A little while ago I read the unfortunately mis-titled book, Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean.
I say unfortunately mis-titled because the book was excellent but it really was not about Jewish Pirates and certainly was not limited at all to the Caribbean.
The book was good because it tells the story of some of the most famous Converso Jews following the Spanish and Porteguese Inquisition. The well footnoted text gave me a better appreciation for the 15 century Mediterranean Jews, their struggles and their success.
Perhaps above all, as I was reading the book I found myself with a greater appreciation for Sephardi Jews.
I read Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean piecemeal. Every few weeks I would pick it up again and read another section. Meanwhile, in the real world, the Rubashkin saga has been dominated Jewish headlines. All the while, playing the victim card and charges of anti-Semitism in the legal system abound. The contrast of the Rubashkin campaigns and the reactions of the Conversos was striking.
Following decades of persecution and systematic genocide, the Jews of Spain and Portugal were forced northward. Many settled in Amsterdam. The local government tolerated the Jews but there were some blatantly anti-Jewish laws. The Jews were able to practice Judaism and in many respects they thrived there. For these refugee Jews, life was tough. It was not easy being Jewish.
The book follows the story of some of the Amsterdam Jews.
Not once, did I see a reference to “anti-Semitism”. The Meditteranean Jews did not deal with their persecution by labeling it as anti-Semitism. I did not see any attempt to portray themselves as victims or the “lamb among the lions”.
Ashkenazic Jews were also persecuted heavily. They were ousted from many countries and killed in many genocides. To cope with the hate and bloodshed, anti-Semitism was “blamed”.
This got me thinking. My impression of the current Sephardic Jewry landscape is very similar. I don’t recall hearing accusations of anti-Semitism when it comes to Sephardic Jews. Just last summer Solomon Dwek was arrested on Federal charges of bank fraud. This criminal pled guilty and awaits sentencing. I did not hear a peep about any anti-Semitism in his investigation.
Dwek is Sephardic.
Contrast that with the bank fraud that Rubashkin has been charged with. I have spoke to otherwise reasonable people who are convinced the whole thing is a plot by the anti-Semitic government. They say things like “this is how it was in Germany 1935″.
Rubashkin is not Sephardic.
I have a feeling that they heritage play a role in our collective reactions.
On one level, it seems that Sephardic Jewry never had a culture of blaming anti-Semitism while Ashkenazik Jewry has been crying about anti-Semitism for six centuries and using the term for around 150 years. Thus, we still react differently today.
On a deeper level, there also exists an anto-Sephardic bias in the Ashkenazik community (see: Somewhat On The Lighter Side). Perhaps the Ashkenazic community does not consider anti-Jewish activity that harms Sephardic Jews “anti-Semitism”.
Perhaps not. It’s just a thought.
(Either way, I recommend Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean. It’s a fun read and I plan another post about the episode in the book that had the biggest impact on me.)
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