You recently viewed the PBS documentary
The Longest Hatred in class.
What did you learn
that you did not know before watching the film? Please share your thoughts about the film and the lecture by Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz. You should free to contact the Rabbi directly at
rabbi@cbnaishalom.org if you have any additional questions. She will me making comments throughout this particular blog as well.
42 comments:
Prior to watching this documentary, I never knew the long-held hatred of the Jewish people from the Christian viewpoint. Growing up a Roman Catholic, I was taught to be tolerant of everyone, never even realizing that my own religion had this long-lasting hatred in its past. I did not realize that until the document put forth by the church absolving the "sins" of the Jewish people who supposedly murdered Jesus, they were unjustly held to blame. It is wrong to make such harsh accusations against a group of people, many of whom were not even alive at the time of the occurance, and to hold those accusations for years to come is simply wrong. The church should have at least acknowledged how their actions may have led to the Holocaust, and instead of simply blaming all of the Jewish people, they should have looked to the flaws within themselves. I feel as if a simple acknowledgement of being wrong, along with the forgiveness of the Jewish people, was in order, and it was, and is necessary to put any remnance of this hatred to rest.
Prior to watching this documentary I didn’t really know anything about this hatred. I never knew that the Christians had such a strong hatred of the Jewish people. I thought it was interesting to see this all from the viewpoint of the Christians. I have heard a little about the crusades. I didn’t know how deeply rooted it all was. This has been going on since the beginning and I have never known how bad it was. I couldn’t believe that there could be such hatred towards a religion by another religion. For it to have been going on for so long is amazing. So many parents would teach their children these ideas that the whole religion of Judaism is terrible.
I agree with Molly that the church should have acknowledged their actions that may have helped lead to the Holocaust. Many of the ideas used in the Holocaust originated from the actions of the Christian church. Like the yellow badges the Jews had to wear then the Jews having to wear the yellow stars in the Holocaust.
Before watching the longest hatred i really did not know anything on it. I was actually surprised that there was this much hatred towards the Jews. I thought it was interesting to see the different perspective that the Christians had. They really had a strong hatred for the Jews and this was the way it was for a long time. They were not treated right and this is what lead to many other things happening.
i agree with Jason i was surprise at how much hatred one religion could have for another religion. Also i agree that they should have acknowledged their actions.
Before watching the film, I did not know that the hatred of Jews had extended for centuries before Hitler. I had not realized that Hitler’s ideas were based off of things that had happened in the past. The part that talked about how Martin Luther wanted to punish any Jews that refused to convert was particularly surprising. When I learned about Martin Luther in the past, we always focused on how he established a new religion and not how he preached that Jews should convert to it. It was interesting to see how the idea of hating Jews was founded a lot further back in the past than I originally thought.
I agree with Molly that the church should have admitted their mistakes. It was wrong for them to act as if they did not know what was going on, and, as Molly stated, a sincere apology was necessary because they should have recognized that they were wrong at that time.
While watching this film I was shocked by two things. First, I couldn't believe that Christians were blaming the Jewish people for the death of Jesus and were so resentful towards them. I have attended CCD for as long as I can remember and I don’t recall that I was ever taught of this. The second thing I was shocked about was how the pope and the Catholic Church knew of the horrible torturing taking place to the Jewish people and never did anything. We should take responsibility for not speaking up and just being bystanders because if the Catholic community did say something earlier I believe the outcome would be different.
I agree with many of the people in our class such as Jason Silva and Molly Burke who also had such strong reactions over the hatred of the Jewish people. It was partly the church’s responsibility to put a halt to the holocaust which they never did so.
In the movie, when they were describing all the restrictions placed on Jews: how they couldn't own property or get married to non-Jews, I was reminded of the restrictions on blacks after they were emancipated. Blacks were viewed as inferior, and they were hated. While the hatred of blacks was unjust, the hatred of Jews seems far more irrational. Whites did not understand blacks; they had never been in their shoes, and they did not understand that blacks were just as human. When Christiantiy was formed, though, the people who converted were converting FROM Judaism. So it seems unreasonable to me that they could treat them as inhuman, inferior, and as if they were to blame for everthing that was wrong, when they had been in their shoes at one point. This surprised me, especially because I didn't even know that Jews were treated like this aside from the Holocaust.
I agree with Sarah. I always thought Martin Luther must have been a great historical figure because of how he called out the Catholic church on their wrongdoings. But in reality, he was narrow-minded and unfair, wanting to punish Jews for their beliefs.
I was absent from school today.
The film The Longest Hatred was very educational to me. Before this film I thought I knew why the holocaust happened but after I really understood Hitler`s ideas and why he did what he did to millions of innocent Jews. After watching I figured out that Hitler took all or most of his ideas from ancient beliefs. Hundreds of years before Hitler was even alive Jews all over were being killed and treated as a minority. They weren`t allowed to own land or have businesses, they only could loan money thus the stereotype that Jews are all wealth came about. Over all this film was very interesting and filled in a lot of blanks in the way I thought about history.
