Early Modern Hate speech—Martin Luther`s Anti‐Semitism Responses and Reactions

Abstract

Early Modern Hate speech—Martin Luther`s Anti‐Semitism Responses and Reactions Ursula Rudnick Luther's anti‐Semitism I would like to describe Luther's anti‐Semitism on the basis of an image: the relief of the so‐called Jewish sow (or Judensau). This anti‐Jewish motif arose in the High Middle Ages. It initially appeared on stone reliefs and later on pamphlets and in other media. We know of forty‐eight of such sculptures in Europe, many of them in Germany. One of them is to be found on the outer wall of the Stadtkirche church in Wittenberg. The relief bears the Latin‐Hebrew inscription: Rabini Schem Ha Mphoras. This can be translated as: “The Name [of God] interpreted by a rabbi.” In the Jewish tradition, the Hebrew words Shem ha‐Mephorash refer to the name of God, the four consonants JHWH, which are not uttered. In the Kabbalah, the term Shem Ha‐Mephorash refers to a name of God with forty‐two or seventy‐two letters. In his treatise Of the unknowable name and the generations of Christ from 1543 Luther refers to this tradition and he refers to the relief in his home‐town: Well, now, I don't know where they got it from, but I can guess approximately. Here on our church in Wittenberg a sow is sculpted in stone. Young pigs and Jews lie suckling under her. Behind the sow a rabbi is bent over the sow, lifting up her right leg, holding her tail high and looking intensely under her tail and into her Talmud, as though he were reading something acute or extraordinary, which is certainly where they get their Shemhamphoras. The title page of his pamphlet features a Judensau motif and the pamphlet refers to the relief on the city church of Wittenberg. Luther proposes that his rabbinic colleagues were looking for the name of God in the most profane of places. Contrary to biblical testimony and the teachings of ecumenical the councils of the early church, Luther sees a difference between the God of Israel and the Christian understanding of God. However, the term “difference” is not fitting as the Jewish doctrine and perception of God are described as “excrement” and “filth.” He reads the Hebrew words Shem haMephorash as “Sham Haperes” meaning not the filth that is found on the street, but which comes from the Book…” Luther not only draws attention to a difference, but defames it. In his essay, Luther is not concerned with a theological examination of Judaism of the age. His first words make it clear that he has no interest in a respectful disputation and reveals the aim of his essay: … to warn our Christians of them, is as if to warn of devils themselves, to strengthen and honor our faith, not to convert Jews, which is as possible as converting the devil. To strengthen and defend his own position, he demonizes Jews and Judaism, not only in a figurative, but also in a literal sense: Luther equates Jews and their teachings with the devil. He accuses them of attempting to turn God into the devil, that is, of blasphemy. “For that is also their sin, which could be no less severe as they not only condemn you, the rightful, eternal God with their disobedience and blasphemy of your word, but their intention to make you the devil and the slave of devils so that you with your glorious divine power are to be a witness and serve the devil with his lies, blasphemy, murder and even more devil's work.” Luther's essay is not addressed to Jews, but Christians. His aim is to establish the truth of his own evangelical theology. In Luther′s mind, the Bible provides a literal truth, which is evident and can be proven. Jews and Judaism are the dark backdrop for his own—alleged—truth. Protestant contemporaries such as Heinrich Bullinger of Zurich criticize this writing, condemning such a theology: Such is the nature of Luther's piggish, soiled Shemhamphorash, that if it were written by a swine's shepherd and not a sublime shepherd of souls, it might deserve some pardon. Luther′s text: On the...