The Jewish banks loaned the money to the king of England to fight the crusades...but when England lost to the Muslims the king did not pay back the Jewish bankers they threw the Jews out of England for the next 300 years...
It's not a question of Shylock having "moments of humanity." It's a question of almost every Christian character in the play lacking humanity, especially towards Shylock but also towards each other. It's also a question Shylock's marvellous unravelling of the phobic nature of Jew-hatred, which I wrote about here: https://www.futureofjewish.com/p/shakespeare-wrote-modern-antisemitisms (Disregard the misleading way the title appears in the link)
Yes, the play is as much a rebuke to so-called "Christians" as to anyone else. Shylock is a bad character, yet Shakespeare contrives to make us feel sympathy for him as a fellow human being. And Jessica, his daughter, is not shown in the same light at all. I come away from that play, not hating Jews, but being warned against the possible greed and inhumanity lurking in my own heart. And that, I believe, is what Shakespeare intended in writing that play.
The original Tevye (not sanitized by Bock 'n Harnett tho' lord knows I DO love the musical) would've shunned Jessica. Period. Any jews (includin' conversos) seein' the play would've understood that...
100%! Machiavelli wrote a satire, Orwell wrote a cautionary tale, BOTH are used as dystopian blueprints (sadly) by those that misunderstood...perhaps willfully? Ditto re The Bard ("Bardessa?! if yer with me on Amelia Bassano Lanier). In a pot filled with joo-haters, Shylock's dignity is the meat of the play--an' shows the horrible treatment dealt him by society that comes to a boil when a Jew is successful; he's cheated, robbed, deprived of his dignity an' forced to convert an' shame betide all who condone it. The pound of flesh is irony an' methinks he would not have follered thru onnit. That said, hatred doth make decent folk bitter... As ya say Ruth, 'cept fer Shylock, where ARE the decent folk? Bassano-Lanier likely asked the same to herself...(even if one quibbles 'bout her Bardian status--she was a poetess from a fam. of conversos likely NOT happy with their forced exiles an' newly imposed faith)
Thanks for writing this. I think this merits detailed study. The psychological aspect. Why would a super rich guy like Joe Rogan feel comfortable saying hey well you know Jews like money. As opposed to him and rappers who don’t like money? I’ve actually known some non materialistic people but never anyone who doesn’t like money. That would be a first for me. The someone who wouldn’t pick it up on a street. There are other successful groups so it certainly is interesting why this has stuck to Jews Im confident it’s been applied elsewhere in history to some other group but the Jews money love is mythic at this point. It’s absolutely a jealous discomfort projection of some sort and would make for an interesting important body of research for someone versed in this history and psychological phenomena.
Why can other groups be disproportionately successful but not “money hungry?”
Absolutely. And you don't have to be rich to like money! As the New Testament says, "The love of money is the root of all evil." Jesus Himself warned that we couldn't serve both God and money. It's a warning to everybody - not just Jews.
They call us greedy, but the history of Catholic Europe is to use Jews as human ATM machines. They create lies about us, then kill or expel us and take our money to fund their wars. This is what happened when King Edward levied special taxes on Jews to fund his wars against the Scots, culminated in the expulsion from England in 1290. It happened again when Ferdinand and Isabella pronounced Jews as heretics, burned them at the stake, and took their money to fund the Spanish war against the Moors. This culminated in the expulsion of Jews in 1492. The concept of Purity of blood was invented then, and became official catholic doctrine, later adapted by the Nazis. It was called Limpieza de sangre (literally "cleanliness of blood") It distinguished "Old Christians," whose lineage was free of Jewish , from "New Christians, with a pure blood line.
This line of thinking culminated in the Nazis. Adolf Hitler was a devout Catholic, and in Mein Kampf he describes the study of history and the Catholic Church as the two main influences on this thinking. He describes his joy at singing in the Catholic Church choir as a boy. Later he was to recycle the Catholic doctrine of Purity of Blood, and turn it into the Nazi Racial Purity laws. And he also killed Jews, stole their money, and used it to fund wars. This is the legacy of Catholic Europe towards Jews. We are seeing this arise again.
My mother-in-law recently discovered that she has a large percentage of Ashkenazi Jew. So even though my adult children are antisemitic they must surely see sense soon
Every Jew should read the New Testament. It is the original source of every anti Jewish stereotype. In the New Testament Jews do evil things out of greed. This is why antisemitism is as old as Christianity. Reading the New Testament won’t fix antisemitism, but allow us to understand why Christianity inevitably gives rise to hatred against us. It is why we need our own land. Here are some examples:
Here are 5 New Testament passages that depict Jewish individuals motivated by greed, including the specific example of Judas Iscariot.
