In this monologue, Matan Hazanov reflects on the persistent, universal hatred of Jews throughout history, arguing that antisemitism is not tied to any single political ideology, economic status, or the actions of the State of Israel. He proposes that the root of this hatred lies in a subconscious moral resentment: Jews, as a people traditionally associated with a divine moral code, serve as a mirror that forces non‑Jews to confront their own ethical shortcomings. Hazanov uses the analogy of a rabbi appearing at a hedonistic party to illustrate how the presence of a moral exemplar can cause discomfort and, when that exemplar appears to fall short of expectations, generate resentment. He acknowledges his own critical stance toward Jewish behavior, viewing it through an idealist lens that expects Jews to embody a godly life that could uplift society. When Jews fail to meet this ideal, Hazanov argues, the resulting disappointment ripples through the broader community, fueling antisemitic attitudes. He links this theory to historical patterns of antisemitism across the left, right, rich, and poor, and notes a recent resurgence following the October 7 attacks, suggesting that the event has prompted many to re‑examine Judaism. Hazanov concludes by urging both Jews and non‑Jews to investigate Jewish tradition and moral responsibilities as a step toward understanding and mitigating antisemitism.
Chapters
We're seeing people on the left, people on the right, people that are rich and poor, people from all walks of life and all nations hate Jews. Someone's relationship to the true idea of God and what responsibilities you have because of that reality will impact how you view the Jews. Antisemitism is actually what brought me closer to Judaism because it just, it was such a— I was 15 learning about Israel, learning about why it was just like, people hate Jews. And it's not like a new thing. It's been around for thousands of years. No matter where we are, if we're rich, they hate us for being rich. If we're poor, they hate us for being poor. If we're integrated, they hate us for trying— for hiding, for being integrated and diluting their blood. If we're separate and keep separate, they hate us for being separate. The socialists hate us for being capitalists, and capitalists hate us for being socialists. They hated us when we didn't have a state because we didn't have a state, and they hate us now because of Israel, and they'll find some reason to hate us. Israel could be the most moral army in the world, it doesn't matter. They'll find the one Palestinian child that was killed, rightly or wrongly, and say, well, all Jews everywhere are bad. That does not make sense. Blood libels don't make sense. There's blood libels today. So the question is, why? Why? And I think it's that idea that someone's relationship to the true idea of God and what responsibilities you have because of that reality will impact how you view the Jews. Meaning, the more consonant, the more aligned you are with that reality and that idea, the more favorably you'll look on the Jews. You may be frustrated with us, as I am frustrated with the Jews every day, um, the more positively you still look at the Jews. And I was trying to think about this analogy, trying to organize this, this, this idea in my head. It's like, why would that be the case? And I'm thinking to myself this— I was maybe 20 when I thought about this. Imagine you're at a party and you're having a good time, you know, you're debauchery, you know, think about high school or university where you're just— your entire goal is to just have a good time. And you know you're drinking too much, you're probably doing things sexually that you probably shouldn't do, you know, you're not gonna be fulfilled with it, and you still do it because it's fun. And that's the time to have the fun, so to speak. And now imagine A religious-looking Jew walks into that party, a rabbi type, and it'll make you uncomfortable. I think it'll make you uncomfortable for many reasons, because they're out of place, but also that you feel like they're judging you. Even if they're not judging you, even if they're just there, the very idea of someone that represents a moral idea that you agree with that's in front of you will make you rethink your own decisions. And when you have to rethink and confront your own decisions, that makes you uncomfortable. In fact, it'll make you resent the person that made you thought about those moral decisions, because you don't want someone to remind you of what moral obligations you have, because then you may actually have to start living by those moral obligations. So let's think about this from a global or societal perspective. The Jews aren't perfect. In fact, I'm the biggest antisemite when it comes to criticizing the Jews and their behavior, because I'm an idealist. I think the Jews have so much potential to live great lives, impact the world, impact themselves, and make the world paradise, for lack of a better term. And when they fail in that obligation to live these godly lives, and I fail myself, it actually degenerates the rest of society by osmosis, not directly but more indirectly. Because that moral— let me take a step back. Let's first look at the ideal. The ideal is that the Jew is supposed to live a godly life. When the Jew is living a godly life and the non-Jews are not living godly lives, knowing