80 Friday, March 18, 1983
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Guilt Human Sacrifice and Christian Anti-Semitism
By DR. PETER MARTIN
Hyam Maccoby is a great
Biblical scholar who also
possesses an insightful
understanding of man's soul
through the depth of his
knowledge of anthropology
and psychoanalysis. He has
combined his enviable ta-
lents with the labor of many
years to give birth to an im-
portant contribution to an
understanding of anti-
Semitism: "The Sacred
Executioner — Human Sac-
rifice and the Legacy of
Guilt" (Thames and Hud-
son).
To reach his conclusions,
Maccoby starts with the
dimly perceived, mysteri-
ous origins of mankind
when the grim and awe-
some reality of human sac-
rifice was practiced by
primitive societies.
He followed the theme
and its disguises through to
its most horrible descen-
dant — the Holocaust, with
genocide as its intent. In be-
tween is a scholarship pre-
sentation of the role of the
Christian Church's anti-
Semitic mythology which
needed to scapegoat the
Jews into the role of the sac-
red executioner (of Jesus
Christ). The Jews were
needed for this role to
further their theology deal-
ing with salvation.
The insightful but fri-
ghtening picture painted
by Maccoby is that the
homicidal forces present
in man's most primitive
societies are still present
in current societies and
are capable of erupting at
any time if they are not
recognized for what they
are and if the many
methods of disguising
and distancing them suc-
ceed in confusing the is-
sues.
The Holocaust could not
have had its degrees of suc-
cess had not Western Civili-
zation (including the
United States) covertly col-
laborated.
The methods used by
scholars like Maccoby to
probe for hidden truths is
fascinating in itself. Read-
ing about them is like read-
ing a mystery or detective
story.
False clues have to be rec-
ognized as such and hidden
clues have to be deciphered
before one can reconstruct
the crime of who did what to
whom and when and why.
For example, Maccoby
shows how the Biblical
story of Abraham and
Isaac is a transformation
from earlier human sac-
rifice to animal sacrifice,
having not yet achieved
the later stage of no living
sacrifice being needed to
appease God. It is a
dramatic story wherein
the yearning for human
sacrifice is still struggl-
ing with the desire to
abolish it. Thus as each
culture changes, it
changes its rituals and
correspondingly mod-
ified its myths.
It is fascinating how Mac-
coby shows how the Chris-
tians later used this story to
believe that Isaac was mur-
dered by Abraham but that
Isaac was then brought
back to life to reinforce the
theme of Christ's death and
resurrection. The tech-
niques used by Biblical
scholars include exegesis
(exploration and critical in-
terpretation of a text) and
eisegesis (the interpreta-
tion of a text by reading into
it one's own ideas).
For the Orthodox Jew
who believes that the words
of the Bible were given by
God, the concept that redac-
tors edited it to express the
changes in cultural values
would be considered heresy
(as in Chaim Potok's "The
Chosen").
Given the above introduc-
tion of Maccoby's back-
ground and techniques, we
come to his main thesis in
this book. The material
which he has collected and
interpreted led him to the
conclusion a dilemma arises
around ventures such as the
founding of a nation, a city
or a tribe. The venture may
be considered an affront to
God, the original Creator.
This primitive fear led
to the ritual of human
sacrifice to the gods to
assure success of the im-
portant new venture. The
prototype was illustrated
in the story of Adam and
Eve. Their unthinking
search for a new venture
— knowledge — led to
God's punishment.
Primitive thinking led to
the conclusion that the suc-
cess of a new important ven-
ture could only be assured
by complete surrender to
the will of God. This then
was to abjure the hubristic
position of setting out to ful-
fill the dictates of an indi-
vidual will or decision.
Thus, if Isaac was the
chief hope of the new nation
of the Jewish people, then
he must be sacrificed to God
who renews the hope in
some unlooked for and
miraculous way.
Though the human sac-
rifice alleviates the primi-
tive mind's fear of God's dis-
approval of man's creative
effort, the price paid is the
presence of intolerable guilt
for the murder of the victim.
