It is rare
to see overt anti-Semitism in popular culture today. Due to infamy of the
Hitler and the Holocaust, the ideals of the Nazi party have become synonymous
with evil. To say someone is a Nazi is
to identify him or her as knowing and complicit accomplice, or at the very
least a sympathizer, with one of the worst crimes against humanity in our
recent history. What we tend to forget is that anti-Semitism was rampant prior
to the Third Reich. Hitler did not create anti-Semitic sentiment; he used
existing fear and hate, to unite people against a common enemy. In Europe’s
Jewish population, the third Reich found a scapegoat to blame for all their
problems.
Why would
anyone hate Jews? Yoda tells us that
it’s because of fear. The little green wise man in star wars famously argued, “Fear
is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate
leads to suffering.” Okay, so what is there to fear about Jewish people?
The 2004
movie Borat, opens with the title
character Borat, created and portrayed by Sasha Baron Cohen, explaining what
life is like in his backward Kyrgyzstanian village. He explains that Kyrgyzstan
has three major problems, “Social, Political and Jew.” A scene is played from
the villages annual “running of the Jew,” in which someone dressed up as a
big-headed monster with horns, a huge hooked nose, giant ears and green skin
chases children through the street. Behind the male monster is a female version
said to be his wife. The female monster pauses from chasing after children with
a cleaver to lay an egg. The children are directed to crush the egg before it
can hatch. Later the movie shows Borat
and his traveling companion absolutely terrified by the idea of staying in a
bed and breakfast run by a lovely Jewish couple. Borat points out in sheer
terror, after learning that his host is Jewish, that you can barely see her
horns.
From Borat 2004 |
According
to the Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic
and Mysticism, the idea that Jewish people have horns likely came from a
mistranslation of the word “keren” in the Old Testament. The word can either
mean horned or radiant. The myth was exacerbated by Michelangelo’s statue of
Moses in which he sculpted the prophet with horns. In 1215 the Fourth Lateran
Council decreed that Jews should be forced to wear hats and other identifying
garments because the Jewish population had become so integrated that it was not
always possible for Christians to identify Jews and avoid having sex with them.
The pointy nature of these hats led to speculation that Jews wore the hats to
conceal their horns.
12th Century Jewish Hat |
The other
stereotypes are similarly linked to middle age beliefs about Judaism. The Jews
chasing the children is representative of the Blood-Libel Myth. The hooked
knows continues to be a stereotypical identifier, although not a good one
because if it were a universal trait the Lateran Council would not have felt
the need to require identifying garments. The egg laying Jew was likely lifted
from the Baba Yaga myth, another tale for frightening children. Even the
importance of hospitality has real roots in Jewish mythology. The Jews of the
Ottoman Empire put out chairs for ghosts and believed that even demons should
be treated well, if only so that they would not harm their hosts.
If anyone could be a Jew, could anything? |
Fortunately
Cohen’s depiction of modern eastern- Europe is more satire than reality. The
Kyrgyzstani village portrayed in the film - actually a Romani village – was
appalled by their portrayal as backward anti-Semitic hicks. Cohen himself is Semitic.
His mother was born in Israel and he was raised Jewish. Still, behind all the
humor is a real truth. It is incredibly dangerous to stereotype people based on
rumored characteristics. If we don’t make the effort to understand other
cultures, we run the risk of beginning to fear them and fear followed to its
logical conclusion is suffering.
Cohen is a European Name, not a Semitic name. Most Jews in Israel are not Semitic Jews, only the Arab Jews are Semitic.
ReplyDeleteThat is misinformation. While 'Semitic' is a linguistic group made up by German academics in the 19th century, 'antisemitisim' has always referred to a hatred for the Jews.
DeleteKohen or cohen (or kohein; Hebrew: כֹּהֵן kohén, "priest", pl. כֹּהֲנִים kohaním, "priests") is the Hebrew word for "priest".