Uneasy Encounter: A History of Christian - Jewish Relations

Jesus was a Jew Apostles were Jews They were faithful to Jewish law. Jesus' message was first spread in synagogues The Old Testament came from the Jews Much of Christianity was rooted in Judaism: the preciousness of the human being , created in God's image, belief that a transcendent God rules history, awareness of human sinfulness, call for repentance, and the appeal to God for forgiveness reference to God as a "merciful Father" moral norms proclaimed by Jesus. For example, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself“ Ten Commandments Connection between Christianity and Judaism

Christians forgot or devalued the relationship with Judaism Resentment for Jews refusal to acceptJesus Jewish role in the death of Jesus Resentment against continued survival of Judaism, since this undermined the conviction that Christianity was the fulfillment of Judaism as the true faith Jewish insistence that Christians follow Jewish law Great Change in Relations with the coming of non-Jewish Converts

Jews are "inveterate murder- ers, destroyers, men possessed by the Devil." "[T]hey] murder their offsprings and immolate them to the devil." The synagogue, was "the domicile of the devil." Their rites are "criminal and impure," their religion is "a disease.“ For the "odius assassination of Christ," there is "no expiation possible,. . . no pardon." Jews will live "under the yoke of servitude without end.”

Eusebius of Caesarea (260-340), Father Church History “ Thus the divine vengeance overtook the Jews for the crimes (murder of Jesus) which they dared to commit against Christ. " (Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History: Book II, Chapter 6: The Misfortunes which overwhelmed the Jews after their Presumption against Christ)

[O]nce it is established that God has cursed the Jews, how can one argue that Christians should love them? If Jews have been fated by God to have. . . a long history of suffering, who are Christians to alter their history by doing anything to relieve Jewish suffering? The theology of victimization thus precludes… Christian love as a basis of relating to Jews. Randolph Braham, ed. The Origins of the Holocaust: Christian Anti-Semitism, (1986) p.37 God cursed them, how could Christians love them?

More Grotesque Accusations and Vilifications

A popular anti-Jewish myth that gained widespread acceptance was the notion that Jews murdered Christians because they need blood to perform satanic rites—the charge of ritual murder or blood libel. It was believed that Jews, usually led by rabbis, kidnapped Christian children on Jewish holidays in order to bleed them to death for occult rituals. More Grotesque Accusations and Vilifications cont. Ritual murder of Christian Children at Passover

A page of Hartmann Schedels Weltchronik, 1493 Ritual murder of Christian Children at Passover Pamphlet showing ritual murder of a Christian boy by a Jew. More Grotesque Accusations and Vilifications cont.

A devout little Christian child was murdered by Jews affronted at his singing a hymn as he passed through the Jewish quarter. The child is found, it comes back to live. The Jews are killed. Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) "The Prioress's Tale" Canterbury Tales More Grotesque Accusations and Vilifications cont.

More Grotesque Accusations and Vilifications cont. Ritual murder and bestiality serving the Devil

More Grotesque Accusations and Vilifications cont. Jews Mocking the Host

A Jew poisoning the Christian water supply by dropping some potion into the well. Poisoning the Christian water supply More Grotesque Accusations and Vilifications cont.

Jews were accused of poisoning wells and causing the Black Plague. From This accusation led to severe consequences for Jews. More than sixty Jewish communities were burned to the ground with all their occupants killed . In cities in Switzerland and Germany—Basel, Cologne, Strasbourg, and Mainz—Jews were tortured and, in some cases, burned to death in bonfires. Causing the Black Plague, 1348 More Grotesque Accusations and Vilifications cont.

Jews were excluded from professions and guilds – only banking and some crafts were open to them. Christians in theory were not in banking since they could not take interest. The job was left to Jews. The miniature shows a Jewish money lender who wears a yellow witch's hat. He counts gold coins and gives them in a bag to a Christian. Money Loans with Interest Implying: Avarice & draining Christian Resources More Grotesque Accusations and Vilifications cont. Money Grabbers

Julius Streicher’s publication Der Giftpilz (Toadstool) 1938. The caption reads: "The God of the Jew is Money. And to gain money, he will commit the greatest crimes…." More Grotesque Accusations and Vilifications cont. Money The God of the Jew is Money Money Grabbers

France suffered while "the Jew" has become rich. Edouard Drumont, the publisher More Grotesque Accusations and Vilifications cont.