1. Judas Iscariot Betrays Jesus for Silver
Passage: Matthew 26:14–16
> "Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, 'What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?' So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over."
>
Context: This is the most famous example of financial greed in the New Testament. Judas, one of Jesus' inner circle, approaches the religious leaders on his own initiative and agrees to identify and betray Jesus in exchange for 30 silver coins—the price of a slave in Exodus 21:32.
2. The Chief Priests Bribe the Guards
Passage: Matthew 28:12–15
> "When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, 'You are to say, "His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep."' ... So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed."
>
Context: After the resurrection, the Roman guards reported the empty tomb to the Jewish chief priests. Rather than investigating the truth, the religious leaders used temple funds to bribe the soldiers to spread a lie that the disciples had stolen the body, protecting their own political and religious power.
3. The Money Changers in the Temple
Passage: Matthew 21:12–13 (also Mark 11:15–17)
> "Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 'It is written,' he said to them, 'My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.'"
>
Context: Jewish merchants and money changers had set up businesses inside the Temple courts (specifically the Court of the Gentiles). They exploited travelers by charging exorbitant exchange rates for the "clean" temple currency required for taxes and selling sacrificial animals at inflated prices, effectively monetizing access to worship.
4. The Pharisees Loved Money and Mocked Jesus
Passage: Luke 16:13–14
> "No servant can serve two masters... You cannot serve both God and money.' The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus."
>
Context: While the Pharisees were outwardly religious and followed the law strictly, Jesus frequently criticized their inner corruption. In this passage, Luke explicitly characterizes them as "lovers of money." When Jesus preached that one cannot serve God and wealth simultaneously, they mocked Him, revealing that their true allegiance was to their financial status rather than spiritual truth.
5. Ananias and Sapphira Lie About Donations
Passage: Acts 5:1–4
> "Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet... 'You have not lied just to human beings but to God.'"
>
Context: Ananias and Sapphira were Jewish members of the early church in Jerusalem. Caught up in the community's practice of selling land to give to the poor, they sold a field but secretly kept some of the profit .
I am conservative and most of my friends are evangelicals as we share the same values. I get along great with religious Christians who understand the bible. I am Jewish and often reread Jesus sermon on the mount as it is the most articulate elaboration of the Jewish ethics I grew up with.
But the most common biblical verse I see quoted is no longer John 3:16. It is John 8:44, which says Satan is the father of Jews. This is what was taught to Nazi schoolchildren, it is what the Guys who shoot up synagogues quote, it is what is repeated by Candace Owen’s, Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson, and their ilk. Antisemitic Christians have always used the New Testament to justify their hatred. This is still the case. You can argue that a True Believer will not use the Bible as a reason to hate, but that excludes an awful lot of people. As Jesus said, ye will know them by their fruit.
I agree that every Jew - and every person - should read the New Testament, because it shows us lost human beings, Jew and Gentile, Who Jesus Christ really is, our only Saviour, "for the Jew first, and also for the Gentile." But you can't cherry-pick incidents to prove that the New Testament is antisemitic. Judas was Jewish, yes, but so were the other eleven disciples, and Jesus Christ Himself. Ananias and Sapphira were Jewish, but so were all the first Christians. The Jewish religious leaders were against Christ, but not because He threatened them financially, but because He called out their hypocrisy and threatened their power. The New Testament records that "the common people heard Him gladly." Note that all of them were Jewish! Hitler was a Catholic because he was born into a Catholic family, but there is no evidence that he was "devout"! Quite the contrary. He certainly did not live by the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount, and he definitely did not know Christ personally as his Lord and Saviour. Being born in a stable doesn't make one a horse. Jesus Christ requires personal commitment to Him, and that includes repentance, faith and obedience to His commands - which are found in His Word, the Bible. I have personally studied the Bible, including the New Testament, for over sixty years, and I have never found any trace of antisemitism in it.
I grew up in an evangelical Christian home. We were in a minority in the Republic of Ireland. Perhaps that combination meant that my parents loved their Jewish friends more. My mum in particular said that Jesus/ Yeshua was challenging the religious leaders of his day. I believe he would have many if not all of those same issues with Christian leaders today.
Since the Church long ago forbade Jews from much of anything, and don't forget the civil authorities from this, Jewish folks went into the fields which were left to them and in which they could operate such as finance and banking. Please don't forget that this happened long ago but like a bad penny the predjudicial ideas keeps coming back, unfortunately. As a Catholic I don't always agree with the Vatican but the exclusionary policies of the past for Jews ARE a thing of the distant past from the Church.
