The scene neatly encapsulates one of the tragedies of anti-Semitism. The older Jewish woman stands out because she is Jewish. For that reason some people dislike her. Yet when she tries to be like the non-Jewish people around her, she is despised afresh. This is just one of the impossible moves that the anti-Semite condemns the Jews for: integrating and not integrating. There are a number of other versions of the same impossible conundrum. For example, historically it is the achievement of the Jewish people to be able to be hated for being rich and also for being poor. Much nineteenth-century
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