408
PAl~
TISAN REVIEW
bashing Jews - people who take too much blame even where there is
none to be assigned? I've seen that especially in this country. I'm a
Sephardic Jew, and I was disturbed by the overreaction, for example, to
the Baruch Goldstein incident, when yeshiva students thought it necessary
to take a full-page ad in
The New York Times,
saying that they did not
support Baruch Goldstein.
Robert Wistrich :
I think Norman Podhoretz made his position very
clear on that issue, and basically I have the same gut feelings. For
instance, two months ago, the Council of Europe had a seminar in
which I participated, entitled "Europe Against Intolerance," at which
anti-Semitism was grouped along with racism, xenophobia, and other
nasty things. It was remarkable how many Jewish speakers there prefaced
their remarks by denouncing the massacre in Hebron, as if somehow this
lent a greater credibility or authenticity to their comments about racism
or anti-Semitism. This struck me as exaggerated. I view this perhaps with
a little more understanding or tolerance as an unfortunate symptom of a
long Jewish experience of having to weigh every word carefully while
looking over one's shoulder; this phenomenon of the "trembling
Israelite," excessively fearful of what the Gentiles may think, has good
historical reasons, but I hope it will pass.
Question:
Would you say there's a subtle form of Jew-hatred or anti–
Semitism, and of conspiracy theory, in this generalized belief among oth–
ers that Jews somehow have an intellectual supremacy, that they are ex–
pected to do more and better than others? That Jewish intellectual abil–
ity or superiority may be used not only for advancing the world gener–
ally, but dominating it?
Robert Wistrich:
In other words, you seem to be asking whether or
not anti-Semitism is a response at some level
to
the perceived intellectual
superiority of Jews which might give them domination. There's no
doubt in my mind, just from reading anti-Semitic literature of all kinds,
from different times and places, that there
is
a deep-seated fear ofJewish
intellectual capacity. It's interesting, too, that many of the more
significant anti-Semites in history have never denied this. They may argue,
of course, about the place that should be assigned to the intellect in the
hierarchy of values. Certainly in the case of Hitler and the Nazi party, it
was very clear that it was to be assigned a very low place indeed, and this
was another good reason for wiping out the Jews. But I do recognize
the implication behind your question. Anti-Semitism takes certain
material forms, because from the period of emancipation onwards, as
