Common Misconceptions of Jews and the Holocaust: A Christian’s Perspective

Recent comments by Whoopi Goldberg, as a commentator on ABC’s ‘The View’ have caused some backlash and even has Goldberg suspended from the show until further notice. The comments and sentiment Goldberg shared publicly can be summarized by her statements that “The Holocaust isn’t about race…” and “these are two white groups of people.” So, what’s the deal here? Why did she say this? And why the public reaction?

These comments caused quite an uproar, leading some to call Goldberg anti-Semitic and a denier of the Holocaust. However, I, along with the majority, believe that Whoopi does not have hatred toward Jewish people nor does she wish them any harm; but the comments are indicative of common misconceptions about Judaism and the specific type of hatred that caused the Holocaust. I hope to identify the specific areas of ignorance that cause Goldberg to communicate what a large group of people also misunderstand, and I desire to shed light on why such ignorance of the history and origins of the Jewish people even exists.

Identifying the Knowledge Gaps

The most obvious (or maybe not so obvious) knowledge gap identified by Goldberg’s comments is the misconception and misunderstanding of race. The understanding of race, as is widely understood in the West, is a man-made, social construct that doesn’t actually exist. Often times what one means to say or reference is one’s ethnicity. In science, and in antiquity, race has referred to species; in other words, humanity is a race (also referred to as the human race).

In cases of xenophobia, often it is the case that one dislikes a group of people based on their ethnicity. In this case, the Jewish people have a Middle Eastern ethnic background, as they are from what we refer to as ‘the Middle East,’ specifically Judea (or Israel).

However, it would be right to say that the persecution of the Jews is not solely based on their ethnicity, because those who sought their harm were not looking to harm other Middle Eastern peoples (such as Arabs), who obviously have the same ethnicity as the Jews. The antagonists (the Nazis), and other anti-Semites were looking to harm and persecute the Jewish people, specifically.

Another knowledge gap identified by Goldberg’s comments, and a yet still a wide misconception, is the idea that the Jewish people are a “white” people group.

The idea of “whiteness” is something that was coined and created by a class of European originators who sought to set themselves apart from other ethnicities or people groups; and who often saw themselves as superior in relation to other people groups.

Something that must be addressed here is that Jews are often represented in western culture as “white” (or of European decent), however that is not a perspective of Judaism that is representative of actual history or current reality. In America, our Jewish neighbors are often “white-passing” (especially if they do not wear clothing, religious garbs, jewelry, or their hair in a way that provides a tell). Just because this may be our experience with Jewish people in America, this is not a perspective that includes the context of history, or current reality across the globe for the majority of Jews.

The origins of the Jewish people is Judea, right in the middle of the all the nations. If anyone were to tell you to picture a person from the Middle East, you likely wouldn’t bring to mind someone of pale skin and obviously not someone of European decent.

The Jewish people are Middle Eastern by ethnicity and origin (even Asian by modern day continental maps). The holocaust was not “white-on-white” crime, as some have said and many have believed. This was “white-on-Jewish” crime.

What causes confusion here often times, is the idea that “whiteness” refers to ethnicity and that Jewishness refers to religion. However this isn’t completely accurate.

It is true that religion and spirituality is a major part of Jewish history and origin. As a Christian, I’d argue it is the sole reason they were made a people group to begin with (i.e. to know God intimately and eventually share His message with the whole world). That said it is also true that Judaism collectively refers to people who identify with specific culture, language, traditions, spirituality, ancestry, and even the aspirations of an entire people and nation. I do believe this is a healthier and more wholistic understanding of the Jewish people as a historic people group or nation.

I must say in my experience, if not for my love for the Word of God and love for the God that set apart these chosen people and called them “Israel”, I would not have a different understanding than most of western culture that does not have a relationship with the God of the Bible. The reality is I learned about the holocaust, but I never learned why it happened. I was never taught about who the Jewish people were and why the Nazi’s hated them. The way it is now taught in America, you almost can’t blame anyone for believing it was “white-on-white” crime, because that is indeed how it is taught. There was never a mention of Israel or Judea, or anything that had to do with the ancient history and origins of the Jewish people.

Especially as an young black kid who was very much taught about the tragedies of African slave trades and America’s history with slavery, you can imagine my adolescent mind’s confusion around why the Holocaust even happened.

When you teach the Holocaust without teaching the origins and ancient culture of the people’s involved, you strip not only the victims of their identity, but you strip students’ opportunity to fully understand what and why it happened.

Why the Lack of Education

I don’t ever remember being taught about the Jewish people in school. Just solely about the Holocaust, but the Holocaust doesn’t even make sense unless taught about the Jewish people’s origin.

America does a terrible job at teaching about Jewish people and their ancient origins, I wonder if that is because at some point you have to run into Abraham (the father of the Jewish people) and consequently the God of Abraham (the God of the Bible), Yahweh. In this current American culture, the government and educators will do extreme acrobatics to stay away from that.

This is simply something I suspect, as I do find it odd the way the Holocaust is taught. This hole in education leaves holes to be filled by untruths, by people who have bad intentions.

Ignorance Emboldens Anti-Semitism

Unfortunately, this type of seemingly harmless ignorance, isn’t harmless. Not only does it strip an entire people group of their true and historic ethnic identify, but it also allows for those who do have hatred toward them to implant theories and alternative historic narratives that can get people hurt.

To be clear, this ignorance (which is widespread), is not synonymous with anti-Semitism. These are completely two different groups of people.

The majority of the public who are tuned into Whoopi’s comments likely do not believe she is anti-Semitic, but she did shed light on ignorance that is commonly had regarding the history of the Jewish people. This is an opportunity to learn and be educated, and hopefully education leaves less holes for bad actors and anti-Semitism to fill.