deep down in their very soul that they should be living godly lives, the Jew will remind them, not by lecturing them because that's not what Jews do, but by just living, by, by just being an example of what you— what your life can be like when you're living a godly life. And when you take those Jews, put them in families, you can see what a family looks like, a godly family. When you take those families and put them in a community, you see what a godly community can look like. When you take those communities together, you can see what a godly nation can look like, right? And at all those levels, the non-Jews will look at this and say, well, I see someone great. And we know this, this is a typical thing that we experience in life. When you see a person doing something amazing that you want to emulate, you respect that person, you like that person, you want to learn from that person. If they lecture you about how to be great, you don't listen to them. You want the example but not the lecture. Okay, so you have this incredible guy in your life, let's say he's a Jew, and he's living a godly life, successful in whatever they're doing, they have a good— well, you know, a good family, everything is just good. And you look at that, and if you want that, and if you're conscious about wanting that and you're working towards it, you respect that person and you look up to that person and you like that person. What about if you know you want that but you're failing yourself, meaning you're distracting yourself with all the things that are not that, right? But that person reminds you constantly that, gee, you should really live a different life because look how amazing my life is. If you just change your behavior, you can also live a spiritually fulfilled and great life in this world. And if you're far off from that, you're far less likely to like that person for reminding you of that thing. That's where the resentment is created. Now I want to take it a step further. That resentment is, I think, subconscious. I don't think people recognize that. I think there's another thing happening as well when the Jews don't live up to their potential. Because subconsciously, everybody needs that example of how to live life in the most effective way possible. And if Jews really have a valid tradition coming directly from Mount Sinai, where God literally revealed this playbook for how to live the most fulfilling and spiritually connected and godly life, then the Jews, the Jews have that tradition going all the way back. And so subconsciously, everybody wants that. Everybody wants to know how to live a godly, fulfilling, successful life. Right? And if the Jews aren't filling that role, there's a different type of resentment that happens, that they know that the Jews are supposed to be doing that thing, they're supposed to be that living example, and they're not doing it. And because they're not doing it, everybody else suffers. So let's go back to this analogy of the rabbi— look, rabbi-looking person at the party. Okay, you're there, you're having fun, you have a girl in your lap, or a guy, whatever, I don't know, whatever, whatever way you swing. And you have this rabbi-looking guy coming in, it makes you uncomfortable, but like, okay, it's a bit weird Okay, whatever, it is what it is. You'll go, go somewhere else. It's weird, you feel uncomfortable. Now imagine that same scenario, but the rabbi starts hitting on girls, uh, overage, you know, call it this rabbi's in 25, he's seeing girls that are 25. Let's just make it easy. Because he looks like a religious Jew, not only do you dislike the fact he's making you uncomfortable, but now you resent him because he's not He's not living up to the values that you know he's supposed to be living up to. Now, not only do you have the discomfort from him being in the room, but you have the resentment from him not living up to the values that he looks like he's supposed to be living. I think those are the dual aspects of antisemitism, and we see it everywhere. And I think it's subconscious, but it's existed throughout history, and that's the way I understand myself. Anyways, the bottom line is Jews should to really look into, um, investigating their own tradition, because antisemitism doesn't make any sense. And I know since October 7th, a lot of people in my life have reached out saying like, I want to investigate my— I want to investigate Judaism more. The fact that whatever happened on October 7th and its aftermath, you would think that it's really opened up a lot of people's eyes, like there is a serious problem with antisemitism. It's not new, It's been quiet for, for a few decades because of the, because of the sympathy that Jews had as a result of the Holocaust, but it's never gone away. And now it's going back to— it's kind of going, reverting back to the mean. What we're seeing is a reversion back to the mean. We're seeing people on the left, people on the right, people that are rich and poor, people from all walks of life and all nations hate Jews. It's not Israel, it's not what Israel is doing in Gaza, it's not any of that nonsense. And I think people that are looking at this with with an open eye see that, and they're curious, like, what the hell is going on? This doesn't make any sense. I think the first step for people that are frustrated with what they see is to start investigating their own tradition.
