Talk One: Antisemitism
Recently, I
had the very great privilege of being invited to attend a Seminar organized by
Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Yad Vashem is
the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem whose mission is not only to inform people
about what happened in those terrible days of the Third Reich in Germany, but
also, through education and outreach, to help people learn the lessons of the
Holocaust and to combat the rise of antisemitism today. There were 30 of us there, Christian leaders
from 13 different nationalities, with the majority from America. We all shared a commitment to Christ and a
desire to learn more about what had led people, brought up in a Christian
culture, to take part in such an unprecedented programme of hate and mass
murder.
We all felt
deep shame at our part as Christians in the horrors that we were studying,
moved both to tears and, hopefully, repentance.
We also felt, I think, a sense of responsibility to join with our Jewish
brothers and sisters to work together to make sure that it could never happen
again, while seeing with horror that antisemitism refuses to go away. Sadly, there seems to be truth in the saying
that ‘the only thing history seems to teach us, is that history doesn’t teach
us anything’.
Since
returning from Jerusalem, I have read headlines reporting acts of violence
against Jews in America, Nazi swastikas painted on photographs of Holocaust
survivors in Vienna, and the toleration of antisemitism in one of the two major
British political parties in the UK – the country I come from. And this is to give just three examples from
many.
One of the
observations that has been made of Jeremy Corbyn, the present leader of the
political party in the UK that I have referred to, is, that when asked to
condemn antisemitism, he always replies that he condemns antisemitism and all
other forms of racism. At first, this
seems entirely reasonable. Christians,
in particular, should surely be against all
forms of discrimination. The problem is
that this response, while it cannot be faulted for what it affirms, gives the
impression that the person responding in this way wants not so much to condemn
racism as to minimize the seriousness of antisemitism. It is, after all, just one form of racism. That may
be unfair, and not what is intended, but it remains an impression,
nevertheless.
Friends in
the Church I have shared my experience in Jerusalem with, interestingly, have
had a similar reaction when I have talked with them about antisemitism. Their first reaction hasn’t been to share my repulsion
towards this specific evil and join in condemning it, but to ask me how I feel
about other evils. Why won’t we face up
to this evil I wonder? Could it be that we still don’t see how evil
it is? Could it be that the seeds of
antisemitism still remain planted in the soil not only of Christianity, but of
the culture of our own times?
I would
like to think not. But, if we want to
avoid an enemy planting them there once more, we, and again particularly those
of us who are Christians, have to face up to the reality of antisemitism and of
the Church’s responsibility historically for it. Bishop Otto Dibelius, who became the
President of the World Council of Churches after the war, said in 1928:
‘Despite
the evil ring that the word has acquired in many cases, I have always considered
myself an antisemite. It cannot be
denied that Judaism plays a leading role in all the corruptive phenomena of
modern civilization.’
[Music:
Gideon Klein, Mouvements pour quatuor à cordes, Op. 2: Largo]
Bishop Dibelius
was by no means alone in thinking this way.
Thankfully, I know no Church leader or Christian who would say that
today. But, to quote Martin Niemoller,
another Church leader from those dark days:
‘First they
came for the socialists, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they
came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came
for the Jews, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they
came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.’
It is not
enough for us to be against antisemitism, we need both to speak and act.
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