Antisemitism in and of itself holds a single yet strong connotation and meaning. Although defined by Webster’s, as discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed at Jewish persons as a religious, racial, or ethnic group, but Antisemitsim can certainly be summed up into one word, hate. Antisemitism can be traced as far back as 1000 BC, through the Greek retelling of ancient Egyptian prejudices, and the Old Testament. It was there that the seeds of antisemitism were planted, but it wasn’t until after the crucifixion of Jesus that it grew newer and stronger roots. With the Jews rejection of His only begotten son, and the Christian belief of God’s truth, the Christian’s, and soon to be Roman Catholic empire began to feel that Jews were a vile, and inherently evil race. Each time the Jews would reject their Lord this ideology would strengthen the new antsemetic belief, cause the Jews to be the catalyst for global tensions and be killed, persecuted, and exiled for centuries.
Around 8-4 BC in Bethlehem of Judea, Palestine, Jesus of Nazareth was born. According to the gospel of Matthew and Luke he was born to a virgin, Mary, conceived of the holy spirit. He was greeted by gold, frankincense, and myrrh and was hailed the Messiah and the divinely conceived Son of God, thus fulfilling the prophesy of Isaiah for new believers. Jesus worked as a carpenter’s son for nearly 30 years before being baptized and beginning his ministry. During those three years of ministry, he preached of humility, service, faith, forgiveness of sin, turning the other cheek, love for thy enemy, and fulfillment of God’s holy commandments. He also warned that at the end of time, he would judge everyone by their deeds in life, especially those towards the weak and poor. Crowds that numbered in the thousands would gather to listen to him preach, and its that same enthusiasm that accompanied him when He and his followers went to Jerusalem during the Passover festival. Upon his arrival he was received enthusiastically by large crowds shouting “Hosanna ” But, his warm welcome soon turned cold after his arrival at Herold’s Temple. There he turned over the tables of the moneychangers, driving them out with whips for having made his “Father’s house a house of merchandise” After being betrayed by His apostle Judas, Jesus was arrested by order of the high priest, Caiaphas. He was then brought to trial where the Jewish priests asked him if he were the Son of God. Answering yes, they condemned him for blasphemy. Jesus was then turned over to the Roman Prefect of Judea, Pontius Pilate, on grounds of sedition. Pilate did not personally feel that Jesus was guilty of any crime against the Romans, so he offered the crowd the choice to have Jesus of Nazareth, or a terrorist named Barrabbas go free. This part of the story is very important because although the blame for Jesus’ death rests equally on the shoulders of his disciple Judas, the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate, and the Jewish priests of the time, most fingers were pointed at the heavily Jewish crowd, of which chose Barrabbas to go free and Jesus of Nazareth to be slain. The Jews take even more flack from Christians for the death of their savior because the Jews, who had been “chosen out of all the people on the face of the earth to be the Lord’s people, his treasured possession.” (Deuteronomy 7:5-7) They were God’s chosen people, and in the eyes of early Christians this meant that the Jew’s had not only chosen to execute the son of their own God, but allowed him to die with sinners in the most agonizing fashion imaginable, crucifixion. Christians have held onto that idea for more than two thousand years and begrudgingly have not forgotten.
By the second and third centuries the Jews had revolted against Rome twice, the walls of the Herold’s Temple had fallen, and Christians were trying to distinguish themselves from their Jewish counterparts. Stemming in the Spanish town of Elvira the first persecution of Jews by Roman Catholic Christians came in 305 BC. There the earliest of church laws against the jews blossomed from belief that Jews had lost their right to exist. These laws forbade Jews to extend hospitality to Catholics, keep Catholic concubines, marry Catholic Christian women, or bless the fields of Christians. The Royal Emperor Constantine also came to power around this same time and said, during the celebration of Easter, It appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast [Easter] we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul . . . Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd. He later made the disaffiliation with Judaism into official law thereby making Roman Catholicism the only legal form of religion and essentially replacing the Jewish Passover, with a more contemporary, and Christian holiday Easter. This was followed by the Third, and twelfth Councils of Toledo, in which children born of Jewish decent were to be baptized, followed by the initiation of more laws against the Jewish people including banning contact with Jews, forbidding the reading of the Torah in Hebrew, and most notably the ordering of all the need for all Jews to be converted to Christianity, and prohibiting the secret practicing of Jewish rituals. Over the next 3 centuries succeeding rulers of the Roman Empire, would embrace the belief that the Jews were suffering justly because God was angry with them, each adding their own laws and regulations to inflict their own personal retribution on the Jews, leading to few occupational choices, and even fewer open doors and opportunities for the Jews. This forced many to become moneylenders, and rent collectors, the only available profession because it was considered a sin for a Christian to hold such an office, exposing themselves to more stereotypes and vile persecution.
Following the fall of Rome, the Medieval Period provided little shelter for the prejudice harbored by Christian clergy. This period between the 11th and 16th centuries was full of strengthened hatred, leading to many Jewish deaths. After receiving support by Pope Christendom, the military launched its war to recapture the Holy Land of Israel, from Muslim rule. It was then that the crusaders began their devastating waves of demolishing Jewish communities in Germany, France, and England, as well as those of Palestine and Syria where thousands of Jews were massacred after not immediately accepting baptism by the crusading armies. Following the Crusades came yet another blow to eliminating antisemitism, The Black Death. Best explained as having been the Bubonic Plague, nearly 70 percent of Europe’s population was wiped out. Religious officials, after receiving criticism for being unable to explain the plague needed an explanation for this terrible wrath of God. The Christian leaders chose to once again blame the Jews for having angered God with their disbelief of His truth. Because of their obligation to cleanliness Jews did not use public wells, therefore came under mpre suspicion and were accused of causing the plague by poisoning them. About 200 years later a man initially preached against these preestablished prejudices, and in support of tolerance towards the Jewish people, believed that his Protestant Reformation would give Jews an alternative to the oppressive Catholicism, bringing many to chose conversion. His name was Martin Luther, and in 1514, after failing to convince the Jewish people to accept Jesus and Christianity wrote a letter to Reverend Spalatin, in it he wrote, “I have come to the conclusion that the Jews will always curse and blasphemy God and his King Christ, as all the prophets have predicted.” It was again the rejection of Jesus by the Jews that brought this first of many antisemitic comments to be made by Luther. Another, from his book Of the Jews and Their Lies, has been used as reason to support antisemitism. In his book Luther insists that the “poisonous envenomed worms” should be shown no mercy by having their temples set ablaze, books set on fire, property confiscated and should have no legal protection. Martin Luther also concluded that Jews negated their right to existence and should not only be forced into labor camps and exiled for the rest of time. These words of hatred promoted anti-Jewishness and rallied support for the Inquisition and the Crusades, as well as motivation for Hitler in support of his massive genocide.

Antisemitism has grown exponentially, and has fueled many fires and battles throughout the course of its rich 2000 year history. While it is difficult to write from a neutral stance on the issue of Antisemitism, the large underlying fact that divides Judaism from Christianity is ultimately the reason and drive behind Antisemistim. Throughout history the Jewish community has rejected Christianity’s beliefs in favor of their own. This conflict of interest between the Jews and Christians has created the biggest, and longest held grudges of all time.

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