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.
