bar Abba said: David said, 'Master of the Universe, would this please You, that if they could cut down cedars to make ladders, they would climb up, as it is written' (Tehillim 74): 'Known as one who brings axes upward in the thicket of trees,' but they cannot and they leave them and come against us" (Midrash Rabbah, Shemot 51:5).

For this reason, the eternal war against Amalek is not only the Jewish people's war, but also Hashem's war: "Rabbi Levi in the name of Rabbi Acha bar Chanina says: As long as the seed of Amalek exists in the world, neither the Name nor the Throne is complete. When Amalek's seed is destroyed, the Name is complete and the Throne is complete. Why is this so? 'The enemy has come to an end, ruins forever' (Tehillim 9), and what is written after it? 'And Hashem sits enthroned forever, He has established His throne for judgment' - thus the Name is complete and the Throne is complete, amen and may it be His will (Tanchuma, ibid).

The battle between good and evil is an unceasing struggle. There is no room for compromise and no hope for respite. It is a battle that can either be won or lost. There's no middle ground. The Talmud teaches (Megillah 6a): "Caesarea and Jerusalem - if someone tells you both are destroyed, do not believe it. If someone tells you both are inhabited, do not believe it." If Caesarea is destroyed, then Jerusalem is, by definition, inhabited, and if Jerusalem is destroyed, then Caesarea, by definition, is inhabited.

This principle demonstrates why Eisav's hatred toward us cannot be redressed by reforming our behavior or creating different social conditions. His hatred is predicated on something else, and good and evil simply cannot coexist. The satanic forces of Eisav do not accept the existence of the Jewish people - the recipients of the Torah and the keepers of its commandments.

Indeed, from this perspective, it is better for us to live on our own, separate from the nations of the world. This is something that the evil Balaam recognized: "Behold, a people that dwells alone" (Bamidbar 23:9). Yet, for this to be effective, there is a necessary precondition that is stated in the second part of the verse: "And among the nations it does not reckon itself." Spending our time in pursuit of other nations and trying to be just like them is detrimental to us. In fact, King David warns: "He scatters the peoples who delight in battles" (Tehillim 68:31) - what caused the Jewish people to be scattered among the nations of the world? The proximity they desired (Pesachim 118b). Being dispersed among the nations of the world, aside from being a severe punishment associated with exile, does not provide the closeness we seek (that prompted our exile in the first place). The nations of the world want no part in this.

This is evident in times of trouble: When the Jewish people are in distress, the nations of the world alienate them and act as if they do not recognize them (Sifrei, Deuteronomy 318).

Moreover, they loathe the Jewish people, as the Midrash explains: "There was a story about two prostitutes in Ashkelon who were quarreling with one another. During the fight, one said to the other: 'If you don't leave here, your face looks like a Jewish face!' A few days later, they reconciled. She said to her: 'I forgive you for everything, aside from what you said: "Your face looks like a Jewish face" - I do not forgive you for that.'" This is what the prophet laments (Eichah 1:11): "See, O Hashem, and behold, for I have become one who is gluttonous, despised, and cheapened more than all" (Midrash Rabbah, Eichah 1).

The nations' hatred for Israel does not decrease over time. Instead, it intensifies. Our Sages explain: "'And it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus.' Rabbi Tanchuma in the name of Rabbi Chiya, Rabbi Berechiah in the name of Rabbi Eliezer: This Midrash came to us from the exile - wherever it says 'And it came to pass' - these were days of distress. What distress was there? 'To destroy, to kill, and to annihilate.' This can be compared to a king who had a vineyard, and three enemies came upon it. The first began to pluck the small grapes, the second to cut off the clusters, and the third to uproot the vines. Similarly, the wicked Pharaoh began to pluck the small grapes - 'Every son that is born, you shall cast into the river.' The wicked Nebuchadnezzar began to cut off the clusters after Yechaniah and the craftsmen and locksmiths left Jerusalem. The wicked Haman sought to uproot the vines - 'to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate'" (Yalkut Shimoni, Esther 1). This is the goal that guides our enemies in every generation, from Haman to Hamas.

Eisav's hatred for Yaakov was especially evident during the Holocaust, when it reached an incomprehensibly cruel peak. Millions of our brothers, including dignified elders, delicate women, and innocent children, were led to the fiery furnaces, tortured with demonic rage, and uprooted from the land of the living. No Jews were spared. It didn't matter if they were religious or completely assimilated, backward villagers or enlightened city dwellers, uneducated or accomplished scholars - everyone was slaughtered together. Not only that, but the Holocaust was perpetrated by a nation that was a symbol of culture, people whom we eagerly sought out to enjoy the light of their wisdom, and be associated with them.

Can there be more potent evidence that the nations' hatred toward us is unlimited? Is there clearer proof that culture, politeness, science, and proper governance cannot resolve antisemitism?!

The question can be asked: if we cannot eradicate the nations' hatred toward us, how can we block them and prevent them from carrying out their most awful intentions? After all, even today, the Arab nations of the world rise against the State of Israel and plot against us, adopting Haman's goal "to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate." How can we oppose them?

Our Sages respond: Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: There have not arisen philosophers in the world like Balaam the son of Beor and Avnimus the Gardi. All the nations of the world gathered around him and said: Tell us, can we engage this nation? He said to them: Go and check their synagogues and study houses, and if you find children chirping with their voices, you cannot engage them, for thus their father promised them and said to them: "The voice is the voice of Yaakov, but the hands are the hands of Eisav" - when Yaakov's voice is found in synagogues, the hands are not the hands of Eisav, but if not, the hands are the hands of Eisav - you can overcome them (Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit 65:16).

Eisav's hatred can only be fought with Yaakov's voice - namely, Torah study. One day, the prophet Malachi's words will come true (Malachi 3:12): "And all nations will call you blessed." Israel is destined to be praised by the nations of the world. Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta said: When a noblewoman is praised by her friends and neighbors, it is not honorable for her, but when she is praised by her rivals, that is her honor (Yalkut Shimoni, Malachi 590).

At the time of the complete redemption, the day will come when the nations of the world will no longer hate the Jewish people, and instead of war and strife, they will recognize the good and the Jewish people will rightfully earn the praise of the nations.