Combating Philosemitism In The 21st Century

Wikipedia:

American-Jewish historian Daniel Cohen of the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies has asserted that philosemitism “can indeed easily recycle antisemitic themes, recreate Jewish otherness, or strategically compensate for Holocaust guilt.”

. . .Mark Twain’s essay Concerning the Jews has been described as philosemitic. Israeli scholar Bennet Kravitz states that one could just as easily hate Jews for the reasons Twain gives for admiring them. In fact, Twain’s essay was cited by Nazi sympathizers in the 1930s. Kravitz concludes, “The flawed logic of ‘Concerning the Jews’ and all philo-Semitism leads to the anti-Semitic beliefs that the latter seeks to deflate”.

Philosemitic ideas have also been promoted by some American Evangelicals due to the influence of Dispensationalism, with some interpretations being considered antisemitic.

Wikipedia:

“Concerning the Jews” is an 1899 short essay by Mark Twain. Twain had lived in Austria during 1896, and opined that the Habsburg empire used Jews as scapegoats to maintain unity in their immensely diverse empire.

. . .The essay also included a positive account of the Jewish people, with regard to their survival:

He has made a marvellous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?

Wikipedia:

The Scattered Nation is a controversial speech by the U.S. Senator, Confederate officer, and slaveowner Zebulon Baird Vance, written sometime between 1868 and 1870. The speech praises the accomplishments of Jewish people, crediting Jews for much of what Vance considered great in Western civilization. Particular praise in reserved for white Jews of Central and Western European descent, while Black people and Jews of color are disparaged as culturally and racially inferior. Vance was a prominent defender of Jews during a time when antisemitism was common in the American South. While positively remembered for decades by the North Carolina Jewish community, Vance’s reputation has declined in recent years due to his racism, support for slavery and the Confederacy, and promotion of Jewish stereotypes.

. . .Due to Vance’s condemnation of antisemitism in the American South, he was largely remembered positively for many years by mainstream American Jews and by the Asheville Jewish community in particular. A Confederate monument honoring Vance was erected by the City of Asheville in 1897. Following Vance’s death, the local chapter of B’nai B’rith and the United Daughters of the Confederacy held an annual ceremony at the Vance Monument. The ceremony was held every year for decades, continuing until the early 2000s. The Jewish-American philanthropist and pro-Confederate activist Nathan Straus, co-owner of the Macy’s department store chain, funded the construction of a wrought iron fence around the monument as well as an annual wreath-laying to honor Vance. The speech was often republished by Jewish publishing houses. Maurice A. Weinstein’s 1995 book Zebulon B. Vance and “The Scattered Nation” (Wildacres Press, Charlotte) helped to keep Vance’s memory alive within North Carolina’s Jewish community. The Vance Monument was removed by the City of Asheville in May 2021, with the support of the local Jewish community.

In the 21st century, Vance is no longer held in esteem by the North Carolina Jewish community. According to a 2021 statement released by two Jewish organizations in Asheville, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Greater Asheville Area and Carolina Jews for Justice/West, Vance “classifies Jews in a hierarchy of worthiness according to their geographic origins. Not surprisingly, white, Ashkenazi Jews from Western and Central Europe rank highest.”