Maccoby then uncovers the
devices by which the com-
munity disguises from it-
self, and from others, what
it is doing when it performs
such a sacrifice (or celeb-
rates through the imagina-
tive medium of myth).
One method on which
this book is based, is the
choosing of the figure of
the Sacred Executioner.
The community relieves
its guilt feelings by
branding, the named
executor of the dead as a
murderer. This Sacred
Executioner may then be
branded and driven out
of the community to
wander the world.
Paradoxically, the desig-
nated executioner is also
considered sacred, held
in awe by the society
which benefits from his
dreadful deed and pro-
tected by the God who
has been appeased.
Maccoby shows how the
early Christians used the
Jews to develop their reli-
gion. They were theologi-
cally motivated to supplant-
ing the Jews as the people of
God and transferring the
favor of God to the Christian
Church.
One part of this plan was
to paint the Jews as collec-
tive Sacred Executioner
through the death of Christ.
Early Christians such as
the canonized Saint
of the final overcoming of
evil that formed the essence
of • Christian mil-
lenarianism.
This book adheres to the
highest principles of schol-
arship. While the author's
formulations may be argued
against by other qualified
scholars, this reader is im-
pressed by the wealth of
knowledge compressed into
a relatively small and
easy,-to-read volume.
I have clearly indicated
my respect and agreement
with Maccoby's presenta-
tion of the important role of
guilt in mankind. What fol-
lows is an additional em-
phasis on the role of anxiety
in mankind. They are not
mutually exclusive but are
intertwined.
My psychoanalytic ex-
periences lead me to the
conclusion that anxiety
underlies the guilt. Often
feelings of guilt are pre-
DR. PETER MARTIN
ferred to and better
Chrysostom
(347-407)- tolerated by individuals
preached hatred. His diat- than feelings of anxiety.
ribes against Jews were Primitive man suffered
only rivaled by those of Hit- intense anxiety because
ler. He urged Christians to he had no control over
hate Jews. This brain wash- the capriciousness of na-
ing continued for cen- ture. Unable to cope with
turies. Its success was seen these overwhelming
in the passive and active forces, he developed
support given to the Nazi mental mechanisms that
Holocaust by the populace made nature feel more
whose anti-Jewish reac- comprehensible and
tions had become so in- amenable to his control.
grained that they could be Among the psychological
regarded as instinctive and forms of control, flattery
could be absolutely de- and bribery were often
pended upon.
used.
As bad-as the Christian
These approaches worked
origins of anti-Sethitism with fellow man, so it was
was, it, at least, included believed that they would
the need for presence of work with nature. Primi-
the Wandering Jew in tive man offered prayers,
each generation and to be rituals and at first, human
present at the Millenium sacrifices in return for fan-
(when all Jews will be tasized protection from the
converted to. Chris- elements. When nature was
tianity). Post-Christian kind, primitive - man con-
society is even more cluded that he had correctly
dangerous because with assessed the requirements
its secular orientation of the contract. When un-
Jews are no longer a favorable, he couldn't afford
necessary evil and can be to abandon his scheme
eliminated.
without suffering severe
The Nazis expressed in anxiety: So he added per-
racialist terms the concept sonal guilt to the scheme.
He attributed his _misfor-
tunes to some sin he had
committed.
These feelings of wrong
doing (guilt) served to give
impotent roin the impres-
sion that he could control
omnipotent nature. This
form of guilt-nelped allevi-
ate the anxiefq, .that accom-
panied mere existence.
Guilt has continued to
serve a multiplicity of
psychological functions.
Herodotus, considered to be
father of history by the
Greeks, believed that the
most obvious aspect of liv-
ing is that men and nations
suffer disastrous retribu-
tion whenever they have
invited the jealousy of the
gods by insolvent, arrogant,
overwhelming pride.
Human sacrifices to the
gods were used to pre-
vent the unalterable re-
tribution and to alleviate
the anxiety guilt cycle
described above. Guilt
with fantasized power is
used to alleviate anxiety
due to powerlessness.
