Dear Anti-Semite,

I have spent a lifetime trying to find out what makes you tick, and now that I believe I have discovered what it is I wanted to address you directly, intelligently, and with a basic respect for mankind.

What you may or may not know, is that we, meaning me and many of my fellow Jews, do care enough to want to know what are the root causes of your hatred for us. We may take an indignant approach to you the individual, but I am sure you can understand that.  No one feels warmth towards someone who hates them.

Let me start by being very clear about something.  If you verbally declare that you do not dislike Jews, even if some of your actions may hint otherwise, I am not addressing you, because if you feel in your heart that you do not want harm to come to the Jewish people as a whole, you may not be my friend, but you are also not the problem.  This letter is for those who come right out and say, ” I don’t like” or “I hate the Jews”.

I recognize that there are two types of anti-Semites.  The ones who are born into it and the ones who made that choice later in life.  Although every human being has the freedom to think as they like, those born into it, for example, Palestinian children and young adults in Gaza, haven’t been given much of a choice. The understanding of Jews being evil and the need to get rid of them is all they’ve been taught.  No one questions what makes them hate Jews.  They don’t know any other way.  What makes it even more difficult is that they only know information provided to them and therefore the chances of them changing how they feel is next to impossible without being exposed to an alternate way of thinking and an open and honest exchange of information.

In many ways this letter is directed to those of you in the second category, the ones that came to the conclusion on their own to hate Jews and despite a strong negative influence, live in free societies where forming different opinions is allowed and in some places even encouraged.  So the question is, why do you hate me when you don’t even know me?

Well the truth is, and I hope you are willing to admit this, it wouldn’t matter if you did know me.  You’ve made a choice to hate me because of what I am, not who I am.  I stopped to consider the fact that it is because you believe we killed Jesus, but let’s be honest again.  That argument is full of holes.  I know many people, Catholics, Christians, etc., that have devoted their life to their following of Jesus and do not hate Jews at all. In many cases they love us. Even those who believe we killed their Lord, if they are genuine about God’s teachings will not find it possible to hate their fellow-man.  So in the case of those who call that the reason, I also maintain it’s not the reason they hate us, it’s the justification they use for their hate.

You can say we’re cheap, arrogant, obnoxious, etc., and although I don’t deny that there are those among us who are all of those things, if you look at it honestly you’ll admit that we don’t have the corner on any of those negative stereotypes.  Every group has plenty of people who are cheap, arrogant or obnoxious.  Even whatever group you belong to has people in those categories.

Since I started by saying I have the answer, here it is.  It comes down to two issues.  First of all, when people are not satisfied entirely with how their life is going they try to find someone to blame.  That’s not news.  We all know that. But why are the Jews so often the choice?  Well it’s because despite the fact that we come from everywhere, can look the same as everyone else, be White, Black, Asian, African, European, have blonde hair, black hair, red hair, be short or be tall, we always choose to distinguish ourselves as Jewish. Ironically the biggest complaint Jewish religious leaders have of other Jews is the fact that they assimilate.  I am here to tell you that I realize that one of the reasons you hate me is because despite my physical appearance allowing me to hide what I am, I choose to be proud of what I am.  That infuriates you because you interpret it as though I am saying that I am better than you, even if it is not what I intend to be saying.  As a group we are unapologetically proud of our history and culture.  That makes you angry and makes us easier to identify and a much easier target.

The second reason, and the one that I think is the primary one, is our durability.  Despite massacres, persecutions, wars, a Holocaust, and countless attempts to rid the world of us, we’re still here.  That does two things.  For the more ignorant it frightens you.  It will be used it to justify some of the most bizarre accusations one people has ever had to endure.  Human blood in Matzah, demonic partners with Satan, etc. After all, something has to be keeping this indestructible people on the planet.  The Chosen People thing certainly doesn’t work for you.  We must have made a deal with the devil to stick around as long as we have.  I would actually say that if you do believe in the devil, it is the devil making you hate us, not the devil working with us.  But that thought process requires a paradigm shift of enormous proportions so subsequently I do not hold out hope that you will see it that way.  I just want to propose that theory to you if you believe the Devil is involved.  After all, the Devil would try to stop you from supporting a people whose contribution to medicine, technology and culture is so significant that I am fairly positive you reading this has gained some benefit from it as well.

The other thing it does is motivate the power-hungry manipulator of the masses.  Someone trying to rally people behind hate sees the elimination of the Jews as the ultimate challenge, believing that they will be the person that finally wiped these people off the planet.  They present it as though our very presence is a challenge to everything good they are trying to create, even if what they are trying to create is self-serving and evil.  These pariahs that just won’t go away are going to finally be destroyed by that powerful leader taking you, the poor, disadvantaged, disenfranchised citizen to the promised land.  It sounds so good, why not kill Jews to get there.

My advice to you is to take heed of this reasoning because if you stop and think about it, you’d be much wiser taking this information and using it to alter your mindset.  History shows not only that we do not go away, but those who tried to get rid of us failed miserably in the end.  Hitler was very successful in killing a lot of Jews, but he ultimately failed in getting rid of Jewish people, and his obsession with doing so contributed to his defeat in the end.  I know that by saying that I am indicating that I believe God is on our side, something that makes you hate me even more, but here’s a better suggestion.  Either pick a winner and support us, or trust God to pick whatever side is the right side, regardless of your choice it results in a lot less hate in your heart.  I assure you in the end you’ll be happier for it.

Sincerely,

David Groen

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