The national theme for the 2013 Days of Remembrance is “Never Again: Heeding the Warning Signs.” At the core of this problem is the covert and overt anti-Semitism that has existed throughout Jewish history. Warning signs have their foundation in patterns of human behavior. Warning signs include a focus on a group’s own rights at the expense of others’ rights, blaming vulnerable minority groups for the imagined problems of society, and decisions that are made to relieve stress rather than to solve problems.
Warning signs have cause and effect factors: stress experienced in a society results in tension among individuals and groups. When stress and tension are applied to solving problems, society functions well and meets the obligations to its citizens. Decisions are based on intellectual reasoning, real problems are addressed and constructive solutions are implemented. Leaders uphold democratic principles and are sure of the values that guarantee individual rights.
Society functions poorly when it experiences stress and tension but focuses on short term relief of the stress. It is during these periods that warning signs can be seen. Decisions are motivated by tension and reactivity. Attention is centered on imagined problems and these problems are blamed on vulnerable minority groups. An intense pressure develops for ‘group think’ that mandates full agreement. Group think occurs when a group demands its rights and takes actions to violate the rights of others. Democratic principles are misused to promote a group’s own agenda, and weak leaders acquiesce to that group’s agenda. Leaders become lax in maintaining principles and forego adherence to the values that assure individual rights. I will illustrate with a society that functioned poorly and persecuted its Jewish population. In the late 15th century, the Spanish populace was under severe stress from a prolonged war with the enemy region of Granada which depleted financial resources and manpower. At the same time, the ruling monarchs were pressured by the authorities of the Catholic Church, who were intent on persecuting the Jews along with the inquisition against the Conversos (those Jews forced to become or willingly became Christian). The monarchs acquiesced to the demand and joined forces with the Church against the Jews. The monarchs did insist on taking action only after the conquest of Granada to avoid civil unrest during wartime. Granada was conquered in the fall of 1491 and its inhabitants, the Moors, were expelled. As agreed upon, the Jews were driven out the following spring in 1492. The real problems of a war-torn country were ignored but the Jews and Conversos were identified falsely as the imagined problems.
A critical warning sign appears when a vulnerable minority group is falsely targeted and occupies what is called the scapegoat position. The scapegoat position is an object of irrational hostility. Essentially, two groups unite against the scapegoat as illustrated above when the crown and the Church attacked the Jews. Historians have concluded that Jews became a fixed target of centuries’ old hostilities during the Middle Ages. From that time on, societies have targeted the Jews in a predetermined way. Until now, no one has identified the pattern of behavior that forces Jews to be scapegoats; space does not permit me to explain it fully. However, it is important to state that the scapegoat position endures through time, despite changing participants, and changing explanations or justifications for anti-Semitism.
Warning signs can occur in any society; therefore, anti-Semitism has no geographic borders and additionally, no time limit. As a consequence, our critical obligation as citizens is to ensure that America directs attention exclusively to real problems and does not ruminate over imagined problems that put pressure on vulnerable minority groups such as Jews. We as Jews gain the most when we contribute usefully to the collective behavior of a society that functions well.
Mary Greenberg, Ph.D. is a member of the State of Kansas Holocaust Commission and Temple Beth Sholom in Topeka, Kan. A research associate at the Department of American Studies at The University of Kansas, Greenberg also holds a master’s degree in social work. Her commentary is based on “The Staying Power of Anti-Semitism and a Possible Explanation of Its Resilience,” which she gives at speaking engagements.