Anti-semitic caricature (France, 1898) More Grotesque Accusations and Vilifications cont. Jewish Conspiracy to Control the World “ The Jew" rules everywhere, even where Jews have no rights like in Russia French anti-Semitic postcard

2005 Syrian edition Protocols of the Elders of Zion 1927 Paris More Grotesque Accusations and Vilifications cont. Jewish Conspiracy to Control the World

1889 French elections poster for self-described "candidat antisémite“ Adolphe Willette: "The Jews are a different [inferior] race, hostile to ours... Judaism is the enemy!" More Grotesque Accusations and Vilifications cont. "The Jews are a different [inferior] race, hostile to ours...

Only Hope for Jews – Conversion and Acceptance of Jesus IF THEY DON’T . . . Consequences of Accusations, Stereotyping and Non-Compliance ...

Large groups of flagellants preached the coming of the Last Days and traveled from village to village, scourging themselves with whips in the Late Middle Ages. These groups insisted that Jews must accept Jesus, or die. Accept Jesus or Die

If they do not convert they are “…venomous beasts, vipers, disgusting scum, canders, devils incarnate. Their private houses must be destroyed and devastated, they could be lodged in stables. Let the magistrates burn their synagogues and let whatever escapes be covered with sand and mud. Let them force to work, and if this avails nothing, we will be compelled to expel them like dogs in order not to expose ourselves to incurring divine wrath and eternal damnation from the Jews and their lies." On the Jews and their Lies Consequences of Accusations, Stereotyping and Non-Compliance cont. Martin Luther: Destroy houses and synagogues Enslave them Expel them like dogs

Consequences of Accusations, Stereotyping and Non-Compliance cont. Ridicule Jews sucking the unclean Pig. Common ridicule in the Middle Ages Judensau at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Regensburg

1239, Pope Gregory orders the Talmud to be put on trial and burned. Panel by Berruguete, 15th century. Consequences of Accusations, Stereotyping and Non-Compliance cont. Burning their Holy Books

Jewish couple from Worms, Germany, with the obligatory yellow badge on their clothes. The man holds a moneybag and bulbs of garlic, both often used in the portrayal of Jews. 16th century Consequences of Accusations, Stereotyping and Non-Compliance cont. Forced to wear a Yellow Badge

In 1516 the Venetian government established Italy's first ghetto packing in about 700 people on one of Venice's 117 small islands. Consequences of Accusations, Stereotyping and Non-Compliance cont. Forced into Ghettos

In 1555 Pope Paul IV , in his bull Cum nimis absurdum , put into effect statutes segregating the Jews and compelling them to live in their own ghetto (a term borrowed from Venetian practice) on the left bank of the Tiber. The practice spread , and in many parts of Europe Jews were forced into ghetto—a condition that they endured until the nineteenth century. It was renewed by the Nazis. Forced into Ghettos

Map of Jewish expulsions and resettlement areas in Europe Expulsion

Expulsion from Frankfurt on August 23, 1614 , after riots in the "Jews Street" led by Vincent Fettmilch. According to the text, "1380 persons old and young were counted at the exit of the gate" and herded onto ships on the river Main. Expulsion Consequences of Accusations, Stereotyping and Non-Compliance cont. March 31, 1492 Urged by Torquemada , Ferdinand and Isabella sign edict of expulsion of Moors and Jews. Edict of Expulsion

Jews, identifiable by their Judenhuts, are being killed by Crusaders, from a 1250 French Bible Consequences of Accusations, Stereotyping and Non-Compliance cont. Mass Murders

Clifford's Tower: Massacre at York (1190)

Del Pugar claims that as many as 2000 Jews were burned at the stake The Spanish Inquisition, 1480-1492 Torture and Mass Murder Jews being burned in 1493 in Spain. Torture and Mass Murder

The victims of a 1905 pogrom in Dnipropetrovsk Torture and Mass Murder “ Brothers, in the name of Our Lord who shed his blood for us and in the name of our holy Czar who is filled with compassion for his people, let us cry out during our great holiday, “Down with the Yids!” Down with these horrible vermin, these vampires slavering for the blood of Russians. (pamphet to Kishinev Pogrom 1903 (49 dead) During 1905-1906, more than 600 outbreaks of violence were recorded and 3,103 Jews killed.