Allow me to clarify for the content removed fellow. Was in the midst
Christians. We can’t loan money at usurious rates
Jew let me do it bwahahahaha
No
Church
we can’t loan money at usurious rates. Let’s ban Jews from professions and they will be the lenders at usurious rates. So we get money loaned to pay us and then we tax the shit out of Jewish profits then everyone hates the Jews and we can caricature them while adjusting our halos bwahahahah
Just look at the Qatari buying up all the luxury properties in Londonistan. The money they spend buying politicians in every Western country. Same with the Emirarties and the Saudis.
Show me a wealthy Jew who has Gold Plated watches, phones, cars etc 🤷🏽♂️
A great article, but it's basically based on one premise
Evil accuses and scapegoats God and His people with charges of which they are innocent.
But which they themselves are shamelessly engaging in. Or sometimes telegraphing to you what they'll soon be doing .
An iron rule of morality.
Every charge aimed at God Israel and it's friends and people? It's exactly what the Left, Democrats and Islamist are doing at the moment they accuse and rage .
"In other words, Jews didn’t “choose” finance; they were pushed into it. When you take an excluded minority and funnel them into an unpopular economic task, especially one involving debt, you create the perfect conditions for resentment. People began associating Jews with money not because Jews were obsessed with it, but because Christian society made Jews the visible face of its own financial system."
... is dramatically expressed by the great Rod Steiger in THE PAWNBROKER.
"Tell me what you accuse the Jews of and I'll tell you what you are guilty of"
~ Vasily Grossman
Jews have always been convenient objects for projection by xenophobic societies all throughout history.
The need to blame others for hardship is the virus in our human hard drives. I don't know if we will ever evolve out of it before we destroy ourselves completely. The world today leaves little hope for positive change.
Sounds like you like Shakespeare. He wrote to amplify every anti Jewish bias in a country with no Jews present. Next hobby for you might be history of religion.
The Jewish banks loaned the money to the king of England to fight the crusades...but when England lost to the Muslims the king did not pay back the Jewish bankers they threw the Jews out of England for the next 300 years...
Seems England is doing it t again today
It's not a question of Shylock having "moments of humanity." It's a question of almost every Christian character in the play lacking humanity, especially towards Shylock but also towards each other. It's also a question Shylock's marvellous unravelling of the phobic nature of Jew-hatred, which I wrote about here: https://www.futureofjewish.com/p/shakespeare-wrote-modern-antisemitisms (Disregard the misleading way the title appears in the link)
Yes, the play is as much a rebuke to so-called "Christians" as to anyone else. Shylock is a bad character, yet Shakespeare contrives to make us feel sympathy for him as a fellow human being. And Jessica, his daughter, is not shown in the same light at all. I come away from that play, not hating Jews, but being warned against the possible greed and inhumanity lurking in my own heart. And that, I believe, is what Shakespeare intended in writing that play.
True. I wrote about Jessica as well: https://ruthvanita452091.substack.com/p/jessica-shakespeares-jew-hating-jew
The original Tevye (not sanitized by Bock 'n Harnett tho' lord knows I DO love the musical) would've shunned Jessica. Period. Any jews (includin' conversos) seein' the play would've understood that...
Thank you, Ms. Vanita. I was just gonna reference you as a source!!
100%! Machiavelli wrote a satire, Orwell wrote a cautionary tale, BOTH are used as dystopian blueprints (sadly) by those that misunderstood...perhaps willfully? Ditto re The Bard ("Bardessa?! if yer with me on Amelia Bassano Lanier). In a pot filled with joo-haters, Shylock's dignity is the meat of the play--an' shows the horrible treatment dealt him by society that comes to a boil when a Jew is successful; he's cheated, robbed, deprived of his dignity an' forced to convert an' shame betide all who condone it. The pound of flesh is irony an' methinks he would not have follered thru onnit. That said, hatred doth make decent folk bitter... As ya say Ruth, 'cept fer Shylock, where ARE the decent folk? Bassano-Lanier likely asked the same to herself...(even if one quibbles 'bout her Bardian status--she was a poetess from a fam. of conversos likely NOT happy with their forced exiles an' newly imposed faith)
Thanks for writing this. I think this merits detailed study. The psychological aspect. Why would a super rich guy like Joe Rogan feel comfortable saying hey well you know Jews like money. As opposed to him and rappers who don’t like money? I’ve actually known some non materialistic people but never anyone who doesn’t like money. That would be a first for me. The someone who wouldn’t pick it up on a street. There are other successful groups so it certainly is interesting why this has stuck to Jews Im confident it’s been applied elsewhere in history to some other group but the Jews money love is mythic at this point. It’s absolutely a jealous discomfort projection of some sort and would make for an interesting important body of research for someone versed in this history and psychological phenomena.
