On October 27, 2018, a hateful act of antisemitism shocked the
United States. An armed man entered the Tree of Life Synagogue
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and took the lives of eleven innocent
Jewish people observing the Sabbath. People referred to it as “the
deadliest antisemitic attack ever committed in the United States.”
But the Pittsburgh incident, unfortunately, is not an isolated event.
A virulent and vicious tide of antisemitism has been steadily rising
around the globe. According to the Anti-Defamation League, “the
number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. rose 57 percent in 2017—
the largest single-year increase on record and the second highest
number reported since the ADL started tracking such data in 1979.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Holocaust research organization
based in Los Angeles, reported that of the ten worst antisemitic
incidents of 2018 worldwide, six of them occurred in the United
States, with the Tree of Life incident at the top of the list. It is
hard to believe that after all the atrocities that took place in Nazi
Germany seventy-five years ago, such antisemitism still exists.
Where Does Antisemitism Come From?
Antisemitism, called “the oldest hatred,” has been around for
thousands of years. Social commentators, both Jewish and
Gentile, have developed numerous theories concerning why
antisemitism persists. But they leave out the most critical reason
of all: antisemitism is the devil’s invention.
When God called Abram to be the father of His chosen people
(Genesis 12:1–3), Satan made the Jewish people the target of
his fury. The evil one has tried to annihilate the Jewish people in
every age and in endless ways to prevent God from using us as
His instruments of redemption through the Jewish Messiah.
Sadly, one of his ugliest tactics has been to use the Church to
promote the hatred of Jewish people. It is tempting to look back and