Monday Oct 13, 2008

Financial crisis brings out the anti-semites

Posted by Abraham Foxman

It never fails. Whenever there is a financial crisis or trading scandal in the stock markets, the anti-Semites come out of the woodwork. The classic stereotype of the Jewish Shylock out to have his Christian pound of flesh dies very hard, if at all. The Jew as economic opportunist sucking the financial life-blood out of a nation or of the whole world is continually reborn.

So the crude anti-Semitic postings at extremist or financial websites and comment boards, and at Internet blogs available for viewing over the past couple of weeks, should not come as a total surprise. Still, I have to admit being dismayed to see these lasting age-old canards about Jews and money finding fresh outlet.

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Sunday Apr 27, 2008

The Pope and the Jews

Posted by Abraham Foxman

By most accounts, Pope Benedict XVI's historic first trip to America was a resounding success. While his visits to Washington, D.C. and New York City were primarily an opportunity for him to interact with American Catholics, the media attention brought him as up close and personal as most people will ever get to a Pope.

Despite the brevity of the visit, the pontiff made time to reach out to the Jewish community in symbolic ways. In Washington, he met with Jewish representatives following a larger interfaith gathering at which I was present. In New York City on erev Shabbat, as well as the eve of Passover, he visited an Orthodox synagogue. It was the first time a Pope visited an American synagogue and only the third time in history for any pope to visit a Jewish house of worship (the first being Pope John Paul II's visit to the Rome synagogue, and the second, Benedict XVI's visit to a synagogue in Cologne, Germany).

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A Point of View Anti-Defamation League (ADL) National Director Abraham Foxman on fighting anti-Semitism, bigotry and extremism.

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tERRY lENICK St. Petersburg Fl.: America is in strong of Isreal for all the right reasons, in same like manner the holy vatican city is in strong support of Palestian land with the hope of both being returned to the ownership and dictatorship of the holy Roman empire. This issue has more to do with religion than politics. Simply put - ROME IS AT FAULT AND AMERICA IS RIGHT.

Ellen - Dover DE, USA: Mr. Frankel is absolutely on target-- the wealthier Jews were greatly disconnected from the Jewish Community-- they thought of themselves as Germans, & only incidentally as Jews but certainly vastly superior to 'Die Anderer' (the others) those embarrassing peasants, those from Poland, Romania, the Ukraine, etc., whose poverty & culture made them cringe. American Jewry were for the most part from Germany & they too didn't want to know about poor Jewis from Europe, nor did they welcome or assist refugees, fearing that anti-Semitism might then find THEM.

Roddy Frankel: The Lesson (in my humble opinion): In 1938 German Jews were second class citizens who were afraid to speak out against Hitler. The poorer Jews were politically disenfranchised and powerless. The wealthier assimilated Jews were disconnected from the Jewish community, invested in the German social structure, and overly confident they would never be targeted. The lesson, therefore, is that when we Jews don't work together to defend the weakest among us, we are easily subjugated and victimized. The lesson can be applied to Jewish communities around the world, especially in Israel.

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