There is a limitless number of theories and essays about antisemitism. Why? It seems that, while if not the oldest form of social, racial and political hate, it surely is the one that has defied time as did the Egyptian pyramids, whose people were one of the originators of this malady.

Notwithstanding the fact that no one theory seems to be totally satisfactory, we keep writing and thinking it. Why? We feel that if we would really understand this phenomena we could confront it, fight it, and overcome it.

Of all the theories that have been forthcoming, I personally am inclined to the one that claims that it is a matter of scapegoating. It fulfills the need to blame someone else for personal or national shortcomings and failures. Of course, scapegoating can be associated with envy, jealousy, with the otherness of the Jew and many other factors. However, I tend to think that the seed that is mainly responsible for the constant presence of antisemitism is scapegoating.

This idea has a basis in the biblical narrative of the first couple who practice it after disobeying God`s command. Adam argues that Eve gave him the prohibited fruit and Eve, in turn, blames the snake. Why?

Maybe it is part of human nature. Evade responsibility by blaming others. Every type of society or national entity at one time or another, has to explain a fiasco or give reasons for not responding to the essential needs of its constituents. While it is not always possible to respond to all wants, there is the need to justify the naked and difficult present and hence the very useful presence of a scapegoat.

In the course of the holiest day, Yom Kippur, the Bible introduces the idea of a scapegoat, in fact two of them, for the purpose of sin cleansing, that is to justify failure, or error, or sin in the language of religion.

It appears that the idea of a scapegoat is part of human DNA, a natural reaction to justify shortcomings, similar to a fast heartbeat when facing danger.

What I am basically saying is that antisemitism cannot be explained with rational categories. Whatever its origin, it is an unfortunate reality that will continue to accompany us for the foreseeable future.

We spend energy and thought in investigating the reasons for phenomena because we presume that were we to understand reality better, we could probably direct its course in a different direction that contributes to our wellbeing.

The supposition is that if we would really comprehend better an illness such as cancer, or cancers, we would be able to fight it more efficiently, conquer it, even cure it. At least we have done this with other illnesses.

On the other hand, we study “black holes” and cosmological events in order to “learn” about the universe and advance the understanding of our own planet. It is part of our intellectual curiosity, but no one has put forth the idea that we can change the course of  the sun, or impede the demise of some star in our galaxy. We mainly want to understand, comprehend what are the basic forces that rule in space, without of course thinking for a moment that we can interfere with a limitless universe.

Comparisons have limited use, but can be, nevertheless didactic. For the time being, I think we can assume that the basic drives of a human being cannot be altered. Almost as impossible as to change the course of the earth’s orbit around the sun. Culture and civilization touch the surface of human behavior, but many traits such as hate and love, envy and generosity, survival and dreams are facts that make us what we are, and cannot be altered or eliminated. For the predictable future, at least.

To go back to our initial interest in antisemitism that is rooted in scapegoating, it is here to stay. That does not mean we should not confront it and try to modify its effects. We certainly should do so, but at the same time remember that our victories can only be fleeting, or as someone sentenced: “antisemitism is a light sleeper”.

Why did scapegoating morph into antisemitism? Maybe because the Jews refused to disappear into the rest of the fabric of humanity after the destruction of the Jewish State some two thousand years ago.

Jews were obstinate and spread out in different lands, and against all rules of History, decided to retain their identity. They were not assimilated by other civilizations and cultures, and continued to stand out as an undigested entity in different latitudes. And because they no longer had their own soil under their feet, and because they could not build an armed force to defend themselves, they became an easy target for scapegoating.

Of course, one could include into the mix the hate spread by the different Christian Churches, a fact that made scapegoating easier because it sanctified, gave a religious aura, to what was in essence of criminal nature. For some, antisemitism turned into a “Goyishe Mitsvá”, a gentile religious duty.

As an illustration I cite one of the forerunners of the modern Zionist movement who was a physician and who understood that the roots of antisemitism could be found in an anomaly, a sickness. The Jewish people was ill and in order to return to a healthy state it needed its own land, its own country. Many thought along those lines and believed that the realization of the Zionist dream was going to cure antisemitism. But that idea has been proven wrong. Antisemitism is alive, well and increasing, notwithstanding the seventy years that passed since the establishment of the State of Israel.

Others thought that the origin of antisemitism is to be found in ignorance, and, therefore, its cure lay in education. It was considered to be a consequence of ignorance. Yet, the opposite seems to be the case, education apparently only provides the anti-Semitic machinery with greater efficiency at the time of killing Jews. The German people were surely one of the most educated in the most educated of continents and yet produced the what they called “the final solution”, physically eliminate the Jew.

Antisemitism has only become more menacing and industrialized as the Holocaust demonstrated. Because not so long ago, in my lifetime, my people were systematically murdered for no valid reason at all. The mass annihilation of a third of the Jewish people was carried out by Germany, with the consent of many others in the world and the indifference of all.

There are no new facts to lead to think that this scapegoating has stopped, or whatever other base human need is in play, because anti-Semitism is impervious to time and cultural change, development of science and accumulation of knowledge.

But there is also a new sheriff in town! The concert of nations has a new member. There is a different reality: the independent State of Israel. It is being treated by the other nations as the “Jew of nations” that can serve as a scapegoat for the other member of the United Nations. Suffice it to analyze the number of UN resolutions against this State to come to the conclusion that there is a fundamental abnormality in the way Israel is treated by almost everyone else.

Notwithstanding that the State of Israel won the approval of the General Assembly of the UN and was established with its blessings, it, nevertheless, continues to fill the need for a scapegoat, the essential need to be able to blame someone else for one’s own failings or catastrophes.

However, this new reality, the State of Israel, has astonishing armed forces, and is able to defend itself. And, notwithstanding the ever present antisemitism, or “anti-Israelism”, it continues to grow and flourish and becomes relentlessly an economic, scientific and technological power to be reckoned with.

The resurgence of antisemitism in Europe, energized by the ever more numerous Muslim presence, has directed many of its Jews to emigrate. And the State of Israel becomes a sure refuge for them.

In the USA where the latest massacre in The Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill area of Pittsburgh is clear evidence of dormant antisemitism that is awakened. It should serve as a whistle call that all is not well. Can one imagine the national outrage if the same murderer had gone into a Church of Black people and yelled out the “n” word and other slurs before killing indiscriminately those in prayer? There would have been a national march of millions around the Washington monument to sound the alarm of horror and indignation. There would have been sit ins and stand ins, boycotts and who knows what else.

Yet in the case of the Pittsburgh massacre many a media commentator interpreted the ghastly event in political terms, thereby, minimizing the cruelty and hatefulness of the crime. Because of political correctness, the assassin can only be referred to as the “alleged shooter”. He has not been given the rightful trial to which he is entitled in a democracy that he denies.

Before the advent of Hitler, German Jews felt integrated into society, occupying important posts in different sectors: economic, scientific,  cultural. Yet, Hitler came and did what he did with most of its society either approving or making believe they did not see what was happening to Jews. In the words of Goldhagen, they were all only: “Hitler’s willing executioners”.

The USA is different. At least, I would like to think so, because it is a country that was founded by immigrants and has solid democratic institutions. But then again, even bullet-proof vests are sometimes perforated.

Let me repeat this mantra: I thank God every day for the existence of the State of Israel, because as someone recently defined home: “it is the place where they cannot refuse you entry”. And the State of Israel is the home of the Jewish people.