-Caveat Lector- Maybe it has to do with Hispanics holding pro-Christian beliefs while "Semites" hold anti-Christian beliefs. Easy to understand, eh? As easy to understand as the proverbial taco in front of the face.
POC On Tue, 30 Jul 2002, Archibald Bard wrote: > -> SNETNEWS Mailing List > > Deconstructing Hispanic Anti-Semitism > Posted 7/24/2002 > By Daniel Santacruz > > It was the typical rush hour madness in Times Square. I had just gotten off the >Number 7 train and was about to walk up the ramp to the Port Authority to catch my >bus to New Jersey when an army of slow-walking commuters going down in the opposite >direction forced me to squeeze myself and the dozens of people who got off the train >with me against the wall. > > All of a sudden, a man from the group of the commuters that were going down the ramp >pointed at me said in Spanish to the man who was with him: "Ah va uno de los que >mataron a Cristo." (There goes one of those who killed Christ.) My kippah and my >beard made me the perfect target for the remark. But I dismissed the incident as just >the opinion of a fanatic. > > That was five years ago. But now the incident takes on a new meaning in the light of >the Anti-Defamation League`s 2002 Survey of Anti-Semitism in America, released in >mid-June. > > According to the survey, 44 percent of Hispanics born outside the United States hold >"hardcore anti-Semitic beliefs." That figure is significantly above the national >average. In contrast, 20 percent of Hispanic Americans born in the United States fall >into the same category. > > Overall, the survey found that anti-Semitism has increased. Seventeen percent -- >about 35 million adults -- hold views about Jews that are "unquestionably >anti-Semitic." Another 35% were in the "middle" category, holding neither prejudiced >nor unprejudiced views, but not completely prejudice-free in their attitudes toward >Jews. The most widely held stereotype is that "Jews have too much power in the U.S." > > These figures, according to the survey, reverse a ten-year decline in anti-Semitism >and raises concerns that "an undercurrent of Jewish hatred persists in America." > > The figures about Hispanics worry me personally because I am Hispanic and Jewish. I >have a deep understanding of both Judaism and Catholicism. I was born and raised a >Catholic in the fervently Catholic country of Colombia, but I converted to Judaism in >1994 for the second time (my first conversion, in 1982, was under the aegis of the >Gerim Institute, a Conservative group in Brookline, Mass.; the second was with an >Orthodox rabbi in 1994.) > > The difference the survey discovered in anti-Jewish feelings between the Hispanics >who were born in Latin America and the ones born here is crucial. The Hispanics who >immigrate here, from Mexico down to Argentina, are just expressing centuries-old >views commonly held there: Jews are responsible for the death of Christ, they control >the economy and the media, they are immensely wealthy. > > But the prejudices discovered by the survey don`t necessarily mean hostility toward >Jews. In New Jersey, New York and Florida it is common to see Jews and Hispanics >working together, and violent incidents are nearly nonexistent. There has been some >tension between hasidim and Hispanics in Williamsburg over housing, but the two seem >generally to get along well. Although Spanish-language newspapers in the New York >area have been critical of Israel during the second intifada, their rhetoric can`t be >labeled anti-Semitic. > > Political correctness hasn`t reached Latin America, so it`s common to hear a new >immigrant refer to a Jew as "el judio." It bothers me, for example, when a clerk at a >shop here in Teaneck says that "the Jew is on vacation" when talking about his boss, >but I understand where he`s coming from. > > The majority of Hispanic immigrants have never had contact with Jews in their >countries of origin. The woman who cleaned my office at International Masters >Publishers in Stamford, Conn., is a good example. > > For five months we chatted in Spanish almost every day and I learned a lot about her >and her family. Twenty-five years old and barely literate, she now lives in >Westchester County. She came to the United States five years ago from a town near the >Mexican city of Puebla. One day she asked me why I wore a kippah. When I told it was >because her I am Jewish, she opened her eyes wide and smiled in disbelief: "Judio? >Usted es judio?" (Jew? Are you a Jew?) > > When I asked why she was surprised, she told me that I was the first Jew she had >ever met. She told me she thought Jews were people who had lived only in the time of >Christ and, like dinosaurs, were now extinct. > > The reason why Catholics and Jews live worlds apart in Latin America is to be found >in numbers and economic conditions. There are approximately 460,000 Jews in Central >and South America, out of a total population of 519 million, most of whom live in >major cities and belong to the middle and upper class. Most Hispanic immigrants, on >the other hand, come from small towns or rural areas. Here in the United States the >Jewish and Hispanics communities live separately, divided by a deep linguistic and >economic barrier. > > To the Hispanic immigrant, the Jew is a mysterious person, another gringo with >peculiar ceremonies and, sometimes, strange dress. > > The Church and some Jewish organizations, among them the Anti-Defamation League, >have been holding dialogues and interfaith programs in Latin America since 1968, the >first time a pope, Paul VI, visited there. His visit came on the heels of Nostra >Aetate, an encyclical issued by the Vatican in 1965 that revolutionized relations >between Christian and Jews. > > But despite the Church`s good intentions and high-level meetings between Jews and >priests, the old belief that Jews are deicides has not disappeared completely in >Latin America. What`s worrisome is that it is espoused by both the uneducated and >college graduates. Many times I heard from friends the Christian legend of the >Wandering Jew, which says that Jews will wander perpetually because a Jewish cobbler >drove Jesus away when he paused to rest by his door in Jerusalem while carrying the >cross. > > That anti-Jewish attitudes among Hispanic-Americans born here are less pronounced >does not surprise me. The influence of the Catholic Church on public schools and >universities here is negligible, and Catholic influence on the general culture has >come primarily from Ireland and Italy, two countries with a relatively clean record >in their treatment of Jews. > > In Latin America, however, that influence came directly from Spain almost from the >very beginning of the conquista. It remained unchallenged until the 20th century, >when Protestant sects began attracting followers. > > Many Jewish organizations in the U.S. hold interfaith programs and have outreach >programs with Hispanic organizations, but they face an uphill battle. If Jewish >organizations haven`t been able to convince Latin Americans in their own countries >that Jews are not what centuries of myths and stereotypes have perpetuated, can they >be expected to succeed here, where the language and the culture are very real >obstacles? > > Daniel Santacruz is a writer and editor living in Teaneck, NJ. > http://www.jewishpress.com/news_article.asp?article=1392 > > > -> To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ==^================================================================ > This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?b1ddDh.b15Rt5 > Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! > http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register > ==^================================================================ > <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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