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 Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 5:16 pm
You open this and you think... "Put your money where you'r religion is??" Yes that is what you should be thinking! This story is about an experience that just hit me in the past year or two.....
I go to the first day of school last year, I come into my first homeroom of the year. I take a seat at a random table and gradually people fill up the 7 or 8 tables.
I ended up sitting at a table with a Mexican Boy, Jhonny, a shy caucasion boy, Austin, and an empty seat next to me. I become some what "friends" with them after the next couple of days. Then The second week of school Jhonny says, "Woah! You'r a jewish?" I was puzzled by his choosing of words along with his spanish accent. I replied, "Yes, you saw my necklace?" I had a Star of David on...
"Yahhh!!!! So your like... like... Rich?!" He said "I mean, i have a nice house and I have nice things and live in a good part of town but im not rich " I said....
That ends the story but my big question is...
Where did people get the assumption that ALL Jews are rich???
I have quite a few wealthy jewish friends (alot of reformed brats too.....) But many of us are not rich....
So where are people , a lot who arn't even sure what a real Jew is, get this Sterotype?
Thanks
Princess Tadakichi smile
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 7:06 am
Myth: Jews are rich. Source: History. But that doesn't make it true or valid. See, back in the day, there were some Jews in Europe. In many of the European countries/regions, the ruling families had adopted Christianity several generations back. Some of the teachings of Christianity and/or the Christian Testament are anti-Judaism/anti-Jew. Some of the ruling monarchs of the time said, "Our Lord (Jesus) condemned Jews and Judaism. How can we possibly support these people, in defiance of this divine decree?" What they did was restrict Jews' rights, in keeping with what they understood as a divine obligation to oppress Jews. Jews were forbidden to own land; they had to rent at exorbitant prices. Jews were forbidden to own large herds of livestock -- that is, more than their own families could eat, milk, or use for labor. In some areas, Jews were forbidden to ride horses, though they were permitted to use horses or mules to tow carts; and in some of those areas, Jews were permitted to use horses or mules to tow carts full of goods, but not actually ride in the carts themselves. Jews were forbidden to take certain professions as well, and in time, the prohibitions grew so that Jews were permitted only to work at a full spectrum of professions by living and working within walled ghettos. Living in a ghetto would permit them to farm (rented) land, become butchers, clothiers, bakers, and take up other forms of livelihood. If a Jew wanted to live elsewhere, he was only permitted to be a scholar, physician... or moneylender. The last profession was the source of the stereotypes. It goes in a progressive order. 1. Lending money to those who needed it left people the impression that the Jews had a lot of money. "Jews are rich, or they'd never be able to just hand out these sums of money, would they?" People didn't understand that for the lender, it was not a gift, but an investment that would eventually be paid back to them, enabling them to feed their families. 2. If a person borrowed money, then couldn't pay it back, the Jew had to come to collect it, which left the impression that "Jews are out to get our money," especially among people who tended to conveniently forget that "their" money wasn't really theirs, but was only on loan for a finite period of time. 3. They also didn't understand the notion of charging interest. "We borrowed one hundred silver, so we should pay back one hundred silver! He gets his money back, you see?" But that system wouldn't allow a Jew to make any living at all, so he was required to charge interest. That, in turn, gave the impression that a Jew was someone who wanted more than he was willing to give (ahem, LOAN) to others, and therefore Jews were stingy. 4. When the loan was repaid, with its interest, the Jew didn't actually get to keep all of the interest. Jews were taxed once because they were living in the country or region, then a second time because they were not considered citizens, so they had to pay as foreigners for the privilege of living in the area. Also, they were charging interest from actual citizens, and the Christian interpretation of some Biblical verses seemed to suggest that interest should never be charged; therefore, Jews were required to pay a third tax as an apology for sinning (in the way that the crown had forced them to sin, of course)! All this taxing meant that the Jewish moneylenders had very little money left for themselves... which meant that they had to charge a higher interest rate from the debtors if they were ever to make enough to feed their own families. Hence, "Jews are rich, stingy extortionists." After all, the general public didn't know that the Jews were being taxed three times on the interest they charged; they never saw that for themselves. All they saw was Jews handing out large sums of money, then demanding even larger sums back for themselves. Christian monarchs created, then used, then perpetuated, the stereotypes -- for their own benefit, at our expense. Look all this up and read a little more about it. These are the very bare-bones basics, but if you read more in depth, it's fascinating.
