by joe eskenazi
staff writer
The juxtaposition of the words “Jews” and “power” may well invoke “Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion”-derived imagery of a Hebrew cabal gleefully divvying up the world.
But even a cursory review of the last few centuries reveals that, if Jews had been “controlling” the world, they weren’t doing it in a way that was very good for the Jews.
On the opposite extreme, many historians peg Jews as a people rendered politically powerless in the long interregnum between the expulsion of the Israelites and the founding of the modern Jewish state. But author Ruth Wisse puts forth a new position in her straightforwardly titled book “Jews and Power.”
From Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, diaspora Jewish communities have developed a similar power dynamic with the majority populations, claims the Harvard professor of Yiddish and comparative literature.
“Jews learned to live without the possession of a land, a central authority and without any means of self-defense, and they did this for a very long period of time in many places over many years,” Wisse told j. in a phone interview from her office in Cambridge, Mass.
“There are certain Jewish political strategies, and one is what I call the politics of accommodation. Politically, it expresses itself in the ability to keep adjusting, accommodating and fitting in with the requirements of one system after another.”
In so many different places — from Yemen to Poland, Wisse notes — Jews learned to “make themselves useful” to the powerful ruling bodies. Jews paid taxes. Jews reinvigorated economies. Jews staked out certain professions nobody else wanted. In return, they were allowed to exist in their small, highly organized communities.
“I don’t see any place in the diaspora where this model did not fit,” said the professor, who will speak Tuesday, Jan. 22 at the JCC of San Francisco.
“Jews were a ‘middle-man minority’” — a habitually persecuted group with skills in finance and commerce. “They were by no means the only middle-man minority, but I don’t think any other people has ever constituted itself for so long and in so many places in this particular way.”
This has cut both ways. Jews became the masters of adaptation: Wisse points to the remarkable number of blended Jewish languages — including Judeo-Italian, Judeo-Persian, Ladino and, of course, her specialty, Yiddish.
“It is admirable, this ability to adapt,” she said.
And yet, adapt as Jews might, they couldn’t help but be a “no-fail” target.
“It was always profitable to get rid of them at a certain point. To take over their property, expel them or, worst of all, murder them,” Wisse notes.
“Accommodation is not necessarily negative. It’s a remarkable quality and it worked well for a long time. But whether it worked badly, in the end, did not depend on the Jews, unfortunately. It depended on the surrounding people.”
And just as a man who lived in a cave may still squint and slouch his shoulders even after he moves into a well-lit, high-ceilinged flat, Wisse believes eons of accommodation have colored Israeli political behavior.
“Zionism did normalize the Jewish condition in the sense that Jews now had a land, a central political authority and a self-defense. You would think the problem had been solved. But it wasn’t solved because, as far as the surrounding people are concerned, their ability to isolate the Jews, to organize their politics against the Jews and scapegoat Israel is exactly the same” as pre-war Europe, she said.
Israel, she believes, has repeatedly accommodated its would-be destroyers, with disastrous results.
“The Oslo Accords were the most egregious
example. Israel became the first country in history to arm its enemies in expectation of gaining security … [Israel’s neighbors] want nothing better than to destroy every last Jew, especially every last Jew in Israel. They say it, they teach it to their children. If one doesn’t want to know this, then one willfully denies it.”
Wisse acknowledges that speaking out against accommodating those who would destroy us is not a pleasant job — but someone’s got to do it.
“You’d think Jews would be the ones who very calmly and patiently explain that our enemies are real. You may wish they were not there, but as long as someone has declared themselves as committed to aggression against you, you’d better pay attention to that with all your soul.”
Ruth Wisse will speak 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22 at the JCC of San Francisco, 3200 California St., S.F. For more information, visit www.jccsf.org or call (415) 292-1200.
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California