Why can other groups be disproportionately successful but not “money hungry?”
Absolutely. And you don't have to be rich to like money! As the New Testament says, "The love of money is the root of all evil." Jesus Himself warned that we couldn't serve both God and money. It's a warning to everybody - not just Jews.
They call us greedy, but the history of Catholic Europe is to use Jews as human ATM machines. They create lies about us, then kill or expel us and take our money to fund their wars. This is what happened when King Edward levied special taxes on Jews to fund his wars against the Scots, culminated in the expulsion from England in 1290. It happened again when Ferdinand and Isabella pronounced Jews as heretics, burned them at the stake, and took their money to fund the Spanish war against the Moors. This culminated in the expulsion of Jews in 1492. The concept of Purity of blood was invented then, and became official catholic doctrine, later adapted by the Nazis. It was called Limpieza de sangre (literally "cleanliness of blood") It distinguished "Old Christians," whose lineage was free of Jewish , from "New Christians, with a pure blood line.
This line of thinking culminated in the Nazis. Adolf Hitler was a devout Catholic, and in Mein Kampf he describes the study of history and the Catholic Church as the two main influences on this thinking. He describes his joy at singing in the Catholic Church choir as a boy. Later he was to recycle the Catholic doctrine of Purity of Blood, and turn it into the Nazi Racial Purity laws. And he also killed Jews, stole their money, and used it to fund wars. This is the legacy of Catholic Europe towards Jews. We are seeing this arise again.
My mother-in-law recently discovered that she has a large percentage of Ashkenazi Jew. So even though my adult children are antisemitic they must surely see sense soon
To paraphrase the great Yiddish writer, Shalom Alachem, “Jews are like everyone else, only more so.”
Every Jew should read the New Testament. It is the original source of every anti Jewish stereotype. In the New Testament Jews do evil things out of greed. This is why antisemitism is as old as Christianity. Reading the New Testament won’t fix antisemitism, but allow us to understand why Christianity inevitably gives rise to hatred against us. It is why we need our own land. Here are some examples:
Here are 5 New Testament passages that depict Jewish individuals motivated by greed, including the specific example of Judas Iscariot.
1. Judas Iscariot Betrays Jesus for Silver
Passage: Matthew 26:14–16
> "Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, 'What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?' So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over."
>
Context: This is the most famous example of financial greed in the New Testament. Judas, one of Jesus' inner circle, approaches the religious leaders on his own initiative and agrees to identify and betray Jesus in exchange for 30 silver coins—the price of a slave in Exodus 21:32.
2. The Chief Priests Bribe the Guards
Passage: Matthew 28:12–15
> "When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, 'You are to say, "His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep."' ... So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed."
>
Context: After the resurrection, the Roman guards reported the empty tomb to the Jewish chief priests. Rather than investigating the truth, the religious leaders used temple funds to bribe the soldiers to spread a lie that the disciples had stolen the body, protecting their own political and religious power.
3. The Money Changers in the Temple
Passage: Matthew 21:12–13 (also Mark 11:15–17)
> "Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 'It is written,' he said to them, 'My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.'"
>
Context: Jewish merchants and money changers had set up businesses inside the Temple courts (specifically the Court of the Gentiles). They exploited travelers by charging exorbitant exchange rates for the "clean" temple currency required for taxes and selling sacrificial animals at inflated prices, effectively monetizing access to worship.
4. The Pharisees Loved Money and Mocked Jesus
Passage: Luke 16:13–14
> "No servant can serve two masters... You cannot serve both God and money.' The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus."
>
Context: While the Pharisees were outwardly religious and followed the law strictly, Jesus frequently criticized their inner corruption. In this passage, Luke explicitly characterizes them as "lovers of money." When Jesus preached that one cannot serve God and wealth simultaneously, they mocked Him, revealing that their true allegiance was to their financial status rather than spiritual truth.
5. Ananias and Sapphira Lie About Donations
Passage: Acts 5:1–4
> "Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet... 'You have not lied just to human beings but to God.'"
>
Context: Ananias and Sapphira were Jewish members of the early church in Jerusalem. Caught up in the community's practice of selling land to give to the poor, they sold a field but secretly kept some of the profit .
I am conservative and most of my friends are evangelicals as we share the same values. I get along great with religious Christians who understand the bible. I am Jewish and often reread Jesus sermon on the mount as it is the most articulate elaboration of the Jewish ethics I grew up with.