Concentration Camps and Mass Murder

Anti-Semitism grew from the 1800s to the 1950’s. It took four forms: dissemination of vicious stereotypes; violence against individual Jews, de facto social and economic discrimination. Jews were discriminated against in employment, access to residential and resort areas, membership in the clubs and organizations, quotas on Jewish enrollment and teaching positions in colleges and universities. Also in America

Lynching of Leo Frank , a Jewish factory manager of fantastic sexual crimes and of the murder of a Mary Phagan, a girl employed at his factory. He was convicted wrongly. A mob calling itself the Knights of Mary Phagan kidnapped Frank from the prison farm and lynched him. The girl was killed by a janitor. Lynching

"The international financiers are behind all wars. They are what is called the International Jew -- German Jews, French Jews, English Jews, American Jews. I believe that in all these countries except our own the Jewish financier is supreme... Here, the Jew is a threat." Henry Ford

December 18, 1938 two thousand of Coughlin's followers marched in New York protesting potential asylum law changes that would allow more Jews to enter the country, chanting: "Send the Jews back where they came from in leaky boats!" Father Charles Edward Coughlin Before our entry into World War II, anti-Semitism reached a climax. Father Coughlin attacked Jews over the airwaves (with the support of some Catholic clergymen) Charles Lindbergh delivered openly anti-Semitic speeches

The St. Louis was forced to return from America to Europe in June 1939. Great Britain, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands agreed to accept the stranded refugees. After German forces occupied Western Europe in 1940, many St. Louis passengers and other Jewish refugees who had entered those countries were caught up in the "Final Solution,” Report of a group of senior aides to Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. uncovered a pattern of attempts by the State Department to obstruct rescue opportunities and block the flow of Holocaust information to the United States. (January 13, 1944)

The KKK: Nazi salute and Holocaust denial Denial of Jewish Suffering

Defacement of a Jewish cemetery, 2004.

Napoleon was the first leader in Europe to grant liberty, equality and fraternity to all religions. In this lithograph of the period, Napoleon is granting liberty to the Jews. Freedom and Emancipation Of Jews Granted by “Enlightened Non-Believers”

At the Jozsefvarosi train station in Budapest, Raoul Wallenberg (at right, with hands clasped behind his back) rescues Hungarian Jews from deportation by providing them with protective passes. Budapest, Hungary, 1944. Heroes Raoul Wallenberg

Wallenberg saved 70,000 Jews by demanding that German commander prevent eminent murders Convinced commander that he would be hung when the Russians came

Oskar Schindler , (1908-1974) Heroes Jewish office workers from the “Emalia” factory saved by Schindler

Gabrielle Weidner worked for the Seventh-day Adventist Church and secretly with her brother Johan Hendrik Weidner and other volunteers helped people to escape from the Nazis. As one of the significant contributors to French Resistance, their efforts were responsible for the rescue of at least 1,000 persons, including 800 Jews and more than 100 downed Allied airmen. On February 26, 1944 the Gestapo arrested her along with 140 other members of the escape network. She was interrogated and tortured in Fresnes prison in Paris, then shipped in a railway cattle car to the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany. Ravensbrück Concentration Camp Gabrielle Weidner Gabrielle Weidner Heroes

‘ All that is necessary for the triumph of evil Is that good men do nothing’ ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil Is that good men do nothing’

"In Germany, the Nazis first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't Jewish. Then they came for the trade unionist, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant, Then they came for the homosexuals, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a homosexual, Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak for me.“ -- Rev. Martin Niemoeller, German Lutheran Pastor Heroes Martin Niemöller

“ And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another , and toward all men , even as we do toward you” 1 Thessalonians 3:12

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another ; as I have love d you, that ye also love one another . John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another . John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another , as I have love d you. John 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another . Romans 12:10 Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love ; in honor preferring one another ;

Uneasy Encounter: A History of Christian - Jewish Relations

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Uneasy Encounter: A History of Christian - Jewish Relations