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Doctrines of Hatred, Part I: Anti-Semitism
Doctrines of Hatred, Part I: Anti-Semitism by Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu (AD 1842-1912) was originally published in 1902, under the French title of Les Doctrines de haine: lʼanti-sémitisme, lʼanti-protestantisme, lʼanti-cléricalisme.
Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu was a French historian and essayist. As a practicing Christian, he was in favor of the separation of Church and State. He was the last president of the National League Against Atheism, an association founded in 1886 initially to combat anti-clericalism and socialism. Politically a liberal, in addition to being a French patriot, Leroy-Beaulieu was opposed to anti-Semitism. Thus this book, which could have easily been entitled “What is Anti-Semitism?”
Modern readers should approach this book less as a historical document from over 120 years ago, and more in the context of: a) anti-Semitism in France from the late 19th century, during and after the Dreyfus Affair (AD 1894-1906), when a political scandal rocked France and severely divided the French nation; in the wider context of b) anti-Semitism in Europe as a whole, since the middle ages, since perhaps the Crusades, if not earlier; in a still wider historical context, that of c) the plight of the Jews in the Middle East and Europe since the fall of the Second Temple (“Herodʼs Temple”) in Jerusalem, in AD 70, the denouement of the First Roman-Jewish War, together with the resultant diaspora of the Jewish people; and finally, perhaps most importantly, in the context of d) anti-Semitism today, the Jewish peopleʼs plight in our own era, since the Holocaust, WWII, the Zionist movement and its concomitant establishment of the State of Israel in 1948; since also the Gaza-Israeli conflicts, from 2005, with the most recent Israel-Hamas War that erupted on October 7, 2023.
Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu was a French historian and essayist. As a practicing Christian, he was in favor of the separation of Church and State. He was the last president of the National League Against Atheism, an association founded in 1886 initially to combat anti-clericalism and socialism. Politically a liberal, in addition to being a French patriot, Leroy-Beaulieu was opposed to anti-Semitism. Thus this book, which could have easily been entitled “What is Anti-Semitism?”
Modern readers should approach this book less as a historical document from over 120 years ago, and more in the context of: a) anti-Semitism in France from the late 19th century, during and after the Dreyfus Affair (AD 1894-1906), when a political scandal rocked France and severely divided the French nation; in the wider context of b) anti-Semitism in Europe as a whole, since the middle ages, since perhaps the Crusades, if not earlier; in a still wider historical context, that of c) the plight of the Jews in the Middle East and Europe since the fall of the Second Temple (“Herodʼs Temple”) in Jerusalem, in AD 70, the denouement of the First Roman-Jewish War, together with the resultant diaspora of the Jewish people; and finally, perhaps most importantly, in the context of d) anti-Semitism today, the Jewish peopleʼs plight in our own era, since the Holocaust, WWII, the Zionist movement and its concomitant establishment of the State of Israel in 1948; since also the Gaza-Israeli conflicts, from 2005, with the most recent Israel-Hamas War that erupted on October 7, 2023.
142 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1902
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December 10, 2023
Not Jewish myself (but raised Protestant) I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood as a child. Many of my best friends in elementary school, middle school and high school were Jewish. I went to their bat mitzvahs, and bar mitzvahs. I wore a yarmulke when asked to, visiting the Synagogue or attending a marriage... I was invited over for dinner on Friday evenings as a kid ...
I cannot for the life of me understand the hatred against the Jewish people (as a race or as a religion, or even as a "type") -- I know so many kind and generous, so many warm and caring people of the Jewish faith.
The growing rise in anti-Semitism again (who would have thought it would happen after WWII) is alarming and baffling. But so are a lot of things these days.
The translation of this book -- originally published in 1902 -- was an attempt on my own part to understand some of the hatred from "way back when" (not so very long ago really) and how it might help to shed a light on the hatred we see today. The anti-Semitism treated of in the book is particular (but not exclusive) to a country (France) that, for the most part, most people don't equate with anti-Semitism. Until one delves further into the history, until one reads the literature of the time (Belle Epoque and French Third Republic), until one studies the Dreyfus Affair.
One cannot stop there -- and the book delves into it as well, -- one has to go back even further in history, as a good historian like Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu does, or you or I might do -- to the middle ages, and as far back as the birth of Christ, and even further.
The similarities of now and then (1902 at any rate) are eye opening. The same false narratives exist today as they did back then...
I don't really expect that anyone who is anti-Semitic will read this book (unless they are so unclever as to think that by the title it is in support of the hatred, which it isn't). And if they should, I don't expect that they will come away with a changed mind. This book is primarily for those who already sympathize with the Jewish people and who wish to come to an understanding of the mindset of people who have hatred of them.
Part II, which I may translate some day, has to do with anti-Protestantism, and anti-clericalism (Catholicism). It could be interesting as well to understand those hatreds. I can see how anti-clericalism might have arisen in France (though not sympathize with it), but anti-Protestantism? Hmm. Stay tuned.
I cannot for the life of me understand the hatred against the Jewish people (as a race or as a religion, or even as a "type") -- I know so many kind and generous, so many warm and caring people of the Jewish faith.
The growing rise in anti-Semitism again (who would have thought it would happen after WWII) is alarming and baffling. But so are a lot of things these days.
The translation of this book -- originally published in 1902 -- was an attempt on my own part to understand some of the hatred from "way back when" (not so very long ago really) and how it might help to shed a light on the hatred we see today. The anti-Semitism treated of in the book is particular (but not exclusive) to a country (France) that, for the most part, most people don't equate with anti-Semitism. Until one delves further into the history, until one reads the literature of the time (Belle Epoque and French Third Republic), until one studies the Dreyfus Affair.
One cannot stop there -- and the book delves into it as well, -- one has to go back even further in history, as a good historian like Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu does, or you or I might do -- to the middle ages, and as far back as the birth of Christ, and even further.
The similarities of now and then (1902 at any rate) are eye opening. The same false narratives exist today as they did back then...
I don't really expect that anyone who is anti-Semitic will read this book (unless they are so unclever as to think that by the title it is in support of the hatred, which it isn't). And if they should, I don't expect that they will come away with a changed mind. This book is primarily for those who already sympathize with the Jewish people and who wish to come to an understanding of the mindset of people who have hatred of them.
Part II, which I may translate some day, has to do with anti-Protestantism, and anti-clericalism (Catholicism). It could be interesting as well to understand those hatreds. I can see how anti-clericalism might have arisen in France (though not sympathize with it), but anti-Protestantism? Hmm. Stay tuned.
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