I agree with olivia that i never knew the hatred that the christians had for the jews. it was very suppressing that they did this but at the same time it wasn't.
I was very surprised when I watched the documentary. I didn't know how much everyone hated the Jews. I thought it was horrible that society put everything that they hated, and portrayed Jews as them. I agree with Sarah. I always thought of Martin Luther very fondly in history. I never thought he had hated the Jews just as much as everyone else.
Before I watched this film, i had no idea that Hitler wasnt even close to being voted into power. I also had no clue that christianity had such a big part in anti-semetic views. I am actually slightly embarrassed to associate myself with the religion. It makes me sad that the gospels were written with a bias. It makes the original writers seem less like gods themselves and more like regular human beings with agendas and biases. Finally, i didnt know how many people still hold on to the belief that what they did during world war 2 and the Holocaust was justified and sometimes even right.
Before watching this film I did not realize how poorly jews were treated way before hitler came along. They truly did not have it easy for a long time. I also did not know that jews pawned items and loaned money to people. Watching this film made me realize that life was so hard for many people for many years.
I also agree with what Olivia in regards to the different perspectives that chriatans had towards jews and how that affecting them for such a long time.
This film was very eye opening. I thought that the Holocaust was because of one man and one man only, Hitler. Ever since I had learned about this huge massacre of innocent people as an elementary or middle school kid I despised one man and thought this was all his idea. I’m not saying what he did was right and can’t be blamed, but we have to realize that there was just not one person in one time period that lead to this horrible event, it was an entire group of people over hundreds of years that did this. And this is what the movie showed us, and hopefully everyone can learn from so something even close to this nature will not happen in the future.
I agree with the many people that say that this was not all Hitler’s and the Nazi’s faults. I think a lot of the blame should be on the people that did not respect the Jewish people and treated them like dirt, whether it was in the 1800’s or right before the holocaust. People should have taken more responsibility and not blame just one group of people for what they did, even if it was their faith that may have started the unfair treatment of the Jewish people.
I agree with Sarah in that whenever learning about Martin Luther we learn about his founding religious views, completely ignoring his stance against Jewish people. I think that this kind of sheltering of students by covering harsh facts should not occur in schools and students should learn as much as they can about past hatreds to ensure these views do not become present again.
Before watching "The Longest Hatred", I was aware of the hatred shared by people towards Jews. However, I didn't know that the Roman Catholic church was against the Jews so much. Also, how it took them until the 1960's to formally acknowledge that present Jews couldn't be blamed for Jesus' death was pretty shocking. In terms of the Rabbi, I think what she did best was describing how individual Jews go through life in terms of acting in the correct way, as well as finding a connection to God.
In terms of what Molly said, with being raised a Catholic, I can relate to that. I was brought up as a Catholic, and have been involved with the church since I was about 5. I never knew that the church historically treated and viewed Jews like they did in the movie. We were mainly taught to be appreciative of others, and accept differences, which definitely didn't happen during the film.
Prior to watching “the longest hatred” I never quite grasped how intense the hatred was towards the Jewish people. After having seen this film I realized how difficult it was to be Jewish and how much hate was directed towards them from so many different groups of people. I had always known that Hitler and the Germans hated the Jewish people but I didn’t realize that everyone in Europe seemed to share in that hatred. I found it interesting when Rabbi Gurevitz said that even the United States wasn’t helpful in getting the Jewish people away from the oppression in Europe. I thought that Rabbi Gurevitz brought a different perspective to the film she was able to explain some of the hardships in greater detail and really gave more depth to what the film was illustrating. I couldn’t believe all of the things the film was showing. It was just mind blowing to see such a hatred for a group of people, when for the most part that hatred was based on complete lies. Its sickening to think that there are still people out there who share these beliefs.
I also agree with Molly that the church should have acknowledged their knowing about what was going on instead of trying to hide and pretend that they were oblivious to what was going on. It is sick and unjust to know that the church just stood by while these terrible things were going on
Before watching "The Longest Hatred", I had no idea that the Holocaust could have been caused by the death of Jesus Christ. I'm Catholic and like Doug, have been raised to appreciate others and treat them with respect so it was shocking to see how they made Jews inferior to them. What was even more shocking was that the church knew the Holocaust was going on and they did nothing about it and still deny they never knew anything. Talk about loving and appreciating others.
I agree with Jamie and how the Christianity stemmed off of Judaism and that it's "unreasonable' for Jews to be treated in that way.
Ths Longest Hatred showed how badly the Jews were discriminated and prejudiced against just because of what they believed. Blaming the Jewish people was absolutely ridiculous and the Cristian Church should take some blame on what went on during the Holocaust. I just don't understand how it is that easy for people to believe such false accusations.
