Jewish self-hatred takes
many forms. One of its most fascinating manifestations is
"anti-Semitism motivated by love". This primarily typified various
Zionist authors and philosophers such as Yehuda Leib Gordon, Avraham
Schwadron, David Frishman, Chaim Brenner, Micha Yossef Berdichevsky and
many others. Their intentions were good, that is, the portrayal of the
Diaspora as Judaism’s greatest tragedy. Frishman: A Jew’s life "is a
dog’s life…arousing revulsion"; Berdichevsky: "A non-nation, a
non-people, non-human"; Brenner: "Gypsies, dogs, filth, mire and
repulsiveness, rotten egg, non-human, wounded dogs…" etc., etc. A.D.
Gordon: "Parasites, inherently defective people", etc.; citations from
Avraham Schwardron’s recent articles: "Helots, slaves, the lowest form
of impurity, worms. Rubbish and filth, muck, parasitic detachedness,
slave and dog", etc., etc. Marking the Histadrut Labor Union’s holiday,
the newspaper of the workers’ movement, Davar, published a
headline in large letters with vowels: "Renaissance of the Nation,
Renewal of the Parasite Nation…" This repetition of the classic
anti-Semitic stigmas is, as mentioned above, an expression of profound
self-hatred which even poisons the soul of the Jew in his own land, and
constutes what Yehezkel Kaufman refers to in the title of this article,
"The Destruction of the Soul".
