http://www.thebedfordcitizen.org/2014/04/05/reflections-on-anti-semitism-ask-a-high-school-student/
What is a Jew? I don’t suppose I can eat that either…
A Jew is a member of a group that traces their ancestry back to Biblical
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the book of Genesis. It is both an ethnic
group and a religious group. It is possible to be Jewish and not be
religious, and it is possible to be religiously Jewish and not
ethnically Jewish. There are 13.4 million Jews alive today. The Jewish
ethnicity has been traced genetically to those people living in Canaan
(modern-day Israel) 5,000 years ago.
Jews do not speak Jewish. The religious language of the Jews is
Hebrew (a Semitic language), which became extinct but was revived by the
Zionists in the 20th century as Modern Hebrew. Ancient Jews
also spoke Aramaic (a Semitic language). Yiddish is a dialectical
language formed similarly to Creole spoken by Jews who migrated to
Central Europe. Ladino is another dialectical language spoken by Jews
who migrated to Spain. These are the most common Jews dialects. There
are many more.
The point being that Jews are a varied people and that this concept
of monolithic anti-Semitism is fallacious. It is just as subtle and
varied. Hatred is a slippery thing.
Why is anti-Semitism receiving all of this attention now?
There have been countless unreported incidents of anti-Semitism towards
Jewish students at Bedford Public Schools for years; however recently
there have been many reported incidents in rapid succession at more than
one school, including swastikas drawn on the walls of the high school, a
group of students texting swastikas to each other, and a game “Jail the
Jews” proposed by two students at the elementary school level during a
creativity exercise. Concerned parents are concerned; and they should
be.