I agree with Jamie that it was inhuman to make such false accusations and to do what Hitler did to the Jews. I never realized that Hitler used false accusations from history to destroy the Jewish community.
Before watching this documentary, I had no ideas that Hitler’s ideas were based off of events that had happened in the past. I also had no idea that Christianity had a such big role in anti-Semitic views. As I was watching the film, it sacred me to think how easy for society to turn on the Jews and blame them for everything. Just how it is happening today with Muslims and the stereotyping every Muslim as a terrorist.
I agree with Tony in saying that it not all Hitler’s and the Nazi’s faults. This movie showed that it was not possible for Hitler and the Nazis to do what they did if they did not have to support form the people around them. And I also agree with Mia, when she said that she is embarrassed to be associated with our religion because I have being going to CCD since kindergarten and have never learned any of this.
This documentary gave amazing insight into the history of the hate towards the Jewish people. It shows where and why the hate started, and it gave a sense of what allowed Adolf Hitler to murder 6 million Jews. It was very interesting to hear reasons that were for the most part unbiased.
I agree with Karli Gavin, in truth, the Nazi's couldn't do the mass slaughter all on their own, it took the ability for others to overlook that murder and hate, for them to be so free in performing these horiffic acts
Being from Israel and learning the history of the holocaust over and over again when I lived there, had me thinking that I knew all there is to know about the historical hatred for the Jewish people. I had no idea that the hatred originated in ancient Rome and that the Jewish people were blamed for the murder of Christ and that this is what the hatred was based off. I was also interested to learn about the “Jews love money” stereotype and the origin of that being when they were forbidden to own property and work but were allowed to bank. I thought it was very interesting how rabbi Gurevitz spoke about her very unique identity and how educated she was about the history of the Jewish people. It was very amazing to see someone so unique so comfortable and open about her identity. I hope to one day be as confident and sure of myself as she.
This film revealed a lot of truths about the Holocaust that I was unaware of. I did not know that Christianity stemmed from Judaism. Knowing that now makes it even more astonishing as to how bad the Jews were treated. This also showed me that the Jewish people had been treated terribly before Hitler came along.
I agree with Jamie that Hitler used false accusations about Jewish people and he should not have been able to come into power based on the false accusations. This just goes to show how easily people can be influenced by a single person’s beliefs.
Prior to watching the Longest Hatred, I wasn't even aware of the Christian hatred of Jews. I was actually shocked by the intense hatred of Jews long before the Holocaust even occured. I personally don't have any religious background or experience, so, I therefore learned much about the Christian and Jewish faith from this documentary. Although I personally don't have any religious experience or faith, I have always had respect for other religions and the different beliefs people may have. I cant even imagine such harsh discrimination against a religion or how that would be acceptable. It is appalling that Jewish people were treated so terribly according to such accusations.
I was absent the day of this assignment
Prior to watching this film i thought that Hitler got into power fairly easy but after watching this film i realized Hitler was not even close to being voted into power. Also what was shocking for me to see was how the majority of people hated the jews even before Hitler came into power.
I also thought it was nice to have Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz come in and speak because she showed a different aspect to the film, and also with her input on it.
i agree with ryan that suck people could show such an immense hatred towards one specific group. also that there are actually people out there today that feel the same way
Before watching the longest hatred I really did not know anything about the topic. I agree with Jason in that I never knew how much hatred the Christians had towards the Jews. And i never knew that people were massacring them even before the Holocaust. I also couldn't believe that Christians had blamed the Jews for the death of Jesus, when really it ended up being a political thing done by the Romans. Being a Catholic I was almost embarrassed by how people of the same religion could act so terribly.
After having watched The documentary, I am very surprised by the fact that the hatred of the Jewish people was not isolated to World War II and Hitler but was a prevalent christian idea throughout the ages extending back farther than I had expected.
I agree with Molly, in that the church should have admitted to their wrongful accusation's towards the Jewish people, much earlier.
I never realized that Christians were the instigators for anti semitic sentiment. This is even more surprising when you know that Christianity broke off from Judaism and because Christians and Jews now have a very stable relationship.
I agree with Jason...
It seems like not many people including myself know about the crusades. It is almost as if that one of those events that was so horrible that everyone just tries to put it in the back of their mind.
I've read all of the thoughtful comments left by each class. Clearly there's a lot of new perspectives and understanding coming out of the material in this course. I think that's probably one of the most important things to take away - that you all now have a much deeper and more complex understanding of what happened in the Holocaust. Its that understanding that will enable you to be much more tuned in to things that people or say today that set off warning signals when you hear or see prejudice of any kind at work. You are welcome to drop me a line if you'd like to talk about anything further.
Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz
Post a Comment