One of the oldest hatreds in the world is what Wilhelm Marr (1819-1904), the founder of the League of Antisemites in Germany, called Anti-Semitism. This is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as ‘opposition or hostility to Jews.’ This has taken on many forms, including anti-Judaism in ancient times and the Middle Ages, racist anti-Semitism in the 19th and 20th centuries, and its latest mutation, Anti-Zionism, what Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks called New Anti-Semitism. In this essay, we will present a survey of Anti-Semitism in Oxford, followed by delving into the question posed in this talk: how do find meaning in a history of persecution, Anti-Semitism and exclusion.
Middle Ages
Jews were invited to settle… Read More »