Yes. The history lesson is a good one and reminder to Christians - antisemitism did not begin with Mohammed, no matter how much more intense Mohammed made it, for his own reasons.
1. Part of that history most Christian are not taught in school is in most every part of “Christian” Europe, until Napoleon’s “universal” laws, Jews lived all over Europe but could not be full fledged citizens anywhere. This only began to change during and following the time of Napoleon
And keep in mind that was all happening in supposedly very “Christian” countries.
2. The royals in control used the smart or talented non-citizen Jew, and did so in ways which did not endear Jews to the non-Jewish citizens - tax collector, royal money handler and banker, royal land manager, royal trade dealer. Why did the royals do that? They did it because unlike a citizen they have handed the job to, the Jew could gain no political power from it because they were not even a citizen. The “dirty Jew” had jobs the citizens resented. This proced to be a good and a bad thing in time. (A) It was good for Jews as they gained citizenship because around the same time the economies were changing and smart talented Jews had the kinds of experiences that would benefit them in the new economy - finance, banking, property management, trade. (B) However, that natural course also provided a new source of antisemitism - resentment for the “unfairness” of so many successful Jews in the new economy of the world.
3. American Christians also need to be reminded that until late in the last century (1900-2000) Jewsish persons were not admitted to the most prestiges colleges and universities in the U.S.
Catholics couldn’t attend the Ivy colleges, either.
Hence, they created Fordham university.
Also, according to my limited knowledge of Catholicism, Catholics couldn’t charge other Christians interest on loans, so the job (career opportunity to some) was open to non-Christians, ie. the Jews.
So, Christians were forbidden from engaging in what probably seemed like a very lucrative opportunity and envy being what it has universally been, resentment no doubt tagged along with the fact that the Jews were the ‘money lenders’.
Finally, if you visit Jerusalem today, there are very deeply orthodox neighborhoods that are virulently anti-anybody except other orthodox Jews, and that prejudice applies to Christians, Muslims, and secular Jews alike.
Doing a little poking around to verify this, I found this interesting case:
Judah Monis (February 4, 1683 – April 25, 1764) was North America's first college instructor of the Hebrew language, teaching at Harvard College from 1722 to 1760, and authored the first Hebrew textbook published in North America.Monis was also the first Jew to receive a college degree in the American colonies. His conversion to Christianity made him a figure of some controversy to both Jews and Christian.
I guess seeing as he converted you can say he wasn't a Jew (if you use only the religious component of being Jewish as your measure) -- but then again Harvard's only function early on was as a Divinity School to created Anglican ministers for the British colonies. In England, being a minister was a high-status, well paid position, so most were not interested in moving to the colonies.
So, one would not expect a Divinity School dedicated to education and training of Anglican pastors to have any Jewish students, would one?
đź“Ś
Israel Shahak writes that the rabbis preferred it that way, because Jews (especially their rabbis) had certain privileges before Napoleon. Jews lived in self-governing ghettos, with their own laws and courts. Rabbis could even impose the death penalty on Jews who broke their religious laws, and sometimes did so. It was all very insular and Old Testament.
It was like those ultra-Orthodox communities you see in Brooklyn today, only more so. Rabbis had real legal authority over their people prior to Napoleon.
Prior to Napoleon, gentile nations recognized rabbinical jurisdiction over the lives of most Jews.
The "emancipation of Jews" also meant the diminishment of rabbinical authority and Jewish autonomy. Jews were now free to mingle among gentiles, but they were subject to gentile, secular authority, as never before.