On February 18, The Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life hosted a panel titled “Is There a New Anti-Semitism?” discussing anti-Semitism in the modern day. The event was co-sponsored with the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning and Boston College Hillel. The panel consisted of James Bernauer, S.J., the Kraft Family Professor of Philosophy at Boston College; Susannah Heschel, the Eli Black Professor and Chair of the Jewish Studies Program at Dartmouth College; and Mark Silk, director of the Leonard Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life and professor of religion at Trinity College.
When asked if there is a “new anti-Semitism” Heschel answered in the affirmative, stating that “what’s new [about anti-Semitism] is the challenge to democracy and the loss of faith in liberal democracy around the world. When there’s a major cultural shift, anti-Semitism [increases]. It’s when Jews are permitted to live in a certain neighborhood, for example, that anti-Semitism arises.” Heschel defined anti-Semitism as “the hatred of Jews that allows no escape.” She therefore argued that the notion that “Jews must convert to be saved” isn’t quite anti-Semitism, while the perspective that “Jews have no right to live at all” is truly anti-Semitic.
Silk remarked on the longevity of anti-Semitism and its roots in both the political left and right, followed by Heschel’s interjection that “the response to anti-Semitism is new […] since Christians on the left and right standing in solidarity with Jews against anti-Semitism is new.”
To the question of whether anti-Semitism is more dangerous when employed by the political left or right, Silk answered, “It’s not quite correct to view it this way, but overall it seems like, if you just look at events in Brooklyn, the worse threat comes from the racist right. The context of where we’re talking about matters a great deal, however, since Israel would argue that anti-Israel sentiment in the Middle East is the most dangerous.” Silk followed these examples with the clarification that “anti-Semitism is used as a political scare-word, and neither party wants to identify with any part of the movement.”
The subject of how Israeli politics have affected anti-Semitism was tackled by Bernaur as he suggested that “there’s not much of a distinction between Israelis and Jews” in public discourse and that some hatred of Jews is due to the controversial nature of Israel’s actions on the world stage. Bernauer continued, claiming that “Jews are a political problem, not a moral problem. It’s not the moral issue of them saying they have a right to the land, it’s the problem of the rest of the world not believing them.”
When discussing the statistics of recent anti-Semitic attacks, Silk noted that “overall, violence against Jews has gone down over the last fifteen years”, while acknowledging that many contemporary citizens believe that the situation is actually more dangerous. Silk suggested that this phenomenon was prompted from an increase in “the perception of discrimination”. He elaborated, “For example, fifteen years ago the percent of people who thought discrimination against men was an issue was zero percent… now that number is at about forty percent. Similarly, perception of discrimination against Jews has gone from about 40% to about 60% in the same period.”
Bernauer added that “it doesn’t take a large percentage [of the population] to do great damage to people”, noting that a very small percentage of Nazis “actually identified as anti-Semitic” during the initial rise of the Nazi party in Germany.
Lastly, Heschel discussed whether or not anti-Semitism is an issue of race. She explained that while conflicts between Christianity and Judaism have become at times cultural and ethnic conflicts, the roots of these conflicts are not racist. Heschel argued that while Vatican II recognized that Judaism “has continued validity”, the “hatred” that arises from Christians towards the Jews that “didn’t accept Jesus” is an ongoing issue. The full video recording of the panel’s discussion will be available shortly on the Boisi Center website.
Grant is a senior studying Information Systems at the Carroll School of Management. He keeps busy by studying and writing for The Torch.
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