Jews In Christendom

The story of the Local Charters, specially relating to Bishop Rudiger of Speyer, demonstrates Elukin’s theory of successful integration and relations between Christians and Jews in a local scaled setting. In 1084, a population of Jews departed from Maize because of a fire they feared to be blamed for, and were welcomed by the city of Speyer in Germany. Bishop Rudiger offered the Jews kindnesses such as safety, the right to practice their religion, the right to sell meat and good, and the right to have a legal status. The Jews not only were welcomed into the city, but helped the city thrive economically due to their rights to loan money with interest, rights that Christians do not have. The Jews spoke

They were treated as foreigners. Most of the Jews between 1000 and 1500 C.E. lived in Western Europe, where all of the rulers were Christian ("Jews in the Middle Ages"). Jews were not allowed to own Christian slaves or take oaths and so they were excluded from the government. There were very few jobs that were available to the Jews. Most were artisans, traders, or money lenders ("Jews in the Middle Ages”). Jews were able to become money lenders because Christian laws said that Christians could not lend out money at interest and rulers needed to borrow money. Jews played a large part in the economy ("Jews in the Middle Ages").

Before the beginning of World War II the Nazi party took over in Germany. At its head was a man named Adolf Hitler. For some reason Hitler hated the Jews, we see this in World War II with the Holocaust. The Holocaust started in 1933 when Hitler rose to power; he made a plan in 1941 which was to eradicate the whole Jewish population. Hitler called this plan the “Final Solution” (An Introductory History of The Holocaust). Why did Hitler and the Nazis single out the Jews for genocide? And in what ways did the Nazis single them out?

Relations between the Christians and Jews of medieval Europe were always influenced by their unequal social and economic statuses and the religious competition that existed between them. While the Jews served a purpose in the Christian religion, this purpose meant that the more populous Christians that had come to dominate Europe only tolerated the Jews. No premise of equality existed, and the Jews came to depend on relationships with lower-level rulers to secure their relative safety. Rumors persisted that Jews had poisoned wells, and the Jews were often the targets of violence that the Christians seemed exceedingly willing to deliver. Overall, life was better for the Christians and worse for the Jews, although this would be of no

Since the beginning of the Judaism, the Jewish people have been subject to hardships and discrimination. They have not been allowed to have a stabile place of worship and have also faced persecution and atrocities that most of us can not even imagine. Three events that have had a big impact on the Jewish faith were the building and destruction of the First Great Temple, the Second Great Temple and the events of the Holocaust. In this paper, I will discuss these three events and also explain and give examples as to why I feel that the Jewish people have always been discriminated against and not allowed the freedom of worship.

Jews played a crucial role in their communities in medieval Europe so the growth in anti-sematic action can be seen as unexpected. Whilst Jews had always been considered as ‘other’ by their Christian neighbour tolerance existed. So what caused the shift to viewing Jews as traitors? The causes for anti-Semitism during the Latin Middle Ages were sudden large events, the Crusades and the Black Death, and ongoing concerns, Jew’s economic position. The primary cause was the Crusades as the First Crusade began a tradition of organised violence against the Jewish population of Europe, rationalised as an extension of the Christian mission.

On Jews and Their Lies is a pretty explicit title for someone who writes That Jesus Christ was Born a Jew in his youth to defend the idea that Jesus was born of the “seed of Abraham,” that is to say that he was born a Jew (Marius, 1999). Even the title itself: On the Jews and Their Lies, hints at the fact that Luther believes that the Jews are unlikely to convert later in life. He says:

The actions against Jews first began with Constantine, after Christianity was officially accepted as a religion in the fourth century, with heavy penalties for those who “visited a pagan temple or converted to Judaism.”6 Through history, they were again faced with injustices through the punishment of mixed Jewish-Christian marriages

Beginning in the early 1930’s, the Nazi party found ways to hurt Jewish people, economically, emotionally, and physically. Official laws and decrees were made to ensure the economic and legal downfall of Jewish people. Jews were exempted and expelled from their professions and practices, stripped of education, revoked from their citizenship, and much more. Jews were also physically harmed; Nazis brutally and inhumanely attacked and molested Jews of all ages and genders. Being physically and legislatively attacked took a toll on the Jewish people. The emotional trauma and scars would be permanent. Growing up being taught that you are inferior or deserved to be beaten and stoned is horrendous for oneself. The Nazis were purposely abusive to

Anti-Semitism is defined as prejudice or discrimination against, and persecution of, the Jews as an ethnic group. Historically, this has been practiced for many different reasons, by the ancient Egyptians before the Exodus, under the Babylonian

The context of this will be showing how Judaism and Christianity more similar than most people think. Three ways these two religions are the same are, both are monotheistic, how both share same holy city, and their beliefs to the “Good Life.”

While comparing the experience of Jewish life under medieval Christendom and medieval Islam, it is evident that the treatment of Jews in the Islamic society was substantially better. Jews living under the Islamic rule were provided with a sense of security, which allowed them to prosper as a recognized minority. To show the positive and unique medieval Jewish-Arab experience, a Muslim man wrote a letter about his mentor, a Jewish physician living under Islamic rule. Ibn Samuel, the Jewish physician, was described by the Muslim as being intelligent, devoted to Judaism, and a master of medicine. With the various positive religious, cultural, social, economic, and legal trends of Jewish life under Islam in the middle ages, this letter illustrates the unique relationship Jews and Muslims were able to have.

Josephus was a first century author who recorded Jewish-Roman history. He was born Jewish, and even fought against the Romans in the first Jewish-Roman war. But after being captured and later freed by the Roman emperor, Joseph was given Roman citizenship. Josephus’ seven-book collection of The Jewish War was written around 75AD. The Jewish War covers Jewish history from the time Jerusalem was captured, to the first war between Jewish and Roman people; the same war he fought in as a Roman citizen against his previous people, the Jews.

In the late 1800’s many Jews in Europe were exposed to events regarding anti-Semitism. In the Papal State, the Christians wanted to convert the Jews. If they refused, death was the punishment. They were taxed heavily, and put in ghettos so that they were contained- like cattle. Herzl states “Wherever

     There are many disputes as to when exactly the Jewish people and their roles in medieval civilization became apparent to the Christian and Islam peoples of the time. Various time periods are claimed by various different authors, however in this particular case I have utilized the historical writings of Louis Finkelstein. In one of his many books, we find that his perception of Jews in this time are from about 1000 AD to 1603AD. These dates seem to encompass the entire Middle Ages much better than some of the other speculations made by various other Jewish authors.