It happened one time that philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe said to her friend Ludwig Wittgenstein (the philosopher whose Philosophical Investigations she later translated), “What people have had such a history as the Jews!”

I think they were in Vienna at the time, where Wittgenstein had family roots. Since the Wittgensteins were (distantly) of Jewish origin, during World War II, the Austrian branch had paid a king’s ransom to the Nazi government, to avoid being counted as Jews.

At any rate, Wittgenstein replied to Anscombe’s remark – that the Jews had suffered a special history – “at once, with irritation, ‘What do you know of the histories of all the peoples there have been on earth?’” (Anscombe on Wittgenstein: Reminiscences of a Philosophical Friendship, eds. John Berkman and Roger Teichmann, Oxford, 2025.)

Wittgenstein is surely right, if we start from earliest evidences of homo sapiens sapiens. For all we know, there might well have been forerunner peoples targeted for the equivalent of two thousand years of spiteful hatred. Perhaps those prehistoric peoples were killed off – and consequently erased from human memory.

Nevertheless, finding myself presently inside Jewish history, I lack the luxury of detachment. Instead, my personal concern is how best to live the Jewish assignment – one I don’t recall choosing – at least not in its present form.

*. *. *

Within the past two days, two contrasting approaches presented themselves. 

First, I received a Friday night dinner invitation from the Chabad rabbi whom I’ve mentioned before, in a recent column. Friday night, for observant Jews – and these must be about as observant as you get – is the time when the Sabbath descends and sanctifies time!

What I rather expected was that Jerry and I would, as two dinner guests, get better acquainted with the rabbinical couple in a small, face-to-face dinner setting. 

That was not what happened. The orthodox have children. I believe there were seven of them, going from lap-size to young adult. Two were girls who looked to be in their teens. And there was one other woman guest to complete the gathering.

The boys, from littlest to biggest, were dressed like their father: in black pants, tallit (fringed shawl), and their head gear. They looked robust, did not seem crushed by all this, but did not talk audibly among themselves. As for the girls, to my eyes they looked to be as educated and emancipated as they’d so far aspired to be, though only their mother did much talking. I had no impression of hidden constraints or dampened spirits in the girls – and that’s something to which I’m fairly sensitive.

The home-made dishes were tasteful and plentiful. A lot of successful work had gone into each one of them. After the ritual handwashing and prayers in Hebrew, conversation began. Jerry seemed pretty much okay and at ease, though all this must have been even more foreign to him than to me.

Probably at my behest, the talk eventually turned to anti-semitism. To my astonishment, the rabbi did hilarious imitations of the way “nice people” nowadays voice their ill-concealed bigotry. His take-offs were sophisticated and multi-level.

I asked him what he thought the cause was. He didn’t cite psychology, biochemistry, politics or even theology! He thought the occurrence of anti-semitism took place at a level more foundational than those: perhaps ontological – coeval with being itself. Therefore, not something that can be extirpated from the fabric of existence.

What to do about it? He said you always have to fight back. He also thought the phenomenon offered a learning opportunity. The Jews can look within for the lessons that apply to themselves. The anti-semites who vaunt it (or worse) can of course learn not to do that.

*. *. *

The next morning was of course Saturday, and I had a Zoom hour of Torah Study scheduled at the Reform (up-to-date and liberal) Temple to which I belong. Here the differences – of dress, attitude and conviction – didn’t necessarily fit together like puzzle pieces . Participants did not feel protected by deep certainties.

Nevertheless, insights did emerge: a bit cacophonic and in a modern register – yet interesting and also authentic.

In one respect, the modern co-religionists are narrower. We don’t discuss current news within the class hour, but – even after hours – I doubt I could have raised the topic of anti-semitism – its deep causes – without hearing reflexive appeals for more understanding and unlimited good will. I take these to be the expressions of a certain narrow-mindedness that calls itself “liberal.” They simply need to broaden their horizons, taking in the fact that hey, evil is real and freely chosen. It doesn’t reduce to ignorance, limited opportunities, or emotional deprivation in childhood. 

But not everybody can know everything. To some degree,

we are all specialists.

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