How I Cure Antisemitism

I cure antisemitism by showing people who hate Jews that there is at least one honorable Jew.

They’ve become convinced that our people are incapable of honor, of humility, of introspection – of the virtues that make people truly human.

And by showing them these virtues, I show them that anyone is capable of it – even a Jew.

And if one Jew can do it… maybe others can too.

And thus begins the journey of healing.

And what do I mean by “show them an honorable Jew?”

What is an “honorable Jew”?

It’s one who is willing to participate in collective introspection on behalf of his/her people.

In other words, a Jew who’s willing to consider the possibilty that our own people have caused our conflicts.

The trait of introspection is a universal human value. Or at least it’s supposed to be. We all expect it of everyone else. Whenever we’re dealing with anyone, in any context, if there’s a conflict, we expect that person to introspect – to consider the possibility that he or she is the source of his or her own conflict. We want other people to think, “Hey, maybe the problem is me.”

We all want everyone else to do that.

Because we recognize, at least intuitively, that it is a universal human virtue, to be able to look within oneself, and consider this.

And if we want everyone else to do it…

…then how about we also do it!

If Jewish people would like Arabs to introspect on the Arab role in causing conflicts with the Jews,

And if Jewish people would like Germans, Russians, Poles, and so on, to introspect in their respective roles in causing conflicts with the Jews…

…Doesn’t it make sense for Jews to engage in this same process, and introspect on the Jewish role in causing conflicts with all of these peoples?

All I’m asking here is for Jewish people (and “the” Jewish People, collectively) to learn to practice the virtue of introspection.

My bold revolutionary claim here is not that Jews should have a duty that nobody else has –

– but that Jews should not be exempt from a duty that everybody else has.

I’m not calling for a double standard. I’m calling for the end of a double standard.

“So is that it? Jews just have to introspect, and that should solve all our conflicts and end antisemitism?”

Well not yet – there’s more.

Once you recognize the possibilty that the Jewish people may have contributed to causing its many conflicts with other peoples, the next logical step is to go searching for information (or at least theories) about how.

How might we have contributed to starting the conflict with the Palestinians?

How might we have contributed to starting the conflict with the Germans? With the Poles? With the Russians?

What about with the English in the 1290’s?

What might our people have done to cause the hatred that arose against us?

That’s introspection, applied to a People.

And it’s virtuous.

And when other cultures see Jewish people engaging in this virtuous process, it gives them a spark of respect for us, because it shows them that we are capable of it – that we have intellectual courage.

Most of the cultures we have the worst problems with are cultures that place a super-high value on honor. So when Jews display honorable behavior – like the ability to introspect – it goes a long way toward bridging the gap.

When you’re at war with another people, it is honorable to ask what one’s own people have done that may have caused the war.

So the next step is searching for this information.

And where would one find it?

Well, if you want to find out why someone dislikes you… the best person to ask is… them!

Ask the person who hates you why they hate you, and you’ll get the most unfiltered, clear explanation.

If you ask a person who loves you why others hate you, you won’t get a trustworthy answer, because the person who loves you has difficulty fathoming what it would be like to hate you – and hence they’re unprepared to think like a person who hates you. And they won’t understand the reasons.

But a person who hates you understands the reasons why people who hate you hate you.

Get it?

So ask them. Talk to them.

Yes, literally! Find a person who hates Jews, and talk to them. There are plenty on the internet. You don’t have to travel to some mountain compound in a remote rural area in Idaho. You have the internet.

So find someone who you think is an antisemite, and ask them why they hate our people so.

Tell them you’re Jewish, and you want to listen.

I’ve done this. It’s fine. They don’t jump through the screen and get you. Teleportation hasn’t been invented yet, don’t worry.

And 99% of the time, they are shocked (in a good way) that a Jew actually wants to sit down and listen to them.

And they’re shocked that a Jew wants to know why his people are hated.

And they’re shocked that a Jew is willing to consider the possbility that Jewish people contributed to starting the conflict.

And they’re shocked when, upon making a solid point about something, a Jew can give them credit for making a valid point.

And they’re shocked when they see a Jew admitting (gasp!) to having been wrong.

And they’re shocked when they see a Jew apologizing for what his people did to another people.

They’re shocked, because they didn’t think we had it in us to be humble and honest like this.

I’ve had numerous people tell me that “if the rest of your people were like you, we wouldn’t have had any problem with you.”

Most of them are not irrational. They’re just hurt.

And yes… our people, the Jewish People, hurt them. In many ways.

And by acknowledging that we did this, I show them a human side of us. I show them a Jew who can acknowledge what our people did, and be sorry about it.

And that’s humanizing.

And I’m usually the first they’ve ever met who could do this. And it shows them that we are not universally intractably bad.

If there’s 1 Good Jew, there could be 2. Or 3 or 5 or 100 or 1000, and so on.