Dei'ah veDibur - Information & Insight
  

A Window into the Charedi World

16 Tammuz 5759 - June 30, 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
NEWS

OPINION
& COMMENT

HOME
& FAMILY

IN-DEPTH
FEATURES

VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR

TOPICS IN THE NEWS

HOMEPAGE

 

Sponsored by
Shema Yisrael Torah Network
Shema Yisrael Torah Network

Produced and housed by
Jencom

News
What is a Jew--According to Webster's

by G. Avidan

The Haggodo cites the verse, "and the Egyptians persecuted us."

In many of the exiles the Jewish Nation lived through, since Egypt, additional meanings of this verse have been revealed. Antisemites in every generation, and in all countries, have presented Jews in a negative light in order to justify their negative attitude toward us.

Peter Cash, an energetic young Jew from the Land of Golden Opportunities, specializes in bio-technology. While looking through a prestigious dictionary, one of the most famous in the entire world, he found among the many definitions used to define the word Jew, this one: "commercialized and shrewd type, who knows how to haggle over every item until he secures it at half price."

This definition is very reminiscent of the image of Shylock in Shakespeare's play Merchant of Venice. Shylock, the figment of the imagination of the 16th century playwrite, is presented as a miser who has only two desires in his life: money, and to harm the main protaganist of the play. This antisemitic play is still popular today, and has even been revamped in current films.

There is no doubt that Shylock's image played a decisive role in the evolution of the adjective "Jew" as a synonym for an unscrupulous money-grabber.

During the past hundreds of years, there was no one to take up the cause of the degrading definition of the image of the Jew and of the Jewish Nation as a whole. But should this be the case in the greatest democracy in the world? Mr. Cash one day decided to take action, and turned to the dictionary's publisher, and decried the offensive definition.

Of course, the publishers ignored the appeal. The dictionary has no intention of offending anyone, the editors explained. It only reflects the actual situation. If that's the way people understand the word "Jew" what can we do? We didn't create the concept of antisemitism. We are merely reporting on it.

When Peter Cash consulted with the big Jewish organizations, he was told that it was a losing battle, and that the only way to achieve results was to exert heavy public pressure on the publishing house. Perhaps in that manner the struggle would become one of public interest, and broad public opinion would force the publishers to recant.

Mr. Cash wasn't interested in waging a public pressure campaign. He hoped that by means of a personal meeting, he would be able to explain the matter to the dictionary's publishers. After great efforts, he managed to arrange a face to face meeting with the producer of the dictionary for Funk and Wagnalls firm, which produces the famous Webster dictionaries.

This, Mr. Cash knew, was his chance to try and persuade the owners of the dictionary to remove the antisemitic stain. But would they listen to him?

Unlike the young American had hoped, the meeting ended in a stalemate, precisely as the heads of the large Jewish organizations had said. All of Mr. Cash's efforts to explain that the definition offends the Jewish Nation, and that it is antisemitic, fell on deaf ears. In the end, the editor hinted to him that the meeting was over--a waste of time. Mr. Cash decided to make one last try. He turned to the editor and told her: "Imagine you have the opportunity to influence the cultural development of all mankind. You can influence an attitude toward an entire nation, by merely erasing or leaving in the offensive and obnoxious definition."

"Your decision," Mr. Cash added when he noticed a glint of interest in the eyes of the editor, "will influence an entire generation of young people who are studying from the dictionary, and on the basis of what is written in it, formulate their opinions. These youngsters are those who are currently shaping the development of mankind."

It's hard to believe, but this reason, which touched on the sensitivities of the editor, clarified, for her, the great impact of single words. It also touched her professional pride, and persuaded her to correct the error.

In the coming editions of the dictionary, the additional, antisemitic definition will no longer appear.


All material on this site is copyrighted and its use is restricted.
Click here for conditions of use.