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PURIM:
Hostility Toward Christians Rooted In Boisterous
Major Jewish Holiday
by Willis A. Carto
 There
is a little-known but deep-rooted history of virulent Jewish antagonism
and violence against non-Jews (Christians in particular) but many
scholars have ignored the record in this regard.
 Now
a forthright Jewish academic, Elliot Horowitz, associate professor
of Jewish History at Israel's Bar-Han University, has come forth
with a book that explores this ugly phenomenon: Reckless Rites:
Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence.
This
heavily-detailed, copiously-documented volume is a stunning contribution
to the history of the Jewish people and their troubled relationship
with "the other" -- the non-Jews whom the Jews refer to
as "goyim," a term, which roughly translated, is the equivalent
of "beast" (or more specifically, cattle).
Purim
-- referred to in the book's title -- is the Jewish holiday spawned
by the Old Testament's Book of Esther, a holiday based on a tale
most Jewish and Christian theologians say is apocryphal. Esther
of legend was the Jewish maiden who -- upon being married to the
Persian king, who had no idea his bride was Jewish -- saved the
Jews from destruction at the hands of the king's advisor, Haman,
who was then executed, along WIth 75,000 other Persians. This, of
course, was mass slaughter, genocide, and this early anti-Gentile
Holocaust is proudly commemorated at Purim. Today again, the Jewish
people and Israel target the Persian people -- the modern republic
of Iran -- for destruction.
Most
non-Jews have no idea the Jewish people -- who often condemn various
historical pogroms (real and imagined) -- actually celebrate this
genocide as one of their most boisterous holidays. Horowitz explains
that, frequently, when Jews have broached the story of Purim to
non-Jews that they have carefully deleted the conclusion of the
story wherein the Jews orchestrated the slaughter of the Persians.
According
to Horowitz, Jews have a record of comparing their arch-enemy Haman
to Jesus Christ, hardly grounds for promoting "interfaith discourse,"
or the concept of "Judeo-Christianity," two trumpet calls
which (when coming from Jewish sources) mean Christians must amend
their teachings to accord with what Jews want Christians to believe.
Horowitz notes comparisons of Haman to Christ are still prevalent
in Jewish religious rites today.
In
fact, he points out, deeply religious Jews have a record in modern-day
Israel of acts of violence against non-Jews, but also acts of vandalism
against Christian crosses. Horowitz focuses on how historians and
theologians have deliberately distorted these uncomfortable truths
about Jewish teachings and the real impact such teachings have had:
that is, the instigation of violence by Jews against Christians.
An
entire chapter in Horowitz's book demonstrates the disturbing, one
might say "weird," Jewish hatred for the cross and of
Jewish violence against displays of this Christian symbol and notes
that, in fact, throughout history this Jewish hatred of Christ and
the cross resulted in the rise of anti-Jewish attitudes in response.
Horowitz explores Purim celebrations worldwide and demonstrates
that violence and hatred toward non-Jews is commonplace and integral
to the nature of the holiday theme. This ugliness is not the exception.
Rather, it's the rule, an unsettling fact to comprehend.
In
fact, prior to the 20th century, at which time Jewish influence
upon Christian religious discussion rose to great heights, most
Christian theologians shared the view of German Protestant theologian
Carl Heinrich Cornill who said of the Book of Esther that "all
the worst and most unpleasing features of Judaism are here displayed
without disguise." Cornill echoed Emil Friedrich Kautzsch,
who said the Book of Esther "expresses such national arrogance
and such hatred of other nations."
British
Baptist Dr. Thomas Davies said of the Book of Esther that in its
teachings, "Nothing seems wrong if only it furthers the advancement
of the Jews."
WILLIS
A. CARTO,
is founder of The American Free Press and The
Barnes Review.
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at
the Battle of Cowpens, S. Carolina, 1781