Luke Ford

The book begins: "Hatred of the Jew has been humanity's greatest hatred." And before reading another sentence, you ask yourself: "Why the Jews?" And that is the title of this powerful little paperback, subtitled, "The Reason for Anti-Semitism" (Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, $5.95).

This month, we are observing the "Days of Remembrance," the 40th commemoration of the Holocaust _ the annihilation of more than 6 million European Jews by the Nazis before and during World War II.

Forty years ago this month, American, British, and Soviet troops liberated seven of the 19 Nazi concentration camps in Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, and Poland.

Hatred of the Jews obviously did not begin with Adolf Hitler. The first record of anti-Semitism dates from Alexandria, Egypt, where many Greeks and Jews migrated in the third century B.C. Since then, Jews have been persecuted by religious and secular societies _ for almost 2,000 years by Christians who until recent times labeled Jews as "God killers."

Why this hatred?

Authors Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin emphatically declare that Jews are persecuted primarily for their Judaism. Their belief in one God, their high sense of ethical values based on the Torah, and their identification as a nation _ Israel _ have been for centuries a challenge to the religions, moral structures, and national allegiance of non-Jews, the authors say.

"Anti-Semites have not opposed Jews because Jews are affluent _ poor Jews have always been as hated; or strong _ weak Jews have simply invited anti-Semitic bullies; or because Jews may have unpleasant personalities _ kindly Jews have never been spared by anti-Semites; or because ruling classes focus worker discontent onto Jews _ precapitalist and the contemporary noncapitalist societies such as those of the Soviet Union and other communist states have been considerably more anti-Semitic than capitalist societies. Anti-Semites have hated Jews because Jews are Jewish. Christian anti-Semites ceased hating Jews when they became Christians. The same has held true for virtually all other anti-Semites except the Nazis. . . ." God, Torah, and Israel

The authors explain why they feel the three basics of Judaism _ God, Torah, and Israel _ continually appear as a threat to non-Jews.

{BUL} God. "Judaism's first component asserts that the God who revealed himself to the Jews {according to scripture} is the one God of all the world, that all other gods or anything else worshiped are false, and this God makes moral demands on every person and nation."

{BUL} Torah. "The laws of monotheism {given in the Torah} ensured that the Jews put their different beliefs into practice. . . . The generally higher quality of Jews' lives, as exemplified by the stability of the family life, significantly lower rates of entoxication and wife beating, higher education, greater professional success, much less violent crime, and greater communal solidarity, has been due solely to millenniums of adherence to Jewish law, and has provoked profoundly ambivalent reactions from non-Jews." {BUL} Nationhood. The Jews' moral loyalty to Israel in no way conflicts with their loyalty to their own nation and its government, the authors say; nevertheless, dual nationality is often misunderstood. The chosen people

The Jews' identification as God's chosen people has also triggered hatred, the authors say, explaining what Jews mean by the biblical term:

"Jewish chosenness has always meant that Jews have believed themselves chosen by God to spread ethical monotheism to the world and to live as a moral `light unto the nations.' {Isaiah 49:6} All other meanings imputed to Jewish chosenness are non-Jewish.

"The Hebrew Bible, where the concept originates in its entirety, neither states nor implies that chosenness means Jewish superiority or privilege. The Bible repeatedly goes out of its way to declare that the Jews were not chosen because of any intrinsically positive qualities . . . but simply because they are the offspring of the first ethical monotheist, Abraham. {Genesis 18:19} That is their single merit. . . . The Jewish people is composed of members of every race. It is a nation defined by its religion, not by its race. Hence, anyone of any race or nationality can become a Jew and thereby `chosen.'" Condemned for `being'

Elie Wiesel, an Auschwitz survivor who has written poetically about its horrors, was asked recently by a Knight-Ridder News Service reporter how the Holocaust differs from other massacres recorded in history.

"Every tragedy is unique and universal," Wiesel responded. "But a whole {Jewish} people was condemned to death, not for anything but for its own being. For the first time in history, being _ the mere fact of existing _ became a crime punishable by death."

"Why the Jews?" traces anti-Semitism since ancient times, devoting chapters to various forms of religious and secular anti-Semitism. The concluding chapter asks the question, "What is to be done?" Prime among the numerous suggestions is raising the moral values of society:

"Zionism, seeking converts to Judaism, and combatting anti-Semitism when it arises are each critically important, and together could help prevent future anti-Semitic outbreaks. But if the goal is to put an end to anti-Semitism, then Jews must also attempt to influence the moral values of non-Jews so that no aspect of Judaism any longer threatens the non-Jews' values. . . . This means, in essence, that the Jews must make the world aware of two basic principles: ethics need God and God's major demand is ethics." For Jews and Christians, "Why the Jews?" is important reading. Perhaps some secular Jews have to be reminded of Rabbi Abraham Heschel's comment, "The Jews are a messenger who forgot his message." And Christians not only have to ask God for forgiveness for their major role in anti-Semitism, but to respond in positive actions to prevent another holocaust.

Ever since I first visited the Holocaust museum at the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem, I see on the crucifixes in our churches not only Jesus, but also the naked, horror-stricken women and children in Nazi concentration camps. And I can pray in the name of my Christian sisters and brothers the prayer Pope John XXIII composed shortly before his death:

We realize that our brows are branded with the mark of Cain. Centuries long has Abel lain in blood and tears because we had forgotten thy love. Forgive us the curse which we unjustly laid on the name of the Jews. Forgive us that, with our curse, we crucified thee a second time.