Many Jews— and many Jewish journalists— could benefit from their own “conversion” to authentic Judaism
Germany is still struggling with a Jewish problem, but thank G-d, this time it does not threaten Jews. Rather, it deals with some phrasing in the famous Duden dictionary of standard German. Its current online edition stated that the word Jude (Jew) is a pejorative term and is considered to be discriminatory, and that phrases like “Jewish people, or people of the Jewish faith” are “usually chosen.”
The German Jewish community — once 600,000 strong but now, post-Holocaust, barely 15,000 — reacted angrily, declaring that Jude is a term of pride to us, and not derogatory in any way — especially in view of the obscene way it was utilized by the Nazis. The dictionary editors, who clearly meant no harm, immediately changed the wording.
The sad fact is that the word “Jew,” though we celebrate it, has for millennia been used as a pejorative long before modern Germany— by the Church, by kings, and by the unwashed — and fully washed — masses.
In the eyes of the world, the Jew remains a mysterious figure, beyond all definition and classification: race, religion, people, nation, clan. We are the subject of curiosity and myth from time immemorial. Whether we drink the blood of Christian children on Pesach, or we secretly plot to dominate the world, or we are the evil anti-god who stubbornly refuses to accept Christian teaching, Haman’s famous description of the Jews (Esther 3:8) says it all. The world has always been obsessed with Jews. Even China, which has no Jews, has opinions about Jews.
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