But the most common biblical verse I see quoted is no longer John 3:16. It is John 8:44, which says Satan is the father of Jews. This is what was taught to Nazi schoolchildren, it is what the Guys who shoot up synagogues quote, it is what is repeated by Candace Owen’s, Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson, and their ilk. Antisemitic Christians have always used the New Testament to justify their hatred. This is still the case. You can argue that a True Believer will not use the Bible as a reason to hate, but that excludes an awful lot of people. As Jesus said, ye will know them by their fruit.
I agree that every Jew - and every person - should read the New Testament, because it shows us lost human beings, Jew and Gentile, Who Jesus Christ really is, our only Saviour, "for the Jew first, and also for the Gentile." But you can't cherry-pick incidents to prove that the New Testament is antisemitic. Judas was Jewish, yes, but so were the other eleven disciples, and Jesus Christ Himself. Ananias and Sapphira were Jewish, but so were all the first Christians. The Jewish religious leaders were against Christ, but not because He threatened them financially, but because He called out their hypocrisy and threatened their power. The New Testament records that "the common people heard Him gladly." Note that all of them were Jewish! Hitler was a Catholic because he was born into a Catholic family, but there is no evidence that he was "devout"! Quite the contrary. He certainly did not live by the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount, and he definitely did not know Christ personally as his Lord and Saviour. Being born in a stable doesn't make one a horse. Jesus Christ requires personal commitment to Him, and that includes repentance, faith and obedience to His commands - which are found in His Word, the Bible. I have personally studied the Bible, including the New Testament, for over sixty years, and I have never found any trace of antisemitism in it.
I grew up in an evangelical Christian home. We were in a minority in the Republic of Ireland. Perhaps that combination meant that my parents loved their Jewish friends more. My mum in particular said that Jesus/ Yeshua was challenging the religious leaders of his day. I believe he would have many if not all of those same issues with Christian leaders today.
Since the Church long ago forbade Jews from much of anything, and don't forget the civil authorities from this, Jewish folks went into the fields which were left to them and in which they could operate such as finance and banking. Please don't forget that this happened long ago but like a bad penny the predjudicial ideas keeps coming back, unfortunately. As a Catholic I don't always agree with the Vatican but the exclusionary policies of the past for Jews ARE a thing of the distant past from the Church.
Allow me to clarify for the content removed fellow. Was in the midst
Christians. We can’t loan money at usurious rates
Jew let me do it bwahahahaha
No
Church
we can’t loan money at usurious rates. Let’s ban Jews from professions and they will be the lenders at usurious rates. So we get money loaned to pay us and then we tax the shit out of Jewish profits then everyone hates the Jews and we can caricature them while adjusting our halos bwahahahah
Not the church’s best look
Learn history not vibes.
As if only the Jews love money !!
Just look at the Qatari buying up all the luxury properties in Londonistan. The money they spend buying politicians in every Western country. Same with the Emirarties and the Saudis.
Show me a wealthy Jew who has Gold Plated watches, phones, cars etc 🤷🏽♂️
A great article, but it's basically based on one premise
Evil accuses and scapegoats God and His people with charges of which they are innocent.
But which they themselves are shamelessly engaging in. Or sometimes telegraphing to you what they'll soon be doing .
An iron rule of morality.
Every charge aimed at God Israel and it's friends and people? It's exactly what the Left, Democrats and Islamist are doing at the moment they accuse and rage .
I’d like to see a fist fight between Happy Gilmore and William Shakespeare. I’ll wager 20 to 1 on Happy.
THIS
"In other words, Jews didn’t “choose” finance; they were pushed into it. When you take an excluded minority and funnel them into an unpopular economic task, especially one involving debt, you create the perfect conditions for resentment. People began associating Jews with money not because Jews were obsessed with it, but because Christian society made Jews the visible face of its own financial system."
... is dramatically expressed by the great Rod Steiger in THE PAWNBROKER.
here's the scene, in under 3 minutes
https://youtu.be/YUcBmD8XhHU?si=xobxXaAQadcL_mxW
SHOW it to anyone who needs a QUICK lesson.
"Tell me what you accuse the Jews of and I'll tell you what you are guilty of"
~ Vasily Grossman
Jews have always been convenient objects for projection by xenophobic societies all throughout history.
The need to blame others for hardship is the virus in our human hard drives. I don't know if we will ever evolve out of it before we destroy ourselves completely. The world today leaves little hope for positive change.
Trials of the Diaspora by Anthony Julius
Anti - Judaism by David Nirenberg
Jews sign a heter iske when borrowing money from another jew
Sounds like you like Shakespeare. He wrote to amplify every anti Jewish bias in a country with no Jews present. Next hobby for you might be history of religion.