Starting in the Hellenistic period, more than 2,000 years ago, the Talmudic verse “It is known that Esau hates Jacob” has been in force. Our tradition knows of earlier events of this kind under the rule of Pharaoh and in ancient Persia.

The verse we mentioned uses general language as if all non-Jews fit the description of Esau, which they do not: “Esau” is a matter of behavior and not of nationality. Within every nation there are different people, but the fact is that hatred of Israel exists in the hearts and actions of many. This does not eliminate the distinction between enemies and others.

Is this fate? Only partially: The Jewish-English Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli coined the phrase “the dislike of the unlike”: part of human nature is the repulsion of many people by those who are different from them. Anger that is inexplicable, but extreme in its intensity, often arises when people encounter people who are different from them in color and race, religion and nationality, level of education and economy, culinary and musical customs, in the image they give to God, language and accent.

Jews have a special status in this regard: we are an ancient minority spread throughout the world, an educated and relatively wealthy minority, a people who are expected to cling to their separate identity, and for 2,000 years – a people who have been accused by many of murdering the “Son of God.”

Please remember that the greatest antisemitic events occurred a generation or more before the establishment of the State of Israel, from the great expulsions from various countries in the Middle Ages to the Holocaust. At the same time, antisemites occasionally feel that Israel is adding fuel to the fire: it controls land that belongs to others, and even continues to fight them and cause them suffering.

There is no doubt that many of our neighbors are suffering during its war on terror, but outside criticism ignores the pursuit of peace that has characterized us for generations: the Weizmann-Faisal Agreement in 1919, the Partition Plan in 1937, the Second Partition in 1947, and the initiatives of Rabin, Barak and Olmert over the past 30 years. Each time we have been met with refusal.

The current hostility is also related to the fact that, in the eyes of many, only the Jewish people have no right to their own State within any borders. Alongside the harsh criticism of Israel’s defense stands the almost complete disregard of the wider world for the massacre in Syria and Sudan. 

At the same time, Israel is making a great effort to avoid harming civilians. Many of them in the region hate us, but not all of them engage in terrorism, and this is the main distinction. This obligation is a result of a moral choice made by the Jewish people for generations, and not because the wider world demands it of us, certainly not because of the demands of Jew haters. 

How can the stubborn antisemitic reality be changed? Legends that fuel hatred will continue to emerge in the world’s memory, but the main thing is education in every country. We do not mean that every country should educate its children to love Jews and the State of Israel and to be hostile to antisemitism. There is nothing wrong with that, but that is not the main element. We expect ourselves and others to educate children to humanistic morality, the values ​​of human life and human dignity at the forefront. This is the main mission of the education system in Israel and in the nations, and it is much more important than high grades. 

We expect the State of Israel to lead this message by placing it at the center of educational activity in our schools, and also by making a great effort towards every education system that seeks to be a partner in the moral message that has the power to change the face of humanity.

As France and Germany once did, any regional arrangement must include the joint writing of curricula that places humanism at the center. It all starts at home, but our influence on what happens in the classroom is much greater. This is the way to reduce hatred, including hatred of Jews, and increase respect for every individual.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)