Snapshot Four:  The World’s Oldest Hate

In our six-part series, we will be exploring Judaism as a civilization.  Judaism is too broad a subject with too long and rich a history to be understood merely as a religion.  We will examine that civilization through the lens of that history, that religion, and those forces from both within and without that have shaped its development up until today.  

Antisemitism is nearly as old as Judaism.  Like a virus, it mutates to survive - infecting the world with its unique pathology.  What is it about antisemitism that is so persistent?  Is there something in Judaism itself that gives rise to it?  And is it possible that an essential part of Jewish identity lies in confronting this terrible prejudice?