What makes people some people hate Jews so much? The hatred of Jews is called antisemitism and for many years I have been wondering why they are hated so much. I know the Arabs hate them because they see them as rivals to Islam in the Middle East and would want them out of Palestine. I know the Catholics started the inquisition to mainly target and eliminate Jews, Muslims, and other non-Christians from Europe (especially in Spain and Iberia) because they saw them as a threat to Christianity. From the 1390s, the Jews in Spain were mercilessly persecuted for just being Jewish. Yet, the main driver of anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries was not mainly religious in nature. Indeed, prior to the 20th century, Jews were forced to live in ghettos or separate areas, banned from mingling with the people, owning land, or doing certain jobs in Europe.
These restrictions were dropped after Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Europe and freed the Jews, making them equal to all citizens. Once the Jews started becoming part of society in Europe, their hard work and academic scholarship got them into top jobs and positions of influence. They became astute businessmen and began wielding a lot of economic power. Indeed, of all the 965 recipients of the Nobel Price and Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, between 1901 and 2023, at least 214 are Jews, representing 22% of all recipients. Their success and increasing wealth, influence, and power, made them the targets of the non-Jewish citizens of the countries in which they were found. Indeed, even today, people still dislike them because they think they have so much economic power in the world. People began to blame the Jews for their economic woes and poverty. In fact, one of Adolf Hitler’s reasons for hating the Jews was their economic success and he used that to incite the people against them.
When the Chinese and Indians were very poor, nobody cared about them or respected them. Now, when the Chinese are doing so well and even threatening the power base of the Western world, the Europeans and Americans are envious of them and are scheming to prevent their rise and power. Yet, the hard work and persevering spirit of the Japanese, Koreans, Chinese and Indians are the major reasons why they are becoming rich and influential. For instance, the Indians are the CEOs of major technology and pharmaceutical companies in the world now: Microsoft (Satya Nadella), Google (Sundar Pichai), Novartis (Vasant Narasimhan), Adobe (Shantanu Narayen), IBM (Arvind Krishna), Starbucks (Laxman Narasimhan), Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Reshma Kewalramani), etc. Within the top Universities in the United States, some of the best minds are Chinese or Southeast Asians.
When Isaac left Canaan because of famine and went to live with Abimelech and the Philistines in Gerar (Genesis 26:1), the Bible records that “Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him. For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.” (Genesis 26:12-16). Why did Abimelech ask Isaac to leave his country after he was so successful there? Your guess is as good as mine: envy! In Abimelech’s mind, Isaac’s wealth was obtained from his people and his land. He could not understand why Isaac, a stranger in his land, should become richer and greater than his own people. He felt that by sacking him, Isaac will lose all that he had because he would not get support from the land again. Yet, he was mistaken. Isaac went away and even became greater.
It also happened to Isaac’s son, Jacob, who lived with his uncle Laban in Padan-Aram for 20 years. Jacob made an agreement with Laban for Rachel and worked for seven years. However, Laban tricked him and rather gave him Leah, forcing Jacob to serve him again for another seven years (Genesis 29:15-30). Although Rachel was more beautiful and loved than Leah, “when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or else I die!‘ (Genesis 30:1). Behold the beloved Rachel who had all things but children envying her sister for the only thing she had: children. That envy pushed her to give her maid to her husband so that her maid will get children on her behalf. Listen to what Rachel said when Bilhah, her maid, conceived a second son from Jacob: “’With great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and indeed I have prevailed.’ So she called his name Naphtali.” Behold sisters of the same blood, fighting over a man and exhibiting envy towards each other!
After the 14 years, Jacob made another agreement with Laban (Genesis 30:43) and it so happened that God blessed Jacob, and he “became exceedingly prosperous, and had large flocks, female and male servants, and camels and donkeys. Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has acquired all this wealth.” And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not favorable toward him as before (Genesis 31:1-3). Jacob the stranger had become rich, and Laban his uncle now envied him. It is therefore not surprising that Abraham, after his defeat of the four kings and retrieval of Lot and the people of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar/Bella, told the king of Sodom, when he asked Abraham to take the spoils:
“I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’— except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.”
Behold the wisdom of Abraham! He rejected the offer, lest they should at some point say that it is their spoils that made him rich. Is it not envy that made Jacob’s sons sell their own brother as a slave to the Ishmaelites for silver? Indeed, Joseph nearly escaped death from his own brothers because of sheer envy. David was hated by his brethren because he was preferred before them. Haman was so consumed by envy for Mordechai and the Jews that he determined to destroy them all until Queen Esther intervened and overturned his plots (Esther 3-7).
If you are a gifted and talented person with unique skills, or if you are successful than your peers in whatever you do, then you will surely understand the evil of envy and how toxic it can be. Even among your closest friends and family, should you become better than they in any or all aspects of life, be sure that they will rise against you and try all means to bring you down. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American scientist (with Jewish roots) who spearheaded the development of the atomic bomb was later persecuted by the same country he helped with the support of his closest colleagues. He was stripped of his dignity and integrity. I have experienced envy, so I understand what it means, and the extent people can go just to bring you down for being better than they are. Success, indeed, breeds envy. Therefore, do not think that all people will be happy for you when you are successful.
