Many groups have served as scapegoats throughout history, yet Jews occupy a uniquely recurring position. The persistence of antisemitism across civilizations that otherwise share little in common demands explanation. Jews have been accused of capitalism and communism, excessive nationalism and dangerous cosmopolitanism, tribalism and rootlessness, backwardness and modernity. The contradictions are so obvious that they cannot be explained by the actual characteristics of Jewish communities. Something deeper is occurring. The accusations reveal less about Jews than about the societies producing them. Again and again, Jews become associated with a culture’s frustrations, disappointments, and unrealized hopes.

David Nirenberg’s work provides an important clue. Throughout much of Western history, “Judaism” often functioned as more than a description of Jewish communities. It became a symbolic language through which societies discussed larger concerns about law, power, identity, commerce, morality, and social order. The specific accusations changed across time because the function remained remarkably consistent. Jews became a screen onto which broader anxieties were projected. Antisemitism survived dramatic historical changes because it addressed recurring cultural needs rather than specific Jewish realities. The specific accusations changed across time because the underlying function remained remarkably consistent.

Yet symbolic projection alone cannot explain why Jews occupy this role so frequently. Part of the answer lies in the unusual position Jews have occupied throughout history. The Jewish people exist simultaneously as a religious community, an ethnic people, a historical civilization, a diasporic minority, and, in modern times, a restored nation-state. There are few groups that fit neatly into the categories by which societies organize reality. Jews have often seemed both inside and outside dominant cultures at........

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