Self Hatred

Why do Jewish agencies prefer to employ non-Jews? It is amazing to experience the scarcity of Jewish employees in so many Jewish agencies. It reminds me of the quota system that was used in the not too distant past when only a small percentage of our people were chosen to work in a specific field: the policy of Catholic agencies, as recently as the 1950’s, to refuse to hire our people; the system that would only allow a tiny proportion of our brethren to be admitted to medical schools; and in a wider sense, the enforcement of a quota system that would prohibit only a fraction of the Jewish population to enter the United States.

Are we so liberal or hate ourselves so much that we admire outsiders more than we like ourselves, or is our feeling even stronger and we detest our own religion, our own way of life, our own being? Do we try so hard to intermingle that our own personality our own Jewishness becomes extinguished and through this method we believe ourselves to become the sought after majority or do we seek non-personhood?

In Nazi Germany it took a Hitler to take us back to our roots and to become as one with our brethren. Do we need a Nazi to bring us back to reality and to appreciate one another and to promote each other? These folks that are employed are often anti-semites “under the skin”. They will accept the Jewish money that is so generously given by the Jewish community, but when the reality sets in the five o’clock curtain rears it’s ugly head.

There are innumerable cases where these non-Jewish employees spread the word that their “Jew employers have all the money” and must have come by it in some devious way. It has been observed that the Christian employees of a Jewish boss do not socialize with the one or two Jewish employees/peers that work with them side by side. They have been known to laugh about the Jewish customs and holidays and to deride the Jewish worker’s beliefs. In addition we unfortunately find the Jewish employee making excuses for being what he or she is and believes. He minimizes his stature by playing the proverbial underdog succumbing to the hatred of the non-Jewish employee.

Let us take the “Hine ma tov umanayim, shevet achim gam yachad” seriously and and not only hold hands with our brothers but give first preference as employers and agencies to our people.

Lehitraot.

Dr. Ursula A. Falk is a psychotherapist in private practice and the co-author, with Dr. Gerhard Falk, of Grandparents: A New Look at the Supporting Generation (publ. 2002)

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