Walking to school one day, just a few short blocks from home, I was accosted by a boy who snarled, “Dirty Jew - you killed Christ”. We were both 8 years old.
A few years later, my dear friend Suzanne, with whom I walked in her church parade, chanting “Je veux Sani Marie, Pleine de Grace, Sanimarie, (I want St. Mary, full of grace, St. Mary)… turned to me and said, “I like you, Jean, but I don’t’ like your religion”.
Growing up, I got used to it - well, at least it didn’t bother me as much. Although years later Miss D, who had been my 4th grade teacher - I had adored her - called my employment agency, looking for a job, I happened to take the call. Before I could say, “It’s ME”, she said she was looking for secretarial work, “but I don’t want to work for Jews”. I was crushed - she had been SO nice to me when I was in her class - inviting me to her house all by myself, and giving me a half brick of chocolate ice cream! I thanked her for calling, put down the phone, slumped in my chair, and cried a little. This was 7 years after the end of World War 11 - and the end of the Holocaust.
Did Miss D, Suzanne or the 8 year old boy understand why they felt as they did? I don't think so. I doubt they even gave it a thought.
In 1948, 3 years after war’s end, Israel was declared a State. I was thrilled. Maybe now that Jewish people had a homeland, people would feel differently. Not that I noticed! McGill still had a “Jewish quota”, (I was one of the lucky ones who got accepted). Chippy, one of my fellow students at McGill, who later became a judge, half-joked, “They like the “skis” on the end of our feet; not on the end of our names.
I have a dear friend who’s a nun. When my late husband was ill a few years ago, she walked with him, supporting him on the dirt road in upstate New York. We care for each other. She sends me pictures of Jesus on the cross, and of the Madonna holding Baby Jesus. I doubt if it ever occurs to her that her beloved symbolism could play a role in my childhood and ancestral
experiences.
During the ’50’s, I learned about general semantics - the study of words and what they do to you - how words program us, like Pavlov’s signals programmed dogs. When the bell rang, they were fed. Soon they salivated at the mere ringing of the bell. They had learned to equate the symbol with the reality - total mind/body response!
I began to understand the anti-semitic phenomenon in the light of such programming. I knew the hatred was widespread, spanning countries and eras. But how did it start?
The story of the Crucifixion occurred to me. Suzanne had no doubt that Jews killed the Son of God. What about the 8 year old boy? And Miss D? Scholastic debates raged about whether the Romans or Jews were the crucifiers, but if they knew of such debates, they did not seem to be impressed.
But the crucifixion happened over 2000 years ago! How could that possibly affect people today?
Beliefs, once internalized, feel true. The story of the crucifixion was accompanied by the image of a slow death on the cross, shown against the backdrop of an innocent baby cradled in a loving mother’s arms. Such a story, together with the symbols accompanying it, has unquestionably impacted generations - millennia - of children everywhere. The crosses are in their living rooms, in church and Sunday School, in hotel rooms above beds. Bibles in drawers are imprinted with crosses. Mothers wear necklaces adorned with hanging crosses. My 8 year old accuser was heir to 2000 years of symbolism. How could he - or Suzanne - or Miss D - not have been affected?
Recently, Pope Francis made a unique contribution towards address this belief system. I dared to hope that it would unwind the programming. He accepted responsibility, on behalf of the Church, for perpetuating anti-semitism! He asserted that it was not Jews who had killed Christ! Truly amazing! Could this signal a new beginning?
Chastened by past experience, I hesitated to be jubilant. But I did want to run and find that 8 year old boy. Would his attitude have changed? I never did find him, of course, or Suzanne or Miss D. I imagined telling them with great excitement what the Pope had said. Then I imagined the 8 year old, now as old as I am, saying “Are you challenging my faith?” Or Suzanne (if she’s still alive) saying “Yes, I heard that, but I don’t know why - I just don’t like your religion”. Or Miss D (undoubtedly long gone) saying “Well maybe so, but I still don’t want to work with Jews”. I realized how unlikely it was that new information would change old beliefs and behavior. What WOULD it take?
I wondered how such feelings had permeated so many countries in so many time periods. After all, each country was different, but anti-semitism existed in all of them. I wondered whether local conditions affected attitudes. I knew a little about Russia and Poland, where Jews, known as “People of the Book”, were hired as tax collectors. Needless to say, tax collectors were not popular - they were easy to hate. Frequent pogroms (Cossack invasions of Jewish villages), were conducted, including murder and rape), made famous by Fiddler on the Roof. My mother lived in one of those villages in the Ukraine. I haven’t delved into many other cultures, but it seems reasonable to assume that whatever their local problems, finding a scapegoat would not be difficult.
