Last Christmas my wife gave me a copy of The Complete Jewish Study Bible by Stern and Rubin. It’s useful, but in the study notes the editor repeatedly claims our English Bible translations are antisemitic or encourage antisemitism. After 60 years of daily Bible reading and study, that surprised me.
As for racism, everyday news reveals how racist America is – in somebody’s opinion, anyway. That doesn’t surprise anyone any more.
But it all troubles me. Am I really antisemitic? Am I truly racist? I hadn’t thought so; that’s not my intention. So, what’s going on here?
Then I realized something. First, we all know people who are hard to like. You know the types – antagonistic, belligerent, caustic, dogmatic, egocentric ... a whole alphabet of negatives. It’s not their age or gender, race or birthplace, religion or education that’s offensive – it’s just them.
Maybe it’s a neighbor, co-worker, or relative who troubles you. The conflict may start in elementary school, even earlier. Grandpa said some people have a chip on their shoulder. And, honestly, we have our own personality quirks. As a friend said last week, not everybody can gee-haw together.
Recognizing that, I realized something else. I may not care for a particular Hebrew – but disliking one specific Jew doesn’t make me an antisemite. I might dislike an individual of a different race or color, but not liking someone of different ethnicity doesn’t make me a hide-bound racist.
Barring certain individuals, I do play well with others; my conscience is clear on both counts.
But in our world ignorance is flaunted, common sense is lacking, logic is unknown, good judgment is ridiculed, and prejudice is admirable in some but intolerable in others. If I express a dislike for anyone, that can be extrapolated into absolute hatred for everyone of the sort – whether it’s bloodline, gender, color, nationality, hairstyle, or bow-legs. Disliking anyone becomes discrimination against an entire class. Any personal opinion or preference is an abomination – in the personal opinion and preference of others.
We can’t please everybody. One old gambler said life is a hard game; you can’t win, you can’t break even, and you can’t quit. And the old song says there’s no hiding place down here.
Larry Cloud