The Hissing of Hatred Towards Jews

In Italy, as in the rest of Europe, there is a hissing stream of hatred toward Jews and things Jewish, including Israel. It’s usually condemned by governments of the moderate right and left, but it persists. Is it possible to side with Arabs in the seemingly endless conflict with Israel without being anti-Semitic? Yes, it is. If by siding with Arabs is one hoping for the destruction of Israel? Not necessarily. But something else is worming its way to the surface of normal life. In Italy, a land I love, three events have recently cast shadows, crossing the line from intelligent disagreement to venomous strike. One attack is from the left, another from the right, the third is from the Roman curia.

The first assault has made national headlines and needs no more explanation here. In Turin there is an annual international book fair. This year it was decided to honor some of Israel’s most prestigious authors—Amos Oz, David Grossman, and Abraham Yehousha. Some leftists, led by the leader of the Communist party, protested that honoring Israelis at the same time that Israel is celebrating its 60th birthday was tantamount to the fair taking an Anti-Palestinian stance and they called for a boycott. One hardly need wonder for long if this would have been the response to a salute to Arab authors.

The Roman church has decided to allow the Latin Good Friday Mass which before Vatican II referred to Jews as blind and perfidious but now only contains this pearl: “Let us pray for the Jews. May the Lord Our God enlighten their hearts so that they may acknowledge Jesus Christ, the savior of all men. Almighty and everlasting God, you who want all men to be saved and to reach the awareness of the truth, graciously grant that, with the fullness of peoples entering into your church, all Israel may be saved.” Well, it’s better than being called perfidious, I suppose, and the odious reference to Matthew 27:25 is omitted, but, still, I could do without prayers for my conversion with its implied condemnation of retrograde Judaism.

If all that weren’t enough, on January 16 anonymous Italian bloggers took it upon themselves to publish the names of 150 Italian professors identifying them as “publicly and politically” loyal to Israel, not to Italy. While their university affiliations were listed their home addresses and phone numbers were not. But how long would it take even a fascist (for this assault is from the far right, from people who look back fondly to the good old days of il Duce) to find it out…and take action?

The obvious intention of the blog was to intimidate Jews. The government of Italy took swift action. Reuters reports that it was removed and that Interior Minister Giuliano Amato ordered police to investigate. Education Minister Giuseppe Fioroni called the blog a shameful “kind of Ku Klux Klan of the digital age.” Reuters further reported that the blog had “links to far-right websites and themes like Holocaust revisionism, appeals to boycott Israel” and in support of Mussolini.

An Italian colleague, Donatella Ester De Cesare wrote a letter of appeal which reminded that “The aggression towards intellectuals is the first sign of the savagery. We ask your solidarity. A word, a gesture could be important.” Faced with this cry for help, academics around the country discussed what could be done. Initially it was proposed that letters to the Italian embassy in Washington be sent thanking the government for its swift action. One well-known professor of Holocaust studies put Donatella’s letter on her website. But then it was suggested that here we would not close down even the most obnoxious of webpages. “Sure I would love to shut down David Duke’s website and a host of others, ban David Irving’s books and so forth, but here we’ve agreed not to do things like that.”

I signed a petition which reads in part, “We stand in solidarity with, and thank those colleagues from Italy, of different faiths and ethnicities, to let them know that they are not alone and that, as scholars, we have an obligation to stand against racism and anti-semitism.”

Will it help? Probably not; the Italian government already knows how academics feel, and so does the fascist right. But still, it’s a beginning. Anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Zionism is rife. The serpent has slept; now he awakes, ever with more audacity. “The perfidious Jew is your enemy,” he hisses; into willing ears.

Prayer: Is anyone listening?

In last Saturday’s pre-Super Bowl edition of the Providence Journal, various local clergy responded to the question, “Does praying for victory in a football game help?” The Catholic bishop said it probably does no harm, but he assumes that God has more important things to worry about. (This is true only if God is not a New Yorker or a New Englander, because obviously to us there’s nothing more important!) True to his heritage the pastor of the First Baptist Church in America said he believed in separation of sports and religion. But then he added that he doesn’t pray about sports as it’s not fair to the other team. A local imam of my acquaintance advised against praying for frivolous things. Nevertheless, if his team (The Giants) is losing late in the fourth quarter, he might, deep down in his heart, offer up a prayer—and then ask for forgiveness. And what said the rabbi? He offered this gem: “It’s not right to pray for one group and cause distress to others…[but] “based on Biblical teachings, the side that has the most spiritual effort is the one that will win out. Sometimes the spiritual forces are stronger on one side than the other.”

What do all these have in common? Incredibly enough they all think that prayer can affect the outcome of a game (but that we shouldn’t stoop to that). Holy Moley! Are these guys kidding? Haven’t we as a species yet grown out of the idea that magic works? Here’s the Religious Studies 101 distinction between magic and religion. The latter implores the spirit world, the former commands it. According to the rabbi, God weighs the spiritual strength of those who pray and grants victory to their team? Did I read that right? Sir James Frazer, in his classic The Golden Bough argued that mankind goes through three stages of contact with the unknown world—first magic, then religion and finally, the stage we are entering (he wrote in 1900) the scientific. But apparently when it comes to football, monotheists among us have taken a giant step backwards. Only the Hindu swami began to approach the question with the mindset of a rationalist: “Whoever plays better wins.” (At this point, if I knew how to spell Homer Simpson’s famous ejaculation, I would insert it. “Dough!” Does that capture it?)

The older I get, the closer to death I come, the more I realize the futility of prayer. God or nature is self-evidently indifferent to what happens to us. We exist, we die and someone else is born and the cycle goes on and on and on and on. I don’t pray. In schul I sit, I stand, I sing, I meditate, I make a minyan. Prayer itself? Much of it is in praise of God, but I figure He knows how great He is; He doesn’t need me to tell Him. Prayer for the sick? Better to see an AMA approved physician. The eighteenth century deists said that God made the world and then merely observes. Sometimes it’s hard to disagree. And on Saturday, the death of a friend caught in a fire fresh in my mind, I didn’t. On Sunday I attended a shivah minyan and then went to friends’ house and rooted for the Pats. Life goes on, and there is no evidence at all that God cares.

When my mother died, I attended daily morning and evening minyans. I donned a talis, wrapped my arm with tephelin, and stood to say kaddish at the appropriate moments. Those who attend the services on a regular basis read Hebrew faster than I can think in English. So I tried various tricks. I read only the first half of each line. And still fell behind. Then I switched to reading every second or third line. No good. All this left me with the obvious question: Why do I do this each day, twice a day. In the end I concluded that as my mother was always there for me when she was alive I would be there for her, fulfilling the obligation imposed on me centuries before either of us was born. And so, for her, and not for me, I went to schul. It’s what dutiful sons do.

This newspaper loves to receive letters from readers. Let’s start something. Flood the editor with your opinion on the value of prayer. We can begin a dialogue.

Oh, and my friend the imam, Allah may forgive him, but I don’t.