Just what is it with anti-Semitism? The horrific October 7 pogrom brought the Jew-hating progressive cockroaches out of the woodwork on our college campuses, in our cities, and in the cities of Europe. Allan Dershowitz says, “This has become an International war against the Jews.”

This brings forcefully to mind the oft-recurring puzzle: “Why do so many hate the Jews? Exactly what is the reason for this?” Many of us have pondered this puzzle for years.

Chris Christie has an explanation. Naturally, he blames it on Donald Trump.

However, moving on to the plausible, Rabbi Benjamin Blech tells us that the driving motivation for Jew hatred is hatred of morality and its proponents. To drive home the point, the Rabbi quotes history’s number one Jew-hater, Adolf Hitler, who declared, “Conscience is a Jewish invention like circumcision. My task is to free men from the dirty and degrading ideas of conscience and morality.”

Are conscience and morality dirty and degrading? Is the loathing of conscience and morality what is really behind the surging popularity of Jew hatred?

Image: Moses and Joshua with the Ten Commandments from the 1890 Holman Bible. Public domain.

A hatred of Jews flowing from hatred of morality means a hatred of Biblical morality, for it is in Holy Scripture that Jews find the principles of morality. When the Holy One gave humans existence and life, He also declared a two-pronged Prime Directive: “Be holy” (Leviticus 11:44) and “Choose Life” (Deuteronomy 30:19). These two commands should probably be considered as one because they are logically equivalent; that is, each entails the other. In fact, the command “Be Holy” is reiterated at least seven times in Holy Scripture, in Leviticus 11:44, 11:45, 19:2, 20:7, 20:26, 21:8, and Deuteronomy 23:14.

Moreover, a hatred of Biblical morality directed at Jews is likewise directed at Christians because Christians proclaim Biblical morality alongside Jews.

Rabbi Blech further explains, “Jews are hated not because they are bad but because they persist in reminding the world of what it means to be good. Anti-Semitism is nothing less than a visceral reaction to the cry of a guilty conscience.”

Therefore, anti-Semitism is self-condemnation. It is the projection of self-hatred onto the Jews. Might that also explain why the Chinese Communist Party hates and persecutes Falun Gong, which promotes a doctrine of truthfulness, benevolence, and forbearance?

It has long been evident that the smears the left hurls at its opponents are projections of the evil lurking in the hearts of the left. This may be the most concise description of the etiology of Jew hatred: The projection of guilt from the heart of the hater.