With guilt available, man
can ameliorate existential
anxiety and believe that he
has some control over the
forces of nature. This recog-
nition of the closeness of
anxiety and guilt gives
further depth to the under-
standing the contents of this
book book.
In McLeish's play "J.B.,"
he has Job say, "Unless '
guilt matters, the whole
world is meaningless."
Without giving some mean-
ing to guilt, mankind faces
the overwhelming existen-
tial anxiety of a world with-
out meaning.
Maccoby tries to bring the
light of knowledge of the
cesspool of anxiety and guilt
that exists within mankind,
living in a new type of
meaningless world with the
forces of nature coming
under man's control, the
horrors within man as illus-
trated by the Holocaust are
difficult to handle without
utilizing guilt feelings and
their consequences.
-
JPS Publishes Haunting Chronicle of Romanian Jewry
,
PHILADELPHIA— "The
Quality of Witness: A
Romanian Diary 1937-
1944," published by the
Jewish Publication Society,
is a haunting chronicle of
the life and fate of Roma-
nian Jews during the most
brutal period in history. Irv-
ing Howe has called this
work "absorbing and mov-
ing . . . an important histor-
ical document about the
tragedy of 20th Century.
Europe, and, more impor-
tantly, the tragedy of its
Jews."
Emil Dorian (1893-1956)
was a physician, novelist,
poet and translator, who
lived in Bucharest in the
midst of the artistic and
literary Romanian and
Jewish life. From 1937 to
1956 he kept a regular jour-
nal of political, cultural and
personal events.
"The Quality of Witness,"
excerpted from the first
seven notebooks of Dorian's
diaries, can thus be read as
a triple portrait — of a man,
a country and an epoch.
"Through Dorian's
eloquent testimony," as
Michael Stanislawski,
assistant professor of
East European Jewish
history at Columbia Uni-
versity, notes in his in-
troduction to this vol-
ume, "we are able to wit-
ness the gradual but im-
placable descent of
doom: the physical and
economic degradation of bution to the sociohistory of
the Jews, their manipula- East European life, with
tion by a cynical col- special refer6nee to that
laborationist regime, Jewish group of intellectu-
mass murder, and — fi- als of double allegiance to
nally — liberation.
their country and to their
"But the power and Jewishness. The ,entries
uniqueness of this journal form a shattering record of
lie beyond its graphic depic- the losing struggle to main-
tion of communal suffering. tain that dual loyalty dur-
With Emil Dorian we con- ing the deranged days of the
front the devastating inner 1940s.
pain of a sensitive 'accultu-
The book is also the
rated' Jew denied his hopes, evolution of an illusion,
his art, his very identity."
the maturing of an in-
The book begins with an sight, and the dramatic
ominous entry, on Dec. 30, journey of a particularly
1937, recording the coming fine and informed mind.
to power of a nationalistic
Emil Dorian's diaries are
and anti-Semitic govern- interesting not only for
ment. It ends with Dorian's their documentary value,
thoughts on Romania's sur- but also for their original
render to the Allies on Aug. charm and humanity. Scat-
24, 1944 — an event of hope, tered among the entries on
but also of foreboding.
the daily progress of war,
"The Quality of Witness" the march of Nazism in
makes a significant contri- Romania, the daily wave of
anti-Jewish decrees. There
are notes on matters of in-
tellectual concern, snap-
shots of daily life, a logbook
of his literary work, por-
traits and aphorisms. To-
gether they weave a fine
web of human details etched
with irony and passion,
with fury and tenderness, a
web that history ignores,
but one that illuminates the
quality of a certain life in a
certain terrible time and
makes the real portrait of
an era.
The entries were selected
and edited by Marguerite
Dorian, the author's daugh-
ter, who is a novelist and
poet in Providence, R.I.
Emil Dorian was born in
1893, in Bucharest, where
he lived and worked until'
his death in 1956. He served
as a young doctor in World
War I.