A friend recently shared some of her own childhood experiences with me. “My father’s side of the family came from the same part of the world as yours (Russian-Polish plus Polish-German, and Minsk on my maternal grandmother’s side). I grew up in a neighborhood that was mixed: Italian Catholics, Irish Catholics, Jews and a few other ethnic groups. Elizabeth called me a dirty Jew (her Germanic parents were Nazi sympathizers). My mother went to the public school and spoke to the principal about teaching children to embrace differences and not allowing hate-mongering. We were about that same age…8-9”. It was a laudable effort, as are the efforts of worldwide organizations dedicated to promoting love. Many hope; some believe that confronting hatred head-on will make a dent.
My own mother’s family, believing that the American dream was alive with hope, and desperate to leave Russia, saved their pennies and sent their eldest son on a boat bound for America. He worked, saved what he earned, and sent for the next sibling, and so on until it was my Mother’s turn to board. She met my father on the boat - he was one of the few who spoke a few words of English, so he was able to help her fill out her papers. They landed in Montreal.
My father, whose family lived on the Russian-Polish border, was conscripted into the Czar’s army, and knew that persecution was inevitable. With the help of relatives in America, he, too, was able to escape. In both cases, local conditions intersected with ancient hatred to perpetuate suffering.
With no money and no jobs, my folks survived, thanks to help from relatives. They acquired skills, and began to realize the American Dream. As in 19th century Germany, they assimilated into the culture. My Dad started as a traveling salesman, then became a clothing manufacturer. Cousins and uncles became academics, doctors, lawyers. Some new arrivals became scientists, filmmakers and entrepreneurs and yes, some were rag peddlers and bill collectors. My brother joined the Royal Canadian Air Force to fight the Nazis. After the jubilation that followed the end of the war, there was a brief period of euphoria. Then, undercurrents began to surface. “These Jews are so clever! They come in, they take over.”
I became curious about how anti-semitism evolved in other cultures, at other times. Fifteenth Century Spain, for instance. The Spanish Inquisition began after a period of peaceful assimilation, not unlike 19th century Germany, or for that matter, here and now! Assimilation followed by explosions of latent hatred! Jews were given the choice to convert to Christianity or burn at the stake. Even those who converted were persecuted if they were suspected of being Marranos - hiding their religion, but practicing it in secret.
Are there cycles predictable? And if so, where are we now? Is the current rumbling in America and Europe the beginning of the next one? Assimilation in the 19th century succumbed to the undercurrent that erupted under Hitler. He didn’t try to change perceptions head-on; the process was systematic, but gradual. Germany had been devastated by the crippling effects of the Treaty of Versailles in 1918, when the Allies were determined to make sure Germany never went to war again - they could not foresee the consequences of their devastating punishment. Germans yearned for a leader to restore their power and their economy - especially their pride. Hitler was that leader. “The Jews are to blame!” He himself did not practice any religion, but he knew how to manipulate those who did. Repetition! With fervor! Repeat a message that addresses their convictions - and provide someone to blame. Over and over. Hitler repeated his message - at every rally and mass communication: “Jews killed Christ” and “Jews are taking our jobs”, And “We are the Aryan race - we must eliminate inferiors”. It took him just a few short years to implement the “final solution to the Jewish problem” - the Holocaust: the modern version of the Inquisition.
The original narrative, repeated everywhere, in every time, is still doing its work - three quarters of a century after the Holocaust, and over 2000 years after the crucifixion. In the current period of assimilation, our children and grandchildren have grown up with no memory, and little awareness of that history. Do they - AND we - believe there is no problem? How do we learn from the past without making our children afraid?
Even as I worry about the future of anti-semitism, I recognize that programmed behavior is a much deeper issue. The need to control the beliefs of others does not impact Jews alone. Throughout history, Muslims, Christians, and sects within each religion have been viciously attacked for their beliefs. Indeed, we have to go back to tribal times to understand its genesis. “The “stranger” - the “other” - was seen as a threat to the survival of the tribe, and had to be destroyed. Our programming runs deep. And we don’t really know how to reverse even one lifetime of conditioning, let alone eons. Like Pavlov’s dogs, are we destined to salivate forever when the bell rings? Or is this the generation that can finally effect change?