Anti-Semitism

Bernard Lazare: Anti-Semitism: It’s History and Causes 1894.
In Chapter 1 Lazare marked the history of anti-Semitism back to the beginning of Israels expansion beyond Palestine. Lazare argued that wherever the Jewish people settled, anti-Semitism would develop and he asserted that the Jews were partly responsible for their own misfortune throughout history.

Lazare claimed that the Jewish people were unsociable beings. They lived under the rule of their Lord Yahweh (Jehovah) and due to this the Jews could not live under the rule of other nations. Wherever they settled the Jews would insist they follow their own religion and be exempt from the state laws and the local customs. Lazare argued that this incited hatred and jealousy within the rest of the population as the Jewish people were given different advantages to them.  The Jews pride themselves on the excellence of the Torah, considering themselves to be above others (at least this is how some outsiders interpreted it).  Jewish people could not have relations or intercourse with the rest of the population, causing exclusiveness. The souls of the Jews are descended from the first man and they were chosen by God as the trustee of his will. The Jews isolation could be seen as their strength as they have survived in spite of this, or it could be considered as their weakness as their separation has caused them to be persecuted throughout history.

In Chapter 11 Lazare considers Nationalism in regards to anti-Semitism. Nationalism is a political ideology and involves the identification of a group of individuals. There are two types of nationalism, the division by race and that which is legally established.  The Jewish race is not an “ethnologic unity”, they do not seem to have a common ancestor, but they are a nation unified by their religion and values.