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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darkphoenix1247 Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 10:27 am
aww man! I actually knew the answer to this one. (Though not nearly as detailed! Thank you!) blaugh
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:50 pm
Divash Myth: Jews are rich. Source: History. But that doesn't make it true or valid. See, back in the day, there were some Jews in Europe. In many of the European countries/regions, the ruling families had adopted Christianity several generations back. Some of the teachings of Christianity and/or the Christian Testament are anti-Judaism/anti-Jew. Some of the ruling monarchs of the time said, "Our Lord (Jesus) condemned Jews and Judaism. How can we possibly support these people, in defiance of this divine decree?" What they did was restrict Jews' rights, in keeping with what they understood as a divine obligation to oppress Jews. Jews were forbidden to own land; they had to rent at exorbitant prices. Jews were forbidden to own large herds of livestock -- that is, more than their own families could eat, milk, or use for labor. In some areas, Jews were forbidden to ride horses, though they were permitted to use horses or mules to tow carts; and in some of those areas, Jews were permitted to use horses or mules to tow carts full of goods, but not actually ride in the carts themselves. Jews were forbidden to take certain professions as well, and in time, the prohibitions grew so that Jews were permitted only to work at a full spectrum of professions by living and working within walled ghettos. Living in a ghetto would permit them to farm (rented) land, become butchers, clothiers, bakers, and take up other forms of livelihood. If a Jew wanted to live elsewhere, he was only permitted to be a scholar, physician... or moneylender. The last profession was the source of the stereotypes. It goes in a progressive order. 1. Lending money to those who needed it left people the impression that the Jews had a lot of money. "Jews are rich, or they'd never be able to just hand out these sums of money, would they?" People didn't understand that for the lender, it was not a gift, but an investment that would eventually be paid back to them, enabling them to feed their families. 2. If a person borrowed money, then couldn't pay it back, the Jew had to come to collect it, which left the impression that "Jews are out to get our money," especially among people who tended to conveniently forget that "their" money wasn't really theirs, but was only on loan for a finite period of time. 3. They also didn't understand the notion of charging interest. "We borrowed one hundred silver, so we should pay back one hundred silver! He gets his money back, you see?" But that system wouldn't allow a Jew to make any living at all, so he was required to charge interest. That, in turn, gave the impression that a Jew was someone who wanted more than he was willing to give (ahem, LOAN) to others, and therefore Jews were stingy. 4. When the loan was repaid, with its interest, the Jew didn't actually get to keep all of the interest. Jews were taxed once because they were living in the country or region, then a second time because they were not considered citizens, so they had to pay as foreigners for the privilege of living in the area. Also, they were charging interest from actual citizens, and the Christian interpretation of some Biblical verses seemed to suggest that interest should never be charged; therefore, Jews were required to pay a third tax as an apology for sinning (in the way that the crown had forced them to sin, of course)! All this taxing meant that the Jewish moneylenders had very little money left for themselves... which meant that they had to charge a higher interest rate from the debtors if they were ever to make enough to feed their own families. Hence, "Jews are rich, stingy extortionists." After all, the general public didn't know that the Jews were being taxed three times on the interest they charged; they never saw that for themselves. All they saw was Jews handing out large sums of money, then demanding even larger sums back for themselves. Christian monarchs created, then used, then perpetuated, the stereotypes -- for their own benefit, at our expense. Look all this up and read a little more about it. These are the very bare-bones basics, but if you read more in depth, it's fascinating. Wow thanks Divash, this is very interesting I'm glad you could tell me so much about it. And i guess people are still taking those acient myths and turning them into new ones! Princess Tadakichi
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 11:54 pm
Related to what Divash said: I've heard similar things, but going back even further as to why Jews were money lenders and bankers (warning, it's 3 a.m. and I may be wrong). The way I heard it was that before the Protestant Reformation, every Christian monarch belonged to the Church. The Church outlawed interest on loans as a sin, and so the monarchs lost a form of revenue, for no Catholic would charge interest. So, they placed the Jews in charge of interest charging, as Jews were not held to Papal Edicts the way Catholics were.
Again, very possibly wrong, and I don't remember the source I heard it from.
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Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 5:30 am
DD, that's a very simple, concise version of my long-winded recitation. Well done. smile
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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