It is not a very big word, is it? Both the words
"HATE" and "LOVE" take up less space and yet the shorter
words are no more emotionally charged. The word "WAR" is even smaller.
Nevertheless, you can see that this word is so important that it is found in
every language today. Even if you cannot read French, German, or Italian, you
can pick out this word from front-page stories nearly every day of the week. Why
should this word merit so much use? Perhaps we can find the answer if we learn
its meaning.
The American
Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition has two
definitions for "anti-Semitism":
1. Hostility toward or prejudice against Jews or Judaism.
2. Discrimination against Jews.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. has one
definition:
Opposition to, or hatred of, Semites, esp. Jews
WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University has one definition:
The intense dislike for and prejudice against Jewish people
No, frankly the definition doesn't explain why the word
"anti-Semitism" is found in practically every newspaper and magazine.
Its usage transcends language and cultural boundaries. If it is just the hatred
that is described by the word, then a word like "misogynist" (hater of
women) should be equally represented. As that is not the case, we must look for
another explanation. Maybe there is something intrinsically negative about the
words "Jews," "Jewish," or "Judaism" (the words
used in the definitions.)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition has
four definitions for the word "Judaism":
1. The monotheistic religion of the Jews, tracing its origins to Abraham and
having its spiritual and ethical principles embodied chiefly in the Hebrew
Scriptures and the Talmud.
2. Conformity to the traditional ceremonies and rites of the Jewish religion.
3. The cultural, religious, and social practices and beliefs of the Jews.
4. The Jews considered as a people or community.
The word "Jew" has two definitions in The American Heritage®
Dictionary. When capitalized, it is listed as a noun and pertains to the
religious and/or cultural connection of a people (see definition 1 under
"Judaism".) When not capitalized, the word is listed as an inflexive
verb with two meanings:
5. To bargain shrewdly or unfairly with. Often used with down.
6. To haggle so as to reduce (a price). Often used with down.
The word "Jewish" is listed as an adjective form of the word
"Jew" (i.e., pertaining to or relating to a noun). Although
interesting, the definition itself does not add anything to our understanding of
the word "anti-Semitism", so it is not included here.
Although Roget's Thesaurus does not have a synonym listed for
"anti-Semitism," surprisingly enough, a search on the web came up with
a word that works very well - "scapegoat." In fact, there is a
psychotherapist in Great Britain, Simon Crosby, who devotes his entire practice
to "scapegoating." His definition of the term reads:
Scapegoating is a hostile social - psychological discrediting routine by which
people move blame and responsibility away from themselves and towards a target
person or group. It is also a practice by which angry feelings and feelings of
hostility may be projected, via inappropriate accusation, towards others. The
target feels wrongly persecuted and receives misplaced vilification, blame and
criticism; he is likely to suffer rejection from those who the perpetrator seeks
to influence. Scapegoating has a wide range of focus: from "approved"
enemies of very large groups of people down to the scapegoating of individuals
by other individuals. Distortion is always a feature.
According to Crosby, scapegoating has a recognizable psychodynamic process in
which, "…feelings of guilt, aggression, blame and suffering are
transferred away from a person or group so as to fulfill an unconscious drive to
resolve or avoid such bad feelings. This is done by the displacement of
responsibility and blame to another who serves as a target for blame both for
the scapegoater and his supporters."
Crosby goes on to point out that, "Scapegoating frees the perpetrator from
some self-dissatisfaction and provides some narcissistic gratification to him.
It enables the self-righteous discharge of aggression." He also
incorporates the definitions of two other authorities: "…scapegoating is
an example of projective identification, with the primitive intent of splitting:
separating the good from the bad [Scheidlinger, 1982]. On another view,
scapegoaters are insecure people driven to raise their own status by lowering
the status of their target [Carter, 1996]."
Apparently, the words "scapegoating" and "anti-Semitism"
have largely interchangeable meanings and that anti-Semitism qualifies as a
recognizable type of scapegoating. As this is the case, we can understand
anti-Semitism as a mentally unhealthy, but unfortunately very common, dynamic by
which too many people handle their negative feelings. Apparently, Crosby himself
is unaware of the connection, so I have written him a letter asking him to
correct his oversight. Of course, this is only one possible explanation for
anti-Semitism, and more than one meaning can certainly exist concurrently (and
undoubtedly, does.)
Unfortunately, knowing what anti-Semitism IS, doesn't help someone who has to
live with the hatred that it entails. May G-d help us reach a point where
anti-Semitism becomes an archaic term with its meaning being only of historical
and scholarly interest.