10/30/13

Antisemitism differed from the racism and exclusion Jews had experienced during the early modern period in a number of ways.  During the early modern period Jews were segregated and confined to a limited number of professions due to their religion and the mentality of rulers.  With good Christians unable to act as money lenders the Jews were able to fill that position.  Despite their usefulness to society many people despised the Jews for their desire and success in retaining their own culture.  Jews were viewed as a minority who only worked for their communities benefit rather than the Christian society as a whole.  Church doctrine that placed blame for the crucifiction of Christ on Judas further created tensions.  The modern period saw the relieving of many of these divides.  No longer confined to money lending and petty trading many Jews embraced modernity and used their education to find new jobs that were previously denied to them.  More crucially while many Jews retained somewhat apart from the majority of society, marrying fellow Jews and sending their children to Jewish schools, the repealment of laws that limited Jews and the teachings of groups such as the Alliance Israelite Universelle caused many to abandon traditional dress and customs to become part of society as a whole.  Thanks to their embracement of education and improved hygiene Jews in many countries saw increases in population as well as education.  Coupled with the fact that Jews were no longer limited to the lowest of professions many Jews quickly became well established in the new middle class.  No longer confined to ghettos the newfound success of Jews was not lost upon their less prosperous neighbors.  As a result it was not hard for many skilled, or deceitful depending on your outlook, politicians to inspire anger towards the Jews.  Due to their  acceptance of enlightenment, "Jews can be accused of anything and blamed for everything, including unbridled capitalism, Marxism, Liberalism, Communism, ethnic exclusiveness, cosmopolitan universalism..."  Some anti-semitic writers such as Wilhelm Marr noted that it was precisely due to their acceptance of new ideas that the Jews were now flourishing.  The backlash from this was a demand for Jews to once again be limited.  Instead of being praised for their high degree of education and work as teachers Jews were removed from their posts out of fear that they would somehow harm the young they taught.  Similarly professions such as bankers and journalists that many Jews were employed as were viewed with suspicion.  Many paranoid or demagogic leaders were easily able to spin the Jews predominance in these professions as attempts to control the country.
In short in the early modern period Jews were persecuted and limited in their options for religious as well as cultural reasons.  In the modern period Jews were feared and despised for their great success.